FROZEN BONDS: THE HALF-BLOOD'S MATE

"They're back," Stellan breathed. "But this time... they brought more."

I shot up, my heart hammering against my ribs. The cave was dark-the faint light from the entrance barely reached us-but I could see Stellan's eyes glowing in the darkness, reflecting something I couldn't see.

"How many?" I whispered.

He was silent for a moment, listening. "Five. No, six. And one of them is... different. Stronger."

Ronan. It had to be Ronan.

"We can't stay here," I said, already scrambling toward the back of the cave. "Is there another way out?"

Stellan's hand caught my wrist. "Wait."

I froze. In the silence, I heard it too-footsteps, but not at the cave entrance. Above us. On top of the rock face.

"They're surrounding us," I breathed.

Stellan pulled me back against him, his body a wall of warmth and muscle. "When they come, stay behind me."

"You're injured! You can't fight six wolves!"

"I can try."

The arrogance of it-the sheer, stupid bravery-made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. This man didn't know me. Didn't know who he was. And yet he was ready to die for me.

"Why?" I asked, the word escaping before I could stop it.

He looked down at me, those blue eyes meeting mine in the darkness. "Because when I look at you, something in me says *protect*. And I don't question it."

Before I could respond, the first wolf appeared at the cave entrance.

It was huge-a massive gray beast with yellow eyes and bared fangs. It growled low in its throat, the sound echoing off the cave walls. Behind it, more shadows moved.

Stellan pushed me behind him and rose to his feet. He was still naked, still wounded, still bleeding from a dozen cuts. But as he stood there, facing down that wolf, he looked like a god of war.

The wolf lunged.

Stellan moved faster than anything I'd ever seen. His hand shot out, catching the wolf by the throat mid-leap. For a frozen moment, man and beast hung suspended in the air. Then Stellan twisted, and the wolf crashed against the cave wall with a sickening crunch.

It didn't get up.

Two more wolves charged. Stellan met them head-on, his fists and feet becoming weapons. He moved like he'd been fighting his whole life-like violence was as natural to him as breathing. One wolf went down with a broken neck. Another fled with a shattered leg, yelping in pain.

But there were more. Always more.

Three wolves remained at the entrance, and behind them, I saw a familiar figure step out of the trees.

Ronan.

He was in human form, his arm bandaged where I'd stabbed him. His golden eyes blazed with fury as he took in the scene-his wolves dead or wounded, a naked stranger standing between him and his prize.

"Well, well," Ronan said, his voice dripping with contempt. "The half-blood found herself a protector." He laughed, and the sound was ugly. "Did you think one man could stop me? Did you think *anyone* could take what's mine?"

Stellan didn't answer. He just stood there, blood dripping from fresh wounds, his chest heaving, his eyes fixed on Ronan with an intensity that made my skin prickle.

Ronan studied him for a moment, and something flickered in his expression. Recognition? Confusion?

"I know those markings," Ronan said slowly. "I've seen them before." His eyes narrowed. "You're North Star. One of the ice wolves from the frozen lands."

Stellan didn't react-couldn't react, since he didn't remember anything. But I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.

North Star. An Ice Wolf. The northern packs were legendary-fierce warriors from the frozen wastes, rarely seen this far south. If Stellan was one of them, what was he doing here? How had he ended up wounded and alone at the bottom of a cliff?

"It doesn't matter who he is," Ronan continued, stepping closer. "He's one man. Wounded. Alone. And he's standing between me and my property."

He shifted.

I'd seen wolves shift before, but never like this. Ronan's transformation was violent-bones breaking and reforming, muscles ripping and reknitting, fur bursting from skin. In seconds, the man was gone, replaced by a massive red wolf with golden eyes and fangs the size of my fingers.

He lunged at Stellan.

What happened next was chaos.

Stellan met the charge, his body twisting to avoid those deadly fangs. His fist connected with Ronan's ribs, and I heard something crack. But Ronan was fast-faster than the other wolves-and his claws raked across Stellan's chest, opening deep gashes.

Blood flew. Snarls filled the air. Man and beast fought in the confined space of the cave entrance, and I could only watch, frozen, useless.

Stellan was holding his own, but he was already wounded, already exhausted. Ronan was fresh, furious, and fighting with the strength of an Alpha defending what he saw as his.

A claw caught Stellan across the face, and he stumbled back, blood streaming from a gash above his eye. Ronan pressed his advantage, jaws snapping, aiming for Stellan's throat.

"No!" The scream tore from my throat before I could stop it.

Something inside me *snapped*.

