Page 60 of The Alpha's Mates

There it was. "You hate shifters."

Her eyes settled on mine, bright and piercing. "I do."

"Why?"

She gave me an indulgent smile. "My sister has been so proud of you all. Bestowing her gifts and watching what you do with them. Crowing about your abilities to shift, to work with one another to better each other's lives," she spat out in disgust.

"Wait... You hate us because we can shift?"

She didn't reply, but her lips tightened.

"No," I said, thoughtfully. "It's more than that." I searched her face. "You hate us because we were living in harmony. Harmony that you never brought to your humans."

"I don't care about you or what you do," she replied.

Realization struck and I gave a humorless laugh. "You hate us because we belong to your sister." Or maybe a little of all three. And if I worked for her, subjugated to the Sun Goddess, well that was even better than wiping us out. She could steal her sister's creation, and enslave us. Those of us who would willingly enter into a contract with her, anyway. Those who wouldn’t, like my mates, would be killed so as not to be in her way.

Her eyes flashed with anger again and I realized she couldn’t hold it back. She kept trying to show me any emotion but it, and yet ended right back on fury each time. She was filled to the brim with it.

"You belong to me!" She screamed the words at me, causing me to flinch backward. "Everything on this planet is mine! And you will all bow down to me! Whoever is left, anyway, once I'm done with you."

"So you're going to potentially destroy us because you're jealous of your sister." I was poking the bear. I knew it, but I needed to figure out what was going on here. She might inadvertently give me a clue about Lyas.

"I'm not jealous," she seethed. "I'm the oldest. I deserved the best."

Racking my brain, I tried to remember back to Mom's lessons. "Your father gave his three daughters a choice," I muttered out loud. "As the oldest...yougotfirst choice." She'd chosen humans. Looked like she wasn't so happy with her decision anymore.

"They're impossible," she said, seeming to calm down a little. "Always fighting one another." A wicked smile grew on her lips. "So, I put their talents to use."

The feud between shifters and humans was beginning to make more sense. I was beginning to understand. Watching Arune’s mood swings, the feuds between human clans, the dissent that had been rising on Elaria, it all started to come together. For a brief moment I had pity for the humans. Their deity was a gigantic cunt.

"Once I got my meddlesome sisters out of the way, I had no problem convincing your kind to treat each other like enemies. Turns out you’re not so superior to humans after all."

I glanced around again as she was gloating. It was hard not to ask how she’d managed to get her sisters ‘out of the way’, but I knew she wouldn’t answer. It was pointless to ask.Where are the guys?This wasn’t right, but I couldn't put my finger on why. "If I decide to work with you, how are you planning on convincing my mates?"

"They conform, or they die."

She really didn't understand how mates worked. Probably because humans didn't have that kind of a bond. She thought Iwould let her kill my males just to be spared by her? To gain immortality? She was delusional.

"You'll never win," I told her.

She laughed. "Oh, I've already won, Reese. You just don't know it yet."

"What about Lyas?"

"She's gone," Arune said with a flip of her hand. Her eyes were shrewd as she studied me. "Join me and I can give you everything you desire."

I could see the wheels turning in her head, trying to figure out what would entice me. Even as an alpha, I wasn't immune to the pull of a Goddess. She wanted me to listen to her, to obey her. But I knew better. She couldn't be trusted.

"I only want my mates," I told her honestly. "And for you to leave us alone."

Her eyes went cold and a chill zipped through my soul. She stepped in closer to me and I fought against the panic racing through me when I realized I couldn't move. She was a Goddess. A powerful one. And I'd just refused to be her ally.

"I'm going to make you regret that decision," she hissed at me. She reached out to me, slowly.

My eyes widened as I watched her finger turn into a talon. There wasn't anything I could do. As much as I was trying to struggle against the hold she had on me, I couldn't budge. Pain seared me as she drew her finger down my neck, slicing open my skin. It was a shallow cut. A warning, but a trickle of warm blood dripped down, soaking into my leather shirt.

I didn't say anything. Refused to let myself cry out with the pain. That was what she wanted.

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