Time crawled even as they rushed over the land, trees whizzing by them in a complete blur. They climbed in elevation, cutting across fields and forests. Hudson seemed to have good instincts, or maybe he just knew the woods really well, but he seemed to be finding paths through the woods that allowed them to stay on the snowmobile without having to veer off course too much. At least it didn’t feel like they were going in circles, but they were definitely in the backcountry, in places Tali had never been in all these months.

“We’re just about here,” she heard Hudson say over the whirring machine. When she looked around, she realized the trees were opening up into a wide clearing, and there were signs of human (or partly-human) life all around them. Nothing modern, but definitely human. Small wooden huts. A couple of smoldering fires, one with a cast iron pot hanging over it. A few animal skins hanging on wooden poles.

And there, up ahead...people. A couple dozen at least that she could see, standing around and watching something. A few seemed to hear the approach of the snowmobile and were turning around to look at them in surprise, though the rest seemed riveted. As Hudson pulled up behind them and brought the snowmobile to a halt, more turned around.

“Hudson?” she heard a few mutter in shock, but she was already leaping off and onto the snow. She heard the ferocious roaring before she could see anything happening. The people were standing too close together, and most of them were too tall. She ran and skidded to a stop, clapping a hand over her mouth in horror.

There were four massive bears standing in the middle of a circle full of people, all of whom seemed to be watching in a mix of fascination and horror.

It was horrible. There were three of them on him, on a bear she knew was Cole, one biting at his leg, jaws clamped down at it while the others seemed to be taking turns coming in to slash at him with their claws. He was bloodied, with several huge gashes over his back and torso that she could see. He was trying to turn, trying to block, but she could tell he was weak, exhausted.

Dying. It looked like he was dying.

“Hudson!” she screamed. He was right behind her. She felt him tap her lower back lightly before he charged forward, shoving past the crowd of onlookers.

“Ronin!” he shouted loudly, practically growling. “What the hell are you doing? Three against one? This is not our way!”

Tali looked ahead and could see that Hudson was running toward an elevated platform. Seated on a huge throne with a shaggy animal fur draped over it, a massive musk ox skull mounted on the broad back of it, was a grizzled, imposing figure who could only be Ronin. His hair was a dark, peppery color, more black than gray, long and wild. His eyes, even at a distance, were sharp, a piercing, pale color. Seated beside him was Sheena, on a smaller chair that seemed ornate as well.

“Well, this is a surprise. Didn’t expect I’d ever see you back here again, Quinlan. Not after you so readily walked away from your clan and took up with the humans,” Ronin said casually, looking at Hudson for a moment before flickering his eyes back to the fight.

“Ronin. This is not a fair fight. It’s not our way! Call them off!”

Ronin let out a hollow laugh, shaking his head. “You gave up the right to give orders around here a long time ago, Quinlan. The boy violated the terms of his exile. He murdered my son. He came back here. He has to die.”

“They’re toying with him,” Hudson growled, gesturing at the fight.

It was clear he was right. Cole was in horrible shape. The one bear had let go of his back leg, but now all three of them circled around him, taking turns swiping at him, forcing him to spin wildly to deflect, losing his strength. “It isn’t right. When one of us has to die, we do it quick and clean. That’s the way it’s always been. Shut it down!”

“No,” Ronin said plainly with a lazy shake of his head. “Don’t think I will.”

Hudson let out a roar of frustration, and a moment later he was transforming before her eyes, shifting into his bear form. He turned at once and bounded into the fray, diving onto the back of one of the bears, which cried out in pain as Hudson sunk his jaws into its flesh. He was the largest of the five of them, and as soon as he bit into the closest bear to him, it gave a roar of pain and let go of Cole, twisting back toward this new enemy.

Another among them seemed to realize something had changed and also abandoned the weakened Cole to come at Hudson, who was locked in combat.

If the third bear was aware of Hudson’s arrival, it made no obvious signs, or at least no signs that it cared. It seemed to realize the other two tormentors had abandoned the cause, and made a snort of annoyance, but it had no interest in leaving Cole.

Caid. That had to be Caid. He was slightly larger than the other two, and seemed to just...exude more hatred and evil. He wanted Cole dead. Nothing would stop him from making that happen.

Tali watched it all in horror. What had been one fight had broken off into two, and each one was more awful than the one before.

Hudson was strong, but the other two bears seemed connected, almost as if they could read each other’s minds. Their attacks seemed coordinated, and they moved in tandem, taking turns drawing heat and inflicting damage. Hudson was hurting them too, but not fast enough.

