Thwack! Another branch whacked me in the forehead as I ran to catch up with the older couple. The Greenhavens, Aly had called them. They were moving faster than I expected through the trees. It was as if the branches were moving out of their way. I felt a sharp sting as another branch whacked me. What the hell? My wolf made me sure-footed and quick among the trees, and I never ran into branches when I ran, in either form.

I jerked to the side as another branch suddenly smacked me in the arm. Were the trees around here possessed? Surely the fae wasn't doing this to me on purpose?

"You need to be more careful or you might injure my trees," the older woman said coldly.

"Petunia, be nice," the older man said.

"I am, Peter."

That was when I knew for certain that the branches were moving out of their way, but not mine. In fact, they were definitely targeting me. Aly's new grandmother was attacking me with trees.

I moved a few paces to the side. The branches finally quit assaulting me after Peter gave Petunia another look, something between disappointment and amusement. I kept my attention scanning back and forth, looking for threats.

My wolf paced restlessly inside me, torn between protecting my child and defending Aly. I hadn't wanted to leave her behind, alone, but she seemed confident she would be fine. My wolf pushed at the back of my mind, still uneasy.

The look on Aly's face flashed in my mind and I suddenly realized what had her so agitated. Her expression when she first saw them hadn't been the look of a woman who saw someone from her past. No, it had been the look of someone who saw something they feared from their past.

My tension relaxed a touch when I saw the house ahead. I only hoped it was our destination. Anxiety clawed at me over the thought that Aly was in danger. That she stood the line so I could get our child to safety. I should have stayed and made her go with Ana instead.

I had tried, but I felt like I could have tried harder. What could I have done though? Thrown her over my shoulder? I knew I needed to hurry and get back to make sure she was okay. If she was in trouble, I would be there to help. No matter what.

I pointed to the house ahead. "Is that where you're headed?" I asked the couple.

"Sure is," Peter said cheerfully.

He seemed so untroubled, I almost wondered if he was aware of the danger. Although, I wasn't even quite sure what the danger was myself. It felt serious, and that was all I needed to know. I had to get back to Aly.

"I think Aly's in trouble," I told them as I yanked my shirt over my head. "But I can't leave you defenseless—"

"We are not defenseless," Petunia said in a frigid voice. "We were not followed either. You may return to Alysse's aid."

The absolute confidence and command in her tone froze any questions I might have had. Seconds later, my clothes were in a pile and I was in my wolf form. I ran ahead of them, casting for any scents. I made a wide circle around them. Nothing. Just to be on the safe side, I ran around the house. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't make sure my daughter was safe.

No strange scents caught my attention. I ran back around to the front of the house, then paused as I studied the approaching older couple for a moment. I was trusting my child's life in their hands.

Petunia was definitely a strong fae and Peter struck me as the sort of man to have firearms, so I knew Ana would be safe. Besides, Aly trusted them. That meant I could, too.

I would always stand by her side and trust her judgment. Without further hesitation, I bolted into a run. I needed to go help Aly.

I ran back to where I left Aly to pick up her scent, then I was hot on her trail. It was easy to find her and the two males from her old pack. One clearly held the scent of excitement and lust. I snarled. He wouldn't touch her.

I heard the distinct sound of Aly growling. My blood raced through my veins. They were fighting. I had to get to her. As I moved through the trees, I saw the shape of two people and a cougar. I could tell one of the human shapes was Aly.

A combination of a growl and a bark tore out of me as I raced forward, my ears tight to my head. I skidded to a halt and stood so I was between Aly and the man and the cougar. My lips pulled back as I let out a series of snarls and growls, showing my sharp canines. They froze in place.

"Ben, what the hell?" Aly's outraged voice rang above my snarls. "Get out of here, you moron. You're supposed to be with Ana."

My only response was to flick an ear at her. All my focus was on my opponents. I sized them up. They looked like bullies—all bark and no bite. It was possible I could scare them off. Avoid too big of a fight.

Aly was still talking, but her voice faded to background noise. I wasn't listening to what she said, only her tone. She was angry. Good. Angry was better than afraid. Time for some action.

I didn't want to give the cougar the chance to make the first move. He was standing next to the man, snarling at us from several feet away. Before anyone could figure out what I had planned, I charged the growling cougar.

He froze for a heartbeat, startled by my charge. He then started backing up, slashing out at me with his claws. I didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and continued to push forward.

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and saw the one who was human start to yank off his shirt. I spun and jumped at him. There was no way I wanted to battle two cougars. Before I reached him, the snarling cat landed in front of me, and it was my turn to be surprised as the cougar acted as a barrier between me and the man.