I felt my wolf rise-not the controlled rise of a trained shifter, but the violent eruption of an animal pushed past its breaking point. Bones broke. Muscles tore. Skin rippled and reformed. It was agony and ecstasy, terror and power, all wrapped into one impossible moment.

Then I was on four legs, and I was *moving*.

I hit Ronan like a thunderbolt, my smaller body slamming into his side and knocking him away from Stellan. He recovered instantly, spinning to face me, and for a moment, we stood there-two wolves, one red and one something else, something between colors.

I didn't know what I looked like. I didn't care. All I knew was that this monster had hurt me, had hunted me, had tried to take everything from me. And now he was going to hurt Stellan too.

*Not anymore.*

I lunged.

Ronan met me halfway, and we clashed in a whirlwind of fangs and fury. He was bigger, stronger, more experienced. But I was desperate. I was angry. I was done being prey.

My teeth found his shoulder and I bit down, tasting blood. He yelped and threw me off, but I landed on my feet and came at him again. This time, my claws raked across his snout, drawing more blood.

He snarled and snapped at my throat. I dodged, but not fast enough-his teeth grazed my neck, drawing a line of fire across my skin.

Before he could press the attack, a massive shape slammed into him from the side.

Stellan.

He'd shifted too.

His wolf was enormous-larger than Ronan, larger than any wolf I'd ever seen. His fur was pure white, like snow, like moonlight, like the Northern Lights that danced in stories from frozen lands. His eyes were the same impossible blue, and his fangs looked like they could tear through steel.

He hit Ronan with the force of an avalanche, and the red wolf went flying. Before Ronan could recover, Stellan was on him, his massive jaws closing around Ronan's throat.

One bite. One twist. It would be over.

Ronan's golden eyes went wide with terror. For the first time since I'd met him, he looked afraid.

But Stellan didn't kill him.

He held there for a long moment, letting Ronan feel his own mortality, letting him understand that death was a breath away. Then, slowly, he released him and stepped back.

Ronan scrambled to his feet, shifting back to human form as he retreated. His body was covered in wounds, his arm bleeding where I'd stabbed him, new gashes across his chest and face.

"This isn't over," he spat, backing toward the trees. "She's mine. The bond is real. I'll find you, half-blood. I'll find you both, and when I do, I'll make you watch while I kill your protector."

Then he turned and ran, disappearing into the forest with his surviving wolves limping behind him.

The moment they were gone, Stellan's wolf form wavered. He stumbled, shifted back to human, and collapsed onto the ground.

I shifted too-or tried to. It was clumsy, painful, and took far too long. By the time I was human again, crawling on hands and knees to his side, he was barely conscious.

"Stellan!" I gathered his head in my lap, ignoring the blood that coated him, the wounds that covered his body. "Stellan, stay with me!"

His eyes fluttered open, those impossible blue eyes, and he looked up at me. "You... shifted."

"I did."

"First time?"

I nodded, tears streaming down my face. "First time."

A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "You were... magnificent."

Then his eyes closed, and his body went limp.

"Stellan!" I shook him, begged him, pressed my ear to his chest. His heart was still beating-weak, but there. He was alive. Barely.

But for how long?

I looked around at the carnage-the dead wolves, the blood-soaked ground, the cave that had been our shelter. Ronan would be back. He'd gather more wolves, more strength, and he'd return. We couldn't stay here.

But how could I move him? How could I carry this massive warrior through the forest with nothing but my own exhausted, untrained body?

I looked at my hands. They were still trembling from the shift, still covered in blood-mine, Stellan's, Ronan's. I was weak. Useless. A half-blood who couldn't even control her own wolf.

But as I looked down at Stellan's pale face, something hardened inside me. I might be weak. I might be useless. But I wasn't going to let him die.

I found water nearby-a small stream trickling from the rocks. I cleaned his wounds as best I could, tearing strips from what remained of my dress to bandage the worst ones. I gathered moss and leaves to make a bed, and I dragged him onto it, inch by agonizing inch.

Then I sat beside him, watching his chest rise and fall, rise and fall, and I waited.

Hours passed. The sun rose and set. Night fell again. Stellan's breathing grew steadier, but he didn't wake. I talked to him-told him about my life, my parents, my years of rejection. I told him about Maeve and the knife and my escape. I told him things I'd never told anyone.

And somewhere in the darkness, I realized something that terrified me more than Ronan ever could:

I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want to run. I wanted to stay here, with this stranger who didn't know his own name, and protect him the way he'd protected me.

It was crazy. Impossible. Dangerous beyond belief.

But it was true.

In the deepest hour of the night, Stellan's eyes opened.

He looked at me for a long moment, those blue eyes searching my face. Then, in a voice rough with pain and exhaustion, he asked:

"Who... are you?"