Page 8 of Their UnBearable Destiny

Chapter Three

Even though she’dmanaged to make it through dinner without losing her temper, Emiliana was fighting off the urge to throw her sister out of the room. She didn’t mean that she would physically remove her, she did like to eat from time to time.

Her bear perked up and seemed more than pleased with the idea. Sister or no sister, her bear wanted the other pretty female out of the room and away from the vicinity of their mate.

She ground her teeth together and curled her toes inside of her kitten-heeled shoes. She might not be able to stand Uberto’s presence or his caveman tendencies, but she certainly didn’t want another woman close to him. She may not have wanted to let him into her heart, but she felt more than a little betrayed by her younger sister.

Smiling at him.

Laughing with him.

In her heart she knew that Felisa was just comfortable with Uberto. They’d all grown up together, gone swimming in the ponds and lakes, played together in the grass. But her conscious and somewhat-logical mind was fighting with the bear within. A bear that was only too pleased that their mate was home, but none too pleased that Emiliana was still holding him at bay.

Her bear wanted him. Her bear wanted cubs. Her bear was tired of waiting for Emiliana to tow the party line that her father continually tried to push onto her.

She was old enough, and self-aware enough that she knew part of the reason she resisted was because they were telling her what to do. Even in the modern world she lived in, things in Santa Biago had remained the same from generations before. Same businesses, same families, and they expected her to be the same… like Felisa and the other women born into shifter families. They understood what it meant to have a bear sharing the lives of their husbands and sons.

And yet no one understood what it was like for her to share the same connection. The same unique gift that she’d been given.

The gift that made her both a curiosity and a pariah amongst her own people. Her people were shifters, descended from the oldest inhabitants of the valley and the mountains of Italy. They carried on a rich tradition of protecting those that could not and helping those that were in need. And those ancestors were also a rare breed of people who could shift from the human form to that of a bear.

As a child, she had been fascinated by the idea. Her father, Uberto’s, Uncle Ezio and many others held this magical connection to the earth and the primal nature of animals that made her wish and pray that she could feel it to. Her father scoffed at the idea, tossed a doll into her arms and told her to do what came naturally.

She loved her doll, cuddled it tight when she lay in bed at night, but when she was with Davide and Uberto, she was queen of the forest. She could pretend to run on four strong legs, dig her claws into the ground under her feet, roar like her heart and soul were an integral part of the world around her.

And then she found out that reality was so much messier than she’d ever thought. Being a bear shifter, a woman gifted with the power to change from human to bear was supposed to be this amazing thing. What she ended up being was what some called ‘a freak.’

There were legends from their history about women who could shift, but it had been so long in the past that most believed it to be legend rather than history. Being legendary herself didn’t seem to matter. What mattered, it galled her to admit, was what men said about her life was that it wasn’t really hers.

The kitchen door closed and suddenly Emiliana’s head snapped up to take in the room. There were only two people left in the spacious old-style kitchen. While she had been ruminating over her situation, her sister had finished up and likely gone to her room. The table had been cleared and Uberto Orsino himself was standing at the sink, washing dishes.

The sight alone was worth paying for.

Especially his slacks and the way they hung from his waist. The fabric was of excellent quality and had likely been tailored by a master given the effortless look of their fit. Manmade fibers didn’t drape the same way as natural and she could tell at a glance that the body beneath his clothes had only strengthened and hardened over the years that they had been apart. If she was allowing herself to be truthful, she liked what she saw.

“Is this all a show?”

To his credit, the youngest Orsino didn’t hesitate in the least. “A show?” He laughed. “I’m not the performer that Allegra is, but I have been known to entertain from time to time.”

“Allegra?” She winced inwardly and managed to even out her voice. “Why is that name familiar?”

Setting a plate in the drainer, he gave her a glance over his shoulder. “I seem to detect a hint of something in your voice. Jealousy, perhaps?”

“Did I say I was jealous?”

His laughter was enough to prick her temper even more. “You don’t have to say it, mia anima. I can hear it in your voice. I can still feel you inside of me.”

Now that was hitting her below the belt.

Literally.

Because her bear wanted to feel him inside of her. They had only been together one time, but over the last ten years she had replayed the memory in detail until the memory itself was quickly approaching legendary proportions.

She may not want him as her mate, but her body wanted him, at least on a carnal level.

A soft, tremulous sound turned her head and she found Uberto standing stock still before the sink, a plate in one hand and a drying rag in the other. It didn’t look like he was breathing.

Opening her mouth to ask him a question, she realized why he was standing still as a statue.

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