Page 34 of Their UnBearable Destiny

Uberto was glad that he hadn’t taken a seat in a chair. He felt his bear push hard as he picked up the first scent of the other man. Man and beast tracked the man with their eyes as he walked across the room and sat beside Alfonse’s chair.

The other men in the room didn’t seem as affected by the stranger’s presence and Uberto wondered if they had met the man before. Touching Ezio’s shoulder he leaned closer to ask the older man. “You haven’t seen him before?”

Narrowing his eyes across the room, Ezio gave the man a good look and shook his head. “Not that I can recall.”

Uberto nodded. “I’d like to speak with you later if-”

“Thank you all for coming,” Alfonse’s booming voice was made for such purposes. “As you can all see,” he gestured toward Uberto against the wall, “This year we have Uberto Orsino attending our gathering.”

The assembled group murmured the acknowledgement and some their greetings.

“We have a number of smaller issues to address, but I would like to broach the subject of the largest issue first and see how far we can proceed in solving the issue and then return to the smaller, less significant points.”

There were nods around the room and none of them could hear any signs of dissent, so the meeting continued.

Alfonse’s expression was nearly serene as he started the discussion. “Beside me is a visitor to our valley from Neive. Renaldo Gallino has heard of our predicament and has come to me with an offer.”

Uberto moved slightly and felt the rough surface of the wall scratch his back through the soft weave of his shirt. When this meeting was done, he had plans to speak to Salvatore. He didn’t like being in the dark and he doubted his brother would like it any more than he did.

“As many of you have expressed to me in the past, my daughter Emiliana is a rare treasure, not only in my family, but also here in the village of Santa Biago.”

His heart contracted at mention of his mate, but neither he, nor his bear, were happy with the current situation.

“Young women born into our families have not been gifted with the ability to take the same bear-form that we do. There were stories of generations in the long past where such power existed, but not in our recent memory. Emiliana is the only woman in our world with rare ability and she should be treated as the unique woman she is.”

Uberto could agree with everything Alfonse was saying, but his gut was telling him not to speak up too soon. The patience that he was showing wore on him.

“Renaldo has come to make an offer.”

Offer?

Uberto took a step away from the wall and felt Ezio’s smaller hand on his arm, but it didn’t restrain him in the least.

“He would like to take her as his mate.”

Uberto only knewone thing in that moment. Rage.

He was halfway across the room in a blur of motion before several of the elders took hold of his limbs and some used themselves as a shield.

It was not lost on him that many of these men seemed to be more interested in protecting the outsider in their midst, rather than avenge the insult to one of their own.

“Let me go!”

Alfonse pushed himself into the middle of the group and leaned down until they were eye to eye. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” He tugged on his arm and felt the seam of his shirt rend under the strain of his movement. He wanted blood. Whose didn’t seem to matter at the moment. And his bear, for once, wasn’t the one thirsting for the most blood. Uberto wanted to bathe in it. “Emiliana is my mate!”

He turned his glare to the man they called Renaldo and made sure he saw the rush of power flaring through his veins. The men holding him struggled to keep a hold on him as his limbs thickened.

Uberto felt the rush of blood through his veins, surging like crashing waves through his arteries and each breath felt like the hot rush of air from a bellows, fanning the flames. “Mine!”

The elders struggled to hold him, hands sliding from his arms and legs as he tried to literally climb over the barricade and tear the stranger to shreds.

“Leave!”

His ears were filled with the rush of blood, all but drowning out the sounds in the room, but he didn’t need ears to see the satisfied snarl on Alfonse’s face. “I intend to hear him out.”

“Your daughter has a mate!”

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