Page 55 of My Unbearable Mate

His lips parted, giving confirmation that Shirley hadn’t told anyone but Clover about her missing jewelry. “I have to consider that a challenge, Bellamy.”

“If you want to fight me, make it fair,” I said. “Show me what kind of alpha you are.”

“No!” Clover appeared between us and spread her arms. The air thickened as she formed a force field between me and the bear I’d once trusted with my life.

She gasped, and the sound was muffled. The wind had come to a standstill like the earth had stopped moving.

“What the fuck is that?” one of the bears said. “It’s like she cast a spell.”

“None of the healers have ever done anything like that,” another said.

Inside the bubble, Clover’s mouth was open, her eyes wide. The magic was growing, pushing Edgar and those bears back. Some of them ran.

But not Edgar. Shirley and Sage appeared behind him, looking sinister in the magical glow.

I wasn’t a bear who backed down from a challenge, but I had to get my mate to safety.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

You’re Not the Boss of Me

Clover

This was so cool, even if I had no fucking idea how to control it. I’d only meant to stop Bellamy and Edgar from coming to blows, but my body temperature shot up the moment I put out my hands. I thought I was gonna shift…should’ve known better than that. Not even magic could bring my bear back.

Heat rose inside me, feeling like it solidified as it left my body.

And time stopped.

Bellamy and Edgar stared at me, their mouths open in shock.

Good. I’d rather that than them ripping claws into each other.

There was shouting in the background, but I couldn’t understand it. Chaos erupted.

“Clover!” Bellamy’s voice was as thick as molasses, but somehow, he managed to break through the barrier I’d formed and pull me into his arms.

The power shattered, and I was cold, somewhat safe in the massive, muscular arms of this bear, and surrounded by a confused pack.

Nana and Sage stood behind Edgar. I hated that it felt like they’d chosen a side, and even more that it wasn’t mine.

Before I’d been sent on this crazy mission to find the locket, that realization would have utterly devastated me. But with this bear’s arms wrapped around me and the force field that enveloped us both, I let myself feel my true power for the first time.

Bellamy wanted to take me away from here. To protect me. It was what he thought was safe.

But we had to face this.

“No more running,” I said, for him as much as me. He might have been the one who’d left, but I’d rejected him out of fear. Deep in my soul, I’d always known something was off with our clan, but I’d had no reason to believe the people I cared about the most had lied to me. They’d stolen more than my magic from me. They’d kept me away from my mate. I wouldn’t let them do that again.

Now, it was time to let them know who the fuck they’d been messing with.

“Don’t know if we’re gonna get the answers we were looking for,” Bellamy said quietly.

“Probably not, but we’ll get the ones we need,” I said. “Only if we stay.”

The growl that rumbled through his body intensified the magic. “I don’t want to fight.”