I quickly regrouped and let out an angry bark. I sprinted forward, startling the cat. He backpedaled, running into the man he was trying to protect and knocking him down. They tumbled to the ground, but the cat jumped to his feet and scrambled back. He moved awkwardly in a series of small hops and jumps to keep from stepping on the man.

The man rolled to the side to try to get out of the way, messing up the cougar's footing even more. Their confusion didn't stop me. I focused on the cat and chased him as he scrambled away from me.

I had no worries about stepping on the man as I moved forward. He'd either get out of the way of my claws or not. The only way to fight a cat was to keep close. Not let him use his claws. With this in mind, I didn't let him get any distance between us and continued to press forward.

He had to stop when he ran into the bushes behind him. I kept moving until there was almost no space between us. He swiped at me with his claws. I squinted my eyes to protect them as I moved in to clamp my teeth on his throat. He had nowhere to go to escape my attack, but he tried to defend himself. His claws scraped through my fur, and I felt a sting as they pierced my skin.

Aly's angry voice continued to flow around me. I wasn't sure if she was yelling at me or not. It didn't matter; I couldn't answer her. All I could do was fight.

The pitch of her voice suddenly changed, and as my jaw closed on the cat's throat, I focused on her to hear what was going on. The cougar frantically scrambled, clawing at me with his front paws. Then he dropped onto his back to try to rake at my belly. I applied pressure to his throat, cutting off his air.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh followed by a pained cry from Aly rang out. I unclamped my jaw from the cougar's neck and yanked my head away to see what had happened. Aly had a red mark on her cheek and blood trailed down from her lip.

Even with her head turned to the side, I could see the pained look on her face. As I watched, the man snapped a punch to her stomach and she bent over with a grunt, her head almost to her knees.

"Seriously? Again?" she cried out in anger.

My vision filmed over in red and I twisted away to go to Aly's aid. Before I could even take a step, she brought her hands up, fisted together. Using her momentum, she slammed her fisted hands up between the man's legs as she stood. She barked out a laugh as he let out a pained groan and cupped his injured manhood. His knees buckled, then he fell to the ground.

"Oh, come on, it's not like you ever used your balls anyway."

I winced in sympathy, even if he was my enemy. While I was distracted, the cougar slammed into me, knocking me to the ground, and I remembered the threat at hand. I twisted, trying to bite the cougar as it leapt onto my back. I heard a loud thump and felt the cougar jerk.

"Get the hell off him," Aly growled.

I wasn't going to make the mistake of taking my attention off the cougar again. There was another loud thump as a stone hit the cougar on the side of his head. Dazed, he tried to shake off the blow and that was the opening I needed. I twisted out from under him and spun around before I lunged forward.

He must have learned from his mistake because this time he dodged and managed to keep me from connecting.

I kept one ear tilted toward his partner. Aly must have knocked his balls into his stomach because he was still laying on the ground, moaning. The dodging cougar suddenly pivoted and leapt into the air to attack Aly.

I followed to intercept him, but I knew I would be too late. In my mind I saw Aly's lifeless body on the ground and my heart froze. Too late. I would be too late.

I moved as fast as I could, but watched as it played out in slow motion. Aly tried to dodge, but her foot caught on a stone and she stumbled. His paw shot out and connected with her head. Her head and shoulders twisted to the side and she collapsed under the cougar's body.

My claws dug into the dirt, yet I felt as if I wasn't even moving, even though I was running faster than I ever had before in my life. The surreal experience continued as I watched a tree branch reach down. It casually scooped up the cougar crouched on top of Aly, like a mother picking up a baby out of a stroller. The cat snarled, twisted, and clawed at the branch, to no avail.

I continued to run until I reached Aly's side, then skidded to a halt. Relief flooded through me when I saw her chest rise and fall evenly. It took a moment for me to register that she was okay. The cougar might have knocked her unconscious, but he hadn't killed her.

My most immediate concern relieved, I turned my attention back to the tree and stared in disbelief at the sight. I had never seen tree limbs, as flexible as if they were hands, pick up a person. A movement to the side caught my attention and I watched as the man Aly had turned into a soprano finally stumbled to his feet, his eyes wide. He stared at the cougar writhing in the branches. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

I glanced back at the branches. They didn't seem interested in me and they appeared to have the cougar under control, so I turned my attention to the other threat. I lowered my ears to my skull and growled at the man. He glanced at me, back at the branches, then at me again. He must have decided that I was the threat because he glared at me.

