Maria shifted suddenly and found herself outside the mouth of her cave. She didn't know how long she'd been gone or how long she'd been out. The amnesia from her shift was severe and impenetrable. But at least her animal had let her out near her home. Maria scrambled to her feet and hurried into the dark cave. She rustled through her collection of clothing and found the warmest outfit she had.

Relief washed through her at the realization her animal had eaten recently and had not left her starving in the cold again. She hurried to the fire and began to build it up, quickly filling the cave with its warm glow. She sat beside the fire and tried to collect herself. That's when she finally realized that Buck's scent was all around her. It wasn't very old, maybe half a day. She had just missed him. She growled at herself to find that she had run away from him yet again.

The day at the hot spring she had been ready to go all the way with him. He had given her more pleasure that she could even comprehend. In the moment of release, her lioness reared her ugly head in fear and lashed out at Maria's love. She'd scratched Buck across the face and run away in her feral form. The last thing she remembered was the look of betrayal and hurt in his eyes.

She couldn't keep doing that to him. In the morning, she decided she would go away and never come back. She couldn't keep living on Buck's land and hurting him like this. She still didn't have any control over her lion. Until she did, she could never be the woman Buck needed.

She was broken, damaged goods. She hadn't gained any control during her time on the mountain, and it was time she came to accept that. She had been silly and selfish to think that if she just stuck it out a while longer, she could someday have Buck and the life that he promised.

She never wanted to see that look in his eyes again and know that she was the cause of it. It hurt too much. An owl hooted in the dark outside her cave and she shivered under her thick parka. She made herself a cup of coffee from the grounds Buck had left and settled in for a long night of solitude.

She couldn't sleep, even if she tried, and didn't even want to. She sipped the bittersweet brew and let out a long sigh, resigned to her fate as a solitary broken shifter. She didn't know where she would go or what she would do next.

All she knew was that she needed to get away from here, and she needed to stop hurting Buck. He should find someone else to help him and take care of him the way he deserved. She knew that most shifters only wanted their fated mates, and she knew she could never love anyone else but Buck.

But Alex Terry certainly hadn't cared that she wasn’t his mate. Just as she thought of Alex Terry and the night he’d bitten her, she heard a branch crack in the woods. She looked up and there was a dark figure standing in the mouth of her cave. His face was covered by the hood of his jacket. His scent filled her nostrils and she scrambled backwards.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

Alex Terry, the feral lion, walked into her cave with a strange light in his eyes, a cruel smile on his lips, hands open as if in surrender. Maria scrambled to her feet and faced him.

“How did you find me?” she snapped.

“Your boyfriend is very bad at covering his tracks. I’ve known that you were matched since the night I bit you. Don’t you remember? I saw the results on your Mate.com app.” He paused, letting it sink in that she didn’t remember. “Then he bought female outdoor clothing from the camping store the day everyone from the Bright Institute was out searching for you. I know that they are out searching for you again now, everywhere but Timber Bear Ranch. All I had to do was put two and two together. I investigated the edge of the Timber Bear Ranch property and smelled the campfire. Lo and behold, here you are.”

“Why did you come here?” Maria asked.

She wished her lioness would protect her now as this evil man stared her down in the one place she thought she was safe.

“Because Maria,” he started, walking further into her cave. He sat down at the fire and crossed his legs, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Maria stood on the other side of the cave, staring at him as he enjoyed her coffee.

“This is delicious,” he said. “Did Buck bring it to you?”

“That's none of your business.”

“But it is my business, Maria. I chose you. I want you.”

“I told you a thousand times that I am not your fated mate. That's the whole reason I signed up for Mate.com and found Buck in the first place. I wanted to prove to you that we do not belong together. You are a shifter. Why can't you get that through your head?” she demanded.

“I don't care about things like fated mates, Maria. I want you for everything that you are.”

“Why would you want me? I’m an orphan. I used to get beat up on every day in my old neighborhood. Then I was kidnapped by human traffickers. I’m a mess. Why do you that?”

“Because Maria. You and all of your broken parts are exactly what I desire.”

“What's the matter with you?” she asked.

He stood suddenly, his eyes blazing with his inner animal. His lips curled back to expose sharp white teeth. He approached her, the scent of his animal flowing off him in waves. She felt his dominance radiate against. It was brutal, sadistic and unkind. She could barely stand. Her inner lioness was nowhere to be found.

“You want me because I'm damaged?” she said as he stood before her, his teeth clenched and his lips curled back. He stared down into her with wild, yellow eyes.

