"Abe took her and my mom to a clinic nearby. Her injuries, while painful, weren't as life-threatening as they appeared. She only had to stay overnight."

"What about Abe and your mother?" Ja'lyn queried, giving Abe a death stare.

"Abe did stay with my mom and explained what shifters were, but he did not reveal the truth about their being fated mates. He allowed her to fall asleep in his arms but left without a word before she awoke. He only left behind a note which read, Leave and never look back.

"Grams was released the next day, and they left the area, but neither of them ever stopped looking back. She a.s.sumed the shifter who'd come to their aid would inform you of the message they'd tried to deliver so you could remain safe. She always kept an eye on things to ensure Robert's threat was never carried out. She and my mother changed their surname and hid in plain sight, starting a new life. No one had liked Robert, so the investigation into his death was never given very much attention. They all had known what kind of man he'd been. I like to think they all knew Grams had killed him but chose to let her go. It makes me feel better to believe that."

"And Mel, she healed?" Graham asked, still inspecting the ground.

"Yes and no. Her heart never mended. Her body did heal, but was left severely scarred; she always wears long sleeves."

Graham's voice carried a mixture of sadness and anger when he asked, "Abe, why didn't you tell me?"

"What was I supposed to say? What could you have done? You couldn't be with Mel-"

"I could've punished the ones who attacked her!"

"No you couldn't have, and I couldn't tell you!"

"Why?"

"Because of the ident.i.ty of her attackers, you a.s.s!"

"Who within my clan would do such a thing? She was only asking questions! I want to know the names of all the parties involved, now!"

Abe crossed his arms over his chest defiantly and kept his mouth shut.

"Andy," Sam said from behind me.

"Yes?"

"What name was carved into your grandmother's back?"

"You already know."

"How?"

"My mom, grams, and I eventually turned it into something to celebrate how strong we are."

"What kind of a thing?"

I peered at Sam over my shoulder and said, "My toast."

His eyes grew wide, and profanities sounded around the room. Graham put his head into his hands, and Abe fell into the seat beside him. The expressions in the room were a combination of shock, anger, and hurt. Only Ja'lyn and Walt looked confused. Neither of them had been present for my toast, and so they had no idea for the reason behind everyone's reactions.

"What was the toast?" Walt asked.

No one else spoke, so I enlightened him. "To Fate being a mated b.i.t.c.h."

He and Ja'lyn both screamed, "Mother!"

Graham stomped over to where Abe sat. "You should've told me."

Abe stood so fast his chair went flying behind him. "I couldn't, and you know why."

"You were my beta it was your du-"

"My duty was to protect my Alpha and his mate!" Abe a.s.serted.

"Mel is my mate!" Graham insisted.

"My sister was your mate, you a.s.shole! She was the most evil, nasty b.i.t.c.h there ever was, but she was still my sister-"

"Your sister?!" Well, that was a twist to the story I hadn't seen coming.

"Not by blood. Her parents took me in when I was still a toddler, and we were raised together." Abe offered me an expression full of sympathy, "Sorry, Andy. But Fate, not your grams, was the Alpha's mate. The one I was sworn to protect with my life if the need had arisen."

"You should've told me!" Graham shoved his finger into Abe's face, and he swatted it away.

"If I'd told you what had happened, what would you have done?"

"Killed her." Graham's eyes grew wider after he stated this; I didn't think he'd meant to say the words out loud.

"Exactly. I saved you, Fate, and the rest of the clan. I had to protect us." Abe spoke with finality.

But his words made my blood boil. I screamed, "And who is supposed to protect us from you?"

Both Abe and Graham had the decency to look guilty as h.e.l.l but didn't say anything further.

After a moment, Ja'lyn sniffled and said to me, "Oh my G.o.d, I'm so sorry." When I looked at her again, she had tears running down her face.

It was my turn to comfort her, so I wrapped her up in my arms. "It wasn't your fault."

"But still..." Ja'lyn choked back a sob.

"Not your fault, Ja'lyn. Not even your dad or Abe's fault. I know throwing that knife at your dad's head may have given ya'll a different idea." Ja'lyn laughed lightly, as did half the company in the bar. "I'm not going to lie and say I'm okay with all of it, but you have rules. You must live by those rules, or your whole way of life will combust-at least that's how it was explained to me. I don't have to like it, though."

"What do you mean by how it was explained to you?" Walt asked.

I shrugged, "I eventually learned the truth, thanks to the tequila. But even when I was growing up, my bedtime stories were all about people who turned into animals. I was told they were special, an endangered species which needed to be protected, regardless of the consequences to humans." I shifted my stare, catching the eyes of both Graham and Abe, who cringed as my gaze fell upon them. "They used shifter stories like fables to teach me lessons or answer my questions about my absent father, the poor conditions of our lives, why they both had to work two jobs or the reasons they often cried at night. I just can't believe I didn't put two and two together when I first came here; I feel like an idiot. I should have jumped to the natural conclusion you were all shapeshifters. I mean, I've been creating creatures such as yourselves as characters for my books for years. Half the ones I've written stand here in this room with me.Why didn't I see it?" I laughed and shook my head at my stupidity. "I should have caught on when ya'll started with the staring matches. Who else would do that?"

"Staring matches?" Ja'lyn asked.

"Yeah, well, they tried. Felt your Dad's influence a little and your brother's a lot more, but the rest of the guys..."

"Why were you challenging the dominance of a human? What the f.u.c.k?" Walt blurted out.

