Jada made it ten more feet before someone grabbed her and pulled her up short, and she cried out in pain as her shoulder wrenched.

The person muttered, “Sorry about that,” and the voice sounded familiar though she couldn’t place it.

Then memory rushed back and she almost sobbed with relief. “Ethan?”

“The very same,” he said, still cheerful, and hugged her tight. “Glad we found you. Good job delaying them. Kira’s going to take you back to our SUV so we can get you out of here.”

Jada set her heels. “We can’t leave Cooper. I’m not going to leave Cooper.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Ethan said. Even though she couldn’t see anyone else in the darkness, she didn’t doubt that the rest of Cooper’s friends were there.

“No,” Jada said. She clenched her jaw as her teeth wanted to chatter, and held up her hands so he could see the cuffs. “Take these off and then I’m going back for Cooper. I’m tired of people telling me what to do.”

“They’ve got weapons,” Ethan said quietly. He called to someone over his shoulder, and a young woman carrying bolt cutters appeared to wink at Jada and clip the chain between the cuffs. “That’s the best we can do for now. We don’t have any lock picks with us, but we can get the cuffs off as soon as we’re back at Max’s house. But it’s too dangerous for you to stay here, Jada. Kira will take you back to the house and we can sort everything out there.”

Jada took a deep breath and backed up. “No. I’m going back for him. I don’t care if it’s dangerous. It’s my fault he’s in this mess, and I’m going to help get him out of it.”

A burly man with dark hair and a thick beard appeared out of nowhere and made Jada jump. But he smiled as he squeezed her shoulder. “I’m Simon. It’s nice to finally meet you, Jada. Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She tried to imitate Cooper’s irritated face. “And we’re wasting time arguing about it. Can’t you hear that?”

The sounds of fighting, grunting and groaning and the dull thud of fists hitting flesh, reached them through the night. Simon started giving orders and everyone dispersed, though he remained close by Jada’s side as they slunk closer to the small puddle of light from the truck.

Jada held her breath as she saw Cooper, covered in blood, wrestling and fighting with his brother. Simon held her back, murmuring, “We outnumber them. We just need to make sure that they don’t shoot Cooper. Just wait, and—”

She was done with waiting. Jada waited until his attention drifted to the fight, then shot forward. Her knees knocked and her hands shook but she was tired of being afraid. If she didn’t want anyone else making decisions for her, she had to make decisions for herself. And she wasn’t going to let Cooper get hurt for one more second.

She skidded into the light and snapped, “Everyone stop.”

Cooper whirled, his face frozen in horror, and his brother landed a right hook on his jaw that dropped Cooper to the ground. The wolves jumped forward to try and grab her, and Ace reached for his rifle once more. Jada stayed out of their grip and shouted over the growls and snarls as Simon and his people created a ring around everyone else. “Just fucking stop for a second.”

Someone fired a pistol in the air, and the confident young woman who’d clipped the handcuff chain stepped forward, saying coolly, “Listen to her. All of you.”

Jada nodded to her, wanting to thank her and hide in terror at the same time. She crouched next to Cooper to check on him, but he’d already started to shake off the disorientation from his brother’s punch. He seized her, holding her tight to his chest, and whispered, “I thought I’d lost you. I thought I wouldn’t see you again and I wouldn’t be able to apologize and it would kill me if you thought—”

“Just be quiet for a second,” she said. He rambled to a halt, his eyes still flashing gold as the grizzly remained close to the surface, and Jada took a deep breath. She faced Simon and Ethan and the other bears, though she leaned back against Cooper. “They think they’re rescuing me. They wanted to take me to Canada.”

Cooper started growling again, and Jada reached back to pat his arm. His arms tightened around her waist and he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling deeply until Jada thought he might have swallowed half of her ponytail. Jada rolled her eyes and concentrated on getting the right words in the right order. “They’ve been kidnapping women and children from the bears and leopards to rescue them from the compounds, then taking them to Canada so they can get educated and free. Cooper’s brother thought they would do the same for me, since they thought I’d married Cooper against my will and didn’t want to go with him. They think he’s not going to let me go when we reach... wherever we’re going.”

“I’m never letting you go,” Cooper muttered.

