RAVEN POV
The weather forecast promised clear skies and mild temperatures perfect for photographing the salmon spawning grounds near Silver Creek.
For once, the forecast wasn’t wrong.
The day was beautiful. Crisp November air. Golden sunlight slips through the tall pines. The kind of sharp, clear mountain air that makes everything feel brighter.
Perfect for photos.
But the forecast had definitely lied about one thing.
The “safe wildlife activity.”
I’d been photographing the last of the salmon run for about an hour when I heard it.
A deep rumbling sound.
Every hair on my body stood up.
Slowly, I lifted my head from my camera.
Thirty feet away, stepping out of the tree line, was the biggest grizzly bear I had ever seen in my life.
And it was staring straight at me.
“Shit.” I whispered under my breath.
Dad had drilled bear safety rules into me since I was a kid.
Don’t run.
Make yourself look big.
Back away slowly.
Speak calmly.
Most bears don’t care about humans.
They just want the salmon.
But this bear wasn’t looking at the salmon.
It was looking at me.
Its head was lowered. Its ears were pinned back. It made a rough huffing sound that echoed across the creek.
This wasn’t curiosity.
This was aggression.
“Hey, bear.” I said, forcing my voice to stay calm even though my heart was pounding. “I’m leaving. No problem here. You can have the creek.”
I started backing away slowly, keeping my camera in my hand. Dropping it might trigger the bear’s chase instinct.
The grizzly took one step forward.
Then another.
My stomach dropped.
It was standing between me and my truck.
Between me and safety.
“Good bear." I muttered. “Nice bear. I’m leaving.”
I kept stepping backward, but panic crept in when I realized something horrible.
I was running out of space.
The creek was behind me. Steep terrain rose on both sides.
There was nowhere to go.
The bear suddenly charged.
Not a bluff.
A real charge.
Time slowed.
I saw its massive paws slam against the ground. I saw the flash of its teeth.
I saw death rushing straight at me.
My brain screamed at me not to run.
But my body didn’t listen.
I turned and ran.
Stupid. I knew it was stupid. But my survival instinct took over.
I barely made it ten steps when another sound exploded through the forest.
A wolf’s snarl.
Deep. Furious.
Terrifying.
A massive gray wolf burst out from the trees on my left and threw itself between me and the bear.
Colton.
Even through the panic, I recognized him instantly.
The size. The thick gray fur. The way he moved.
He slammed straight into the bear mid charge.
Teeth. Claws. Pure fury.
“No!” I screamed. “Colton, no!”
But he couldn’t hear me.
Not like this.
He was a wolf.
And he was fighting a grizzly bear for me.
The fight was brutal.
The bear was easily seven hundred pounds. One swipe from its paw could break bones.
Colton was faster. He dodged and snapped and lunged.
But the size difference was terrifying.
The bear swung.
Colton jumped aside.
I should run.
I should get to safety while the bear was distracted.
But my feet wouldn’t move.
I couldn’t leave him.
I scanned the ground desperately until I spotted a thick branch. I grabbed it and started waving it in the air, screaming like a lunatic.
“Hey! Over here! Leave him alone!”
Completely stupid.
But it worked.
The bear glanced toward me for just a second.
Just long enough.
Colton lunged forward and sank his teeth into the bear’s shoulder.
The bear roared.
Then it swung.
This time it connected.
Colton yelped a sharp, painful sound that made my chest feel like it shattered.
His body slammed into a tree.
The bear turned toward him again.
“No!” I shouted.
I threw the branch with all my strength.
It bounced harmlessly off the bear’s head.
But it made the bear turn.
Toward me.
Oh God.
The bear charged again.
I stumbled backward and slipped. My boots hit the water and I fell into the shallow creek, scrambling desperately to crawl away.
Then suddenly—
Colton was there again.
He forced himself up, limping badly, and planted himself between me and the bear.
Blood soaked his fur.
