Page 20 of Undesired Mate

My wolf’s roaring is almost enough to deafen me. I knew it, didn’t I? Nothing about this felt right from the moment she confronted us out here.

“You lied.” Somehow, after spending eighteen years with his witch, Clara is still capable of surprise. Dismay. “You said you would lift the curse. Why won’t you do it?” She might as well ask why her mother refuses to love her. It’s the same question, really, only expressed using different words.

“Because I can’t.” How can she be so cruel? She sounds downright happy to watch her daughter crumple under the weight of her rejection. “I never could, you brainless nothing.”

It’s the laughter that lights my brain on fire. So cruel. So sincere. She’s deriving joy from this—maybe the only joy she’s felt ina long time. That she should feel it at her daughter’s expense strikes me as pitiful and enraging all at once. “But thank you for killing that filthy dog,” Persephone adds before laughing again. “You have no idea how you’ve satisfied me. I only hope it was slow and painful.”

About as slow and painful as her death will be if she doesn’t stop laughing. If Clara wasn’t standing beside me, I doubt I could keep myself from voicing that thought—or worse, slashing her to ribbons. “You don’t have the ability to lift a curse you cast?” I ask with a snicker.

It does the trick, slicing through the high-pitch laughter. “I cast a permanent curse, dog,” she sneers, somehow standing taller than before. The air around us goes from icy to hot in an instant. “I never intended to lift it. Why would I want my offspring to possess the power to shift into a dog the way you do? Even this useless nothing is worth more than that,” she adds, waving a dismissive hand toward her trembling, whimpering daughter.

I feel the pain coursing through her. My wolf cries out, demanding she be comforted, but there isn’t much I can do beyond wishing Clara wasn’t here so I could tear the witch limb from limb. “Come on,” I urge, reaching for her hand.

To my surprise, she yanks it away, almost ignoring me in favor of glaring at her mother. “I’ve never understood what I did to make you hate me so much,” she whispers. There’s no trembling in her voice now. None in her body, either. She’s found strength. “But now I get it. You’re incapable of anything else. This was never about me.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Persephone tosses her head with a cold laugh. “Now take pains to never step foot onthis land after tonight. For any reason. I don’t want to see your face again.”

“That’s fine,” Clara grits out. “I don’t ever want to see you again, either.”

The door slams shut, and all at once, the air goes back to its normal temperature. Instinct makes me reach for Clara, who sags in my arms like all of her strength is gone. She used it all to face her mother one last time. There’s plenty of pride mixing with the anger I feel on her behalf, but the anger far outweighs it.

“How did you manage to spend eighteen years with her?” If anything, my pride deepens as I lead her away from the cabin. The farther, the better. She’s already been through enough.

“What choice did I have?” she whispers with a faint, sad laugh. “Besides, this is all I ever knew. How was I supposed to know mothers normally love their children?”

A sob makes her voice break, and the next thing I know, her face is pressed against my chest. “Why? Why can’t she love me?” she asks through her tears. “Why can’t she at least say she’s sorry?”

Because she isn’t. “Don’t worry,” I offer, holding her close as if that can do anything to take away the years of pain she’s endured. “We’ll find a way through this.”

“What? How?” She lifts her head—my T-shirt is soaked with tears, sticking to my skin. “You heard her. There’s no way of lifting the curse. There’s no hope.”

I can’t believe that. I won’t. “We’ll find a way,” I insist.

All I can do is hope that isn’t a lie.

12

CLARA

Somewhere in the distance,a wolf’s howl fills the air.

The sound stirs me out of a light sleep filled with bad dreams. The hair on the back of my neck lifts, and I hold my breath, waiting for more. A second howl sends goosebumps racing up and down my arms, and I shiver, but Levi is just as deep asleep as ever. I’m glad. He doesn’t need to know how miserable I am, lying here next to him, knowing I have no place by his side.

Tonight sealed the deal. Sure, I was worried before now. Conflicted. Wondering how we could work, even if I had the power to shift. I’ll always be part witch, and shifters aren’t super accepting of witches.

Now, I know for sure I’ll never be fully witch or fully shifter. I’m always going to exist in this limbo where I’ll never belong anywhere. Some people aren’t meant to have normal lives, to be happy and feel loved. I’m sure there are thousands of lonely, unloved people lying in bed the way I am right now. Staring through the window, wondering why Fate decided they’ll never be good enough. Never worthy.

There’s so much I’m unsure of. What’s the next step? Levi insisted we can find a way out of this, but can we? Was he only trying to make me feel better? He couldn’t have meant it. Because as far as I see it, after lying here and looking at the problem from every possible angle, there isn’t a solution that involves the two of us together. It doesn’t matter that there’s something pulling us toward each other.

I feel it even now, always here, like an electric current in the air. Just because the lights are off doesn’t mean the electricity is gone. It just hasn’t been turned on. I wish there was a way to make it stop. I really do. Because it isn’t fair to either of us.

It’s especially unfair to Levi. I hate myself for being who I am, how I am. How can he not hate me, too? I would. Maybe I can hate me for both of us.

A soft sob stirs in my throat, but I swallow it down. No sense in lying here feeling sorry for myself when I have things to do. Plans to make.

Because one thing is obvious: I can’t stay. There’s another thing that’s true, too. The sort of truth that’s painful to admit but can’t be ignored.

I love him.

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