His brother’s eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed as he leaned forward. “You son of a bitch, how could you—”

“Stop,” Jada said, holding up her hand to cut him off. “I swear to God, I’m so tired of this bullshit. I’ve had enough of people telling me what I want and what’s good for me and what I’m supposed to do. I don’t need to be rescued. By any of you. I’m making my own decisions now.”

She turned and poked Cooper in the chest. “And that includes you. I’m making my own choices. If I want to leave, I’ll leave. Get it?”

He stared at her, speechless, for an eternity. Then he grumbled and squeezed her hand. “But you’re my mate. I’m not…not whole without you. I need you to complete me, Jada. You’re what I’ve been searching for. I traveled the world and didn’t know why, I didn’t know what I was looking for, but... it was you. It was always you.”

She blinked as she stared up at him, her mouth dry and her heart racing and everyone else in the world fading to nothing. His mate? How could he know? When did he know?

His expression softened and his thumb ran gently over her cheek in a caress that made her close her eyes and turn her face into his touch. Cooper murmured, “I love you. I’ll do anything for you. Anything. Everything. Whatever you want.”

Jada couldn’t speak. She could hardly breathe. She’d never dreamed of finding a mate, of knowing the other half of her soul waited at home for her. “I don’t…how did you know?”

“Max locked up me in the infirmary,” Cooper said, still touching her cheek. “And all I could think about was you. Getting to you. Seeing you. Holding you. When I got free and saw that you’d been taken, that you’d disappeared—I lost my mind. The bear took over. All we could think of was finding you, saving you. Keeping you close. Of course you’re my mate. Even when I’m an idiot and don’t deserve your forgiveness, you forgave me. I hope you can forgive me again.”

Someone coughed.

Jada flushed, abruptly aware that they had a significant audience. Ethan and the rest of his friends grinned, though Cooper’s brother and his wolves were far less entertained. Jada stepped back, clearing her throat. “That’s…good to know.”

Cooper blinked and straightened, his mouth hanging open.

She patted at her hair and wished her face would stop burning. “We need to get back to the house. I want to check on Francine. And it’s really cold out and if we’re going to figure out what the hell to do, I’d rather do it inside with hot cocoa and a fire than out here. And you.” She poked Cooper in the chest again before cutting her gaze over to where his brother glowered at them all. “You need to talk to your brother and figure out what the hell happened and how you’re going to fix this relationship.”

“It’s not—” Cooper started, just as his brother gave a dismissive grunt and turned away.

Jada scowled at them both. “You were both trying to do the right thing, though you did it in weird ways. If you stand a chance of solving the actual problem—which is your father, apparently—pull your heads out of your asses and talk to each other.”

Ace folded his arms over his chest. “We should have left the tape over your mouth, Jada.”

Cooper growled. “Watch your mouth, cub.”

“Don’t you—”

Jada rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to confront Simon. “Do you have a car?”

The big bear raised his eyebrows, apparently having trouble keeping up with her, then slowly pointed back and to his right. “Uh, yes. Right over there.”

“Good.” Jada started walking. “I’m going back to the house. I don’t care what you two do. Maybe the wolves should stay in the barracks near Max’s house so they can figure out how we can all work together to get more people away from my awful family. I don’t know where I’m going after that, but it sure as hell isn’t Canada.”

Kira jumped to walk with her, and the rest of the bears looked at each other before shrugging and lumbering back to their cars. Only Simon remained next to Cooper, bristling as the wolves started to close in around them. Jada fumed as she jumped into the car, but after Kira started up the SUV and they started bumping over the rough terrain, Jada’s adrenaline crashed and every part of her shook in panic. 

She’d yelled at bears and wolves and Cooper’s brother and Cooper. She’d threatened them. And Cooper said she was his mate. His mate. Kira wordlessly offered a bottle of water, not commenting on Jada’s trembling hands as she reached for it.

“Breathe easy,” Kira said quietly. Jada thanked her lucky stars that Ethan was the only other person in the car, lounging in the back and not saying a word, and took Kira’s advice. “In through your nose, out through your mouth. We’ll be back at the house in a few minutes. Everyone is fine—we already checked in with Eve and her daughter. Francine was a little scared but she’s fine and making sandwiches for everyone.”

Jada managed a smile and made herself sit back in the seat, resisting the urge to look back at where the headlights from the wolves’ truck grew smaller and smaller. “Great.”

Hopefully Cooper and his brother sorted out their issues quickly. She wanted to hear more about how Cooper planned to beg her forgiveness.