But he still snarled, baring his teeth, daring the bear to come closer.
The world went silent.
For a moment, it was just the three of us.
The bear.
The wolf.
And me.
Seconds passed.
Or maybe hours.
I couldn’t tell anymore.
Finally, the bear huffed loudly and shook its massive head.
Then it turned and lumbered back toward the salmon creek.
Apparently we weren’t worth the trouble.
The moment it disappeared into the trees—
Colton collapsed.
“Colton!”
I rushed to him and dropped to my knees beside him.
“Shift back." I said urgently. “Come on. Shift so I can see how bad it is.”
His body shifted.
The transformation left him lying on the cold ground naked and covered in blood.
My stomach dropped.
A deep gash ran across his ribs. Long claw marks tore down his shoulder.
His left leg was bent at a strange angle.
“You idiot.” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “You are an absolute idiot. What were you thinking?”
“Protecting… my mate." He rasped weakly.
“What else… would I do?”
“You don’t fight a grizzly bear!” I snapped, my hands shaking as I pressed my jacket against his ribs. “That’s what you don’t do!”
Blood soaked into the fabric almost immediately.
My chest tightened with panic.
“I need to get you to the truck.” I said quickly. “Can you shift again? Maybe if you—”
“Can’t." He said.
His voice is weak now.
“Too injured… Wolf form helps healing… but I can’t hold it.”
Damn it.
“Okay. Okay.” I muttered, thinking out loud. “We’re about a mile from the truck. Maybe I can help you walk—”
“Raven.”
His hand grabbed mine weakly.
“Satellite phone… in my pack.”
Right.
I rushed to the trees and found his pack quickly. Inside was a satellite phone.
My hands shook as I called pack headquarters.
Robert answered immediately.
“Colton’s hurt." I said breathlessly. “Grizzly attack. Silver Creek near the south spawning grounds. I can’t move him.”
“We’re on our way.” Robert said instantly. “Twenty minutes. Keep pressure on the wounds and keep him warm. Is he conscious?”
“Yes. But he’s lost a lot of blood and I think his leg is broken.”
“Understood. Stay with him.”
The call ended.
I ran back to Colton.
He was already shivering.
Shock.
“Hey.” I said softly, kneeling beside him again. I pressed my jacket harder against his ribs. “Stay with me. Help is coming. Twenty minutes.”
“Feels longer… than three weeks… in a coma." He muttered weakly.
“Not funny.” I said quickly. “Not right now.”
I searched his pack again.
“Emergency blanket." He murmured.
“Silver one.”
I found it and wrapped it around him.
“You’re doing good." He whispered.
“I’m panicking and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Still doing good.”
His eyes started closing.
“No.” I touched his cheek gently. “Eyes open. Stay with me.”
Then the question slipped out.
“Why did you do it?”
His gaze lifted to mine.
“Why fight that bear?”
“You know why.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Even injured… even bleeding… his eyes were steady.
“You’re still my mate." He said quietly. “Bond rejected or not… doesn’t matter.”
“You’re mine to protect.”
“Always.”
My chest tightened.
“Even after I left?” I whispered. “Even after I hurt you?”
“Even then.”
His fingers tightened weakly around mine.
“Can’t stop loving you." He murmured. “Tried… failed… still failing.”
“Colton…”
“Not asking for anything." He said softly. “Just telling you the truth.”
His eyes started closing again.
“Hey, no." I said quickly. “Stay awake. Please.”
“Tired…”
“I know. But help is coming.”
I kept talking to him.
About the photos I’d taken earlier.
About Mom’s Sunday dinners.
About stupid stories from my travels.
Anything.
Anything to keep him awake.
Anything to keep him with me.
He listened. Or at least, he tried.
His breathing was getting shallower. Each breath sounded weaker than the last. His skin felt cold under my hands, even with the emergency blanket wrapped around him.
“Where are they?” I muttered, pulling out my phone.
