Page 22 of Tangled Fates

TIME TO KILL THEM ALL.

Anger boiled my blood as I hissed at myself. “How in the hell did those bear shifters keep you from healing?”

He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. When the pain became too much and I couldn’t fight through it, they left me in the middle of some street somewhere. And… that’s all I remember.”

My heart trembled against my sternum. “Why didn’t you reach out to someone? Call to the pack to come get you? Why didn’t you take someone, for fuck’s sake, Dad?”

He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Lovebug. I’m sorry that I didn’t make better decisions. But being that far out from the pack severed my communication link with them.”

“You’re alive, though. You’re standing right in front of me. So, who helped you?”

“Lovebug.”

I blinked. “Who—who helped you?”

“The veil,” he said as he slid his hands into his pockets, “it’s the barrier between?—”

“Don’t say it.”

I couldn’t bear to hear him say it.

“I died from those injuries,” he said with tears in his voice, “but you have to listen to me now. Something is happening with those bear shifters. They’ve never been like this before. They’ve never been this strong, nor this determined to take us out. Their magic? It’s far more powerful than anything I’ve ever seen. The pack has never encountered something like this before. They have to be warned.”

I swayed on my feet as my mind drifted through the forest of questions rising in my silent mind. There were so many things I wanted to ask. So many answers I needed for my own peace and tranquility. So, I decided not to hold back.

I decided to ask the hard questions.

“I found your letter, you know,” I said softly.

He furrowed his brow. “What let—oh.”

My gaze found his. “Yeah, that letter.”

He sighed. “Your mother and I, we?—”

“Were selfish and married even though you weren’t fated mates?”

The look on his face stilled into angry stone. “I know we were fated mates. To this day, I’ll never abandon that idea. Whether in this world, or the next.”

I shrugged. “So, what happened? Isn’t that, like, supposed to be the biggest connection of all time, or some shit like that?”

He tilted his head. “Why do you ask? Have you seen the reel with someone?”

“If you mean, have I seen some future flash before my very eyes whenever I look at someone? No.”

“Your mother never did, either. I was shocked when she told me that.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Because I saw it. The very first time I ever laid eyes on your mother, I saw our entire life together. Our bonding ceremony. The reception we’d throw for her family. You.”

I swallowed hard. “You saw me in those visions?”

“We call it ‘the reel.’ It’s when the reel of your future with someone rushes before your eyes like a movie on a projection screen.”

“Right,” I said flatly. “So, you saw me in those visions.”

“Yes, I did. I knew your name even before we decided to have children ourselves. And I was shocked when your mother told me that she never saw the reel.”

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