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Time slowed as the two bruins charged each other. She couldn’t get between them fast enough, but she had to try. She had to try!
“Dad, please, no!” she shrieked as the bears dug their enormous claws into the earth for traction. Her legs burned as she sprinted to cut them off, but she wasn’t going to make it in time to stop them.
Don’t slow down, the bear whispered.
This was going to hurt, but she had to trust the part of her that had always kept her safe.
A sob escaped her as she ran between them, just feet from collision. She closed her eyes, and then the pain was excruciating. This was dying. It was death. She was ripped in two by the bears she cared for. The roaring rattled her mind, and the agony was too much as she opened her eyes.
Roaring…roaring…roaring…
It was her voice that rang through her muddled mind.
There were three roaring animals.
Three.
Three.
She came to, and she was standing between Beaston and Landon. She snarled at her father and snapped at their claws as they raked out at each other, preventing their claws from gaining purchase. The last thing she needed was the scent of blood in the air to make their bears lose all sense of logic.
Beaston backed up, eyes full of confusion.
He backed away a few more steps, and Landon advanced.
Lucia spun around and went on the attack, and Landon backed up, the fury fading from his eyes. The bloodlust was draining from his gaze, and his pupils dilated as he focused on her.
She was the bear.
God! She was herself again!
Overwhelmed, she slammed her front paws on the ground and let off a roar that rattled the trees. She was so damn relieved.
This body made sense, where she hadn’t made any damn sense to herself in almost a year.
She knew. She knew now.
There was no baby to protect anymore—there was just Lucia and the bear. There was her and Landon.
A heartbroken noise escaped her throat. Beaston paced the edge of the woods, uncertain.
He wouldn’t go home to Mom unless he knew Lucia was okay. He wouldn’t.
So Lucia sauntered over to Landon and ran her muzzle down the side of his, then rubbed her body down the side of his and turned to look at her dad. He’s with me.
Beaston’s bear’s eyes had softened. There was the heart. He dropped his gaze, then cast one more glance at her before he turned and limped heavily into the woods.
The bear limped worse than the human side of him. Willa had broken that leg years ago, and it reminded her of how deep her father’s story went in these mountains.
She didn’t know why he’d come here. Perhaps he had just come to visit her, or maybe he’d had a vision. She didn’t know, but she knew his intentions were pure.
She turned and looked at Landon’s scarred-up blond bear watching Beaston as he disappeared into the woods. Suddenly, he turned the other way and sauntered toward the woods on the other side of the cabin.
She’d angered him. Or confused him. It was her talent.
But when he turned at the edge of the woods, she realized he had expected her to follow. He wasn’t running. He was leading her.
The woods were calling to him, and as she watched him wait there at the edge of the tree line, she felt it. The woods were calling to her, too.
