Jada’s hands shook the whole time she hurried through the drugstore, filling a basket with medical supplies and snacks and a bottle of rum to try and sterilize his wounds. And shore up her own courage. Luckily the teenage clerk was more interested in flirting with her hangdog boyfriend than checking Jada’s ID or worrying about her using someone else’s credit card. The feeling of foreboding grew as she hurried back toward the motel, sensing something wrong, and she prayed under her breath that the wolves weren’t surrounding the entire town and hunting them down. Or that the wolves hadn’t somehow killed Cooper and stolen Francine.

Her heart sank as she moved around the perimeter of the motel, but not even the desk clerks were out and about. Everything looked normal. Sort of. She fumbled the oversized key and the heavy bags, kneeing the door open just in time to hear Cooper gasping for breath and Francine shouting at someone on the phone.

Her heart seized up and panic nearly overwhelmed her when Cooper dragged her down to the bed and tried to cover her, mumbling something about protecting her, and when Francine tried to help and squeaked in fear, the leopard woke up and roared to the surface. Jada shoved him down and reminded him of his promises, and then Cooper passed right out while Francine stared at her with wide eyes.

Jada took a deep breath, covered her eyes so she could swallow down her tears, and cleared her throat before daring to speak to the men growling in the phone. “Just a second. We need to…lock the door and get a few things together. Can I call you back in a few minutes?”

Her voice shook and pitched up a few octaves, and Jada hovered on the edge of completely losing her shit. If Cooper died, she and Francine were completely, totally screwed. Alone and without money and being chased by a pack of ruthless wolves... She struggled to breathe, her knees wobbling until she knelt on the floor next to the bed and leaned against the mattress.

“Listen, Jada. Just stay on the line.” The voice on the phone was deep and smooth, so calm that it was nearly mesmerizing. “You’re doing a great job. Take a deep breath, take a moment to breathe and feel and calm down a bit.”

Francine, still watching her with wide eyes, moved around the room to lock the door and set the chain. She even dragged one of the battered chairs near the television over to prop under the doorknob. It wouldn’t really deter anyone who wanted to kick the door in, but it made Jada feel a little better.

Jada tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs felt about four sizes too small as she looked at Cooper’s giant prone body. He was still bleeding. How was he still bleeding? How could he possibly have any blood left? What happened when someone ran out of blood?

Francine gathered up the plastic bags from the drug store, starting to unload them onto the mattress next to Cooper’s head. Jada felt a touch of shame creep over her at the fact that the twelve-year-old was handling herself better than Jada. She needed to hike up her big girl panties one more time and take care of business. As soon as Cooper felt better, then he could do all the difficult stuff and Jada wouldn’t have to take charge anymore.

She pushed to her feet, though she still leaned on the mattress, and squeezed Francine’s shoulder. “Thanks, babe.” Jada raised her voice so the man on the phone would hear. “I just need to wash my hands. I’m here, and so is Francine, my cousin.”

“I’m Ethan, Francine. Thank you for helping Cooper. He can be a pain in the butt, but we like him.”

Francine smiled tentatively, though she gave Cooper’s still form a wide berth as she scampered to the sink in the back of the room to wash her hands next to Jada. Jada concentrated on the warm water and the abrasive soap, hoping it would be enough to prevent Cooper from developing an infection, especially if something was wrong with his ability to heal.

She took another deep breath and bumped Francine with her hip, trying to smile. “Thank you for babysitting him. I’m sorry if he scared you.”

“He was just scared himself,” Francine said. “Like waking up from a bad dream and not knowing where you’re at or what’s real. We’ll be okay.”

Jada smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “When Cooper is better, we’re going to go to a fancy-ass hotel and get the biggest dessert we can find. Then we’re going to jump on the bed and watch silly movies and stay up all night, and maybe even have a pillow fight.”

“Yeah!” Francine grinned and practically skipped back to the bed, turning on more lights as she went. She hopped on the bed near Cooper’s shoulder and leaned down to shout into the phone. “It’s Francine. We’re ready.”

The smooth voice, someone named Ethan, chuckled, immediately reassuring. “Great. Can you describe what’s wrong? What do his wounds look like? How long ago was he shot?”

Jada nearly panicked again as she began to catalogue the many, many things wrong with Cooper. She described the bullets and the blood loss and everything else that happened, including the rising fever and the occasional lucid moments where Cooper almost reverted to his bear side.

She expected groaning and cursing and maybe for the guys on the other end of the call to say it was hopeless, but instead Ethan sounded remarkably cheerful. “Okay then. No problem.”

“N-No problem?” She looked at Francine and raised her eyebrows. “He’s got at least four bullet holes in him.”

“We’ve been through worse.” Ethan spoke briefly with someone else, then returned to start issuing gentle instructions. “The first thing to do it get those bullets out, one at a time.”

Jada took a deep breath and pulled on some of the gloves she’d found, and had Francine hold up the desk lamp over Cooper’s back so Jada could see a little better.

It took forever to pry bullets and little metal fragments out of Cooper’s back. She hadn’t been able to find hemostats in the drug store, so instead she got the longest tweezers in the place. And some of Cooper’s healing kicked in, because the flesh tried to seal around the wounds every time she managed to get little slivers of the bullets out. She had to borrow his pocket knife to help fish around for the tiny pieces that threatened to disappear into him forever.

