Page 106 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

“Of course you’re my family.” My throat closes. “You’ve always been—”

“You didn’t say that.” Her eyes have gone glassy. “You said their names, but you never said mine.”

Jessa is already moving toward her with both hands out. “Sweetheart, he didn’t mean it that way. He was angry with me, so he said the first thing that came into his head. Obviously you’re—”

“You’re lying.” Bella’s voice breaks over the word. “He doesn’t want me anymore. His real daughter came, so he doesn’t need me.”

She turns and bolts for the front door. Mia is off the stairs after her before I’ve straightened up, hobbling on a scraped knee, screaming her cousin’s name into the hall. The door bangs against the wall, then both of them are gone into the dark.

I put both hands over my face. “Fantastic,” I mutter. “That’s absolutely fantastic.”

“What do we do now?” Jessa sounds numb. “We have to fix this. Children are so sensitive. This could scar her for life.”

Even now, she’s more concerned about how this will impact my niece than the fact that we’ve revealed the truth to both the girls. Is it any wonder that I’m so madly in love with this frustrating woman?

“I know.” I push off the island. My side pulls where I clawed it open, the flesh still raw.

“We need to get that wound looked at once we bring them back.” Jessa looks worried.

“It’ll be fine.” We cross the lawn together, and she keeps pace with me, jaw set, murder in every step. Her boots are on the wrong feet, which she hasn’t noticed and I’m not going to mention.

“None of this was supposed to get complicated,” I mutter. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to convince Bella I didn’t mean it.”

“Let me talk to her.”

I glance sideways. “You’re enemy number one right now.”

“Trust me.” Jessa doesn’t slow. “There are some things I can explain better.”

“She needs to know she’s worth as much to me as Mia is. I won’t have her thinking she comes second.” I look down at her. “Tell me if that’s a problem for you.”

“Why would it be?” She sounds insulted. “You raised her. Bella’s your daughter.”

“So is Mia.” I stop walking. “There’s nothing I won’t do for her, and I don’t care what you saw her do tonight. I will always protect her.”

Jessa’s throat moves. “We’ll talk about it when we get back. Right now I want our children in the house.”

Our children, she said. At the tree line I stop, drag a breath in through my nose, then taste them both.

“Damn it.” I’m moving before I’ve finished the word. “She’s past the trees. That little brat knows she’s not allowed past the trees.”

Jessa breaks into a jog beside me. “How could you possibly know that?”

“I can smell her.”

“Okay.” Her voice climbs. “I don’t know what you’re taking for that nose of yours, but wherever drugs you’re doing—”

“It isn’t drugs, Jessa.” I look down at her. “I think you already know that.”

She just presses her lips together as we enter the forest. The scream comes forty yards in. The trees are packed too tight to shift, so I run on two legs with branches whipping my arms, and Jessa stays right behind me, breathing hard. Another scream splits the dark, then I burst into the clearing.

A black bear stands in the middle of the clearing, up on her hind legs. Bella is on the ground under her, and my ten-year-old daughter is planted over her cousin with both fists up, snarling at a thousand pounds of animal.

Jessa cries out in alarm, and I leap forward, hitting the bear in the chest with everything I have. She goes back three strides with my hands buried in her ruff and my shoulder under her jaw. Then she plants her feet and stops me.

Normally bears aren’t a problem in my human form. But today I’m injured and slowed down. She swings, the paw catches me across the wounded side, and I’m airborne. The ground comes up and takes what’s left of the air in me.

Jessa has both girls hauled against her hip, and the bear’s head swings toward the noise.