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 Table of Contents

Title Page
Polar’s Light
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One

Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Thank You!
About the Author
Polar’s Light

The Holloways

By Lacey Thorn
 Polar’s Light
by

Lacey Thorn
A polar bear shifter with no place to call home. Not anymore. Not since the day Fletch’s mother had
sent away him and his younger brother to protect them. They’d found a place with the Holloway Den,
but does a polar bear really belong in a den of grizzlies? After all these years, Fletch fears it might be
time to move on, to build a home of his own.
One moment changed Helen’s life, allowing her to escape the underground cave where she’s been
held for years. Locked away from the world. From the sun, the fresh air, the trees. From all the things
a bear shifter craves. Unable to shift, weak from hunger and lack of water, she struggles for each step
away from her captors. But she won’t give up until she gets help for the other female captives.
One look and Fletch knows what he’s been searching for. Taking in the fragile state of the woman
before him, rage fills both man and beast. But one-word screams through his soul, then her lips part
and she whispers it aloud. Mate.
 Copyright

© 2022, Lacey Thorn

Polar’s Light
Cover Art by Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC
Edited by Michele Paulin

Electronic Format ISBN: 978-1-949795-84-4

Published by: Lacey Thorn Publishing

Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work
is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is
investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s
imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely
coincidental.
 Dedication

To all the creators who inspire me. Keep writing those amazing books,
creating those awesome movies, writing those song lyrics that hit hard
and resonate long after the music has played. Thank you.
 Chapter One

“Are we sure this is the best place to start searching?” Milo asked for at least the hundredth
time.
“It’s the closest area with natural sites capable of hiding captives right under our noses,” Brock
replied. “We work our way out from here.”
Fletch closed his eyes, leaning his head against the headrest behind him while he let the thrum
of the tires on the road and the light chatter of the others wash over him. He was pure tension.
Muscles flexed beneath his skin as his bear fought for release. Not yet was a mantra in his head as he
fought to hold back the beast ready to attack and slay. He felt the hum of anticipation in the air as if a
scent on the Wyoming wind were calling to them or at least to him. It was time to launch an attack on
their enemy. An enemy who had attacked, killed, and taken hostages. Female bear hostages. For close
to six fucking years. Hiding them right in the Holloways’ backyard. What hell had the women lived
through? How many had survived?
“I saw another group come in last night,” Milo moved to a different topic.
A lot of the members of the Holloway den had traveled in the wake of the attacks. They’d all
been devastated. He and his brother, Milo, had briefly gone back to Alaska after the death of their
previous alpha, Mathew Holloway. After the vicious attacks by their greatest enemy, a purist society
known simply as hunters. The group made it their life’s work to hunt down and murder every shifter
they could. Men, woman, young, old. It didn’t matter. For them, the only good shifter was a dead one.
The attacks had come on the heels of the alpha’s death. Laramie Holloway had sent out all of
the enforcers, as well as every Holloway brother, to check on survivors. Laramie, the new alpha, had
also gone. So much loss and devastation, almost all of the females of their den believed slain, but they
hadn’t learned the true extent of the horror of those days until five years later when a lone female bear
shifter from the Holloway pack had arrived on Holloway land, asking for protection and revealing
there had been female survivors. Females who’d been hidden, their lives kept secret from their new
alpha.
“It’s nice to see everyone returning,” Milo interjected into the silence.
Fletch’s brother couldn’t seem to handle the lack of conversation. Or maybe, it was the tension
that filled the vehicle. Milo was the type of person who did his best to put people at ease, to make
them laugh, to offer them comfort even if it was only with a few kind words. It still amazed Fletch that
his brother maintained his optimism after all they’d been through.
What a fucking mess. Fletch had hung around for a bit to try to help the men he and Milo had
come to see as brothers, but in the end, he and Milo had left, seeking to fill the restlessness inside
them. Alaska had been a trip down memory lane since there was no longer anything there for them.
Their mother was long gone, killed off in a brutal attack no one had anticipated. They’d avenged her
death years ago, sneaking off from the Holloway’s to torture and kill the man responsible. Vengeance
had brought no peace, though. There was no justification for Vivian Calderson’s death. It had been a
desperate act that had destroyed the last Alaskan den. He and Milo were the only remaining Polar
bear shifters as far as he knew. All because a male shifter couldn’t handle the den being led by a
woman.

Death, death, and more death. A shifter’s life was full of it. The threat, the fear, the horror of
seeing those you knew and loved killed or worse, disappearing with no idea what had happened to
them. Even now two men he’d called friends were unaccounted for. Rocco, whose brother had let
them know he’d disappeared after the attacks, and Jasper who none of them could reach. Both had
been enforcers under the old alpha. Both should have arrived when Laramie sent out the calls for
them all to return.
“You okay?” Milo whispered, pulling Fletch out of his macabre thoughts of the past.
“I’m good. You?” he whispered back, though he knew their conversation was far from private.
Shifters. They had excellent hearing, and the SUV was filled with them as they made their way
to one of the spots identified as a possible hunter torture camp. So much had happened in the last few
weeks. Discovering Lawrence Walker, one of the elders in the Holloway den had been responsible
for the attacks. Walker had worked with their biggest enemy to plan attacks that left the den thinking
all their females had been killed, a fate that would have seen the pack die out. The only way for a
male bear shifter to pass on his DNA was with a female bear shifter.
How a shifter could work with a man like Dr. Victor Talbot made no sense to Fletch. The
doctor literally did horrific experiments on shifters. Cutting off limbs and other body parts to see
what a shifter might be able to regrow. Vivisecting them so he could poke and prod at their insides to
see how they handled pain and under what conditions their organs would continue functioning. Talbot
was dead now. Killed by one of the shifters he’d played God with. Before he died, he’d managed to
admit how close to Holloway land the bear shifters he’d taken were , but they were still trying to
narrow down possible locations. Time wasn’t on their side.
“Yeah,” Milo muttered, but he moved restlessly in his seat as if he were feeling confined inside
the moving vehicle.
“We’re almost there,” Caleb, Rocco’s younger brother, called out from the front passenger seat.
“We wait until all vehicles arrive before we set out,” Brock Holloway ordered. “We do this
right. One group to take care of the hunters. One group to focus on quickly getting out anyone being
held. Final group outside to assess and field triage until we can get them home.”
“How many are with us?” Fletch asked.
“As many as we could spare with three pregnant mates at home. Laramie will guard them and
Baby Bear with his life,” Brock swore, which was true.
One of the pregnant mates was Laramie’s, Emersyn Langston, the only female Kodiak alive as
far as they knew. The other two were two of the surviving Blackstone sisters. One was mated to Koby
Holloway. The other to the only human enforcer among them, Holt Reynolds, a battle-trained solider
who’d been a part of the pride of cat shifters in Oklahoma before meeting his mate and joining the
Holloway den. Baby Bear was the daughter of Malachi Blackstone, a precocious little girl who’d had
Emersyn as her surrogate mother since hers had died during her birth. Another long story of betrayal
and attacks by hunters who had left Em’s father, alpha of another bear den in Washington state, dead,
along with a good number of the strongest males in the pack. None of the attacks made sense. Taking
out the females in one den then the males in the other? What the hell had Walker been thinking?
“How close are we?” Milo asked, and Fletch knew his brother was dealing with the same rage
he was. The same rage they all were. Women were to be protected, cherished. Fletch and the others
had no idea what they might be walking into, but they knew how hunters operated. The thought of any
of the missing women from their den living under the heavy hand of hunters had every member of the
Holloway den fighting to maintain control.

