Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

chest. "You don't seem particularly ready to do anything but hurt him more."
    Rage boiled inside of me. They couldn't keep me from him. "You don't understand."
    "Then help us understand," his dad stated.
    "When he said we were mates, I didn't know about wolves." My voice rose. "We bears, there aren't a lot of us. We have rules from the Ursidae council that governs the Sleuth. Our one Sleuth - that's it. That's all of us." I looked right at Kyle's mom. "All matings must be approved and must be with the intention to produce offspring. Even if medical intervention is needed. It must be between bears so that the offspring is a bear." My voice hardened. How dare she judge me? She wasn't even a shifter.
    Why was I explaining this? It didn't matter. The anger drained out of me and deflated like a balloon. "It wasn't always like this, but there are so few of us…"
    Kyle's dad answered. "They wouldn't approve of a homosexual mating, much less one with a non-bear."
    I looked him directly in the eye. "Absolutely not; it's forbidden." I looked up at him. My eyes bugged out. "No offspring. When he started talking about mates, I freaked. I knew I could never claim him. The council would… I didn't even know what they would do." I paused a beat. "Now I do."
    She leaned towards me, her mouth parted. "How do you know? Did someone else try? What happened?"
    "I refused to take a mate when I turned twenty-five. I… I couldn't. Something stopped me. I… I think… I didn't…" How could I explain my actions? They had made no sense at the time.
    "What?" she asked, still looking fierce, but something in her expression had changed.
    I looked at her. "It never occurred to me that I might already be bonded even partially. I can only have one bonded mate at a time. As long as my mate lives, I can't take another."
    I lifted my hand, willing her to understand. "I defied everyone, and I couldn't even explain why. They banished me. I have lived alone without benefit of Sleuth for five years. I can't contact my parents, my brothers and sisters."
    I trembled, my cheeks were like flames, and my eyes stung. I saw an answering tear on her face as I continued. "I probably have brothers and sisters I don't even know about. Bear families in this generation are large. We all take the need seriously."
    "You were banished," she said quietly.
    "Yes." I whispered back.
    The Alpha spoke. "You know, we tried to find you."
    "You did, how?" I don't know why I was surprised.
    "We contacted your council in Vermont. All we knew was a bear named Devlin that went to Williams." His face hardened. "They said there was no one named Devlin."
    His dad added, "We searched the campus. He said he smelled you, but that you had run."
    "I sensed when he was coming. The council never told me that you contacted them. Did you tell them you were searching for your son's mate?"
    "Yes," the Alpha answered.
    It all made sense. "They would never have allowed it," I said.
    "Controlling bastards," his mom shot out.
    "They are frightened and desperate," I said, "They don't want to see the end of us all."
    "At what cost?" His mom had a point. No one wants extinction, but instead of physically dying, our whole culture and our freedom were gone. I don't know why I was chosen to be Kyle's mate, but clearly it was supposed to happen. Should the council try to supersede such a primal instinct?
    Time to go for broke. "Look, I can't promise anything. I knew your son a few hours, but if what I suspect is true, then I can't walk away from him again. I've already been banished so they can't hold that over me. Please, I need to see him."
    They looked at me for a long time before leaving the room to discuss it. My heart pounded in my chest. Suddenly everything narrowed down to this moment. I had been wrong all along. It was why I couldn't be close to anyone. I needed him to be complete.
    His parent's and the Alpha filed in, their faces flat, unreadable.
    The Alpha spoke. "We will allow you to see him. He is being brought here."
    A thrill of excitement and fear zapped through me. What should I say to him? Will he forgive me? "Will he be told why he is coming?"
    "Yes," his dad said.
    I knew the moment they told him. Even with our incomplete bond, this wave of joy washed over me, filled me. My heart raced, my blood pounded in my ears and something that I could only describe as rightness settled over me.
    Then the backlash of fear and anger. I had hurt him and violated his trust. I would have to earn