Liana clamped her hands over her ears. Shetrembled, and her eyes burned with a new set of tears. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. All she could do was pray that somewhere out there, Eddie had heard the howl—and her prayer.
The wolf lowered its head again and paced slowly through the snow. It was waiting. Watching.
Liana sat alone in the freezing dark, her breath fogging up the glass. The only response to the wolf was the wind. She closed her eyes and prayed that Eddie would come to her rescue.
Chapter Nine
The snow was relentless. Thick white flakes hurled sideways as if the wind had lost its mind. Eddie stood on the front porch with her eyes narrowed at the swirling storm. Her chest burned from chopping wood, her muscles were coiled, but that wasn’t what had her jaw locked tight.
It was the sight of Liana’s footprints—half filled, half frozen, leading away from the cabin.
Eddie cursed under her breath. Her bear prowled beneath her skin. It paced and snarled. Their mate was out there in this mess. For what? A phone that was probably dead. A few clothes? Her stubborn, beautiful, and reckless humandidn’t understand the danger these mountains held.
Eddie pulled her coat shut, but it did little to ease the heat rising inside her. She stepped off the porch with the snow crunching beneath her boots. The cold bit into her face instantly, but her bear’s blood kept her warm enough to move without hesitation.
She followed the trail down the slope toward the tree line. The storm was growing heavier by the minute. Visibility was shrinking fast. The scent of Liana lingered—soft, sweet, and tinged with the faint metallic sting of fear. Eddie’s gut twisted.
“Why would she not listen to me?” she growled.
Her boot sank deep. The world had turned into a blur of white and gray shadows. The wind shrieked through the pines like warning cries. The farther she went, the weaker Liana’s scent became scattered by the storm.
Then she heard it.
A howl. Low. Long. Wrong.
Every muscle Eddie’s body grew taut. That wasn’t the call of a wolf pack. It wasn’t any packthat she knew. This was something else. Something broken.
Her bear roared inside her chest. The sound vibrated through her bones. She didn’t think or hesitate. She tore off her coat and gloves and dropped them onto the ground. The shift rippled through her like wildfire. Her tendons snapped and reshaped. Her bones expanded and thickened. Her body stretched, and her skin disappeared underneath a wave of golden-brown fur, until Eddie the human was gone and in her place stood a ferocious grizzly.
Eight feet of raw fury.
Her breath steamed in the freezing air. Her talons dug trenches in the snow. Her nostrils flared—and there it was. Liana. Her scent, faint but distinct.
And the wolf.
A snarl ripped from her throat as she barreled forward. The snow exploded around her with each stride. The storm clawed at her, but she didn’t slow. Her heart pounded with a single instinct.
Protect their mate.
The tracks twisted through the trees, toward the old forest road. Eddie crashed through thedrifts, branches snapping under her weight. Then she saw it. The shape of Liana’s car half-buried and the shadow that circled it.
The wolf.
It was massive, its pelt a patchwork of matted gray. It’s eyes were a wild, sickly yellow. This was no sane creature. It reeked of rot and bloodlust.
Eddie let out a thunderous roar that shook the air. The wolf turned and snarled at her. It set its sights on Eddie. That was what she wanted. She didn’t see Liana, but going by the misted windows, assumed she was inside the vehicle.
The wolf faced her, then lunged.
They collided with a sound that split the storm. It was a clash of beasts, teeth and claws. Eddie’s weight sent them both tumbling into the snow. Her massive paws struck the wolf. She knocked the wolf down, but it jumped right up and lunged at her again. It snapped at Eddie’s throat, and she slammed it down to the ground. The snow flew into the air around them.
She bit down on its shoulder. The fur and flesh gave way beneath her jaws. The wolf howled, twisted, and tried to rake her belly with its claws. Eddie was the stronger of the two.
She was an alpha.
Her bear was in charge, but Eddie was still in the background. Her bear growled and refused to let the wolf go.
Mate. Our mate. You die, her bear roared.