Daisy clung to Cyrus’s back as he galloped through the forest. The wind blew against her face and through her hair as they galloped. Cyrus charged through the forest, narrowly missing tree limbs and branches that slapped her face and legs as she clung to him. Fifi barked in her carrier. Bullets followed behind them as Cyrus ran. Howling followed close behind.

Cyrus growled in response, picking up his already fast pace. She didn’t know how long he would be able to keep it up. He had left his shotgun behind in the cabin and they were defenseless except for his grizzly.

Cyrus climbed upwards, she saw the peak of Fate Mountain in the distance as he barreled toward the place where her stepfather had landed his helicopter.

“Why are you going this way?” she pleaded.

He growled and continued. Gunshots fired in the distance, growing fainter. She tried to comfort Fifi and herself.

“I think we lost them,” she said.

Cyrus continued to barrel through the forest at top speed. She could feel heat and his fatigue under her legs and knew that he must be exhausted from running so hard for so long. As the night fell he came to a stop and she slid from his back, taking her crate with him. The forest was dark and the wind howled through the trees. It was so cold and the snow was gathering around them. Cyrus shifted beside her and put on his clothes.

“What are we going to do?” she asked, through chattering teeth.

“I have to keep you warm. I will shift and lie beside you through the night.”

“How much further is it back to town?”

“At least another day.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” she said.

“I’m going to take care of you,” he said, looking her straight in the eye. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“I have an idea,” she said cautiously. “It might help.”

“What is it?”

“What if you…” She hesitated.

“It’s okay, Daisy. You can trust me.”

“What if you turned me? Then I could help you fight.”

“I’m not going to do that. I won’t put you in danger.”

“I’m already in danger.”

“I can’t…”

“I’m not as weak as you think I am.”

“I know you aren’t weak, Daisy,” he said, leveling his gaze at her.

“Then you’ll do it?”

He let out a long sigh and looked at the ground. He rubbed his bearded chin and looked back at her.

“I’ll change you. If that’s what you really want. I’m not going to ask you to fight these men. Your first shift will be hard and you will still be a fledgling shifter after the change. You won’t have full control of your abilities. You won’t be a match for these men.”

“You’ll shift me then?”

“I will.”

“Okay then. We should do it now, before night holds.”

She opened the neck of her shirt and exposed her jugular to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. Her eyes were tightly closed, and she didn’t see him move in on her. His sharp teeth bit through her skin, right where he had bitten her to claim her. Pain sliced through her body as the changing venom seeped into her blood. She couldn’t feel or think, all she could do was stare up through the canopy of the forest into the clear, cold blue sky. He pumped her full of the venom, and then he let her go. Her eyes widened, bulging. She clenched her neck with her hand.

She hadn’t expected the feeling to be so immediate. There was something new, growing inside her. Clawing forward from deep within the belly of her mind. Somewhere in the fragments of her were the tiny seeds of a grizzly bear. On shaky legs, it pawed forward, coming clearer behind the screen of her eyes. Cyrus gathered her into his arms and licked the wound on her neck until it closed.

“Are you all right?” he asked, tenderly. “How do I make it work?” she asked.

“You focus on your inner bear and you invite her to come out. Then you will see the world as I do. As I am growing to see. Now that I’ve given you the changing bite, I know how much I want to share this world with you, Daisy.”

His words grew fuzzy and distant. She could feel the young grizzly growing stronger and stronger, its face emerging in her view. She felt as if she could almost reach out and touch it. Cyrus was there as well, linked inside her mind through their pair bond. He encouraged her grizzly with the voice of his own, growling inside her mind.

The psychic connection was almost too much to bear. Nothing had prepared her for this. She’d had a vague idea of what shifters lives were like, but she couldn’t have anticipated the amount of information she could now access with this new sense. It bonded her to Cyrus and opened up the world. The grizzly sat at the back of her eyes asking to come out, and Daisy opened her eyes again and looked up at Cyrus.

“I should take off my clothes,” she said with a small giggle.

Fifi was barking in her carrier and Daisy’s grizzly grunted at the little dog’s energy.

Cyrus watched Daisy intently as she stepped back, nude and shivering in the cold.

“I’m going to let her out,” she said, holding her arms out at her sides.

Daisy focused on her grizzly, and closed her eyes tight. She felt the beast emerging from within, clawing out of the darkness, to be born into the world of light. With a gasping breath, her body broke apart. The pain was white-hot and pounding as her bones were broken and reformed in an instant. Her body stood on four legs, her panting breath hanging in the cold night air. She looked at Cyrus in the moonlight.

“I’m coming with you,” he said.

In an instant, he was standing beside her in his massive grizzly form. As soon as Cyrus took shape as a grizzly, Daisy felt the whole new world evolve inside her. She felt sounds and vibrations all around her. She groaned and looked at Cyrus, nuzzling her nose into the crook in his neck. She wanted him to know how moving it was. She wanted to experience more.

Her heart pounding and her spirit high, Daisy turned with a smile and galloped through the trees. Birds sprang up from the bushes in the winter forest. A squirrel scurried up a tree. She felt her and Cyrus’s hearts singing in harmony. The smell of pine needle crunching under her feet mixed with the scent of leaves decaying into the soil. She felt such a thrill at this connection to the vitality of the earth. With Cyrus, she could now feel this all the time.

He barreled through the woods beside her and little Fifi appeared beside her in the forest. She must have gotten loose from her crate. She stopped in a clearing, panting in the cold air, the stars shone above and the deep purple sky. Fifi jumped and wagged her little tail. Cyrus grunted beside her and nuzzled against her affectionately. The moon rose overhead and the trio rested under the cool blue shades of the night. An owl hooted in the woods in the distance, the song of the autumn forest echoing in her ears.

Fifi ran off, barking at something in the distance. Daisy growled and gave chase, her heart pounding with worry. Cyrus followed her, growling with concern. Cyrus veered away, sending Daisy the impression of a shifter. Daisy growled, picking up the pace and pursuit of her little dog. Daisy came up short, stopping dead in her tracks. On the other side of a muddy ravine, stood her stepfather. He held little Fifi in his hands.

“Such a good little dog. Now, Daisy, why don’t you be a good little girl too?”