Cyrus woke the next morning, feeling hung over and fuzzy. Slowly, the day before came back to him, and he looked up to find Daisy above him, her back to a tree and her eyes closed. She held his head in her lap, and her hand gently stroked his brow. His fuzzy memories began to reemerge. He’d been shot five times and Daisy had removed the bullets. He passed out from the pain before she’d finished. He looked down at his chest, the bullet holes were only faint marks. It still hurt, and he wasn’t fully recovered, but at least he could get on his feet and get his lady back to safety. He reached up and cupped her cheek, wanting to wake her softly and gently.

“Daisy?”

Her eyes popped open and she gasped at him.

“Cyrus! You’re awake. I was so worried.”

She flung herself over him and wrapped him in her arms. He felt her love pouring out of her in that moment and there was no greater feeling in the world.

“Let’s get you back to Timber Bear Ranch,” he said.

“What about the others? I tied my stepdad up to a tree with his own suit.”

“Left all mine unconscious. I’ll report them to the Bear Patrol as soon as we get back to town.”

They both quickly shifted, with Fifi at their feet, and began to barrel through the forest toward home. Cyrus wanted to get Daisy to safety as quickly as possible. They made it back to Timber Bear Ranch as the afternoon sun was fading into evening. The two grizzlies and the little Yorkshire Terrier walked down the gravel road and stopped in the wide gravel yard in front of the farmhouses. Leland was the first to emerge from the main house with his mate Sylvia behind him with their cub in her arms.

“Cyrus?” Leland asked, stepping quickly down the porch steps to join him in the yard.

Buck came out of the front door of his house, squinting in the evening sunlight at the grizzlies before them.

“Did you find your mate?” Buck asked Cyrus.

“Maybe we should get her something to wear,” Sylvia said.

She hurried back into the house and came back a moment later with several large blankets. She draped one over Daisy’s back and the other over Cyrus. With a grunt, he shifted, gathering the blanket up around him before he stood to his full human height. Daisy did the same thing by his side. Fifi ran to Sylvia and started bouncing and barking at her. Sylvia knelt down and pet the little dog with a giggle.

“Who’s this?” she asked with a smile.

“That’s Fifi,” Daisy said,

“And I’m going to need to make a phone call,” Cyrus said.

Everyone moved into Leland’s house, and Daisy and Cyrus sat down on the couch to rest.

“Cyrus,” Buck said as he stood near the fireplace. “You were shot.”

“I was shot five times. Three bullets lodged in my chest. But Daisy was able to remove them.”

Everyone looked at Daisy and Cyrus saw the blood rise in her cheeks.

“I did. I even used my grizzly claw.”

“I’ll get the phone,” Leland said moving to the kitchen.

Leland came back a moment later with a cordless phone that he handed it to Cyrus.

“I’m guessing there’s quite a story here.” Buck said.

Sylvia passed through the room with her little one in her arms: a cub of about two years old. It made Cyrus long for child of his own. After what he and Daisy had been through today, the idea of keeping his family secluded in the woods was no longer as attractive to him. He wanted to give his mate a comfortable life where she could be happy, and be close to the people who made life worth living.

“What’s the number for the Fate Mountain Police?” he asked, the phone in his hands.

Leland gave him the number and Cyrus quickly dialed it.

“Can I speak with the chief of police? This is Cyrus Kincaid. I have a crime to report.”

“One moment please,” said the operator.

A moment later a gruff male voice answered the phone. “This is Cmdr. Rollo Morris. What can I do for you, Cyrus?”

“My mate and I were attacked on the mountain by her stepfather and his hired goons. We took them down but were unable to restrain them. My guess is that they are still roaming the mountain. We need some of your men to go out and take them down.”

“We’re on our way.”

Cyrus hung up the phone and looked up at his brothers.

“Now you want to tell us what’s going on?” Buck asked.

The sound of a baby crying echoed through the baby monitor in Buck’s back pocket.

“I need to get Joy. Maria is still giving a lecture at the Institute. I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t start your story until I get back.”

Buck hurried out of the farmhouse and Sylvia handed their cub to Leland.

“I’m sure to you two are starving,” she said. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

Sylvia disappeared in the kitchen and Leland sat on the armchair across from the ancient red velvet sofa where Daisy and Cyrus sat.

Buck walked through the front door of the farmhouse with a baby strapped to his chest, and paced back and forth in front of the fireplace that was crackling with a warm fire, bouncing his baby up and down his arms. A moment later there was a knock at the door. Leland went to answer it. A man in a police uniform walked through the front door.

“I’m Commander Rollo Morris. I’m here to take your statement.”

“Why don’t you start, Daisy?” Cyrus prompted, holding her hand.

“It all started about a week ago when my stepfather informed me that he had arranged my marriage to the leader of a hyena clan. Now, I knew this shifter was not my fated mate. I didn’t understand why a shifter would want to marry a woman who wasn’t his fated mate. But none of that stopped the hyena or my stepfather. He told me to pack a bag and get ready to go. So, I packed up my things and my little dog Fifi. We got in a helicopter and flew to Fate Mountain. There was supposed to be a handoff between my stepfather and the hyena pack. He was giving me up in exchange for a shipment of crystal. But when my stepfather inspected the shipment, he found that there was less in the container than he had expected. There was a shootout and I ran away.

“I walked all day, carrying my dog, and finally found a cabin in the woods. I was greeted by Cyrus, and it didn’t take long for us to realize we were fated mates. But then we were attacked by my stepfather’s men.”

“And a wolf shifter named Pierce Evert.”

“They chased us out of the cabin, and we took to the forest. I convinced Cyrus to change me so I could help him fight them. I took down my stepdad and Cyrus took down the rest. But then he was wounded.”

“Daisy pulled the bullets out and we hurried back to the ranch as soon as I was healed enough to walk.”

“We’ll bring them in,” Rollo said, closing up his note pad.