Ouch, that stung. Did he believe humans to be so inferior, he considered us unworthy of a dominance check? Or maybe it was just me. I didn't have time to think about it too long because Graham offered up an answer.

"A stranger walked into our bar, which is supposed to be cloaked with magic so that no outsider can find it. It was necessary for me to check because I held the most power to establish-"

"Dominance. But why the rest of you?" I asked, as my eyes wandered around the room and settled on Gunnar who was first in line after Graham. "Graham won; the contest was over."

"I did it by accident; you have beautiful blue eyes." Gunnar blushed.

Awww, he's adorable.

Shi continued. "Only the Lupinskis hold enough power to establish dominance over an interspecies clan. My pride's Alpha only holds enough power to govern our pride alone. And humans, no offense, have no magic or power. You shouldn't be able to establish dominance over usany of us."

"We were curious and, quite frankly, knew there was something special about you," Gavin added.

"Thanks, guys. That's so sweet, but it doesn't make it feel like any less of a curse."

"A curse?" Shi looked like he'd taken my words personally, so I went to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Not the part where I fell for all of you. This was still the most fun I've had in years, at least until the last hour or so."

I felt Walt before he even touched me. When he was close enough to whisper in my ear, he stroked my arm in a fluid movement and said, "Does this feel like a curse to you?"

I shivered under his fingers, and it took a moment before I was able to rein in my emotions and step away. "Now that I know what it all means, I do. I'm just thankful the curse will end here."

"What do you mean?" Walt asked.

"Your family will not get a fourth generation to f.u.c.k with." His expression told me he had no idea what I was talking about. He couldn't be that stupid; he had to see what was going on here. Didn't he? "My future children are safe because I won't be having any now." d.a.m.n, it hurt to say out loud. But it was the truth. "This family is done f.u.c.king with mine. My mom and Grams have never been able to love another man-" Graham and Abe's smug grins caught my eye, and that p.i.s.sed me right off. "Don't look so f.u.c.king smug. You and your clan laws left two amazing women broken, hollow, and lonely for forty-four and twenty-six years." And I'm destined for the same. G.o.d, that sucks.

"I don't understand," Walt replied.

"I never planned on being celibate, but the way Grams and Mom explained it, that'll end up happening eventually, anyway. Which means I won't have any daughters for your sons to f.u.c.k with. This ends here."

"What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?" The volume of his voice climbed slightly.

He looked like he was going to say, What the f.u.c.k,' again, so I put up my hand up to stop him. "They say if something happens twice it's a coincidence, three times a pattern. Since ya'll have access to magic, I'm going to call what happened to my family a curse, because that's what it feels like. What are the odds, right? Grams and your Dad, Mom and Abe, me and you... If the pattern repeats itself again, either your kid or one of your sibling's kids will be the fated mate of my child, ending in the same heartbreaking result."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Andy." He reached for me, and I stepped away.

"How can it not? The Good of the Clan. Shifters aren't allowed to mate with humans. One shifter's happiness does not outweigh the good of the clan."

"But-"

"Plus, you're a Lupinski and the Alpha, right?" I raised an eyebrow, and he nodded once. "You don't get to choose your mate. I bet there's a lineup of shifter women waiting for the opportunity to be selected as your mate." I waited, but he didn't say anything. "I thought so." I crossed my arms over my chest to close myself off from him before a new thought came to me. "G.o.d, you're an a.s.shole." He looked a bit taken aback. "Upstairs? You knew what was going on. You knew what I was to you. You also knew you'd throw me away once you were done with me for the good of the f.u.c.king clan. You're such an a.s.shole!"

"Andy-"

"No, I don't want to hear whatever lame excuse you have."

"It's not an-"

"I don't care!" I was so angry; tears sprang to my eyes. Ja'lyn reached for me, but I shrugged her off. "Please, I just can't." I walked to the bar and placed both hands on it and hung my head. After a moment, I felt Walt standing behind me. "Walt, don't."

"I would never throw you away."

I swatted at an errant tear. "Please... What were you planning on doing? Stepping down as Alpha and running away with me?"

"No."

"There you have it."

"You don't understand... Can we please go upstairs and talk in private?"

"I don't think we've left anything unsaid."

"There's plenty I need to say but would prefer to do so in private."

"I don't want to hear anything you want to say."

"I think you do."

"I think I don't."

He stopped speaking, so I a.s.sumed he'd given up, but then he grabbed me, picked up and threw my body over his shoulder.

I screamed and pummeled him with my hands and fists. "Put me down; you bigfoot motherf.u.c.ker!"

"I need to speak; you need to listen, and we are going upstairs to do just that."

"No! I don't want to talk to you-"

A loud crash sounded from the front door, and Walt turned toward it, so I couldn't see what had caused it. I heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being loaded and then, "Put her down, now!"

I'd have recognized that voice anywhere."Grams?"

FOURTEEN ~ Walt.

Grams? The face behind the gun came into focus. There were two women, both bearing similar features to Andy's. One was holding a shotgun, the other a handgun. The look in both sets of eyes told me they wouldn't hesitate to kill me.

"She said to put her down now." The woman with the handgun quipped.

I nodded slowly and bent enough so Andy could slip off. She didn't run to their sides, though; she remained next to me. That gave me a glimmer of hope.

"What the h.e.l.l are you guys doing here? And put down the guns. He'd never hurt me...physically," Andy said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

There was movement on either side of the women, and they both turned to point their weapons at the approaching men.

"Mel?" I'd never heard my father take such a tone in my life. He sounded as though he were about to cry.