“Yes,” he whispered. “That's exactly what I want. I love how broken you are. Unlike your boyfriend, Buck, I don't want to put you back together. I want to break you down more and more and more. I want to see how far you can go. That's why I put the lion inside you. Now you're exactly where I want you. And I’ll never let you go again.”

“You're insane!” Maria screamed.

“Sanity is just a human concept. I don't follow human standards. I follow my own.”

“You don't follow shifter standards either. You have no honor,” she snapped, knowing the kind of man her true mate was, and the kind of honor that he had shown her.

“What makes you think that all shifters are like the Kincaids?” he scoffed, grabbing her arm.

“Because I know plenty of shifters who are,” she yelled as he yanked her through the cave.

In human form, Alex was much stronger than Maria. She was powerless to resist him. He pulled her out of her cave just as the morning sunlight was starting to creep over the mountains.

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded.

“I need to show you something, Maria.”

He continued pulling her through the forest and up a steep grade. They finally came out into a clearing and walked out to a drop off over a cliff. The drop was hundreds of feet and the mountains stretched out before her in the distance.

“What do you see, Maria?” Alex asked her, standing behind her with his arms gripping her biceps.

His fingers bit cruelly into her skin and she tried to elbow him in the stomach with no results. She begged her inner lioness to come out and protect her. But the beast was subdued. She felt a tear slide down her cheek. Why was she so weak and out of control? Why couldn't she just stand up for herself and what she believed in?

“I asked you what you see?” he whispered in her ear.

“I see Fate Mountain, the hills, and the forests in the valley below.”

“What else do you see?” he asked, his hot breath wafting across her face.

“I see a cliff. And the long fall.”

Alex kicked some rocks over the ledge and they fell. The crash below wasn't even audible.

“That's right, Maria,” he said. “Now it's time for you to ask yourself. What matters more: your life, or some silly ideas about honor, fate, and soulmates?”

“I already know the answer to that,” Maria said, pressing her eyes closed and taking a deep breath.

Her life mattered very little if she didn't have her principles. If she didn't have hope or something to believe in, she might as well throw herself off this cliff right now and end it all.

When she opened her eyes, she was ready to tell Alex all of that but she stopped short. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of movement. She looked in that direction just in time to see Buck’s grizzly barreling into the clearing.

He ran so fast that he smacked into Alex Terry, who was forced to let go of Maria. She tumbled to the side, almost slipping dangerously close to the ledge, but she managed to scramble away. She got to her feet as Alex shifted and turned on Buck’s grizzly.

The lion and the grizzly faced each other. Alex lunged at Buck. Buck threw him back. They fought and clawed at each other. Buck was far bigger and stronger. But Alex was filled with some insane power that fueled him with frenzy.

Alex jumped onto Buck’s back and positioned himself to bite down on the grizzly's neck. Maria felt her lioness come forward from deep within. The animal offered herself in that moment, completely surrendered to Maria's human mind and power.

Maria took a long, gasping breath that was cut off by her shift. She ripped out of her clothing and jumped into the fray, immediately knocking Alex Terry off of Buck’s back before he could bite down on her mate's neck. Buck looked at her in surprise and she nodded at his grizzly, letting him know that she was there and in control.

She would remember this first moment of control for the rest of her life. The distraction gave Alex just enough time to jump at Buck again, but Maria lunged at him first, biting and clawing at the rogue lion.

There was a chaos of claws and fangs and growls and bites as the three of them fought on the mountaintop. Buck drew back, pulling up onto his hind legs in a huge display of power and dominance. He landed back on the ground with a ferocious bellow that forced Alex backwards. As Alex regrouped and went for another pounce at Buck, Maria lunged at him, forcing him backwards as hard as she could. Buck charged forward and smacked the lion.

Alex sprang at Maria and she slashed at him with the last of her strength, slicing him across the face. The lion twisted and fell, catching himself on the ledge with his claws. Buck shifted quickly and tried to reach out a hand for the falling lion.

Alex’s lion lost his grip just before Buck could grab his paw. He fell down to the bottom of the cliff, hundreds of feet below. Maria walked forward in her lion form and shifted right at the ledge. She stood naked in the wind as the blue sky scratched overhead. Buck stood beside her and they stared silently at the body that had fallen below.

“He's gone,” Maria said softly.

“He'll never bother you again,” Buck said, reaching out to hold her hand.

“Can we go home now?” Maria asked.

“I thought you'd never ask.”