2 years later.
We had celebrated Tam’s second birthday a few weeks back. Mom had grown to love her so much that she would keep buying cute clothes and toys for her. Many of our pack members also started loving her. She was an adorable pup, but I couldn’t pluck out the images of how my uncle was killed because of her. I wish I knew who that man was who killed him because I wanted to wipe out his family.
“Mat! Mat!” Tam squealed, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Go away,” I muttered when she tugged at my sleeve. It irritated me how she clung to me. “Go play with Gini,” I said, pulling my sleeve away from her, and walked out.
She pouted her lips and followed me. “I wuv you, Mat,” she said. ‘Mat, pway!”
“Oh Veles!” I growled at her. “You are pretty annoying!”
She blinked her eyes at me and then rushed inside to my mom. “Sela, Mat say, I pretty!”
Mom’s lips curled up. “Really?” She picked her up in her arms.
“What? I never said that,” I hissed. “I said she is pretty annoying.”
Tam giggled. “But Mat say, I pretty.”
While mom barked a laugh, I gritted my teeth and walked out. As soon as I was on the porch, Dad’s Beta, Curtis, came.” Some bears are here from a faraway pack,” he said. “Where’s Alpha Teddy?”
My instincts immediately went on high alert.
An hour later, my father invited them all to his library. Their Alpha, Kael, was an imposing bear, only a few years older than me. He was in the house along with three other bears. Dad called mom and me, and asked mom to get Tam also. I didn’t like it that she took Tam, but who could go against dad’s orders? Though mom seemed calm, I could sense tension in her stance. Even daddy was tense.
As soon as Kael saw Tam, his eyes glinted. “Alpha Teddy,” he began. “It’s come to our attention that you’re looking for Tam AuLuc’s family.” He looked at Tam and his eyes gleamed again. I wanted to punch his face. “I’ve heard shifters talking about her beauty. I–my pack–believe she is destined to join us. She is a key to a prophecy in my pack.”
What bullshit! I immediately tensed up, my teeth gritting. “Key to a prophecy?” I hissed. “What nonsense!”
Kael ignored my words. He turned away from us to look at my father and gave him a smile.
“You mean to say that you want to take her away?” my father said.
Kael nodded. “She belongs to us. She’s the future of our pack, and it is our right to raise her in our care. She is our destiny.”
I felt myself at the edge. This was ridiculous. “She’s just a child!” I spat.
“Matt, step back, my father ordered.
My father said in a very firm, calm and controlled voice, “Alpha Kael, if you think you can just walk here and take her, you’ve got another thing coming. You can’t throw a prophecy on our face and tell us that she belongs to your pack. There’s no proof of any prophecy. If there’s any, show us!”
Kael was on the backfoot immediately. Prophecies were sacred to us, but they didn’t come by just like that. I had no idea what was in Kael’s mind, but this was ludicrous.
“Our Shaman said so!” he replied.
My father narrowed his eyes on her. “We will not be swayed by your threats or by your fictitious prophecies, Alpha Kael. You may leave, and don’t bother doing this again. Else I will take it as an act of war!”
Veles!
Kael clenched his fists, but he knew it better not to mess with my father. “I’ll bring the proof that the pup belongs to us.” With that, he bowed and left.
But the whole incident left me shaken. Why was it that he wanted to take away Tam? It felt strange.
Several other bear shifters came forward to claim Form it was becoming absolutely outrageous. Once a few rogues came over, camped at the pack’s border, and claimec Successfully unlocked!ot only that, there were some wolf shifters as well who wanted her.
Over the years, Tam’s beauty became the talk of the community. At an early age, she caught the attention of so many shifters that it was getting on my nerves. Even though dad threatened them all to back off, the situation escalated when they just kept coming.
At fifteen, I felt like my bear wanted to come out. He wanted to show his strength and was pushing forward. I had no reason why, but whenever people came to claim her, he pushed forward, wanting to protect her. The growl that rumbled in my chest was deep and menacing.
Mom put her in the kindergarten of our pack when she was five. It was attached to our high school. I didn’t know if it was a relief that I couldn’t see Tam at that time. I guess it was a relief because I spent a lot of time with my friends now. Out of sight, out of mind.
I made girlfriends. They swooned over me. Honestly, I loved the attention. I used to find Tam watching me with them, her innocent eyes taking it all in. Not that I cared.
3 years later.
It was my birthday, and I was excited because at midnight, I was supposed to have my first shift. Though my bear wanted to come forward all the time ever since I turned fifteen, he decided to show himself today.
Mom and Dad were very happy. There was a lot of buzz in the house and the pack. Everyone wanted to witness my shift. Heck, I wanted my bear to come out. Tam hadn’t returned home from school. She was a brilliant girl. Over so many years, when people tried to claim her falsely, my dad had become too protective of her. He had stopped anyone from advancing to claim her. I kept my distance from Tam as always, but only looked for her when she was in danger. I barely talked to her, keeping close to my friends. But at school, no one dared to bully her, even my girlfriend, Tulip.
At night, I stood in the clearing with many of our pack members. I looked at all of them and realized that Tam hadn’t come.
“Where’s Tam?” I asked mom, trying to sound casual.
“Oh, I can’t risk her to come here in front of your bear,” she replied. “Yours is an alpha bear. What if he tries to attack her? He can be feral, considering your history with her. You clearly dislike her.”
I swallowed. Why did my heart deflate? I clenched my teeth at the unreasonable emotion, and I focused on what was ahead. My shift.
Hi all, you might have noticed that this is Arc 2. I’m rushing the story to get us to the main content. If you want to know more, you can join me on FB at Mishakwrites.
