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Tess did her best to help poor Rory, who had to be in agony. She might not be a shifter, but she’d studied enough to know that he would have been better off staying in his animal form to heal faster.

Her heart had climbed up her throat and threatened to choke her every time Cole’s wolf or the bear snarled.

She whispered, “Shift back, Rory.”

“I can’t. I told Cole I’d be human so I could help you.”

“When did you tell him that?”

“We can speak mind to mind in animal form, but I can’t speak to Gray Wolf in my human form.”

She kept her eyes on the humongous wolf that had once been Cole. Gray Wolf was just that. A stunning, silver-gray wolf that stood head high at her shoulder. He kept circling the bear, making threatening sounds, but neither had attacked yet.

Keeping her eyes on them, she asked, “Are Cole and Sammy talking?”

Rory was taking shallow breaths. “I’m sure Cole is trying to talk Sammy down off the ledge, but that bear is gone.”

“I thought Cole had found Sammy’s fiancée and she could save him.” 

“She’d have to be here now and ready to take him as a mate. Sammy might be lost to all of us.”

The grizzly, Sammy, charged.

Gray Wolf backed up on his haunches and launched up at the ferocious bear.

They met in a clash of claws and teeth.

Tess breathed through her mouth to keep from passing out from the heavy odor of fresh blood. Her entire body shook from fear for Cole and Gray Wolf.

She wasn’t squeamish, but she’d never been around this much carnage.

The shirt she’d wrapped around Rory had soaked through. He might bleed out if he couldn’t shift back.

Rory gritted his teeth. “I need to help him.”

“Sammy?”

Shaking his head, he said, “If Cole can’t reach him no one can. They’re best friends.”

Tess wasn’t sure her heart could take any more pain on Cole’s behalf.

Rory said, “There’s no one inside those yellow bear eyes. I need to help Cole fight him. I can’t lose both of them.”

She didn’t want to lose Cole either. “Is there anything we can do?” She flinched at a vicious swipe Sammy’s bear made.

“I can’t help unless I shift again and I’d still need time to recover.” He paused then said, “You’re the only one who could make a difference in all of this.”

She flinched when the bear snapped at Gray Wolf’s hind leg, but the big wolf leapt away before those jaws ripped into him. “What do you mean, Rory? Tell me, because Cole’s wolf is bleeding everywhere.”

“You can’t do anything until Cole shifts back into human form.”

She had to lean close to Rory because his back was to her. She urged him, “Tell me so I can be ready.”

“If you were his mate, Cole would be stronger. He’s going to kill me for telling you, but neither of us may live long enough for the argument at this rate.”

“He doesn’t want me as his mate.”  She wanted to scream at Cole that he should pick a mate even if he didn’t want it to be her. She wanted him to live even if it meant without her. “I don’t want to watch Cole die.”

Rory chuffed out a noise. “Then save him if you get the chance.”

“What do you mean?”

The wolf ripped the grizzly’s ankles, probably tearing at his Achilles. Did bears have those?

“Look out!” Rory shouted as Sammy brought a claw down over the wolf’s back.

Gray Wolf yelped and rolled away but then he was back on all fours with blood streaking his fur. His muzzle had been gashed and he limped.

Sammy’s grizzly seemed to lose his direction, wandering around in a circle.

She looked at Rory. “Tell me how to save Cole.”

“I shouldn’t, but ... Cole is deep into the mating curse.”

“No. He said he didn’t want a mate and he had three years to go.”

“Were those his exact words or did you just think he didn’t want to mate?”

Tess realized Cole had talked around the topic without actually lying.

Sammy the bear chuffed one breath after another, each coming out in a pitiful rattle. A gaping hole had been slashed under his front legs. He’d backed into a corner, leaning against a wall. Gray Wolf stood in the middle of the room, still ready to fight.

Rory spoke softly. “Cole told you he didn’t want a mate, because your dad would never accept it and Cole won’t be the reason you lose another parent.”

She stared at the wolf, sick that Cole would accept death over disrupting her world.

Didn’t Cole know she had no world without him?

“I told him I love him,” she said, more pissed than arguing. “Isn’t that enough to become a mate?”

The bear started rocking back and forth as if he was getting revved up. He lifted up on his hind legs, showing more jagged rips in his massive chest, and walked out of the corner slowly.

Rory replied, “Admitting love is good, but only one step. In a mating ritual, both parties have to accept the mating bond. It’s forever and Cole doesn’t want to put that burden on you or risk that you won’t survive his power, which is possible.”

“What if I’m willing to accept the bond? Can I just yell it out to him?”

“You could reach him if he was in control, but it won’t do any good with him in animal form right now. Gray Wolf is in power with Cole fighting to maintain control. Don’t interfere and distract Gray Wolf. If that happens, Sammy will kill him. Then us.”