“There’s an entrance to the national forest about twenty miles ahead. We’ll pull in there,”
Brock answered.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll shift as soon as we get there and scout the area to see what my senses
can pick up. There are too many possible sites. We need paws on the ground immediately to give us a
better sense of what direction to take.” Fletch cracked his neck from side to side, trying to ease some
of the tension. “We can’t spread ourselves any thinner than we’ll already be.”
“I’ll go with you,” Milo stated firmly, and Fletch nodded. “We work well together. A short
reconnaissance then we’ll be back with better intel.”
“Sounds good,” Brock agreed. “We set a time limit. If you’re not back, you’ll have the whole
damn team on your asses.”
“Give us twenty minutes,” Fletch offered. “We’ll be quick but thorough. Caleb, hand me that
map with the different locations on it.”

“We’ll find them,” Caleb swore as he handed it back.

Sometimes, Caleb reminded Fletch of Rocco, Caleb’s older brother. It made Fletch’s chest
ache with worry. Where was Rocco? He refused to believe hunters had been able to take out his
friend. Not Rocco. The man was one of the fiercest fighters Fletch had ever seen, whether in human or
bear form. Hell, Rocco was one of the rare big browns that rivaled even a Kodiak in size and
ferocity.
They drove in silence the rest of the way. Even with his eyes closed, Fletch felt his brother’s
gaze on him. He knew Milo was waiting on a decision, but he’d ignored Milo’s subtle and less than
subtle hints to talk about what Fletch was planning. He’d mentioned returning to Alaska permanently
when they’d been there, before Laramie’s call to return to the Holloway den. His brother had been
dead set against it, but Fletch knew if he decided to go, Milo would be at his side.
The problem was, Fletch didn’t think he wanted Alaska. What he wanted was a mate, a family.
He wanted what had been stolen from both him and Milo when they’d been brought to the Holloways
by their mother and left there when their mother had returned to Alaska. Wyoming wasn’t Alaska,
though, and unlike the majority of the den, a polar bear wasn’t exactly a normal sighting in the
Wyoming wilderness. Even Laramie as an Alaskan Kodiak grizzly didn’t stand out as much as Fletch
and Milo did. Fletch would probably head back to Alaska soon either way. For no other reason than
to give his bear the freedom they both needed. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave the Holloways, but
the need building within him might make it impossible to stay.

Brock pulled the SUV off at the exit they’d been watching for. Once they were parked,
everyone hit the doors at once. Most people need to get out and stretch during long road trips, but
shifters? They were the worst. None of them enjoyed the prolonged confinement. Fletch’s polar was
ready for a run.
“Jemma, stick with me,” Brock ordered the stowaway female bear shifter with them as he
headed around the side of the vehicle.
Fletch barely bit back a snort of laughter at the growl that spilled from her lips. The little vixen
was turning out to be more than the brothers had expected. She was one of the surviving females
who’d been hidden away after the attacks. Only thirteen at the time, she’d spent five years
underground, since the elder who’d taken her in had refused to let her out for any reason. Fletch had
been the one to find her and bring her to the Holloways. She’d been thin with shadows so dark under
her eyes that he had feared she wouldn’t survive. She had, though. She was strong and fierce and
already a force to reckon with. To say Brock was pissed she’d somehow managed to rub his scent on
her so she could hide in the SUV was putting it politely. Fletch thought it was more than that. He
wasn’t sure Brock had figured out what the rest of them had, yet. Or maybe, he was ignoring she was
his mate for another reason. Whatever Brock’s thoughts were, Fletch didn’t think Jemma had realized
the truth. If she had, Brock’s world would have already been turned upside down by his mate.
Brock joined Fletch, Jemma hot on his heels. When she bumped into his back, he turned to
glare at her, a rumble filling his chest. Jemma snarled at him. God, it would be interesting watching
those two.
“Put the map on the hood,” Brock ordered, waiting until it was spread out so everyone had a
good view before tracing his finger along a route that would take Fletch and Milo past the potential
sites they’d marked as places female bears could be hidden. “If you pick up any scents, get back here
immediately. Word could have gotten out already that Talbot is dead. They could be moving people.
Or killing them. We need to be quick. This might be the female’s only chance of survival.”
Fletch nodded, gaze scouting the area around them as he tried to ignore the fact Jemma was
trying to move away. He laughed when Brock reached back and caught her hand, giving it such a
fierce tug she crashed into his back again. Another snarl left her lips, and the look Brock gave Fletch
made him wonder if the other man realized exactly what was going on, after all. Was he trying to
protect her from something he didn’t think she was ready for?
“I’m going to head out now.” Fletch rolled his shoulders, stretching as he fought the urge to
shift. “The others should be right behind us.”
 “I’m ready,” Milo piped up, and Fletch nodded at his brother.