Cole, it seemed, had been given a burst of life at the arrival of Hudson, and charged at Caid with pure, vicious hatred now, being met with it in turn. Where the fight between Hudson and the Betas was tactical, with both sides using caution, intelligence as well as strength, the fight between Cole and Caid was raw, brutal, fueled entirely by rage on both sides.

It was happening so fast Tali could hardly keep track. A roar of pain from Cole drew her attention, and when she looked back to Hudson, she could see he’d somehow managed to kill one of the bears while she’d been watching Cole. She watched as the other bear gave a furious roar and dove at his throat, sinking its teeth in.

And then—what?

She looked back to Cole, just in time to see him ripping Caid’s throat out, spitting it in a heap. Tali gagged at the sight of it, even as relief flooded through her. Caid landed with a bloody thud, his torn throat splattering blood across the snow.

To her horror, she saw Cole stumble then and collapse. She tried to surge forward, but a hand grasped the back of her hood, holding her back.

“What are you doing, child? Keep back!” a weathered old lady croaked at her. “They’re still fighting.”

“He’s dying,” she gasped.

“And you will be too, if you get caught in the middle of that. You must wait,” she said, gripping her arm tight.

And so she did, painfully, aching inside as she watched Cole lying still on the snow.

Hudson was doing better now that he had only one opponent. He was hurt from before, but she didn’t think the final bear had landed a single blow since Hudson had taken down the other one. Meanwhile, Hudson was wearing it down.

The end was brutal, but not quick. She didn’t want to watch, but the alternative—listening to the awful sounds—was even worse.

She almost crumbled with relief when the last bear exhaled its final breath.

Hudson stood over it, bleeding, breathing heavily, but victorious. She watched him turn to Cole, who was laid out in the snow, very still. From here, she couldn’t tell if he was even breathing.

The woman with the crazy white hair and a weathered face had maintained a hold on her arm throughout the fight and was clinging to her with surprising strength.

Hudson lumbered over to Cole on all fours, but when he reached him, she saw him shift back into a person. He kneeled over the massive, still bear and place a gentle hand on its shoulder as Tali squirmed desperately. As Hudson touched him, she saw that Cole was shifting back into a man too, but other than that he was perfectly still.

“Let me go,” Tali insisted, growling it out through gritted teeth, struggling in the old woman’s vice-like grip.

“Not yet, child. It isn’t—”

“I have to go to him!” she cried, finally breaking free with such ferociousness that the old woman stumbled backward a bit. Tali didn’t stop to help balance her, for fear that she might try to hold her back again.

Heart racing, she bolted across the now-quiet battlefield, a slick soup of snow, mud, and blood. She fell to her knees beside Hudson, who was already bent over him, brow knit with worry.

“Come on, kid,” he was muttering, his hand slipping beneath Cole’s head and lifting it up. “It’s all over. You did good. It’s all over. Get up now. We’re okay. You’re okay.”

Tali looked down at him in dismay, clapping a hand over her mouth as she took in the injuries that marred his beautiful body. His eyes were open—just barely—but unfocused. A wound across his neck was bleeding freely, as well as one that raked across his belly, which Hudson had a hand pressed against.

“Cole,” she cried out, touching his face as his eyes closed. “Cole, look at me. Oh God, Hudson, is he...is he going to—?”

“He’ll be okay,” he said abruptly. “But we need to get him out of here quick, get him to a doctor. Come on, kid,” he said, starting to get an arm under Cole’s so he could lift him up. “Come on, let’s get him up.”

“You’re bleeding too,” she said with a grunt as she helped him lift Cole to his feet. He was close to limp between them, and heavy. She craned her neck to get a better look at Hudson, and could see he was badly bloodied too, and probably trying hard not to show how bad it really was. She could see his face struggling not to wince. “Are you—?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Let’s just get him onto the snowmobile and away from here.”

There was suddenly a loud, rasping laugh that made Tali’s head snap toward the sound. It was Ronin. “Is that what you think is happening, Hudson? Really? That it’s over? You think you two can just walk in here after more than a decade away, kill my eldest son and two of my clan, and I’ll just let you walk away?”

A chill went right through her. They were almost at the snowmobile, and Cole was weighing down on her. He might already be unconscious. She couldn’t angle her neck well enough to see. Hudson stopped, and she did too. She had to.

“Ronin, it’s done,” Hudson said. “You couldn’t control your rabid son. You allowed him to run rampant and break the laws that this clan has held for centuries. We do not harm humans. Caid murdered at least two people from our town in cold blood. But it’s over now. But we know you take no pleasure in killing innocents. We’ll leave you in peace. I hope you’ll do a better job of protecting these people from here on out. You’re lucky you didn’t bring a pack of Hunters down on them, letting him get away with that.”

