Page 96 of Trusting Her Bear

“Fuck you.” She cuts my upper chest this time. I don’t move.

“You made my mate feel fear,” I rasp. “For that alone, I wouldn’t forgive you, but becoming an out-of-control murderer definitely forces me to do something I never thought I would have to.” I step back when she swings again and extend my claws.

“You would kill me,” she whimpers, her eyes filling with tears.

I rip my shirt off. “Did you enjoy this?” My blood is swirling in the air and down my chest.

“Son.” She holds her hands out, splattered with my blood. “I can’t let you ruin my plans. You have to understand.” She smiles sadly.

“Your plans,” I say bitterly. “What exactly are your plans?”

“Eliminate the humans and the shifters who don’t fall in line. We want a world without them so the chance of mating is lessened. A world without the bond,” she says slowly as if she is talking to the boy I once was. “We wouldn’t have to hide what we are anymore. The power we could hold. You have to agree that they are weak. Love makes us weak. I had to show you the light before you got too wrapped up in the bond. You have to be set free.”

“I don’t have to agree to shit,” I spit.

“What will your dad say?”

“Why do you care?”

“What about your siblings? Do you think they will understand?” My chest heaves. “What if when I’m gone, my people go to them.” She sways back and forth. “They don’t have mates yet, so I didn’t bother, but they can easily be taken care of.” She taps her lips. “That is a good idea. We can take care of them before they find their mates; cut off the head of the snake beforehand.” I lunge and raise my claws. She gasps and crouches down, her hands over her head. “No, please, son,” she cries.

I shout out and walk away, shaking. “Motherfucker.” I pace back, and she is standing again, holding her knife in front of her.

“Do you think they will forgive you?”

“They don’t have to know. They can go on as we have been, without a mother.” Pain. My heart is in pain.

“Your dad will know,” she mentions casually. “The bond is inactive in me, but he will be able to feel me gone. How could you face him?” she asks ruthlessly.

His face flashes in my head. The image of him crumbling after she left, but he knew she was alive. “What did you tell him when you left? Why did he let you go?”

“I told him the truth. I didn’t love him. I didn’t want to be a mother anymore. The thought of staying one more day in his house, in his bed, made me sick.” She shrugs. “He let me go. He loved me and wanted me to be happy. Isn’t that pitiful?” She laughs.

“No. No, he isn’t the pitiful one,” I whisper and close my eyes briefly. “She still loves you, son. You believe me, right? She’ll be back, son. You believe me, right?” I think he thought she would come back. He would never speak to me again if he knew I killed the woman he loved, and I wouldn’t blame him. I have felt the pull of the bond. I know what it’s like now. The power of it is extreme. Once I mark Steph, I can imagine it will be ten times more powerful. If I let her walk away, she won’t stop. My mate will have to constantly look over her shoulder. My family will be next. I will have to warn them and hurt them deeply in the process. My mom will continue to kill and torture. She is too far gone.

“Have you made a decision?” She lifts an eyebrow.

“Do you feel anything?” I ask. “Nothing at all?”

“I remember seeing you once,” she smiles. “It was a few years after I left, and I was in a car. I don’t know why I drove past the house. You were visiting your dad. All the kids were there. You were eating in the side yard.” She tilts her head. “I did feel something.” My heart pounds. “I felt relief.” And it sinks. “I was so happy I didn’t have to be there.”

I drop my head. I know what I have to do. “Yeah, I made a decision.” I look at her, and then I smell shifters. Many shifters of all kinds.

“Do you think I came alone?” Her laughter rings out. They appear behind her, a long line of shifters who have helped her kill.

“You don’t have the guts to do it yourself?” I ask.

“Of course I do.”

“Then do it,” I shout.

“You want to die?”

“No, but you seem to think I need to.”

“If you would join us.”

“No.”