“Twenty minutes,” Brock reminded them before turning to Jemma and giving her his full
attention. “Glue your ass to that door and don’t fucking move. You’ll be lucky if I don’t spank you for
this little stunt of yours.”
“Fucking try me, Hollo-dickhead,” Jemma snapped back.
Fletch laughed again before heading into the tree line with Milo right on his heels.
“Do you think they’re here?” Milo asked as soon as they were inside the woods.
“Talbot said they were closer than we knew,” Fletch reminded. “Logistically, this part of the
forest makes the most sense.”
Milo nodded. “All we need is to find one cavern the hunters are using, and that could lead us to
others. Does it piss you off they might be taking a page from us by building these places in caves?
Underground?”
“Everything about hunters pisses me off,” Fletch growled. “We didn’t ask for this. Any of it. To
be hunted, killed, with the goal of the total annihilation of every shifter species? These people are
sick, twisted fucks. They’re like cockroaches. Eliminate the threat of one, and five more pop up to
take that one’s place. We deserve better. Our mates and children and dens deserve better.”
“Mates and children?” Milo asked. “Something you want to tell me, brother?”
“I haven’t met my mate, but I feel a need to find her. It’s as if my bear hears hers crying out for
me.” Fletch shook his head with frustration. “That sounds stupid even to me.”
“Not stupid at all. Got to admit, I never saw you for the romantic type.” Milo snickered,
bending forward with one hand over his stomach.

“Fuck you,” Fletch groused, reaching out to shove his brother. “Let’s get shifted and head out.”
“Wait. Just…” Milo paused, suddenly looking far too serious. “Just give me a heads up. If you
plan to leave. Or whatever.”
“I’ll never just up and leave you, Milo. That’s not who I am. That’s not how we work.”
But Fletch understood the sentiment. Their father had left and been killed by hunters. Then their
mother had brought them to the Holloways and left them to head back to Alaska where she’d been
killed. Of course, his younger brother would fear Fletch leaving. Not that Milo would ever put it in
those terms, but Fletch knew his brother. Anywhere Fletch chose to go, his brother wouldn’t be far
behind.
“Where would you go? Where is your bear urging you to search for your mate? In Alaska?”
Fletch shrugged. “I feel the pull to go somewhere we can run without fear of being seen. You
can’t say you don’t feel that nudge from your bear, as well.”
 “I do. But Alaska? Nothing good happened there.”

Fletch sighed. “Mom and Dad were born there. Same as us. They fell in love there. You can’t
let the bad outweigh the good, Milo. Besides, Alaska is huge.”
Milo pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it at his feet.
“I don’t want to go back there, Fletch. Not now. Not yet.”

“Then we won’t. Laramie needs us now, anyway. Any plans I make will be down the road.”
“We, Fletch. Any plans you make include me, too,” Milo reminded.
Fletch nodded. He knew that, but it didn’t change the need inside him.
“You’re still going to leave,” Milo muttered.
“I…” Fletch paused, his senses going wild. He tilted his head as he tried to hone in on what he
sensed. “Do you hear that?”
Milo stilled, copying his brother’s stance as he listened.
“I hear it. Someone’s moving and not quickly.” He inhaled. “A woman. Shifter. Bear.”
“Yes.”
“There’s blood. She’s hurt. There’s something else. I can’t place it.”
Milo broke off with a shake of his head as he turned to sniff at Fletch. Fletch didn’t need any
input on what that other smell was. It struck him at a visceral level, wrapping around him and pulling
everything taut. He’d waited a lifetime to smell that fragrance, and the fact it was diminished by the
scent of blood and pain had growls spilling from his lips.

“Fletch?”
“She’s not alone,” he murmured, every sense in his body locking onto the female.
A scream of rage filled the air, and Fletch took off. He heard his brother behind him. Noted the
sound of the others in the distance. None of it mattered. His only concern was getting to the woman.
Protecting her. Caring for her. Seeing to all her needs and making sure she stayed at his side for the
rest of their lives. She was his, and the way his bear pressed against his skin, he knew he’d have the
words before the day ended. His mate. He couldn’t get to her fast enough.
“I’m coming,” he murmured then burst into his fur when another scream sounded only to break
off midcry.
 Chapter Two

Helen struggled to bite back her moan as her ankles were released from the restraints then
almost screamed as her legs buckled beneath her, refusing to bear the weight of her body once her
wrists were freed, as well. She hit the stone floor hard, pain jarring through her body as bruises both
fresh and partially healed jolted to life. Her whole body ached. Her captors had been exceptionally
brutal the last few weeks, as if they no longer had someone behind them pulling the strings. As if they
had free rein on the atrocities they could commit.
“She’s too weak for the games tonight,” Carter barked. “Leave her for now. We’ll clean her up
later.”

The games. The fucking games they were forced to endure to entertain these predators.
Stripping two women down to the skin and throwing them into a dirt pit that had been carved into one
of the cavernous rooms in the cave system Helen had called home for far too long. She and all the
other female shifters who’d managed to survive in this hellhole. Tonight, their numbers would
decrease again as women were selected from among them and forced into the pit, forced into a fight
to the death. Refusal meant death for both combatants as well as for a randomly picked victim from
those forced to watch.
“Carter! Come quick. You’re not going to believe what’s happened!”
Another of the endless assholes who surrounded them ran in, pulling the attention of the others
in the room.
“What?” Carter snapped. “Is it Talbot? Did the doctor finally decide to check in with us?”

“No. Not from him. About him. Word is he was captured by a group of shifters. A mix of bears
and cats.”
“The females who were taken off Holloway land,” Carter muttered then snorted. “Dumb
bastards should have known better than to try that. Only way to kill a Holloway is to lure them off
their land. What about Marcus Blane? Any word from him?”
“No, it’s like he’s disappeared or something. The guys that just came in might know more,
though. They’re waiting for you before they say anything else.”
Talbot caught? Marcus Blane disappearing? Only in Helen’s dream. Both men were evil
personified. Blane was the head of the largest group of hunters in the world. The man fed on hatred,
instilling it in the members of the purist society he led, a group known as the Hunting Society, more
commonly referred to as hunters. They had one goal. Hunt down and exterminate every shifter they
could find. Man, woman, child, the unborn. It didn’t matter as long as they died. As savagely as
possible.
 The ones who lived, like her and the women with her, were subject to games and experiments
courtesy of the sick mind of Dr. Victor Talbot. He’d certainly never taken anything like the
Hippocratic Oath. No, his vow had been one of torture and depravity. He thrived on it. She’d
witnessed him vivisecting one of the cat shifter females he’d managed to get his hands on, cutting her
wide open with little care to the fact she was awake and felt everything. He’d merely shrugged when
she’d died and selected another victim to experiment on. Helen would give anything to rip out his
throat. His or Blane’s.