His words made sense, but Tali felt a deep sense of unease that chilled her to the bone. They were not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot.

“Blackburn broke the law too,” she heard Ronin saying from behind them. His voice sounded calm, but there was a danger beneath each smoothly spoken word. “He slaughtered my son. He came into our territory after being exiled. His life in forfeit. He’d be dead already if you hadn’t intervened.”

“You let three grown bears go at him at once! There’s no honor in that. It seems he did you a favor, anyway,” Hudson growled. She could tell he was struggling just as much as she was to keep Cole upright. He was weak from the fight. If Ronin wouldn’t back down, it seemed clear that they would both die on this mountain. Hell, maybe she would too. “Seems to me you lost control of this clan a long time ago. You have it back now. Let us go in peace.”

“I don’t think so, Quinlan. When I came in all those years ago, I knew I’d be able to take it over without much of a fight, but you didn’t give me any fight at all. I’ve always regretted it. You were ready to hand it over without even a little bit of scrapping. And then when I got a taste of your girl here, that was enough to send you off with your tail between your legs. It was too damn easy. I want myself a proper fight.”

She could feel the tension growing in Hudson, and looking over, she could see his face had gone hard, his eyes steely. Gold. But then she heard his slow inhale.

“I don’t want to fight, Ronin,” He said calmly. “You can have your damn throne. Just keep the hell out of Newcomb.”

She heard Ronin clicking his tongue loudly. The woods around them were silent as everyone watched. There was nothing, not the rustle of pines nor the chatter of birds. You could cut the tension with a knife. “Very well. Your cowardice, while not surprising, is still disappointing. But if that’s what you want,” he said with a heavy sigh. “So be it. But Blackburn stays.”

“That’s not—” Hudson began with fury, but Ronin spoke over him.

“That’s the deal. He is supposed to die for returning after exile. You leave him here, and we’ll finish him off. The noble way. With honor,” he sneered, voice syrupy.

“No!” Hudson roared.

“Then fight me,” Ronin said. “Fight me, and I’ll let them walk. Your little human girl can take him away back to their safe little world. If you stay. If you give me the fight I never got.”

No, Tali thought, looking over at Hudson in alarm.

He was injured too, badly, bleeding profusely. Ronin was aging, but he was massive, extremely broad. She knew his bear would be too, and he’d stayed out of the fight entirely. Hudson was on his last legs. It would be a slaughter.

Rage bubbled up inside her and spilled over.

She craned around as best as she could to look at Ronin and shouted, “Really? Do you think that’s going to earn you any more respect from the people you’ve let down? Winning a fight against someone who’s bleeding to death? Your world must be a lot different than mine, because where I’m from that is cowardice. And it’s pathetic—”

She stopped when Hudson reached over from where he was holding up Cole and managed to get hold of her shoulder, squeezing hard.

“Tali!” he hissed. “For once in your goddamn life, just shut up. Please.”

Ronin was laughing, a horrible sound that made the hairs on her neck stand up. “That’s a mouthy little human you’ve got there. I wonder if perhaps...it would be in the interest of the clan to silence her. It would certainly be terrible if she went down there yammering about our kind—”

“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Hudson roared. Ronin only smirked. Obviously he’d gotten exactly the reaction he wanted.

“I’m a generous man, Hudson. I’ve offered you a fair trade. I’ll let that murdering cub and his human whore go. You just have to stay and give me whatever fight you’ve got in you. The girl’s right that it won’t be much, but it’s still better than what I got all those years ago. Make a choice. I’m getting impatient.”

Hudson was looking at her. At Cole. At her again. “Hudson…” she started, but he shook his head and addressed Ronin.

“Fine,” she heard Hudson say. “Fine. I’ll give you your fight. Just let them go safely.”

“Hudson, no!” she said, panic coursing through her. “You can’t fight him. You’re hurt. You’re hurt way too badly—”

“Let’s get him the rest of the way to the snowmobile,” he grunted and started walking. She had no choice but to follow, afraid they’d both collapse into the snow if she didn’t. With some heaving, Hudson managed to get Cole over to the snowmobile. She could see he was conscious, his gaze unfocused, but he was awake and breathing at least.

“Come on, buddy,” Hudson said. “Help me out here.”

With effort, he managed to get Cole draped over the snowmobile.

“Tali, get on,” he said quietly, turning to her.

Before she could argue, there was a mighty roar, and she turned with a gasp to see a new bear, massive, pacing back and forth in the snow.

Ronin was bigger than any of them, pure muscle, his fur dark and sleek.

