Page 95 of Trusting Her Bear
She frowns, and for a moment, I see the woman I used to know. “Just because.”
“You knew I lived here,” I guess.
“I know where all of you live.”
“I’ve never scented you.” I would have known if she was close.
“I didn’t go,” she says. “I sent my people.”
“How many people do you have?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“Enough.” She tilts her head. “I can relate to your mate.”
“You can’t,” I growl.
“I was stuck in a cage, too.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“My life was my cage,” she says softly. She looks off into the trees. “Isn’t being controlled every day, every minute, your life dictated by some outside influence the same as being in a cage? Growing up, you are told about the mating bond. You are only informed about what a gift it is to be chosen by the universe to be the one and only to someone. They talk about horror stories of shifters never finding them and going crazy for being alone for so many years without someone to love. Love. Love. Love.” She says the word like a curse. “It’s not love. Why should I live by someone else’s rules?”
“So you decided to write your own rules,” I say. “Rules that include killing humans and shifters.”
“You don’t understand,” she stresses. Her expression brightens, and she leans forward. “Do you know the difference between human blood and shifter blood?” she asks, not expecting an answer. “Human blood is weak, runny, and dim. Shifter blood is so bright and full of life.” She licks her lips. “Shifters are delicious.”
My stomach rolls. “Why kill?”
She frowns. “Why not?”
“Jesus.” I rub my palm over my head. “If you didn’t want to be mated, fine, you left. You didn’t want to be a mom anymore, fine, you left. It’s going to take me years to wrap my head around your reasons, but that's my problem. Why kill? What are you getting out of taking someone's life that did nothing? Did these people hurt you in some way?” I ask, my voice getting louder with each question. “Were they bad people? Did they kill, hurt, rape? What the fuck did they do to you?”
She watches my anger rise and looks at me calmly. “It was fun.”
I raise my eyebrows. “It was fun,” I repeat roughly. “It was fun to take the life of someone who was doing nothing but existing in the same world and space as you?”
“Quinn, we were given these powers. Why aren’t we using them? We don’t have to live average lives. We can do anything. We are faster, stronger, shit, we can heal ourselves.” She bunches her skirt in her hands for a moment and then lets go. “We turn into a fucking animal, and we are wasting it.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper, tipping my head back. “Who do you think gave us this gift?”
“Quinn, don’t question it.” She shakes her head. “Just enjoy it.” She smiles.
“Holy fuck.” I turn around and put my hands on my hips. “You make no sense.”
“Son,” she calls and grabs my arm. “We could be a family again. You don’t have to stay in a cage with your damaged mate. Be free. With your mom. We can kill together. I know of all the kills you executed. I can’t express how proud I was.”
I throw off her arm and turn. She stumbles back. “Do not call my mate damaged,” I snarl. “Do not speak of her at all.” I take a step. “She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I want to be tied to her in every way.” I take another step. “You are not my mom. You haven’t been my mom for years. Those kills I did were necessary. You know who I killed, don’t you?”
“Don’t speak to me that way,” she snaps.
“You don’t want to answer,” I laugh shortly. “I killed shifters who were out of control. Shifters who killed humans, their families, and innocents, and they deserved it. Our world would have been exposed if I didn’t. For a long time, I felt guilty for doing it. I would question myself and the work I was doing.” The toe of my boots touches her feet, and I bend down. “I no longer question. Meeting the woman who looks like the mom who abandoned us, hearing the shit you believe is your right, just makes it more clear.” I’m going to have to kill my mom. How can I? “The world needs monsters to kill the worse monsters.” Her eye twitches as we stare at each other.
“I’m disappointed,” she states.
“Fuck, me too.” I grind my teeth when she slashes across my chest, but don’t move.
“I have no choice,” she says. “You have to die.”
“I thought you were all about choices,” I say. She cuts through my shirt, leaving a trail of blood across my stomach. “You choose to be mated and raise a family. You then chose to leave. You make the choice every day to be a murderer and vigilante.” She raises the weapon again. “I am all about choices, but you threw away your family like trash.”