“This better not be a waste of my fucking time,” Carter snapped, voice cracking like the whip
he liked to wield.
Just the thought of that black leather with the barbed tip made a shudder run through her. She
knew the feel of it intimately. In case memory ever tried to fade, she had the scars on her back,
buttocks, and thighs to remind her. Why she’d become his little pet as he called her, she would never
know, but she prayed with every beating that he’d finally go too far and kill her.
Carter turned on his heel and headed for the door with the others following at his heels. “Let’s
go find out what they have to say.”
It took Helen a minute to realize they’d left her door open. Wide fucking open. Either by
mistake, something that never occurred, or because she was too weak to matter. The reason wasn’t
important. Opportunity knocked, and she wasn’t ignoring it.
Forcing her feet under her, she used the wall to push herself up, allowing a tiny whimper to fall
free this time. She needed her bear. The fucking drugs they pumped into the women daily kept their
bears in a deep slumber. It’d been so long since Helen had felt that side of herself that she feared the
bastards had somehow found a way to kill the animal within her. Except there were times she swore
she still felt it. Not now, though, and she could really use her animal’s abilities. Especially the
healing.
Gingerly, she crossed to the door, peeking around the corner and finding the hallway clear. It
could be a trap, them checking to see how injured she was. To see how she’d react to the possibility
of escape. She didn’t care. This was the first moment since she’d been taken that opportunity existed.
She took it, moving as quickly as she could toward the area she knew would lead her outside.
If they caught her, she was dead, but honestly, she didn’t have much left in her anyway. She was
exhausted. Tired of fighting to survive. For what? She had no mate, and if any of her family had
survived, they’d probably written her off as dead by this point. Maybe, it was time to let death claim
her.
Slinking into shadows when she caught the stomp of boots, Helen made her way out. How? She
didn’t have a fucking clue. Fate or setup? It didn’t matter. They’d have to kill her now if they planned
to drag her out of the sun and back down into the dark and damp of the caves. She wasn’t going back.
She held her breath until she hit the first row of trees, letting it go in as quiet of a pant as she
could manage under the circumstances. The air was cool on her naked skin, raising goosebumps along
her arms and legs and drawing her nipples into tight, hard points. She kept moving. Nudity was
nothing to a shifter, and if it had been, the years of captivity where she’d been stripped at her captors’
whims would have quickly broken her of any modesty.

One foot in front of the other became her mantra. Just a little further. A little more distance.
Find a place to hide. Get away. Please, let her get away. She moved a little faster, though it was like
going from a snail’s pace to that of a turtle, but it was something. Fresh air and rays of sun cut through
the treetops. She needed it.

A snicker behind her had her jerking her gaze over her shoulder, a scream of rage falling from
her lips as she took in the two men closing in on her. Survival instinct kicked in like a shot of
adrenaline plunged into her chest. She ran, her body screaming in agony with every jarring strike of
her feet against the earth. It wasn’t fast enough. She wouldn’t make it. She felt their breath on her
neck, the graze of dirty nails as they scraped along her shoulder, clutching at her, dragging her back.
Helen screamed again, but it was cut off when a hard forearm clamped tightly against her
throat, cutting off her air supply immediately.
“Fucking animal,” the one who’d managed to grab her snarled. “We should just slit her fucking
throat here and leave her to bleed out.”
She bucked, fighting to draw in any dregs of oxygen available. She’d make them kill her. She
wasn’t going back into the earth, and she wouldn’t pass out and make herself easy prey. She’d been a
teenager when they’d taken her. She’d just celebrated her seventeenth birthday. She’d stopped
counting time after the first year of captivity, but it had to be years that she’d been down in those
caves. Four? Five? Longer? She had no idea how old she was now, but she felt ancient. As if she’d
lived a lifetime inside those damp walls.
“Stop fucking fighting, bitch!” her captor snapped. “Get over here and help me with her. If she
has this much energy, she can fight in the pits tonight.”
God, no, but she was weakening. The burst of flight had drained everything from her already
depleted tank. Her vision blurring at the edges, Helen tucked her chin, wedging it as low as she could
and sank her teeth into the solid muscle of her captor’s arm, biting down until she tasted blood. Let
him try to shake her off now.
The first punch hit her near the eye, sending a burst of pain through her face. The second caught
her cheek. She could just make out that fist jerking back for another strike when a roar rocked the
forested area she’d run into. Another closely followed it. Then another. A sob caught in her throat,
and she released a shuddering breath, teeth unclenching on flesh as the arm was tugged free.
She was shoved to the ground, but it didn’t matter. She knew that sound. Bears. More
importantly, bear shifters. They came for her. After all these years, they came for her.
“Leave the bitch!” one of her attackers yelled.
“They can’t have her,” the other one snarled. He crouched over her. “Die you fucking animal!”
The knife arced toward her, and there was nowhere for her to go. The earth was solid at her
back, offering no give to help her out of the way of what was coming for her. Death. At the hands of a
man who’d most likely dealt too much of it to shifters like herself. She blinked, and in that one
moment, he was gone. Dragged away by a huge white bear. White? A polar bear? She shook her head.
Maybe, she was already dying, and her sanity left her first. Then another flash of white passed before
her eyes. Definitely a polar bear. One that charged for the second man, who’d said they should leave
her.

A third bear burst through the trees. A grizzly. Please God, let it be one of the Holloways. It had
to be. Emotion caught in her throat. She rolled back to her stomach and crawled toward the closest
tree.
“Fuck!”
A woman’s cry brought up Helen’s face, gaze locking onto the figure that appeared. The other
woman stared just as hard at her. She sprinted across the distance and dropped at Helen’s side.

“What happened?” The woman’s face jerked back up, scanning the area. “Where did you come
from?”
“Hell,” Helen whispered, a shudder running through her. She was free. A sob caught in her
throat, choking her voice off as she fought to breath.
“Hey.”
Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her close and holding her tightly.
“We’ve got you,” the woman swore. “You’re safe now. I swear it. We won’t let anything else
happen to you.”
“The grizzly?” Helen asked.
“Brock Holloway.”