“Hudson, please,” she said, turning to him. “There has to be another way. You’re not strong enough to do this now, I know you’re not. You’ve used up too much strength already—”

“There isn’t, Tali. Just get on,” he said. “And go. He needs care, quick.” He placed a hand on Cole’s shoulder. She looked at Cole with a pang, shrugged out of her jacket, and draped it over him.

“He’s manipulating you into this. He-he needs you to fight him, because he’s lost so much face. He’s let the clan down, and he’s been weak and ineffective and awful, and you just ended that fight so easily. You’ve come off looking so much better, and stronger, and braver than him. He knows he won’t…he won’t be able to hang onto any power after what happened unless he-he crushes you. Kills you. He’s forcing your hand—”

“Of course he is,” Hudson said neutrally. “But it’s fine. Now please, get on. Get out of here before it starts, so he doesn’t have a chance to change his mind. I trust him as far as I can throw him... and I’m not feeling like that’d be particularly far right now.”

She reached out, tears stinging her eyes, touching the bleeding slash across his rib cage. “You won’t make it. You’re losing too much blood.”

“If you go now, the kid will,” he said firmly. He looked down at Cole, expression soft. “I let him down, Tali. I let them all down. The kid sacrificed enough today. He deserves a shot at being okay. It’s my turn.” He gave her a pleading look. “Please. Just go.”

There was a finality to this. No one had the strength to fight off Ronin. It was either Hudson, or all three of them. She couldn’t see any way out of it.

Reluctantly, feeling like she wasn’t even in control of her own body, she draped a leg over the snowmobile and hopped up. “All right,” she choked out. “I will. But not yet,” she said, making no moves to turn on the ignition.

“Tali, there’s no point in waiting—”

“Shut up,” she said fiercely. “I’ve got my foot on the pedal, Hudson. I’ll hit the gas as soon as it’s over. Not a moment before. I came up here because I wouldn’t let him die alone. If you think I’d let the same thing happen to you, you’re insane. I’m staying. I’m staying ‘til the end.”

He looked unsteady on his feet. She knew it wouldn’t be long.

“Then I guess I’d better get to it. Cole doesn’t have a lot of time,” he said. He bit his lip, giving her a penetrating look. “Listen, tell Ella I’m-I’m sorry I had to leave her. I’m just-just so sorry,” he said, voice breaking, and she reached for his hand with one of hers, cupped his face with the other, her chest aching.

“Oh, God. Ella. She can’t lose you, not so soon after Matty. It’ll destroy her. Hudson, you can’t—”

“I can. I am,” he said. “She’ll be okay. She’s got you.” He gave her a lopsided smile, though it wasn’t able to fully mask the pain. He leaned in and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Come on, Tali. Don’t you think the two of us have argued enough for one lifetime?”

No! she wanted to shout.

No. No. No.

I want to have a thousand more arguments with you. A million. I want to bicker until the end of time, until we’re old and gray, about every silly, pointless thing under the sun. She wanted to tug his hand, to pull him onto the snowmobile and floor it down the mountain.

But she saw the resolve in his eyes.

“Look after my dog, will you? I know he’s a pain but...you will, right?”

A strangled laugh trickled out of her lips.

His dog! Here he was, bleeding out of a half-dozen wounds, about to walk to his death, and he had the presence of mind to think about his doofy dog.

And she was going to lose him. This warm, soft man, whose heart was giant. She could barely see for the tears in her eyes, but visions flashed through her head, clear as day. Hudson throwing open the door of Cole’s cabin, terror in his eyes as he came looking for her. Him smiling at her above a hole in the ice, cracking jokes about how out of her element she was. Ella, cradled sleepily in his arms, looking at him with so much love and trust. His clear, calm voice giving her the strength she needed to pull herself out of the icy lake.

She wanted a thousand more soft memories. A million.

It was too much. She wiped away her tears, choked out a sob, and pressed a hard, fast kiss to his mouth.

She poured everything she had into it, everything she hadn’t said, everything she didn’t have enough time to say.

She poured her love into it, all that heart-crushing love she’d fought so hard to deny. Her sorrow, her aching sorrow that it was ending like this. Her gratitude, that he would do this without a second thought, to give her and Cole a chance to get away, even if it meant certain death for him.

She wanted it to last forever, but it barely lasted any time at all.

Far too soon, he was pulling away from her, a hand on her shoulder to keep her away. His eyes were too gold now to really be soft, yet somehow they were. Soft, sad, and determined. Before she could get out another word, he was turning to face Ronin, who was pacing across the bloody snow, looking solid, fierce, impatient for a fight that could only end one way.

She watched Hudson transform again. As she did, she pulled a pocket knife out of her jacket pocket and started shredding her coat into strips. She took one, pressed it hard against the worst of Cole’s wounds, and pressed a hard kiss against his bare shoulder.

