When Kassie was a girl, she had sometimes gone camping with her father. That was back before he started drinking, before he became too involved in his own life and his problems to care about spending time with her. Then, the woods had seemed like a magical place, full of secrets.

She still sensed the magic and the secrets, but she didn’t feel the same wonder she had felt as a child. Instead, she felt a horrible sense of foreboding as she stepped out of her car and stood at the edge of the forest line, staring into the rippled shadows that covered the wooded floor.

“Are you ready for this?” asked Cole, looking over at her and taking her by the hand.

Kassie nodded. She was ready for anything if it meant rescuing Taylor from whatever evils awaited her out there. She would do anything to save her little girl. With that said, though, she knew that she was no match for those shifters, and she didn’t want to get in Cole’s way if they did find the Iron Fur Clan. All that she could hope for was to hold her own and make sure that she didn’t impede him if they did end up with a fight on their hands.

But she couldn’t think about that. She would deal with things when and if the time came to think about it. “Let’s go,” she said, bracing herself for what may potentially lay ahead. And then they were off, stepping out into the forest.

Now, Cole’s extra senses came into play. Immediately he seemed immensely aware of his surroundings, of every little thing around them. She had only seen him shift once before, but now she was really seeing him use his powers, and it was incredible, to say the least. He seemed to almost transform before her, even if he was still a man in shape. He was incredibly focused, his eyes fixated on the distance as they moved.

They walked for an hour in silence with Cole in that hyper-focused state before he seemed to come out of it for the first time. When he did, he reached out and stopped Kassie, a hand in front of her.

“There are shifters out here. Not bears,” he said, a strange look coming over his face. “Wolves. It’s strange. I’ve only met a couple before, in passing.”

“Wolves?” Kassie’s heart jumped a little. She was just barely used to bear shifters, and now she was being confronted with the idea of potentially encountering other types of shifters, and who knew if they were friendly.

“You know I’ll keep you safe,” said Cole firmly, probably hearing the faint tremor in her voice. “Just stay by my side.”

Always, she thought as they kept on moving. The forest was getting even deeper, and though it was possible for her to carry on, it was becoming more difficult. Cole led the way, finding a path for her. However, no matter how much he ensured that she was able to go with him, she still felt like a burden. After all, he would be able to move much quicker and much more efficiently in his bear form. For the first time, she began to doubt herself and whether or not she should be here. Maybe it would have been best if she had stayed at the house. Would they have really cared enough to go looking for her? Maybe, maybe not, but if being here was slowing Cole down, she could very well be hindering Cole’s chances of finding Taylor and Logan.

Ugh… She was tired. She was tired, and she was frustrated, and she was scared. She needed to stop second-guessing herself and just focus on the mission at hand. Right now wasn’t the time to be worrying about whether she had done the right thing. After all, it wasn’t like what was done could be undone at this point. Looking over at Cole, she saw that he had fixed his gaze on some point in the distance and begun to walk in that direction, so she began to walk after him, quickening her own pace to match his despite the rocky path under their feet.

“Hold on,” he said after a few minutes, stopping her by putting his arm out again. “Those wolf shifters… They’re making their way over.”

Kassie was confused until several long moments later she saw a faint movement in the distance. Then, she saw three shapes, two gray and one white, appear from behind a copse of trees.

“Get behind me,” said Cole, and before she could move, he had stepped in front of her to protect her. Kassie reached out and held on to him, uncertain of what she should do. Were these wolf shifters going to be dangerous? Cole certainly didn’t seem to have hopes that they were going to be friendly…

Before long, the three wolves were several feet away. From her vantage point behind Cole, she saw the air around them ripple, and they began to transform until there were two women and a man standing there. All of them had deep, olive-colored skin and hair as black as night. They were beautiful in a way that was almost inexplicable, and yet she could also feel the danger radiating off of them. Cole could obviously feel it too. He had tensed up already.

“Shifter, what are you doing here?” said one of the woman, stepping forward. “This is wolf territory, as all bears should know.”

“I have no intentions of trespassing on your territory for any longer than is necessary. And actually, if you can help, me perhaps I can be on my way right now,” he said.

The three looked at one another, and the woman spoke up again. “Help you? How can we help you, bear?”

“Another group of bears has been attacking my family. We want nothing to do with them or their clan. They’ve taken two of our children though, so we’re searching for them now. Please, tell us if any other bears have been through here.”

Kassie saw the immediate reaction from the three wolves. The other woman especially seemed to bristle when Cole spoke, her brows furrowing at his words. Though she wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do, she decided that she had to say something and moved out from behind Cole.