Helen laughed, and the sound might have come out a bit deranged, but she’d forgive herself for
it. The Holloways. She’d heard Carter’s words about the Holloways. Had also heard several of the
other female shifters say that if the Holloways ever found them, they’d be safe. Helen wasn’t a part of
their den. Her family had never been part of a large den. They’d had each other, and that had always
been enough. Until they were attacked, and she and her sister were both taken. She had no idea if her
parents and brothers were still alive. All she knew was she was free. For the first time in years, she
was free.
“Jemma!”
“Over here,” the woman called.
Three men strode toward them. Naked. Two covered in blood. Only one of them commanded
her attention. Tall, broad shoulders, long legs with a fierce erection rising thick between his massive
thighs. She wasn’t surprised when he strode directly toward her. Everyone else fell away. She heard
nothing they said and had the impression neither did he. Then he was there, looming over her,
squatting down and taking her into his arms, rising with her cradled against his chest.

“I’ve got you.” He inhaled deeply, a growl leaving his lips as he breathed her in. “I’ve got to
taste you.”
Her eyes widened as he dipped his head, and she lifted her hand to wrap around his neck and
tug him closer. He brushed his lips over hers then up along her cheek. A rumble filled his chest, the
vibration flowing through her. That deep, gruff rumble filled the air as he spoke again.
She knew who he was. Felt it deep in her soul. Mate.
“Yes,” he agreed, letting Helen know she’d spoken the word aloud. “I’m not letting you go.”
She nodded, taking in his vow and accepting it. She wouldn’t be going back into those caves.
She’d die in the sunlight and fresh air.

“Save the others,” she begged, not wanting to leave any of the women who’d suffered beside
her every day at the hands of the bastards torturing them.
The words barely tumbled from her lips before he was there again with the kiss of a man
claiming what was his. His lips were firm, tongue sweeping along her lower lip, and as she opened
her mouth on a gasp, his tongue dove deep. Taking. Devouring. Owning. He robbed her of air, of
thought, of anything and everything that wasn’t him. It was a moment of pure joy. She hated that it
came too late.
When he finally lifted his head, the edges of her vision were going dark. She fought to keep her
eyes open. She needed to tell them where the caves were. Needed to make sure the others were
rescued, but numbness washed through her until she felt nothing. It was as if in finding the man
holding her, her body was finally able to release the tension that had held her together for so long.
With the taste of his kiss on her lips and the bitter pain of regret in her soul, she laid her head on her
mate’s shoulder and let the darkness take her.
 Chapter Three

“Fletch.”

He glanced toward his brother and nodded, though Milo hadn’t voiced the question. It was
there in his face. Plus, there was no way any of them had missed his words to the woman in his arms.
She was his mate, and she was seriously injured. Her body was too cold and still in his arms, her
pulse growing slower by the second.
“How far out is Jensen?” he demanded.
“Heading toward us now with the rest of the team,” Brock told him, his body carefully turned
away from Jemma. As if he could hide his arousal from her. Her eyes were always glued to him.
“Jemma, go back and meet them,” he ordered.
“You want me to wander off on my own?” She slowly stood from where she was still crouched
and faced Brock, gaze skimming over his body before shooting to his face. “Can I at least have your
majesty’s approval to shift this time?”
“I told you to glue your ass to the door of the vehicle and not move.”
“She was screaming.” Jemma’s voice was soft as she glanced at the woman in Fletch’s arms.
“You can’t expect me not to respond.”
“Can and do,” Brock snapped. “Matheus is on his way. He’ll take you home as soon as he gets
here.”

“Don’t lock me away, Brock. I won’t stay.”

“Go, Jemma. Now.”
She turned her back on Brock and met Fletch’s gaze. “She’s lucky to have you.”
“Jemma.”
She ignored Brock, turning and sprinting back the way they’d come.
“Should I follow her?” Milo offered.
“Caleb is still at the SUV waiting with the others. She’ll be fine. One of them will stay with her
until Matheus gets here. Besides, unless my ears deceive me, they’re heading toward us now.” Brock
turned in a circle. “Scent says she came from that way. We need to go as soon as they get here. Are
you staying with her or going in?”
 Fletch growled. He wasn’t sure. A big part of him didn’t want to let her out of his sight. She
was skin and bone. The only part of her not sunk in were her full breasts, and he felt his temper rage
as he took in the mottled bruising on them. Hell, all over her. Yet, he was equally pulled to avenge
her. To coat his hands with the blood of the people who’d put her in her current condition. He refused
to visit the idea she might not make it. The fates couldn’t be so cruel as to let them find one another
then tear them apart.

“She’ll be in good heads with the medical team,” Brock assured him, as if he knew Fletch’s
thoughts. “Can you control yourself enough to let them take care of her without getting in the way?”
He wasn’t sure. Hell, he was hard pressed with the need to spill more blood as it was. One
thing he could do for her would work toward calming his beast. Avenge her.
“I’m going in.”

Brock nodded, then the clearing was swarmed by shifters before anything else could be said.
Jensen made his way immediately to Fletch, visually assessing the woman in his arms.
“Put her down. Let me take a look.” Fletch hovered over her and bit back growls as Jensen
Holloway ran his hands over her body. “I don’t feel any breaks. She’s dehydrated. Underfed. Pulse is
weak. Thready. We’ll get her on the first flight back to the house.”
“Turn her over.” Fletch had to force the words up from his gut. He didn’t want to see, but he
couldn’t ignore what his hands had felt when he’d lifted her.
Jensen rolled her toward him then swore a blue streak.
“How bad is it?” Fletch demanded.
“She’s scarred. Badly. From the looks of it, they’ve been reopened recently. I’d say within the
last few days,” Jensen murmured, and there was an ache to his voice. “Looks like a whip. One with a
barbed tip.”

“Why isn’t she healed?” Milo asked while Fletch fought to harness the rage boiling through
him.
“Drugs would be my guess.” There was a snap to Jensen’s voice, his own anger rising.
“Walker used drugs to repress Xandra’s bear when he held her. My sister-in-law’s still not able to
shift.”
“Fuck!” Fletch snarled.
Xandra Blackstone was the mate of Declan Holloway. She was one of the surviving females
who’d been hidden away by the elders. The traitor himself had held Xandra. He’d put the woman
through hell. Now, she and Declan were on the hunt for Walker. Two of Laramie’s enforcers had gone
with them, Chance and Woody. Fletch wasn’t sure Walker would make it back to Wyoming to face the
Holloway den’s justice. Either Xandra or her mate would kill him first.
Fletch stood and paced away before turning back, his gaze drawn to the woman he’d accepted
was his mate. “Will she pull through?”

