Chapter 1
Chapter One
KENZO ATALLAH
“She really likes you.” Halo smiled widely at me. Her daughter with Creeland, A'Miracle, for some reason liked to follow me around whenever I found myself on the Kismet Packlands.
While the majority of the pups were scared of me, this six-month-old pup had no fear of me. Creeland was livid when A’Miracle took her first steps while trying to follow me. He hadn’t stopped talking shit since, and that was when A’Mircale was nine months old. She was one now.
“She does,” I agreed with Halo with a small head nod.
I didn’t know how or why, but I’d found myself sticking close to the Kismet pack.
No, I didn’t want to become a part of the pack.
Bears didn’t do the pack life per se. We lived close by each other in the Hollow Mountains.
We had our own city center where the majority of the bear shifters went shopping, out to eat or just mingled when we got the urge.
Unlike wolves, we didn’t need to be in a close-knit pack.
We didn’t have one leader either like most wolf packs.
Bear shifters had a council that was made up of the five original families.
Each family shifted into a different type of bear.
The Moreno family shifted into Brown Bears and other bears in their subcategory.
The Maruska family members were the Panda shifters.
The Monroe family members were Polar Bear shifters.
The Gonzalez family shifted into Sun Bears.
And then there was my family—the one Fate favored, bestowing the strength of all bears into our family.
We were the ones who stuck out like sore thumbs among shifters.
We were stronger, bigger, faster and smarter than any of the other Bear shifters, and we were the leaders of the Black Bears.
Fate had taken all the best abilities from the other bear shifter and given them to our family, which caused us to be larger than all other bear shifters in our human and bear forms.
We were also able to mate with any other Bear shifters without complications.
The majority of Bear shifters were mated within their own race of bears.
The few times others tried to mate outside of their race, their cub would never make it past delivery.
Most Bear shifters believed Fate didn’t want us to mix races because the majority of fated mates were within the same race of Bear shifters.
Mixed bear couples were frowned upon and never really happened.
It was even more frowned upon to mix with other shifter races all together.
Of course, Fate thought it would be funny to make my fated mate a she-wolf.
As if that wasn’t hard enough to deal with, my fated mate was a whore.
Another way Bear shifters were different among shifters was that our females waited until they mated before they had sex because of how possessive our Bears were over our mates. If a female bear did have sex before she was mated, she ran the risk of being killed by her mate for the betrayal.
Male Bear shifters had more freedom when it came to permitted sex.
Although it was frowned upon to be mated to a shifter outside of the Bear shifter race, fucking them was a different story.
As long as it was just to fuck, male Bears were allowed to stick their dicks in whoever.
Experience was mandatory. We were expected to know how to make our mates cum in an instant.
I could say I’d had my fair share of different female shifters from other races, and I could also say she-wolves were my favorites.
They stayed hot and ready, never backing down from a challenge, no matter how big.
If you ever fucked a Bear shifter, you knew our dicks were bigger than most. Bear shifters had high-sex drives without being mated, but once we were mated, all bets were off.
Fucking became second nature with your mate.
There had been times when fated mates would find each other and be fucking five minutes later.
In the shifter worlds, Felines were supposed to like to fuck a lot, but when they were compared to bears, that wasn’t true.
Felines were more promiscuous in the sense that they would fuck anything and everything, but when it came to fucking their mate, they didn’t have anything on us.
I was okay with being mated with a she-wolf because they had similar sex drives, especially with their mates.
I just wished my mate wasn’t a slut. Many turned their noses up upon seeing me with my mate.
Many of my fellow Bear shifters had the pleasure of fucking my mate, which led to me fighting the few foolish enough to try to disrespect me.
After easily killing those few, no other Bear shifters dared to speak about my mate.
However, the council found issues with who my fated mate was like I picked the shit out.
I told those old-ass fuckers to take their issues up with Fate.
The council wasn’t crazy enough to try to take the Atallah family.
It would’ve been a suicide mission for them, and the council knew it, which was why they “allowed” me to mate with my mate, but they couldn’t stop me if they wanted to.
With regular Bear shifters, it was a death wish to get between a male bear and his mate.
Trying me was asking to have your entire bloodline wiped out.
Many feared us and said we were too powerful, but they knew they couldn’t beat us.
Our ancestors had no desire to rule over all bears like some shifter races did, but they also saw what happened when you let one shifter have all the power, so they came up with the council, where majority rule was the law.
So far, it had worked, keeping the Bear shifters growing and thriving for generations.
I was due to join the council in a few more years.
I really didn’t want to, but it was my duty since my father had fallen ill and died years ago, with my mom passing away from a broken heart shortly after, leaving me in the care of my grandparents, who loved me greatly.
My grandfather was getting older, and my time to replace him was coming.
Despite me not wanting to, I had to be mated.
A year ago that was no problem, but now, I had no idea what I was going to do.
“You probably be giving her candy. You know my baby girl is greedy. That's the only reason she likes you.” Cree came up next to me with a frown on his face as he looked at A'Miracle in my arms, babbling away like I was her best friend.
“A'Miracle knows greatness when she sees it,” I teased Cree. He was another unexpected relationship that happened. Over the last year, I’d grown closest to him and Halo. I couldn’t explain the natural pull I felt toward them.
“I’ll be happy when you have a cub of y—” Cree stopped talking, catching his words. I knew he didn’t mean what he was saying in a hateful way. He talked shit a lot and said things before he thought about them, but that didn’t stop a pain from shooting through my heart.
Me having a cub would likely never happen.
Even if I did find another mate, I doubted my bear would like her enough to allow her to carry our seed.
Losing Bellum was a battle I could barely process.
The only reason I was still here was because Fate wouldn’t let me die.
My resentment of Fate grew with every day I woke up.
