Stacia grimaced as she slowly came to. Her head ached liked the dickens. It was as if some tiny man was inside her brain with a jackhammer pounding away at her brainstem. She did a mental assessment of her body and found only her hands were handcuffed. The idiots didn’t secure her legs. She slowly looked down and found her diamond family crest pendant, the one that Landon had given her, was gone.

Bastards!

Low voices filled the air. She strained to hear what her kidnappers were speaking of, but their voices were too low for her to hear with the dulling pain. Stacia glanced over slowly, not wanting to alert the men that she was fully awake. The men stood posed alongside a round table, conversing about something on the table.

They were in what looked to be an old hunting cabin with scarce furniture, and a hallway that must lead to a bedroom.

“What are we going to do about the girl?” the shortest of the robbers asked.

“We could get good money for her on the black market. She’s one of those freaks. You know plenty of people will pay money to own her.”

Her bear snarled at the thought of being sold. She’d die before letting them sell her to one of those sick bastards that enslaved shifters.

“We’ll hide here for tonight, and tomorrow we’ll get a new vehicle. We’ll find out why that fucker screwed us over,” the leader said.

“Maybe he sent two teams after that safety box and they beat us to it,” Baines said.

“Doesn’t matter,” the leader snapped. “He needs to pay us the rest of the money he owes us.”

Agreements were muttered between them.

“We’ll take turns sleeping tonight. I don’t trust the area. Baines, you’re up first for patrolling around this shit of a cabin,” the leader ordered.

“No problem.”

She closed her eyes before they had time to notice she was listening in on their conversation. She heard a door open and close.

“What are we going to do with her?” the short robber asked.

“Leave her ass on the floor. She’s handcuffed, and won’t be going anywhere tonight. She wakes up, knock her ass out again.” His gruff voice faded away before she heard a door slam shut.

The couch released a groan as the remaining robber dropped down onto it. Her mind raced, trying to determine what she should do. She knew she had to make her move tonight. There was no telling what they would do with her tomorrow.

She opened her eyes and found the guy stretched out on the small sofa with his arm thrown over his face. She angled her body slightly, so that she could keep an eye on him. After a few moments, when she was sure he was sleep, she would—

A gunshot broke the blanket of silence outside the cabin, followed by a short holler. A low growl followed, causing the windowpanes to vibrate. Her ears perked up as the roar of a very pissed off bear filled the air.

“What the hell?” The guy scrambled off the couch at the same time the leader ran from the back room.

“What the fuck is that?” the leader yelled as they both disappeared outside the front door, leaving it wide open.

She drew strength from her bear and ripped the handcuffs apart, freeing her hands and scrambled from the floor. The sounds of growling increased as she stumbled to the door. Gunshots rang out again, and the sounds of the men hollering continued.

She pulled open the door and found a massive brown grizzly bear standing on his hind legs. Baines, or what was left of him, was laying on the ground near the bear. The thick smell of blood reached her as she stepped out onto the porch, where the two humans had their weapons pointed directly at the bear.

The bear, oddly familiar, pulled at her own bear. Her steps faltered as her bear lunged from within her in a state of panic, trying to get to the bear. It couldn’t be…Izek?

Mate, her bear growled.

“Shoot the fucker again!” the leader shouted as he raised his rifle.

“No!” Stacia shouted as she ran down the stairs towards Izek.

She could feel the burning of her gums as her fangs descended. She gave herself over to her bear, who demanded to be set free, and this time, she was not going to remain suppressed. Stacia fell to the ground, her fur bursting forth, rippling across her pale skin.

She let loose a tortured scream from the pain of her bones shifting and lengthening. Her changing body ripped through her human clothes, leaving them a tattered mess on the ground. Within seconds, she had completely transformed into her dark brown grizzly bear, and it was enraged. Stacia had promised her bear vengeance, and it wanted to exact her revenge on the two humans in front of her.

A low growl vibrated deep in her chest as she took a step towards the humans. The smell of fear permeated the air. The sight of the guns pointed at Izek threw her into a fit. She paused, standing back on her two hind legs, displaying her true height to the humans. She bared her sharp incisors, daring them to pull the trigger.

“Fuck!” the leader exclaimed, fear etched on his face as he stared at Stacia. He slowly lowered his gun as his eyes jerked back and forth between her and Izek.

“Run!” the other human screamed, scrambling towards the vehicle with the leader right behind him. Stacia’s paws slammed into the ground as she moved to chase after them.

They don’t get away that easy, her bear snapped. She moved to follow, but a low growl grabbed her attention. She glanced back and saw the taillights of the truck as it disappeared down the long narrow driveway. The larger brown bear marched in front of her, and she could see the pain radiating from his eyes.

Vengeance was forgotten by her bear, and morphed into fear. Her bear began to panic as the smell of blood grew more intense. She was unable to see the injury, so she nudged him with her head, trying to get a good look at him. He pushed her away and started to amble away from her, towards the woods.

She scrambled after Izek, stepping over the dead human as she went. The air around him began to shimmer as he began to shift. He fell to the ground as the shift took over. A groan was ripped from him as his body underwent the change from bear to human.

She immediately pulled her bear back, the human in her demanding to be back in control. Pain radiated through her body as she began her own transformation. She kneeled on the ground and tried to catch her breath once she was back in her human form, and when she glanced up, Izek was nowhere in sight.

“Izek!” she called out as she scrambled to stand erect. She ignored her nakedness, knowing that she had to find him. He had been shot and needed her help.

She picked up on the sound of a pain-filled moan not far away from her. She ran fast in the direction of the sound, and found him propped up against a tree.

“Izek!” She flew to his side, falling to the ground next to him. She grimaced as her knees were met by sticks and stones, followed by a burning sensation signaling torn flesh.

“Stacia,” he gasped.

“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed, running her hands through her thick hair.

“Well, I thought that would be obvious.” He grimaced as he shifted against the tree. She ignored his nakedness as her eyes were drawn to the blood running down his side.

“Oh my God! You were shot.” She instantly put her hands to the wound to try to stop the flow of blood. His warm blood oozed around her fingers as she pressed harder. His sharp intake of break had her eyes flying to his face.

“I’ll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Like hell you will. You were shot,” she repeated. She watched as he leaned his dark head back against the tree with his eyes closed.

Her bear whined, pawing at her chest, not liking that her mate was injured.

There was that word again. Mate. Stacia glanced up again at Izek, and found his eyes on her.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” he murmured, the pain still visible in his eyes. “We have to move. They’ll be back. Men like them won’t let a shifter kill a human and get away with it. We need to move.”

“How? Have you already forgot that you were shot?” She looked down at the wound and found the blood had begun to slow down. Due to him being a shifter, she was sure that he would be okay. It didn’t look as if the bullet had hit anything vital.

“I can get up. Move out of the way so I can stand.” He groaned as she removed her hand. “I just need to shift again, and I should heal just fine.”

She stood back and held out her hand to help him up, but he ignored it. Typical alpha male, she thought with a roll of her eyes. He was shaky when he stood and swayed slightly, but again, he brushed her off as she offered her assistance. He took a few steps away from her before transforming back into his bear. His fur-covered head turned her way slightly before he began to march away into the forest.