She groaned in frustration and sat back on her heels, her neck aching from the awkward angle of crouching over Cooper and trying to peer into the hamburger of his back. Jada put the tweezers down and stretched, gesturing for Francine to put down the lamp and give her arms a break.

Jada sighed, rubbing at her eyes with her arm above the glove. “Ethan, I need to take a breath. Just a quick second. My eyes are starting to cross.”

“Sure thing,” the cheerful guy said. “Close your eyes. Take deep breaths. Lie down on the bed or the floor if you can and give your back a break.”

“How do you know so much?” Francine asked. She sprawled across the thin pillows at the head of the bed, absently running her fingers through Cooper’s hair.

“I used to be a doctor,” Ethan said. “So I’ve had to do this a few times before. It’s harder through the phone, and I wish I were there to take care of it instead of you, but I think you’re doing a great job. I’m sure Cooper would agree if he’d wake up from his little nap.”

Francine grinned. “His bear nap.”

“Exactly right,” Ethan chuckled.

For a long moment, he just breathed and Jada just breathed, though she listened to Cooper to make sure he still breathed. She squeezed her eyes shut and stuffed down the familiar voices of her family playing over and over in her head, that whispered she was nothing and a complete screwup and a total waste of space. She’d fail at this, too. She failed at everything. She couldn’t even drive across the country with a bear without someone almost dying. If Cooper died, it was because she missed a speck of bullet or cut him by accident or hadn’t washed her hands well enough or didn’t disinfect the instruments... She shivered and tried to focus on the conversation that Francine carried on with the mild-mannered doctor.

“What is your house like? Can you have pets there? How many bathrooms are there? Do you have to share?” She lolled on her back, frowning up at the ceiling, and occasionally reached out to pat Cooper’s cheek. “What about horses? Do you have any horses?”

Ethan laughed. “It’s a good thing I don’t charge for questions, young lady. We live in a very large cabin with two floors and a whole lot of rooms, and there are a couple of other cabins nearby where some of our friends stay. We do have a lot of pets. Simon’s wife Zoe started collecting all kinds of little animals a few months ago, before she had her daughter. So now there are bunnies and squirrels and cats and dogs and even some birds running around.”

Francine made an “oooh” sound and Jada smiled, feeling exhausted but at least a little hopeful. They’d always wanted pets, had begged for them, but in the end, the leopards didn’t keep pets. They raised animals for food, so it was better not to get attached or even bother to name them. Francine leaned on her elbows, looking down at the phone’s glowing screen. “She has a baby now?”

“Yep. A little baby girl. She’ll keep you up all night crying, though.”

“I like babies,” Francine said, confident and composed. “I used to take care of a bunch of them. I can take care of her baby, if you let me stay. I’ll make sure she doesn’t cry. I know a lot of tricks.”

Ethan didn’t answer right away, and Jada’s heart clogged her throat. God, please let him be kind like Cooper. Please don’t break her heart.

After a very long time, Ethan said gently, “Honey, you’re going to stay here as long as you want and you don’t have to do anything at all. Well, just play and maybe go to school. We won’t even make you do the dishes.”

Francine’s eyes got round and she sat up to look at Jada. “Did you hear that?”

“I did,” Jada said. She pushed to her feet and limped over to the bed, mustering a smile. “That’s what Cooper said, isn’t it?”

The younger girl squinted at the phone once more. “You’re sure? I’m real good with babies, and I can do dishes and laundry and chop wood and mop the floors and—”

“I’m very sure,” Ethan said, a little more firmly. “You just get to be a kid.”

“Kids do all the work,” Francine said. She gave Jada an exasperated look. “Especially kids like me, since I don’t have any parents or brothers or sisters or anything. I’m just a burden on the rest of the family, so I’ve gotta work hard to pay my keep. I promise I’m a hard worker.”

Cooper groaned and started to growl, lifting his head to look at her. Jada and Francine both froze, bracing for another bear-in-charge moment. Instead, Cooper’s arm moved slowly up to squeeze Francine’s ankle, very gently, and he huffed an irritated noise. “You’re not a burden. You could never be a burden.”

Ethan’s voice echoed through the phone, and though he sounded serious, his voice remained gentle. “I think what Cooper means, Miss Francine, is that you have a family now. You have five uncles and three aunts and a baby cousin who are just waiting to meet you. You and Jada. We are so happy you’re going to be with us.”

Francine’s eyes shone as she beamed at Jada, and Jada had to swallow a knot of tears before she could smile back. Part of her still didn’t want to trust that strangers could be so kind, but Cooper managed to move his arm so he could lace his fingers with hers. He, at least, meant it.

Jada took a shaky breath and squeezed Cooper’s hand. “Okay. Let’s get back to work.”

“Don’t forget the rum,” Francine said, pointing to the bottle and the tweezers.

Cooper swiped the bottle and tipped it into his mouth, taking several gulps before Jada managed to pry it out of his hand. “We need that.”

He grimaced but still managed to wink at her. “So do I, babe.”

“Settle down,” Ethan said through the phone. “Ready to go, Jada?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking if I’m ready to go?” Cooper put his head down on the towel again, sighing, and Francine patted his shoulder.

“We’re ready,” Francine said.

Jada could practically hear Ethan smiling. “Great.”

She reached for the tweezers and almost wished that Cooper were still unconscious, because at least then she wouldn’t worry about hurting him too much. She said a quick prayer and leaned over his back, gesturing for Francine to hold the lamp up again. “Two more to go.”