I didn’t understand why Fate wanted me here to suffer without my mate, a mate I didn’t get to know and love the way I wanted.
Bellum may not have been my first choice as a mate, but my bear recognized her instantly.
She was ours, and losing her hurt. I wanted nothing more than to kill the bitch who had taken her life, which was why I think I was drawn to the Kismet pack so much.
This was Bellum’s home pack, and I wanted a way to still be close to her.
There were moments when my bear would get small whiffs of Bellum here, calming our aching until the realization came that Bellum was never coming back to us.
“Creeland!” Halo sternly scolded her mate through clenched teeth.
“It’s okay.” I tried to sound reassuring, but I knew the sadness in my eyes would give me away. I leaned over to Halo, passing A'Miracle to her.
“Bro, you know I didn’t mean anything like that. I talk too much.” Cree looked at me with pity in his eyes. I hated it. I didn’t want to be pitied. I wanted my mate back.
“You good. I was getting ready to leave. Got some shit to take care of in the mountains. I'll be back down in a few days.” I gave them a small smile before I turned and headed off toward my cave in the mountains. I’d been around others too long.
“I love you, Kenzo. I know I’m not the best mate to have.
I’ve been careless with my body. I don’t understand why.
Something in me craved to be fucked, and it wouldn’t stop until I was being penetrated.
I know it sounds crazy, but it’s my truth, but I promise I’m going to work on my lustfulness so I can become the best mate for you,” Bellum told me, and I nodded at her.
“I love you too,” I said, then headed out the door. I acted as the town carpenter, and I had a few houses that needed some flooring replaced. After I took care of that, I planned to spend the entire day with Bellum. Things had been rocky between us.
My bear was reluctant to fully mate with her because of her promiscuous ways.
I think because she had been with so many others, her scent became tainted.
Bellum’s scent was a mixture of vanilla with apples, and my bear loved that scent.
However, there was a pungent fish odor that lightly lingered in her scent that pissed my bear off.
Neither my human nor bear trusted Bellum enough to make us want to be one with her.
Yes, she was my fated mate, and my pull to her was strong, but marking her wasn’t something we felt she deserved yet.
Bellum needed to show us she was willing to submit fully to our mating bond.
Bellum claimed she would. In her head, completing our mating would be the thing to make her able to fight her hoeish ways.
I doubted that, though. If she wasn’t strong enough just being around her fated mate, she wouldn’t be strong enough after completing our mating bond.
In the two months we’d been together, I’d killed four others: one bear, two wolves and a snake.
All because Bellum carried herself like a hoe.
No matter how many times I told her how possessive we were over her, she didn’t get it.
A part of me thought she liked to see the violent side of us.
The excitement in Bellum's eyes whenever I killed was alarming. I stopped going in public with her to save myself from going mad. Bellum claimed she was going to try to do better, but I wasn’t hopeful.
My bear was anxious, and so was my human.
All day, since we’d been at work, I’d been on edge.
Having just finished my last job, I rushed out the door, barely saying bye to my client.
Something was telling me to go home. After shifting into my midnight black bear, I sprinted through the mountains to my cave that was almost at the top of the mountain, far away from town.
I liked my privacy, but right now, I was regretting it because it was taking me forever to get home.
Finally making it to the entrance of my cave, I shifted back into my human form.
My heart raced as I heard soft moans echoing and smelled the sweet and oddly sour smell I’d grown used to as Bellum’s scent.
I sped to my room, and disgust ran through my veins upon seeing my whore of a mate with a head licking between her legs and sucking on her pussy. That was supposed to only be for me.
The rage I started to feel was unexplainable as I listened to Bellum moan in pleasure, so caught up in her lust, she couldn’t even sense I was near.
My mate was a whore, and that was all she’d ever be.
I’d given her too many chances. There was no more room in my heart for another chance.
Bellum had to go. I snatched the male shifter from between Bellum’s legs, and he turned into a fucking lizard, his tongue shooting around and trying to hit me.
Easily I snatched his overly long tongue out of his mouth, green blood spraying everywhere.
“Aaahah!” Bellum screamed, but I ignored her screams while throwing the tongue that was still squirming around at her, hitting Bellum directly in the face. She let out another scream while jumping from the bed.
“You disgusting bitch,” I growled while still holding the now lifeless shifter by the head.
“I’m sorry. I was horny, and I didn’t want to disturb you why you worked,” Bellum pleaded, but seeing her naked was only adding to my anger.
“I’m your fucking mate! You’re supposed to come to me. It doesn’t matter what the fuck I’m doing,” I yelled at her, losing control of my anger.
“I’m sorry. I’ll do better. I promise,” Bellum said with tears falling down her face.
“No,” I said, menacingly grilling Bellum and not feeling an ounce of love for her. “You have to go.” I let the dead shifter’s head fall, and his body landed with a thump.
“Wha-what? Where am I going to go? My pack doesn’t want me. I only have you.” Bellum dropped to her knees and began pleading with tears falling. “Please, Kenzo, don’t make me go. I’ll do better.”
My heart ached upon seeing my mate begging, but I had to do what I had to do. Bellum wasn’t ready for me, and before I found myself killing endlessly behind her, I had to let her go.
“You said your sister wanted you to come stay with her,” I suggested in an even tone.
“But I told you something wasn’t right with her. Me and my wolf both sense something’s off with Blossom.”
“I have nothing else for you. Leave,” I sternly said while avoiding eye contact with Bellum.
“Bu-”
“Now.” I knew if she continued to beg, I would give in.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I guess I’ll go with Blossom. If you change your mind, I’ll be there. I love you, Kenzo. Even if I didn’t always show it the best,” Bellum said sadly as she stood to her feet, then turned on her heels.