“Hold on, baby,” she muttered, hot tears falling from her eyes and landing on his back. “We’ll go soon. I’ll get you somewhere safe. Get you fixed up. We’ll go soon.”

But not until it was over. She couldn’t leave Hudson to face his death alone.

In his bear form, he turned to give her a last look, and then Ronin was charging at him, and he turned back to meet him. They met in a clash of claws, but it was obvious within moments that Hudson was as weakened in bear form as he’d seemed in human. She saw Ronin’s bear bite into his shoulder blade, heard an awful crunch, and she had to slap a hand over her mouth to hold back her scream.

He was going to die.

And Ronin, that fucker, was toying with him, just like his vile son and his cronies had been doing to Cole. She felt a searing hatred for the lot of them burn through her. She gritted her teeth in fury.

The boys had mentioned Hunters before. She didn’t know where they hid or how they operated, but she would fucking find them and she would bring them here to finish off Ronin. She’d figure it out. She had savings. She’d pay them whatever they wanted if they’d destroy this monster who was tormenting one of the best people she’d ever known.

The bite to his back had clearly left him broken. Instead of ending it, Ronin made wide circles around him, slashing out without intent to strike. It was just fast enough make Hudson have to turn, have to reach out with weakening limbs to try to defend himself against the obvious feints.

That bastard. That fucking evil, power-hungry bastard. He didn’t have to do this. Hudson didn’t want his damn throne. He didn’t want power. He just wanted to live his life in Newcomb, to watch action movies with Ella, to make her keep a nature journal and learn about birds, and play hockey and hike with his dog—

She was going to kill him. Fuck letting the Hunters do it. They could trap him, but she would be the one to end his evil life. She’d look him in the eyes and tell him exactly why she was doing it, and who she was doing it for, and then she’d pull the trigger—

She saw Hudson stumble and fall to the ground, and her heart stopped.

That’s it. That’s it. He’s gone. He’s—no.

He was getting to his feet again. Why? she thought brokenheartedly. Why bother? Just let it end, Hudson. There was only one way this can—

Bang.

The crack of the gunshot made her heart leap, and her mouth fell open as Ronin staggered and fell to the ground in a massive heap, his tongue lolling, eyes wide and still. Her head, and the heads of everyone else in the clan who had been watching, whipped around.

Sheena stood tall beside Ronin’s empty throne, in front of her own, a smoking pistol in her hand, her eyes hard and fierce and glowing gold with fury. Hudson, in his bear form, was staring down at the dead bear before him. A moment later, he collapsed too. She saw him shift back into his human form, curled up, bleeding worse than ever.

He was so still.

“Help him!” Tali shrieked as the rest of the clan stared on in disbelief. “Help them, please,” she begged, leaping off the snowmobile, hands still on Cole to keep him steady.

It was over. It was over, and she knew they could heal him. She remembered the salve Cole had used, how quickly it had made the wolf bites stop bleeding.

“You heard her,” Sheena said in a hard voice. “Vikna, Ashtor, each of you will see to one of them. Enoch, Apple, Kenai, lend support where it is needed. Quickly. Get them inside.”

There was a rush of activity as several young boys of about fifteen came forward to help her get Cole off the snowmobile. A moment later, a tall man in his sixties had made his way over, gruffly shoving her aside and offering his help. She looked over to see several people helping Hudson up, too.

She stared around at the bloody snow, where four massive bears lay dead. It had come so close, so unbelievably close to being her boys instead. Her knees buckled, and she reached out for something, but there was nothing to cling to and—

Then a sturdy arm caught her by the elbow. The same old woman from before. The one who’d held her back. “Steady, child,” she said kindly. She had mismatched eyes, and her white hair was long and wild. It might have been unsettling if she didn’t seem so gentle. Tali sagged against her.

“I’m...I’m sorry I pushed you before,” she said weakly. The woman laughed, a harsh raspy laugh that crackled like lightning.

“Don’t worry, child. These bones might be old, but not so old that a little human girl has a hope of doing them any damage. Come. You’ve made a mess of your coat. Let me find you something to wear before you freeze to death.”

Tali looked down at the tattered remains of her jacket. She’d torn half of it apart trying to make bandages for Cole, and the rest of it was leaking out down feathers and soaked in blood. Numbly, she nodded, and allowed the woman to take her away.

“I am called Briar,” she said, leading her to a small hut.

“I’m Tali,” she said.

“Yes, yes. I know,” Briar said. Tali was too tired, too frazzled, too worried about Cole and Hudson to think to question how she knew.