“Please. If you can help… I’m not a shifter. I’m just a human. But one of the children is my daughter. They want to kill her because she’s a half-breed. I don’t know what you believe in, but I just want my daughter back. I want her to be happy and healthy.”

The three of them looked to Kassie, and then the woman who had spoken nodded. “Human woman, we understand. My father was a human. It’s not right to judge our kind, or any kind, because of the blood they possess. We sensed the blood of several bears making camp a few miles east of here.”

“Thank you,” stammered Kassie.

Cole was nodding too, the tension about him easing. “Yes. Thank you…”

“Be safe, brother shifter.” And then they were shifting again, and their three wolf forms were vanishing into the underbrush as swiftly as they had come, like ghosts of the forest.

But now, now was the true test. Because they had to find the Iron Fur Clan, and they had to deal with what lay in wait for them. Cole turned to Kassie, a question in his eyes, but she immediately shook her head.

“I won’t wait here. I’m going with you,” she said.

“Kassie…”

“I don’t know what I can do, but I can do something to help,” she said. “And besides, that’s my daughter with them. I have to go.”

He was silent for a long moment. Then he sighed. “I understand. Then we’d better hurry before we lose them.

And hurry they did. Kassie didn’t care anything about the pain in her feet or the uneven forest floor. She was running faster than she had ever run in her life, all for the promise of seeing her daughter again, of saving her from whatever horrors had taken her away.

After they had run for an hour, Cole froze. “I can sense them,” he said. And then they were moving again, this time in a defined direction.

Kassie reached into her pack for the knife that she had bought at the sporting goods store. She hoped to God that she wouldn’t need to use it, but she was determined that she would if she needed to. She wouldn’t be helpless in whatever was to come. Gripping it tight, she fixed her eyes on the horizon for any signs of movement ahead, listening to Cole’s occasional affirmations that they were indeed getting closer.

But of course, she was very much aware that if Cole could sense them, they could sense Cole coming too, which meant that they would be waiting for them when they arrived. Even knowing this, though, she had hopes that they would be able to save Taylor and Logan, that somehow everything would turn out all right. She had to hope for that. It was the only thing driving her forward right then.

There was nothing for it. They had to keep moving. They had to find the children, no matter what else lay in wait for them.

“Are you ready, Kassie?” asked Cole.

“I’m ready,” she said. “You know I am. I’m a mother. I’ll do anything for her.”

He nodded. “Okay. They’re really close now. We have the wind on the side, so I think we have a little bit of an advantage. They probably don’t know how close we are even if they know we’re on our way. I’m going to go ahead and shift now, so move on up. Come on in behind me. No,” he said quickly when she started to protest. “This is tactical. I need to move quickly if we’re going to get the jump on them. And besides, the faster I engage them in combat, the better chance we have of you getting in there and getting the kids away from them.”

Kassie hesitated, but then she nodded. “Right. Okay. Can you tell how many there are?”

“It’s just the two of them—the old man and the young man that’s been with him. I think that younger guy is going to be trouble for me though. You be on the lookout for the older shifter.”

Kassie nodded again. She took a deep breath as Cole set off, watching him as he transformed. She had seen it before, but it was still amazing to witness as his inner self became visible, his fur gleaming in the light that shimmered down through the trees. Before when he had transformed, he had obviously been trying not to scare her, but now he was fully enraged and the beast within was fully on display, teeth bared, claws at the ready… If she didn’t know it was Cole, he would have scared her. But instead she felt safer than ever knowing that this was what she had to protect her, to save Taylor.

But there was no time to think about these things. Quickly, she began to move, taking the path behind him and toward the encampment that he had specified. Though he moved faster than she could ever hope to move, it was easy to follow along the way he had gone. His swift movements had left behind a wake of destruction. Before long, she heard a melodious growl ring out through the forest, followed by other growls that struck fear into her heart. It was not so difficult to tell which was which.

It took a little while, but soon she came upon them. Already the bears were fighting. Cole’s bear form was on his hind legs, forearms locked with another bear of the same height, this one with fur as black as pitch, its teeth bared and attempting to pierce the brown bear that was Cole’s throat. Kassie’s heart began to pump with adrenaline, but she knew that there was no time to stand by and watch. She had to act—fast.

Moving to the side of the camp, she began to look around. There were two tents by a circle of stones, and swiftly she looked inside the first. Here, there were packs and gear but nothing else. Abandoning it, she moved on to the next… and there they were, Taylor and Logan, afraid and pressed up against the side of the tent, curled up into one another.

