Burden by Lila Felix Page B

accounted for. And they wouldn’t have to get up so early to catch the bus.”
    After she finished speaking, she huffed out a sigh, obviously still tired.
    “It’s a fantastic idea, Alpha. We’d have to hire a mechanic but it would work. I know Flint has groaned about his cubs having to rise so early in the morning. Especially on days after clan runs.”
    I nodded, but it could be taken care of at another time. There were more important things to handle at that moment, specifically my mate who was losing steam by the second. Her sleepiness was even causing me to be tired.
    “Ok, that’s enough clan business. Tarrow, please excuse us. I think my mate needs a nap.”
    He chuckled and left the house, thinking I had some underlying meaning for the word nap. I wished I did.
    “I’m not that tired. Besides, I have so many questions.”
    “I know. How about we go sit on the couch and you can ask questions and I’ll answer until you fall asleep.”
    “Only if you let me make you lunch.”
    “Deal.”
    She approached the couches and I held back, waiting to see how she’d proceed.  She finally planted herself stiffly in the corner of the full sized sofa.
    “Are we getting shy now,” I goaded her. It was worth it for the blush that bloomed in her cheeks.
    “If I let myself think about it, I over analyze everything. I don’t know how to do this.”
    “How to do what?”
    She spread her arms wide, “This. Alpha Female, mate, you, me, I mean, up until a couple of days ago I swear, I thought I was the only bear like me in the world.”
    I sat next to her, but not too close—not nearly close enough for the impatient animal inside me.
    “They didn’t teach you the histories of the bears?”
    “No.”
    “Well, maybe we should start there. Would you like to hear about the creation of the black bear?”
    “Like a child,” she pouted. It was the cutest damned thing I’d ever seen.
    “Like a woman who was denied proper education and training. Ready?”
    “Yes, tell me where in the heck we came from.”

 
     
     

     
     
     
    “First, there’s no way you’re comfortable like that. Lay back, give me your feet.”
    I did as he suggested. He rolled something around in his head, as if deciding where to begin.
    “The Creator made the Earth, and the light was separated from the dark. Then He made the animals. He filled the oceans first and then made the reptiles. Then He made the mammals. When He made the bear, the Creator couldn’t decide which color to make it. He took a great deal of time deciding, enough time to really begin to love the bear’s disposition and decided that one kind wasn’t enough. So, He created the Panda, the Grizzly, the Polar bear, the Kodiak, you get the point. But there was one bear missing. He’d made one more to color at His will, but suddenly it was gone. The Creator looked and looked for the bear until the night took over the day. Then, just as He’d given up looking, He found it. The other bears were fast asleep but the last bear was wide awake. He was so overjoyed at finding the lost bear that his heart skipped a beat and so did the bear’s—he was just as lost without his Creator as the Creator was without him. Since the last bear was so active in the night while the others slumbered, He colored him black to match the night sky. That’s how the black bear came to be.”
    I barely heard the last part, his hands were kneading my feet , and though I had slept the night before, I was restless. There were so many things I’d intended to ask him, but my eyelids wouldn’t let me be. I fell into a deep sleep.
    The collar—it was around my neck again, stinging, burning—my neck was on fire. Horace’s booming voice blasted in my ears. Claws, there were claws grasping my legs, dragging me back to the cabin, the gates closed with Hawke on the other side.
    "Echo, you’re safe.”
    I gasped awake from the nightmare and climbed all the way to the edge of the couch, getting my