Page 30 of Polar Fates
Ten
Alis
They want to kill my son. MyArcas.
They’re going todie.
I will protect him with my life. I thought he was dead; I’m not going to lose himagain.
I stand up, towering above them all. I’m stronger than them all, they stand nochance.
Arcas.
I remember him as a little baby, so delicate, sosmall.
Bear cubs are born blind and helpless; something I didn’t know before I had Arcas. How could I have, I was never in contact with bears until I was turned into one. He was so cute, so dependant on me. He had no teeth; a fact I was very grateful for when he suckled on my teats. All he did after he was born was yelp for attention and thensuckle.
His voice was high pitched and immediately made me drop whatever I was doing. I learned how to pick him up with my teeth and carry him on my back when I was searching for food. I didn’t need much for myself, but I was worried my milk would run dry if I didn’t eatenough.
It took several months for him to become more active. His eyes opened and he began to move around, exploring the world. He was a very curious little cub and constantly got in trouble. Every day was a new adventure for him - and for me, trying to keep himsafe.
We had three years together as mother bear and cub... then he shifted into a human child for the firsttime.
“Alis, calm down!” Torben shouts and I look down at him. He’s not shifted and neither have the others. Silly humans. I can squash them in a heartbeat. They’re threatening myson.
Wait, notthem.
TheFates.
I turn to the three women in their lofty white robes and let out a bellowing roar. They don’t even flinch, which makes me evenangrier.
I let myself drop to all fours, shaking the entirehouse.
Arcas is my son!I roar, sending the message mentally at the same time so they all understand me.You will not touchhim!
I’m breathing hard and it takes all my willpower not to trash the place. Or thepeople.
They are threatening Arcas. They want to killhim.
Over my deadbody.
I swipe my paw over the floor, leaving deep claw marks in the white woodenpanels.
Promise me you won’t doit!
“It’s your son or the end of all bear shifters,” the black-haired bitch says coolly. “Would you take that upon yourself? That you caused theirextinction?”
Yes! He’s my son! Kill me if you want, but not myson!
I want the shifters to keep existing. I want them to get babies again. I’d go through hell, torture, whatever to help them. But not my son. Everything butthat.
He was the first shifter. They all owe him theirlives.
“Is there no other way?” Torben asks the Fates, looking just as helpless as I feel. Yes, I’m angry, raging, but beneath all of that is helplessness anddespair.
Can I really condemn them all to be the last of their kind? These men in front of me will never have children. Isla will never have a child, now that she’s one ofthem.
Isla.
