The wild-eyed wolf shifter dove at Elianna.

She made a fast move to one side, bringing her fisted hands down on the back of his neck while he was airborne. 

He landed beside the steel drum stack. Bone cracked loud enough to ensure he was out of commission until he healed. Pity she hadn’t killed him.

Had that missing fifth wolf found Nico?

Every second she’d wasted talking to these shifters might be costing Nico.  Whipping around with her hands up, she ordered, “Move or die.”

They must have sacrificed the first shifter to test her.

This time, all three came at her, snarling.

She had those two inches in height on all of them and used her extra arm length to slam her fist at the first head.  As he was on his way down, she kicked, connecting with his hard skull.

But one ducked the fists she continued to whack at anything that moved.  He came up behind her, landing a blow on her back.  That drove her forward and off balance. Still, she kept jabbing her elbows and using head butts to fend the others off.

It didn’t matter.

In less than a minute, they wrestled her to the ground and booted her in the side. She coughed and spit up blood. Her bear growled and bumped, still wanting out. She was tempted, but she and her bear had never fought together. If her bear turned and ran, the wolves would gut it.

Then they would both die without even attempting to fight.  Her bear had no idea what it was up against.

It was Elianna’s job to protect both of them.

One of the wolf shifters had his arm across her throat. He was wheezing too much to be a shifter. 

Had that drug made this pack so mentally and physically unfit?

Varga sat on her middle and the last wolf pinned her legs.

Varga’s slick head had a few new gashes and his eyes were bright with crazy. 

She didn’t need him to tell her that she would die more brutally than her mother, but ... Nico.  Her heart cramped. She’d failed him.

Varga leaned so close to her face she couldn’t avoid his disgusting breath or body odor. Shifters normally prided themselves on being clean.

To be told they smelled bad was an insult.

She couldn’t insult someone who didn’t care.

“I warned you,” Varga said, still dragging in deep breaths. “Now, you will regret making me teach you respect. We put you in chains and take you over and over. You will not die soon. I may keep you that way for months.” He shrugged. “Until you bore me.”

Reaching deep, she heaved her chest up one last time. Nobody moved.

Varga slammed her head on the ground.

Everything blurred and spun around her.  Her skull felt cracked open. Warm liquid wet her hair. She imagined her life force trickling away.

Sadly, she would rejuvenate and heal the damage.

Someone snatched the cloth off her head and grumbled. “Fuck, must have hit her too hard. Damn rag is soaked with blood.”

She didn’t care for herself, but Nico would suffer without her to protect him.

One of her attackers howled, but ... not a victorious sound. That had been more like the pained cry of an animal caught in a trap.  The heavy bodies piled on her started moving around, jumping up to face a new threat.

Boots stepped on her chest as they moved across her. 

More blood gushed from her mouth.

She opened her eyes and saw only blurred images so she closed them.

Had the last wolf shown up? Did he have Nico? Why were they fighting? Snarling, hitting, yelping. What was happening?

When the sounds died off, silence closed in. 

Elianna blinked awake. She must have passed out. She could still feel the hard ground beneath her, but someone had propped her head on a wad of soft material.  Her head throbbed, though less now than before.

Peeking through her thick lashes, she discovered it was still night, but even darker with the group of massive men hovering around to stare at her. 

Squinting, she focused her eyes, but leave it to her nose to identity them first. 

Bear shifters.

“You are Elianna, yes?” The largest man had a deep voice, better English than hers, and spoke with a refined edge, but he was clearly Russian. 

“Yes.” She drew in air to speak and hissed at the pain in her chest before she squeezed out, “Who are you?”

“Alexandre of the Romanovs.”

“You are—”

“Yes,” he said, cutting her off.

Evidently he did not want to be identified as her father in front of his men.  She would not do so, for now, only because they had clearly dealt with the wolf shifters.

That didn’t make him her ally.

He stared at her with deep interest.  She didn’t hide her curiosity either as she took in the man who had made her a pariah among all bear shifters.

His men watched the staredown, but didn’t dare say a word.

Someone who must have thought her eyes needed help flicked on a dim light off to the side.  She could finally see her father clearly, and did not enjoy admitting that she now understood what had attracted her mother. 

Alexandre possessed the high forehead, sharp cheeks, slightly curved nose and smooth mouth of an aristocrat. Dark hair fell around his shoulders and he appeared strong enough to lift one of the buildings surrounding them. His eyes were the most startling of all.  At the moment, they were glowing like gold nuggets under bright sunshine. 

Nico often commented that when she became angry, her gray-blue eyes lit up like diamonds on fire.  Adult bear shifters were not meant to have eyes like hers. 

All she’d inherited from this man, other than the grizzly blood that ruined the color of her coat, longer claws than a polar bear’s and a shorter snout in animal form, was that her eyes glowed when something infuriated her.

She did not have this man’s rich brown hair, but a reddish color between pale brown and blond.  Nothing that would belong to a pureblood Romanov Kamchatka bear shifter.  Her face had more fullness than his narrow one. He even had a pretty mouth.

Elianna was as plain as this man was beautiful.

The bastard.

No, she was the bastard, thanks to him.

She had no way to stop him from doing as he pleased with her, but she would not stand by and let him harm Nico.

Her brains snapped back into use.

“Nico!” She struggled to sit and fell back, ribs broken and one arm refusing to work.

Alexandre ordered, “Calm yourself. My men found the child when tracking the other wolf. Child is safe, but could have died. Wolf was sniffing dumpster when my men showed up.”

Immediate relief took her breath. 

Should she thank this man when he had failed to protect her mother from that same pack? 

She was at Alexandre’s mercy, but nothing could stop her from asking, “Where were you before? They rape and maul my mother.”

