Page 108 of Corbin
She did not have this man’s rich brown hair, but a reddish color between pale brown and blond. Nothing that would belong to a pureblood Romanov Kamchatka bear shifter. Her face had more fullness than his narrow one. He even had a pretty mouth.
Elianna was as plain as this man was beautiful.
The bastard.
No, she was the bastard, thanks to him.
She had no way to stop him from doing as he pleased with her, but she would not stand by and let him harm Nico.
Her brains snapped back into use.
“Nico!”She struggled to sit and fell back, ribs broken and one arm refusing to work.
Alexandre ordered, “Calm yourself. My men found the child when tracking the other wolf. Child is safe but could have died. Wolf was sniffing dumpster when my men showed up.”
Immediate relief took her breath.
Should she thank this man when he had failed to protect her mother from that same pack?
She was at Alexandre’s mercy, but nothing could stop her from asking, “Where were you before? They rape and maul my mother.”
His lovely eyes showed true sadness. “If she had listened to me, she would still live. I offered a safe home away from here for all of you. She knew when we met, I could not mate her. I never lied to her. We searched for wolf shifters who dare to enter my territory without permission and found her remains. You are fortunate we foundyou. I would have saved your mother if I could.”
Why did he have to sound so reasonable?
She needed to rail at someone and unleash the anger chewing up her insides.
But this man had Nico.
Elianna remained silent, especially since every breath hurt to draw. One of the broken ribs had to be piercing her lung. She would heal, but without shifting it would not be quickly and she was in no shape to hike up mountains to release her bear.
Me heal. Swim. Fish. Heal.
Her bear had no sense. Elianna silently replied,Not here. Be quiet or no run for you for long time. I try to save me, you, and Nico.
Surprisingly, her bear actually did as she asked, thankfully, since she had to keep her attention on the man she hated with every part of her being.
Elianna had no choice but to heal without shifting.
The one time she’d made the mistake of turning into her bear in front of other bear shifters had been enough humiliation to last a lifetime.
“You and I must make decisions,” Alexandre said, gripping his chin in a look of serious consideration. “You cannot live among my clan. You would suffer daily at their hands. My mate would eventually kill you.”
Judgmental glares bore down on her, reinforcing his words.
She had done nothing to these people.
She had stayed out of his way and watched her mother wither into an empty shell of a woman.
That pushed Elianna’s temper. In Russian, she asked, “Your pack would disobey orders?”
The men around him made a collective sound of anger on their leader’s behalf.
She’d insulted all of them.
Alexandre lifted a hand to quiet his men and silence fell immediately. He sighed and answered her in his nativelanguage. “I would never force my mate or clan to face my mistake daily and I would never ask them to accept an ursid hybrid as a member.”
That hurt, but not because she expected anything more from this man.
