Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Finn makes a low, reverent sound from the fireplace. “No more questions.”
“She’s not just a bear,” Goldie says softly, her voice trembling. “She’s the girl from my dreams.”
We all look at her.
“I saw my boys,” she continues. “Running through the woods. And there was a wolf girl with red hair, laughing as she ran beside them. I didn’t think anything of it, but now…”
She gestures to Ahya, who’s rolling in pure joy with the cubs, her dark fur shining.
“She’s real.”
“You didn’t tell us,” Hunter says, his voice a growl that reveals his displeasure. Mates don’t hold secrets. Maybe it was an innocent oversight, or maybe Goldie was worried about how her clan would react to the news of bear and wolf uniting.
When Goldie shrugs, Hunter is quiet for a long time, his gaze flicking from Ahya to Scarlet, then to Nixon.
“So, it’s true,” he says, voice rough, “She’s the bridge between us. We need the clan. The elders. Everyone.”
“Do you trust them?” Nixon asks.
“Not entirely.” Hunter’s hand tightens on the intricately carved arm of his chair. “But if you want your mate and your daughter safe, this is the only path.”
Scarlet, who’s been staring wide-eyed at Ahya as she plays, interrupts. “If it keeps her safe, we’ll go.”
Nixon looks at her like she’s the ground beneath his feet, then he turns back to Hunter. “We’ll go. But we go together. And we leave when I say.”
“Okay. But before then, we want to see Ahya shift to wolf,” Hunter says.
I catch the flicker of unease in Scarlet’s eyes. We’ve all seen Ahya shift to wolf, but only in fleeting, instinctual bursts, usually when she’s overwhelmed or overjoyed. We’ve never asked her to do it on command. She’s still a baby.
But right now, she’s not struggling.
She’s thriving.
Still in bear form, she rolls over Connell’s back, growling softly in play, then flops onto the rug with a cub-sized sigh. She stretches out, tongue lolling, and I swear she smirks. Coran nuzzles up beside her, and for a second, they breathe together. Two packs, entwined.
Finn stands. “Maybe if I shift, too?”
He walks into the center of the room, exhales, and shifts. His wolf explodes forward in a smooth, effortless burst. Silver-gray fur. Broad chest. Powerful shoulders. He stands tall beside Evan’s bear form. It’s a sight to behold.
We all brace.
No wolf and bear stand this close without a challenge, but here they are.
And then, without warning, Ahya shifts again.
This time, fur peels back slowly, elegant in its transformation. Her limbs stretch longer, and her paws shrink. And where a bear cub lay seconds ago, a furred wolf pup now blinks up at us with sharp blue eyes and a wagging tail.
Gasps echo around the room.
“She’s so young,” Robert murmurs. “That kind of control shouldn’t be possible.”
“She doesn’t know it’s control,” I say. “She’s just herself.”
She yips, tail whipping wildly, and bounds across the rug toward Evan, who’s still in bear form. She leaps and licks at his massive paw, then spins around and skitters toward Scarlet, circling her once before flopping right into her lap. Scarlet laughs, burying her fingers in Ahya’s silky fur.
“She’s showing them who she is,” Scarlet whispers.
And then Ahya shifts again, from wolf back to human, bare and glowing, her cheeks flushed from the energy. She laughs in a bubbling, radiant sound that fills the whole room with light. She claps once, then shifts right back into a cub and lunges at Coran like the chaos of existence is her favorite game.
Hunter scrubs a hand over his face, his voice stunned and reverent. “That’s… evolution.”
“She’s showing us what’s next,” Goldie says softly, her eyes wet. “That division on species lines isn’t our future.”
I look at my brothers. At Scarlet, who is smiling through tears. At Finn, still in wolf form, his eyes locked on our daughter like he can’t look away. At Evan who lowers his massive head in a slow, respectful gesture toward the cub and pup tangled on the rug.
Ahya shifts again, mid-tumble, wolf to girl to bear, and collapses in laughter.
“We’ll take her to the bear clan compound,” Hunter repeats, firmer this time, finally convinced.
And just like that, it’s decided.
The girl born of violence and miracle will be taken into the heart of the bears’ world. A place we were never supposed to venture.
39
FINN
The convoy winds through narrow forest roads as we follow Hunter’s truck toward the compound. It’s a thirty-minute drive, and the further north we go, the quieter it gets, like the trees themselves are braced for what’s to come.
Nixon sits beside me in the passenger seat, eyes forward, one hand clenched against his knee. He hasn’t said a word since we crossed into bear territory, but the tension pulses off him in waves. I don’t know if it’s possible to be ready to face the people you’ve been told are your enemy your whole life without a sense of trepidation. Even so, he gives off the silent command of a man preparing for a fight he hopes he doesn’t get dragged into.