Chapter 17 #2
A tear falls down my cheek while thinking of my own mother.
But it’s not just memories of her—I feel the pain, confliction and fear radiating off of Erick as he tells us this story.
Does he worry I’ll reject him? I don’t know why.
How he was born, how he survived, the things he did to become the man he is today make him the man I love.
He has to know that.
“What happened on your sixth birthday?” I ask softly, wanting him to understand he can tell me anything.
“My father came every few months to deliver supplies. He had to be careful because his absences were always questioned. After we shifted into our humans, he promised we’d live as a family soon.
Every visit, from the time we could speak, my brother and I would beg him to stay.
It got harder for him to get away from the pack because he stayed a little longer with each visit but when he showed up on our sixth birthday, he had a surprise for us.
He’d bought land in a small town near the Canadian border where there were only a handful of shifters and no packs.
A place where we’d build a home and no one would know or care who we were.
He’d come to get his family, but he didn’t know his brother had followed him. ”
Erick glances around the cave, as if reliving the tragic moment in his mind.
“If my uncle could’ve avoided killing his brother and Beta, he would have.
He waited for my father to leave and entered the cave as his bear while my mother was packing the last of our stuff.
One look at me and my brother and he roared, furious that his Alpha command had been disobeyed.
My mother pleaded with him and when that didn’t work, she shoved us behind her and shifted into her bear.
But before he could charge her, our father bounded into the cave and attacked.
The two brothers went at it hard—an Alpha and a bear protecting his mate.
When he gained on my father, backing him out of the cave and onto the ledges outside, my mother barked at us to shift and run.
Then she attacked our uncle at the same moment he sunk his teeth into my father’s throat.
After dropping our father over the ledge, he rounded on our mother with his paw, catching her with his claws across her face.
She landed on the ground facing us, her jaw dislocated and right eye missing.
But it was the look in her other eye that caused me to turn to my brother who was still in his human form, sobbing.
I shifted back and grabbed his arms, shaking him and screaming, ‘You have to shift!’”
You could hear a pin drop as silent tears run down my face. Erick’s throat bobs, his jaw muscles flexing, as he stares at something in the distance. I don’t look over at Cricket and Doralee but they are stone silent as they also give my mate the space to tell the story he’s never told anyone.
“Eventually my brother shifted but only after our uncle dragged our mother out of sight and threw her over the same ledge he’d pushed our father.
When he came back into the cave, he was in his human form—naked, bloody, and covered in gashes and bites.
‘You are abominations, freaks, tragic mistakes that never should’ve taken your first breath.
I knew I should’ve killed you myself.’ He snatched my brother by the scruff of his neck and turned his back on me to walk out of the cave.
I attacked, but he kicked me in the face before I got my teeth into him and then snatched me up with his other hand.
The thing about Farnon is while our human sides grow at an average pace, our bears grow a lot slower and we stay small as cubs until we reach human puberty.
We didn’t have the weight or strength to fight our uncle as he threw us off the ledge. ”
I look up in my mate’s face in time to see a solitary tear fall out of his eye.
Straddling his lap, I frame his face with my hands and kiss his cheek, licking his tears before claiming his lips.
I forget all about Cricket and Doralee as I throw my arms around his neck and pepper his face with kisses. “I’m so sorry, Erick.”
He tightens his arms around me and murmurs against my lips. “Now you understand why I won’t give you babies.”
“Won’t?” I pull back and frown. “I thought you can’t. Like physically can’t.”
“I can but I won’t. If our young are born Farnon, and there’s a chance they will be considering I am, the shifter community would ostracize us at best, hunt us at worst. I won’t risk that. I won’t risk you.”
A loud cat growl echoes off the cave walls and pulls our attention away from each other. Cricket jumps to his feet and pulls Doralee to hers. “We’re taking a walk to case the perimeter.”
Anger seems to radiate off Cricket, who pauses in the entryway while cursing under his breath, “Fuck it.”
He spins and points his finger in our direction but I know it’s really at Erick. “Look, whether you want to have kids is between you and your mate and none of my fucking business. But as your pack and on behalf of every fucking member of your pack—Fuck You, Erick.”
Erick says nothing but I feel his anger spiking through our mating bond. Or maybe it’s my anger because I’m on the verge of attacking Cricket. My mate tightens his hold on me, letting me know he feels my need to defend him.
Cricket continues. “A year ago, none of us thought the shifter community would accept a human mate. Then Kade met Dinah, and he worried he’d either have to leave Broken Falls or fight half of the town.
You, you specifically, challenged every shifter within listening range and told them she was part of our pack and while they didn’t have to like it, they did have to show Kade’s mate respect or answer to us.
We are a pack. We have each other’s back.
I don't care if your kids come out as bears, humans, or fucking turtles. You are my pack, Kylian is my pack, and those goddamn Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are my fucking pack. They're my nieces and nephews no matter fucking what, and I’ll kill anyone who says boo-hiss about them. So fuck you for forgetting that we have your back.”
Cricket grabs Doralee’s hand and stomps out of the cave, hurrying out of view.
Slowly, I turn back to face Erick, whose cheeks are reddened but otherwise I can’t tell what he’s thinking or feeling.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I lower my face and press the top of my head into his chest. “He’s right, mate.
And even if you didn’t have an amazing pack ready to kill and die for each other, I have six brothers who will love and protect my babies no matter what. ”
Erick says nothing, but wraps his arms around me tighter while taking in deep breaths, holding them for three - four - five and then releasing. He does this repeatedly, lulling me with the steady rhythm, the two of us stuck in a limbo I don’t understand.
I check in with my bear and to my surprise, she’s standing at the windows that are my eyes, pawing the air and searching for something. Is it her mate? Is that who she wants to see?
I lift my head to find my mate’s eyes closed. He tilts his head back and rests it on the wall but doesn’t open his eyes to look at me.
“Open your eyes, mate, and look at me.”
He does, his dark brown eyes lightening as his bear moves forward to meet mine—the two calmly greeting each other.
My bear lays down and puts her head on her paw but keeps her eyes on him.
I can’t see what his bear is doing, can’t tell how he is responding, all I know is my bear is connecting and acknowledging him as hers.
That’s what I feel growing through our mating bond: acceptance, friendship, and love.
“I love you, Erick,” I whisper.
“What did you say?” His eyes drop to my mouth. “Say it again.”
I smile. “I love you, mate.”
His eyes get warmer as he smiles. “Oh, babygirl, I love you too.”