VIGGO
I can only watch as Udyr pulls Quilla into his massive arms. Costas grabs mine as Kyros bristles his fur through my skin in objection.
If you cannot contain Kyros you need to leave, it will do you no good if you lose control. Costas links me and I grunt with the effort it takes to hold back my infuriated lycan.
"I'm so sorry Kyra." Udyr chokes as he hugs her tight. Quilla's responding sob echoes through the tavern as she cries into his barrel chest.
Udyr's brother glares and walks toward me.
"This is your doing." he bares his teeth at me. "You marked her without her consent. What kind of fucking mate are you?"
I lunge out of Costas's grip and have the stupid bear by his throat and bent backward over the bar before he can blink.
The air fills with the scent of his blood as my claws nick his skin and chaos breaks out.
Behind me Quilla screams, and bears and lycans begin to shift, fur and teeth breaking skin, but the three male bears are vastly outnumbered by my dozen lycans.
"Clam the fuck down!" Udyr bellows at his bears, fear in his eyes and Quilla shoved protectively behind his large frame. Costas does likewise to our lycans who obediently settle under their Gamma's order.
Goddess knows if they are let loose there will be nothing left standing in this town, bear or humankind. Udyr is sensible enough to know this.
"Let my brother go." Udyr demands of me, but it's the fear in Quilla's eyes that make me relax my grip on the bear's throat.
Low rumbles of discontent simmer through the room as I glare into the eyes of the bear in my grasp.
"You don't get to question me after your family kept Quilla hidden from us. Don't even fucking pretend you didn't know wolves were searching for the missing Luna Queen, everyone fucking knew." With a disgusted growl, I slide him across the bar back towards his clan and he stumbles into his son's arms.
"Is that true?" Quilla's pain-filled voice breaks through my deadly intentions.
I turn to see her staring up a Udyr.
He glares at me over her head.
"We didn't think it was Kyra."
Sebastian steps through the rumble of lycans and bears to stand behind Quilla facing Udyr.
"You didn't think when you found a three-year-old wolf-pup, that she was the missing pup every wolf was looking for? We sent word out through every means possible. King Viktor made it clear she was the future Luna Queen. There was a reward that could have bought you a thousand taverns." Sebastian waves his hand in frustration around the old ale house.
Udyr snarls at him in response.
"I don't need your fucking money, and there was no way in hell I would have turned her over to your kind after the state I found her in."
His eyes turn back to me, with raw hate burning in them.
"He was a lycan like you. She didn't even speak until she was five. That is what your kind did to her."
Beside him, I see Quilla freeze. She stands firm and tries to hide the effect Udyr's words have on her but terror seeps through her scent and I feel it burning in the center of my chest.
Udry is too caught up in his argument with Sebastian to realize what is happening.
"Quilla, are you okay?" I ask.
She turns to look at me and her eyes darken but she does not reply, only turns back to the ongoing rally between Udyr and Sebastian.
"You kept my daughter hidden from me." Sebastian snaps continuing his face-off with Urdy, both of them oblivious to Quilla's reaction.
"I kept her alive." Udyr snaps back.
"You kept her as a replacement for your dead wife and cub." Silence descends in the room as Neo steps forward, her words falling like ice on Udyr who sucks in a breath.
"You don't know what you are talking about," he growls low after composing himself.
The shortest shifter in the room with a powerful aura that parts the room as she strides forward, Neo stands before Udyr with eyes that turn to surprising gentleness.
"I know your mate and cub died only months before you found Quilla. Truly I am sorry for your loss and I am glad that Quilla brought you comfort and love. I am glad you became the family each other needed, and I will never be able to thank you enough for killing Cain and saving her from him."
The room hushes as Neo bows her head to Udyr. Sebastian stands beside her and does likewise.
I don't question how Neo was able to find this information about Udyr in such a short time. I long ago learned there is little Neo can achieve when she sets her mind to it.
When Neo and Sebastian raise their heads they focus their attention on Quilla.
"We did not come here to fight or to take you away. We only came because we have spent every day since the day you were taken searching for you, and now we are here to support you. I know these bears are your family, but we are too. We love you as much as they do and we have missed you with every breath we have breathed. It is our deepest desire for you to come with us and give us a chance to know you."
I have never seen Neo cry. The air fills with the saltiness of her tears as she steps away from Quilla holding her head proudly high. Sebastian takes her hand and together they step back.
"Whatever you decide Quilla, we will support you, and we will be here for you," Sebastian says.
Silence descends across the room with every eye on Quilla.
Her emotions, raw and bitter, overflow like a tsunami drowning us all in her internal conflict. My chest constricts and aches as the fresh bond growing between us is triggered by the intensity of her deep feelings.
I can taste her pain and her guilt. The latter of which surprises me and my eyes seek hers. Frustration consumes me as she continues to ignore me. Kyros demands we comfort our mate, as we should, but I know for a fact any move I make will be met with a stake through my heart.
Holding my place at the bar I can only watch helplessly.
Quilla turns and looks at Neo and Sebastian, her arms enclosing herself as if to keep herself from breaking.
"Udyr is my father." She whispers looking at Sebastian.
Pain seeps through Sebastian's skin but his face holds firm as he nods.
"Jensen, my brother. Uncle Borra, Aunt Mishka, Boaz and Dyani, my family."
Around the room, the male bears move in to surround Quilla.
I flex my claws, Kyros on the verge of shifting as he feels us losing a battle we have not even started. His eyes narrow on the two young unmated bears, jealousy sitting uncomfortably in our gut as the younger places a comforting hand on her shoulder and she turns to smile at him.
I can't help the low rumble of discontent Kyros releases, and for a second Quilla finally looks my way only to dismiss me again raising her chin and looking back to Neo and Sebastian.
When she speaks next there is a firmness in her tone that commands the whole room. Her spine straightens and her eyes rim in gold as her wolf comes to the fore.
As her eyes pass across the room each of my lycans averts their eyes and bows their head under the power of her stare.
My chest swells with pride as I see the Luna in my mate rear.
"You will all wait here and not cause any trouble. No fighting and no shifting. The bar is open but it's not free. There is a cafe down the road if you are hungry."
She focuses on Neo and Sebastian and her demeanor shifts, her wolf immediately recognizing her Alpha parents, relaxing her tone.
"I need to speak with my family. I will let you know what I decide in the morning."
The hope I have that she will cast me even a tiny glance dissolves as she turns and disappears through a door at the back of the tavern with the bears following her.
The door closes with a definitive click.
Costas walks over to me with a frown, "We will wait?" he asks."Of course, we will fucking wait. Today, tomorrow, and every fucking day until she is ready to leave." I snap and turn to my lycans.
"You heard your Luna, don't even breathe wrong. I'm in no fucking mood to clean up any messes."
I head toward the door with Costas on my tail.
"What are you going to do Alpha?" he asks as we walk down the quiet street heading towards the woods and the back of Quilla's home.
My goal is clear in my mind as I tread across her backyard and stand under a black oak tree with a clear line of sight into her bedroom window.
"I'm going to make it impossible for her to make any other decision than to leave with me tomorrow."
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