“She’s obviously a survivor,” Milo stated.

“She will,” Jensen agreed. “I’ve got more help incoming. She’ll have an IV hooked up within
minutes of them arriving.” He turned and glanced around. “We’ll follow her scent. Infiltrate quick.
Take as many down as we can on the way in. Find any survivors and get them out. My team will be
here triaging until we can get them home. I’ve got helicopters ready to take the more serious by air.
She’ll be on the first one, Fletch. I promise you. I’ll watch over her personally as soon as we’re out
of the field and back home. Okay?”
Fletch nodded. God, he didn’t want to lose her when he’d just discovered her.
“Everyone understand the plan?” Jensen demanded, coming to his feet.
Lots of nods and yeahs hit the air.

“If you come across a man with a barbed whip, he’s mine,” Fletch growled as his gaze swept
over everyone in the clearing. “Understood?”
“He’s yours,” Jensen agreed as the others nodded.
Jensen barked more orders while Brock split people into teams. Brock, Fletch, and Milo
would shift and follow the main team in. Jensen would be leading that group. Fletch wasn’t sure it
was the best idea to have their primary medical doctor charging into battle, but no one listened to him.
Least of all Jensen. He was like a man possessed. As if he held himself personally responsible for the
attacks and the female shifters who’d been taken or killed or hidden. It was the same for all the
Holloways. They all blamed themselves for the attacks, for the years the den females had spent
hidden or even worse, as captives of a group of soulless hunters.
Fletch turned, gazing at his mate, filling his mind with the vision of her before shifting and
joining his brother and Brock. The best thing he could do for her right now was to let them get her
hooked up to an IV and flown out. Plus, she’d told him to save the others. They needed to get to the
females quickly. Before anyone else realized she’d managed to escape.
He was a bundle of compressed energy, making it hard to hold in the roar of rage his bear
wanted to release as they followed his mate’s scent to a patch of rocks at the base of a range of steep
hills where large boulders loomed as if waiting for the opportunity to break free and crush whatever
lay beneath them. Jensen was the first to spot the opening, almost hidden within the crags and
vegetation around the rocks.
They’d barely stepped inside when the first scream reached them. They filled the tunnel
quickly, no longer worried about using stealth and quiet. Instead, it was about reaching any survivors
as quickly as possible. They hit a large cavern that split off in multiple directions and separated.
Fletch let his bear take the lead. Something pulled at him. A scent, maybe? Perhaps, instinct.
Either way, he followed where the beast within led him and was anything but disappointed.
 A yawning pit appeared before them. Two women fought inside it, both bloodied and bruised,
barely standing on their feet. Along the edges of the pit stood a mix of naked women and men in
fatigues. It was easy to see who was a hunter and who was a prisoner. Fletch gave a roar as he
glanced across the wide opening and saw a man with a whip rolled and hanging from his hip. Black
leather. Fletch could easily see the metal barb. One glance and he knew he wanted this man alive. He
deserved to suffer at the end of that whip as Fletch’s mate obviously had.

He took off, circling the pit as he rushed toward the man he’d locked his gaze on. Around him
the sound of grunts, growls, screams, and gunshots filled the air. Some of the women collapsed, arms
wrapped around themselves as if they couldn’t believe what they saw. Others jumped in, attacking
those who’d held them captive, as if they’d merely been waiting for the tables to turn. People were
tossed into the pit. Hunters and shifters both. Fletch’s brother jumped in after them with a roar on his
lips, and Fletch fought the urge to follow and make sure his brother was okay. Milo was a grown
male, a fierce polar shifter who could hold his own in any fight. Plus, there were others among them
heading into the pit. Milo wouldn’t be alone.

Fletch growled again as Jensen reached his target first. They were on him before he could
draw that whip.
“Carter!” someone screamed, and the man glanced over, his attention diverted long enough for
Jensen to land a blow that had the man reeling back. His feet got caught up in some of the downed
hunters around him and down he went, head hitting the stone floor with a loud smack.
Fletch shifted as he reached them.
“I want him alive!” he bellowed.
Jensen nodded. “We’ll see what information we can get out of him.”
“Take the whip, too,” Fletch ordered as two shifters moved forward to retrieve Carter, who’d
managed to knock himself out when he’d fallen. “I have plans for that.”
There was no containing the rumble in his chest. He was eager to see how the hunter named
Carter handled being on the other end of that barbed whip. How many women who’d been held by the
hunters bore scars from it? How many women were here? How many hadn’t survived for this
moment? It tore at his soul, especially as the wails of some filled the air.
“They’re already starting to get some of the women out,” Jensen told him. “You can head back
to your mate.”
It didn’t surprise him that Jensen had picked up on that. Fletch suspected anyone who’d been in
that clearing with them had taken note of the possessive way he’d hovered over her. He knew his
brother and Brock had noted his claim on her also. Hell, even Jemma had probably picked up on it.
Had his mate realized before she’d passed out?
“Fletch?” Jensen asked, pulling him back into the moment.
“There are more hunters in here,” Fletch fired back. “I’m not leaving until we’ve gotten them
all.”
Jensen nodded. “We need a few more to interrogate. We’ve got to find as many of these places
as we can. Quickly.”
“Let’s get moving then.”
With that, Fletch headed toward the pit, glancing down to check on his brother. There was
plenty of blood and carnage, not all of it from hunters. Milo had shifted back to his human skin, as
well. Though he was covered in blood, Fletch could tell little to none of it actually came from Milo.
Turning away, he headed back into the thick of things, ready to weed out any hunters still
lurking in the caverns. Only once the entire cavern had been explored and cleared would he be able to
go find his mate again. Both he and his bear were desperate to have her in sight again.
 Chapter Four

Helen woke to the cool and quiet. Not the oppressive silence that brought fear nor the cold that
seeped into the bones and leached every bit of warmth from the skin. This was…comfort. A weird
sensation to have since it had become alien over the past years. Peeking her eyes open, she tried to
scout her surroundings from underneath her lashes. She was lying on a mattress. A real, honest to
goodness mattress. It was soft, cushiony, the sheets silky against her skin. Feeling it had tears pooling
in her eyes.
“You’re awake.”