His lovely eyes showed true sadness.  “If she had listened to me, she would still live.  I offered a safe home away from here for all of you.  She knew when we met I could not mate her. I never lied to her. We searched for wolf shifters who dare to enter my territory without permission and found her remains. You are fortunate we found you. I would have saved your mother if I could.”

Why did he have to sound so reasonable?

She needed to rail at someone and unleash the anger chewing up her insides. 

But this man had Nico.

Elianna remained silent, especially since every breath hurt to draw. One of the broken ribs had to be piercing her lung. She would heal, but without shifting it would not be quickly and she was in no shape to hike up mountains to release her bear.

Me heal. Swim. Fish. Heal.

Her bear had no sense.  Elianna silently replied, Not here. Be quiet or no run for you for long time. I try to save me, you and Nico.

Surprisingly, her bear actually did as asked, thankfully, since she had to keep her attention on the man she hated with every part of her being.

Elianna had no choice but to heal without shifting.

The one time she’d made the mistake of turning into her bear in front of other bear shifters had been enough humiliation to last a lifetime. 

“You and I must make decisions,” Alexandre said, gripping his chin in a look of serious consideration.  “You cannot live among my clan. You would suffer daily at their hands. My mate would eventually kill you.”

Judgmental glares bore down on her, reinforcing his words.

She had done nothing to these people.

She had stayed out of his way and watched her mother wither into an empty shell of a woman. 

That pushed Elianna’s temper. In Russian, she asked, “Your pack would disobey orders?”

The men around him made a collective sound of anger on their leader’s behalf. 

She’d insulted all of them.

Alexandre lifted a hand to quiet his men and silence fell immediately.  He sighed and answered her in his native language.  “I would never force my mate or clan to face my mistake daily and I would never ask them to accept an ursid hybrid as a member.”

That hurt, but not because she expected anything more from this man.

But he’d called her an ursid hybrid in the same way her attacker had called her mother a whore.

Elianna had never wanted to be part of Alexandre’s clan or any other.  No polar bear or grizzly clan would accept a half-breed.

But she would choke on her pride before she admitted his words had cut her.

Seeing no other way out, she kept speaking in Russian to move this along faster and asked in a civil tone, “Please allow me to heal and leave on my own. In a show of appreciation for your help tonight, Nico and I will go far away from your territory.”

Sure, she had pride, but she was not going to allow Nico to suffer over something she could swallow to save him.

“Actually, you are thinking the same as I. I agree it would be best for all if you go far away, but you and the child would not survive traveling north on foot through hundreds of miles protected by small shifter groups.”

“I survived a trip through the mountains once,” she claimed, sure she could do it again.

“That is only because I received word your mother was determined to cross them with a teenager.  I asked that she be given safe passage.”

So many things she did not know about this man, but he’d just admitted a way for her to succeed.  “Then give me that same protection so we may go north.”

“I have a better idea.”

Bones were trying to mend in her body, but they weren’t properly set. She shifted to ease the pain, but she had to move this along for her broken arm. 

“I am starting to heal. I have bones that need to be set.”

Nodding his understanding that she needed him to hurry up, he spoke quickly.  “I have made an agreement with a grizzly bear clan in North America for me to accept one of their females and send him one of mine so that we may crossbreed and keep our bloodlines strong.  I think you would be the perfect woman to send to the United States.”

He wanted to send her to a grizzly clan. Had he missed the whole point about her bear being unacceptable to any clans?

Arguments rolled up her throat, ready to burst forth, but when she heard him say United States, her mind changed direction. She’d been studying English and French since turning fifteen, so that she could one day leave here for Canada.  If he made the deal with full knowledge of her being a half-breed, then any complaint would be laid at his feet.

Cautious, she rattled off her concerns in Russian. “How can you do this? I would need papers.”

“I have already arranged for documents.”

“Legal documents,” she clarified.

“Yes, legal.  I know someone in that country who has a unique relationship with the US government. He can clear a shifter coming in with something of value to offer. You speak English and French, if I am correct.”

“Yes.” She frowned. How did he know that? 

He continued, “If you fulfill the agreement I have negotiated with him and show that you can be useful as shifter translator, your full citizenship would be processed after one year. You would be allowed to remain on special visa until then.”

Her heart picked up its thumping, but with a renewed sense of hope. Then that little voice piped up, the one reminding her how men had never been trustworthy.

“To expedite your healing, I will send my healer to you tonight,” he added. 

Would the healer expect her to shift? 

Her bear growled.  Yes. Hurt.

She would pacify her irritable bear once this was done. She could not make a mistake and end up in a strange land with a child and no way to care for him. 

Elianna said, “I will need our clothes and money.”

“Everything has been gathered from your apartment and your clothes will be delivered tonight to a location I have where the healer can tend to you.  I will make arrangements for ... your mother.”

She studied his face for any sign of regret or remorse. 

The hard eyes of a ruler, who would show no weakness in front of his men, stared back at her.  He asked, “Do you wish to be present when we burn the body?”

No, she did not want the stench of burning body to be the last reminder of her mother. She already knew the smell of her mother’s blood and death, and would carry that with her forever.  But she chose to think of her mother as the young, happier woman she’d been when they’d lived in the north, long before coming to this place chasing this man.

That woman had been gone for a long time.

Holding her head as still as she could so the pain did not blind her, Elianna said, “I do not.  I accept your generous offer.  Now, if you will help me to this protected location where I will meet your healer, and bring Nico to me, you will not have to ever see me again.” 

Alexandre became suspiciously quiet, so much so that his men were sending guarded glances his way.  He said, “It would be dishonorable for me to allow us to part ways before you understand all the terms of our agreement.”

That worried her, but Alexandre was known for his word being unquestioned in business deals. He had no reason to lie to her since he held all the power right now.

What had she missed?