Fifteen minutes had passed.
Five more to go.
Please hurry. Please.
“Raven.”
Colton’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Yeah?” I leaned closer to him.
“If I don’t… make it—”
“Don’t.” My voice broke. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”
I shook my head hard.
“You’re going to be fine. You’re going to heal. You’re going to be okay.”
He gave a weak breath that almost sounded like a laugh.
“If I don’t… I need you to know… I forgave you. A long time ago.”
His eyes flickered toward me.
“I just… couldn’t admit it.”
Tears were running down my face now.
“You can tell me that yourself when you're better." I said quickly. “When you're healed. You don’t get to say goodbye. You don’t get to give up.”
“Not giving up." He whispered. “Just… tired.”
“Then rest.” I said softly. “But don’t leave. Please don’t leave.”
I didn’t even care that I sounded desperate.
“I just got you back.” I said, my voice shaking. “I just figured out what actually matters. You don’t get to leave now. You don’t get to die saving me. That’s not how this works.”
He managed the smallest smile.
“How’s it… supposed to work?”
“You heal.” I said immediately. “Then we figure our shit out.”
The words kept coming before I could stop them.
“We get a second chance. We try again. This time we do it right.”
My throat tightened.
“We stay. We trust each other. We stop running away from things just because they scare us.”
His eyes opened a little wider.
“You’d… stay?”
There was something fragile in his voice.
Something hopeful.
“Yes." I whispered.
“If you'd let me. If you’d forgive me. If you’d give me another chance.”
My vision blurred from the tears.
“But you have to survive. You have to heal. Because I can’t lose you. Not now. Not like this.”
“Raven—”
“I love you.”
The words burst out of me before I could stop them.
“I’ve loved you since I was twelve years old." I said, my voice breaking. “And I never stopped.”
I wiped at my eyes, but more tears kept falling.
“I just got scared. I ran away from it. From you. From everything.”
I shook my head.
“But I’m done running. I’m done being a coward.”
I gripped his hand tighter.
“So you have to stay alive.” I whispered. “Because I need to prove it to you. I need to show you that I mean it this time.”
He stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You… mean that?”
“Every word.” I said. “So don’t you dare die on me. Don’t you dare.”
A sound echoed through the forest.
Engines.
Trucks.
“They’re here.” I breathed out in relief. I squeezed his hand. “Help’s here. You’re going to be okay.”
Robert appeared through the trees first, a medical kit already in his hands.
Mara followed right behind him.
“What happened?” Mara asked as she dropped to her knees beside Colton, already examining his injuries.
“Grizzly attack.” I said quickly. “He fought it off but got hit hard. There’s a deep gash on his ribs, claw marks on his shoulder, and his left leg is either broken or badly sprained.”
“You did good.” Mara said without looking up. “Keeping pressure on the wound probably saved his life.”
She pulled supplies from her kit and started cleaning the wounds quickly and carefully.
“Robert, I need the stretcher.”
“Got it.”
They moved fast, like they’d done this a hundred times before.
Within minutes, Colton was stabilized and strapped onto the stretcher.
“You riding with us?” Robert asked me.
“Yes." I said immediately.
“Then let’s move. The sooner we get him to the clinic, the better.”
They loaded the stretcher into the back of the truck, which had been converted into an emergency transport.
I climbed in beside him and grabbed his hand again.
I didn’t let go the entire ride.
“Still here." He whispered weakly.
“Still here.” I said softly.
“Meant what… you said?”
I nodded.
“Every word.”
His fingers tightened around mine just a little.
“Gonna hold you… to that.”
“Good." I said. “I want you to.”
His eyes finally closed, exhaustion pulling him under.
But his hand never let go of mine.
He was going to be okay.
He had to be okay.
Because I had finally found the courage to say the things I should have said seven years ago.
And this time…
I wasn’t going to waste the second chance I didn’t deserve.