Movement drew her gaze to the most beautiful male she’d ever seen. His scent filled her senses
as he sat on the bed at her side.
“I… Where am I?”
“We found you in the woods. You were flown back to the Holloway den,” he told her.
She nodded. She remembered making her way out. The sun. The air. Dirt under her feet. A
polar bear.
“You’ve been here for twelve days. You ran a fever for the first week. I…didn’t know if you’d
make it. It was touch and go. Then the fever broke, and you still wouldn’t wake up.”
He looked rough as if he’d personally watched over her the whole time.
“You stayed with me?”

“Yes.”
He nodded toward the other side of the bed, and she noted the rumpled covers, the indent on the
pillow, and the scent that lingered there. He’d slept beside her. She remembered his arms. Being held
in them. Not here but in the woods after she’d escaped. He’d held her. Claimed her.
“You—”
His mouth covered hers, stealing the words from her tongue as he tangled his around hers. His
hands cupped her face, gently, tenderly, as if he found her the most fragile thing in the room. Still, she
felt the coiled power under his skin, the strength and ferocity of the animal he held within him.
Memory filled her. He’d been there in the woods, lifting her into his arms, holding her, making her
feel safe. Mate whispered through her mind. A word she’d never expected to hear. Not where she’d
been. She’d expected pain from torture that would only end with the sweet embrace of death.
She reached for him, curling her palms around his shoulders as he continued to kiss her. His
skin was magic, filling her with warmth, heating her from the inside out. She smoothed her hands in
toward his neck, cupping her palms around so her fingers could weave through the back of his hair.
He eased back, but she held tight, urging his mouth back to hers. He didn’t disappoint, and she lost
herself in him. The next time he pulled back, a rumble rose from his chest, and for the first time in far
too long, Helen felt something inside her. A flicker. The barest spark. There then gone.
He drew away, running his fingers along her cheek, along her collar bone then down her arm
until he gripped her fingers with his.
“What’s your name?”
“Helen.”
He laughed. “Light. My light.”
“Are you…?” She paused. “I thought I saw you as a polar bear.”

“I am. My brother and I are the last of our kind as far as we know. We’ve been part of the
Holloway den since we were boys. Are you part of the den? Where does your family live?”
Her family! God, she hadn’t given them a thought since she’d opened her eyes. She tried to sit
up but couldn’t. It was a huge reminder of what she’d been through.
“How long?” she asked softly.
“Twelve days,” he reminded her, but she shook her head.
“How long was I held in those caves?”
“If you were taken during the time of the attacks on the Holloway Den then almost six years
now.”

“Six…” Her voice tapered off as her tears poured out.

A sob ripped up from her gut and was followed by more and more until she was shuddering
with them. Strong arms wrapped around her, bringing her against a warm chest. Her family had to
believe her dead. The day of the attack filled her mind, jerking her back…six years. She’d been
laughing at something one of her brothers had said, though she couldn’t recall what anymore. In fact,
most of what she remembered were sounds, smells. Maybe, her mind wanted to block what she’d
seen.
“Tell me.”
She glanced up at the man holding her. Her mate? Could that be possible? She hadn’t even
asked his name.
“What’s your name?”
“Fletch,” he murmured. “Fletch Calderson. Your mate.”
 “How is that even possible? My bear is—”

“You’re mine. I know it. My bear knows it. I know you feel it.”

She nodded. It wasn’t her intention to deny him as her mate. Though her bear was still silent
inside her, she wanted to think of this man as hers. Either way, her nod of agreement seemed to settle
him.
“Tell me what happened,” he prompted again, tugging her tighter against him and stroking his
fingers through her hair when she laid her head back down against his chest.
“Laughter,” she whispered, closing her eyes. “We’d just celebrated my birthday.”
“Birthday?” he interrupted.
“My seventeenth.”

He swore but didn’t say anything else, so she continued.

“I don’t remember—” She paused as the sounds of the past came to her. “I remember laughter
one moment and screams the next. My sister went down first. My father was yelling. Then my mother
screamed. I was down at that point. I saw someone grab my sister. Then nothing.”
She shuddered, and he held her tighter.
“When I woke up, I was in that cave surrounded by other female shifters.”
“Your sister?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know where they took her. If she’s even alive. I have no idea what happened to my
family that day.”

“We’ll find out,” Fletch swore, but whatever else he’d been about to say was left unspoken as
there was a knock on the door, followed immediately by it being pushed open.
“Good. You’re awake.”
It was a Holloway that filled the door, stepping inside and heading toward the bed. When he
grabbed her wrist and seemed to check her pulse while visually assessing her, she assumed he must
be Jensen Holloway. The physician. She’d heard him mentioned among the others who’d been
captured. He sat beside her, running his hands along the tops of her shoulders before inspecting her
arms then moving his fingers along her ribs. She whimpered there, and he paused.
“They’re not broken,” Helen stated then glanced toward Fletch when he growled.
“How would you know that?” the Holloway beside her asked.
“Jensen,” Fletch warned, and Helen reached out to take his hand with hers.
 “How do you know they’re not broken?” Jensen asked again, his tone softer.

She sighed, glancing between the two men, both tense as they waited for her answer.

“I’ve had my ribs broken many times during the years I was held.” She gave a snorted laugh but
cut it off quickly. She had no reason to be nervous or feel guilty. She’d done nothing wrong. She’d
survived. “I’ve had several broken bones and no connection with my bear to help me heal.”
Fletch growled again at her side, and she squeezed his hand.
“I survived,” she reminded him softly. “Many didn’t.”
Anger surged inside her at the thought of all the shifters she’d watched die at the hands of their
captors. Even worse were the ones who’d slowly slipped away, day by day, as they gave up, losing
the will to live. So many. Too many.

“How many did you rescue?” she asked, wanting to know.

Jensen looked away before standing and walking across the room.
“It’s too soon to say.” He shook his head, wiping one hand roughly down his face. “Those we
found…” He paused again, swallowing as if forcing something down his throat. “Not all of them are
going to make it.”
She nodded. She knew what condition many had been in. As injured as she was, there were
others worse off.
“Have you been to the caged pits yet?” she asked.
“Where?” Fletch asked, tugging her closer until she leaned against his chest, one strong arm
wrapped around her shoulder as he held her close. The man seemed to need their skin touching.