He was standing too close to Aly's prone form for my liking. I lowered my body closer to the ground and snarled again. My muscles tensed, ready to leap.

"Stupid wolf," the man seethed, "you're no match for a cat."

A moment later, he let out a startled scream as a branch picked him up, just like his companion. He started beating at the branch screaming, "Get it off! Get it off!"

I blinked in surprise at the sight, then my wolf huffed with laughter. Not so tough anymore, huh?

"What does he think that will accomplish?" a cold voice said next to me.

I jerked my head toward the voice with a growl and saw Petunia. The light breeze had been blowing in the wrong direction and I hadn't caught her scent. I should've known it was her, though.

Why wasn't she with Ana? I thought in a moment of panic. Why was she here?

"There is no need to growl at me, young man. You aren't in the tree, now are you?" She studied a nearby tree with quiet interest. "Although . . . I could remedy that."

I cautiously stood up from my crouch. The man continued to cry out in the branches while the cougar clawed at the bark as if he could dig his way to freedom.

"That is enough," Petunia said sharply. "Stop that at once. If you hurt my tree, I will inflict the same upon you three-fold."

Her snapped words broke through to the man and cougar. They looked at her fearfully.

I didn't care about them, though. I glanced over at Aly and saw she was still unconscious. I gave a worried whine before I looked back at Petunia next to me.

Petunia's eyes flickered to me, then to Aly. Her face softened slightly before she returned her attention to me. "The infant is fine. Peter is armed. While they are uninjured, I cannot say the same about you. How bad are your injuries?"

I raised my ears and waved my tail side-to-side, trying to tell her my injuries were minor.

"I see blood on your muzzle. Shift to your human form so I may assess your wounds."

My ears flattened to my head. I looked at the two prisoners in the tree branches. A low growl rumbled out of me. They still watched the older woman with terrified expressions. There was no way I would shift to my human form while they remained.

"Fine," Petunia said with a huff, "it is clear you will not be reasonable until I remove the threat."

I glanced at her and saw she was studying the man and cougar with a calculating expression. Something about it sent chills up my spine. It was the sort of look that told me she was not someone I wanted to cross.

"Listen to me, you silly men," she spoke sharply, "I am going to put you on the ground, upon which you will immediately vacate my property. If you do not, you will end up as permanent additions in my orchard."

The two men continued to watch her fearfully, but I also saw confusion in their eyes. They didn't seem to understand she was threatening to impale them on the branches and leave their corpses in the tree. Or maybe bury them in the roots. She let out a loud sigh, and I figured she must have come to the same conclusion I did.

"Go, now," she snapped.

The tree branches bent back and threw the man and cougar several feet away from us. They landed hard on the ground and shakily got to their feet before they turned to face us. The cougar lowered his ears to his head and crouched. I tensed, prepared for another fight, when a branch whipped out and smacked the cougar on the nose.

He pulled back and shook his head. Another branch lashed out and hit him in the chest. The man was getting the same treatment.

"C'mon, Robby, let's get out of here," the man said with one last angry look toward us. His expression quickly morphed to terrified when a branch pulled back, getting ready to smack him.

They turned and ran out of the orchard, with branches hitting them in the ass as they went. They cried out each time the branches connected. Once they were out of sight, I could still hear the snapping sound as the branches hit them, followed by yells of pain from the man and snarls from the cougar.

With the immediate threat gone, I shifted to my human form and bent down next to Aly, my back to Petunia.

"Why is she unconscious?" Petunia asked. "What did they do?"

"She took a hard blow to the head." I gently brushed a finger along the side of Aly's face. Her breathing was steady. As I watched, she took a deep breath and her eyes fluttered open.

She turned her head and looked at me, her expression clouded with confusion.

"Hey," I said softly, "how do you feel?"

"Like I got punched in the face," she replied in a groggy voice as she raised her arm to touch her bruised cheek.

"Bring her to my house," the older woman said. "We can administer first aid there."

I nodded and carefully picked Aly up. She was so groggy that she didn't even protest. She just put her head on my shoulder and took a deep breath.

"You smell good," she mumbled.

Her hand was warm on my bare chest. Somehow she managed to find a place to rest her hand where I hadn't been clawed. I wouldn't have moved it even if she had.

"You're going to be fine, Aly."

"You're so sweet," she replied with a faint slur. "And so, so warm. It's too bad you want to move away, huh?"

My heart clenched. The last thing I wanted was to be apart from her. I'd have to find a way to convince Aly of that.