But they weren’t alone.

“So, there you are, girl,” said the old man, laughing. “I was wondering if you’d be stupid enough to come here.”

“I’m not stupid,” she said, holding tight to her knife. “I’m a mother.” She prepared to make her move, but before she could do it, the man had moved toward her, pulling her out of the mouth of the tent. He may have been older, but he still had some strength in him.

Kassie almost shrieked, but the last thing she wanted to do was distract Cole from his own fight. Instead, she bit down on her tongue and forced herself to spin around as best she could, freeing her arm just enough to slash out at the old man. She caught him in the ribs and heard him curse. It wasn’t much of a swing, but it was enough to get him to release her.

Kassie stumbled back. Already she could see the air around him changing, the sign that meant he was changing his form. She didn’t know how to combat that. Her head was spinning with doubts, with a million different outcomes for this match, none of them pleasant. But now wasn’t the time to think. Now was the time to act.

As man became bear, Kassie swung out again, catching the creature in the throat. It let out a guttural growl that was almost like a laugh, but she could tell that her knife’s swing had met flesh. Quickly, she moved back, just in time to avoid the slashing claws that were coming her way.

Meanwhile, across the way, Cole had pushed his opponent to the ground and now had his own jaws on the bear shifter’s throat. He was winning, she thought wildly. Dear God, he was winning. All she had to do was buy time. If she could just manage to do that, then they could all make it out of here safely. If she could just…

Her thoughts were cut off by a wild slash of the older bear’s claws toward her midsection. Despite herself, Kassie cried out, feeling a burning in her flesh. Then she was falling, falling…

The bear was over her. Its jaws were poised to tear into her. Everything hurt so much. Everything was pain. She clutched at her knife, hoping against hope that she could find the strength to make one last stand against the shifter. However, already she was being sapped of whatever energy was inside her. All the color in the world seemed to be fading away to nothingness, leaving her in a gray haze.

How had it come to this? She had been so hopeful that she would be able to make it through this, if only she had Cole by her side. And yet…

And then Cole was there, over her, tearing into the old bear with incredible force. The older bear landed with an astounding crash on the ground nearby, and despite her lack of strength, Kassie managed to pull herself onto her side to watch what was happening.

The brown bear that was Cole tore into the old grizzled gray bear, clawing at his belly. With a mighty roar, he buried his teeth in the old bear’s throat, holding him on the ground with his forearm. The old bear continued to struggle for several long moments, then his movements began to slow until finally he slumped onto the ground, still.

Cole stepped back and off him. The air shimmered, and then the bear was gone and all that was left was the decrepit form of the old man who had been harassing Kassie and Taylor for all those long weeks. She stared, hardly able to believe it.

It was over.

The air seemed achingly silent as it shifted around the brown bear, and the shape of Cole returned. Then, Cole was running to Kassie’s side, kneeling on the ground and pressing his hands to her stomach.

“Are you okay? God, Kassie…”

“I’m okay… I think he just took the wind out of me.” She exhaled slowly. “Maybe I had a panic attack. I don’t know. I’m feeling a little better now.”

“The bleeding seems to be slowing down anyway. We brought medical kits. Let me patch you up.”

“The kids… Cole. See about them first, okay?”

He nodded, and in a few moments, she had Taylor practically clinging to her chest while Logan was sitting a few feet away, babbling about everything that had happened after they had been taken by the Iron Fur Clan and making Cole promise that he would teach him everything he knew about the martial arts while Cole patched Kassie up.

It was a long trek back through the woods that day, but none of them particularly minded. They were obliged to walk a little slow with Kassie in the condition that she was in, but that just gave Logan more time to talk about everything that had happened. At some point, the truth about Cole being Logan’s older brother came out, and rather than being shocked or angry or hurt—or any other negative emotion—Logan was beyond thrilled to find out about this connection with his rescuer.

“I think you’re his new hero,” Kassie told Cole later when they lay in bed together, recounting the day’s events. “Of course, all big brothers end up being their little brothers’ heroes, so…”

“A brother, huh?” Cole shook his head. “Still wrapping my head around that. I don’t know what to make of it.”

“Don’t worry about making anything of it yet,” she said. “We don’t have to worry about the Iron Fur Clan now, so how about letting this be a fresh beginning? For all of us? Those people messed your family’s life up. They made things so complicated for us. Now’s our chance to just enjoy life.”

“I like the sound of that,” said Cole, leaning over and kissing Kassie soundly.