“The pits.”
“The place where you were forced to fight?” Jensen asked then nodded before she could
answer. “We cleared it immediately.”
“No,” she countered. “There’s another system of caves. When any of us were defiant or caused
any type of trouble, we were either whipped or thrown into one of the pits and left there for days.
Weeks, sometimes.”
Both men came to attention, sharing a look.
“Do you know where these pits are?” Fletch asked.
“I was usually given the whip,” she murmured, and her mate growled low in his chest again.
“But I was put down there once. They’re literally holes in the cave floors. I don’t know if they were
always there or if the group holding us somehow managed to dig them into the caves. Each one is only
wide enough to hold one person. Deep. Dark. Cold. No food. One jug of water. No blanket. If you
survive your time down there, they pull you right back into their tortures immediately. To remind you
how invaluable you are. That your life is given merely at their whim.”

Fletch tugged again until she was in his lap.

“I’m fine,” she whispered.
“Can you give me a direction from the large pit in the center?” Jensen asked.

“Northeast,” she said, recalling when she’d been dragged through the cave corridors and
tossed down into the dark. “You actually exit the cave system they kept us in and go along a ledge to
reach the opening of a much smaller one. It’s well hidden and easy to miss if you don’t know where to
look. The pits are in there along an unlit passage. The hunters made sure we stayed in complete
darkness for the duration of our punishment. No light is allowed until they come for you or one of the
others. I can show you.”

“No,” Fletch stated as if it were his decision to make.

“I wasn’t asking you,” she snapped, but he wouldn’t let her tug away from him.
“I wouldn’t ask you to go back in there,” Jensen assured her. “Besides, you need to focus on
healing.”
“You need to eat,” Fletch told her, rubbing his hand up and down her spine. “And rest.”
“From what you said earlier, I’ve been sleeping for days.”
“You could use more. Your body needs rest and nourishment to heal,” Fletch told her, but
Jensen spoke before she could say anything else.
“Your body’s been through hell. It needs time to repair. Your mate’s right. You need rest and
nourishment more than anything else right now. I’ll send up some food,” Jensen said as he headed
toward the door. “There are fresh towels in the bathroom. Laramie’s mate, Em, is getting clothes
together and will send some up once I let them know you’re awake.”
Helen remembered hearing about the female Kodiak bear shifter who’d mated with the alpha of
the Holloway den, Laramie Holloway. She’d overheard Carter speaking with some of the other
hunters about them attempting to take her and another shifter. Apparently, they’d failed if she was still
with the Holloways.
“Thank you,” she called as Jensen stepped from the room. He gave a brief nod before turning
and pulling the door shut behind him.
“Would you like a bath or a shower while we wait for your food?” Fletch asked as they were
left alone again.
“A shower sounds like heaven, but I’m not sure my legs will hold me up.”
He growled again then swept her up into his arms.
 “I’ll help you,” he stated.

“That’s okay.” Her cheeks warmed at the intense look in his eyes.

“You’re my mate. It’s my duty to see to your needs.”

She didn’t say anything to that as he carried her into the en suite. He set her on the bathroom
counter then turned to start the water in the shower before pulling out two towels for them. He moved
back to her, his gaze skimming over her from head to toe. She’d never been insecure in her skin,
human or bear, but after years of fighting to survive, she wasn’t at her best. She hadn’t seen a mirror
since she’d been taken, but she didn’t need to. She knew she looked bad. She felt it.
“Sorry you’re meeting me like this,” she whispered, absolutely hating the lack of confidence in
her voice. Who wanted to meet their mate when they were at their worst?
“Why?” Fletch demanded. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I’m not…” She paused. “I’m sure I’m not what you hoped for in a mate.”
He cupped her face, lifting it until she met his gaze. His thumb brushed along her jaw.
“You’re everything I wished for in a mate. You’re strong, fierce, beautiful.”
“Not at present,” she denied with a laugh.
“After everything you’ve been through, you’re here in my arms. You have more strength than
anyone I know. You survived when countless others didn’t. I saw the bodies. I saw those carried out.
Some didn’t make it through the night. Some won’t make it no matter how much Jensen and the others
fight to heal them. I see you, all of you, and I’ve never known such beauty.”
“Fletch—”

“Shh.” He brushed his finger over her lip. “Shower, food, then…”
He leaned in and replaced his finger with his lips, gently rubbing them over hers.
“Then?” she questioned.
“Then we can get to know each other even better.”
 Chapter Five

Fletch seethed as he brushed the soaped cloth over Helen’s scars, bruises, and the jut of her
bones where her flesh was pulled too tautly over them. He hated the fact she felt less desirable to him
because of what she’d survived. If he could, he’d go back and personally kill every one of the men
who’d held her captive. He’d certainly make sure the few they’d taken suffered. Especially the one
with that fucking whip!
He knelt at her feet, lifting her foot to place it on his thigh while he ran the cloth upward with a
firm hand. He paused at her upper thigh, glancing up to meet her gaze as his knuckles brushed along
the center of her sex, making her inhale sharply. Then she hissed when he grabbed her foot to place it
back on the shower floor. Lifting it higher, he took in the bruised soles of her feet.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he demanded.
“I barely even feel them,” she muttered, but he saw the truth in her gaze.
He quickly washed her other leg then startled her again as he ran the cloth quickly between her
thighs before standing and turning her to rinse the soap.
“I can finish,” Helen murmured as she eased an inch away from him.
Fletch dropped a kiss to her shoulder. “I’ll check on the food then.”
He stepped from the shower, grabbing one of the towels he’d set out and half-heartedly drying
off before wrapping it around his waist and striding back into the bedroom. The vision of her didn’t
leave him. His shaft rose long and thick between his thighs despite the fact he had no intention of
using it. Not yet. She needed time to heal. Not just physically, either, though it was the physical that
consumed him currently. He needed a diversion, and there was a source close by to take out his rage
out.
After pulling on clothes as quickly as he could, he popped his head back inside the bathroom
doorway, catching Helen rinsing her hair with a smile on her face. A hot shower, food, water, the feel
of fresh air, shifting into the skin of her bear… All of it had been stolen from his mate when she’d
been captured.
“Food is on the bedside table. I’ve got to go check on something, but I’ll be back as soon as I
can,” he called, letting his gaze run over her from head to toe then back up again. His bear pressed
against his skin. They were both eager to claim their mate.
“Would you ask if any of the women have lotion?” she asked. “My skin could really use it.”
“Anything you need,” he promised.
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