“Your truth lies in the path that needs to be taken. How bad do you want answers, Bellamy?” Tiny looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
Answers to my life? I wasn’t passing that up, so even if Kenzo wasn’t going to go to whatever pack they were talking about, I was. I had so many questions that I needed answers to. I wasn’t missing a chance to find out my truths.
I looked Kenzo square in the eyes. “I’m going with or without you, Kenzo, so either you come support me as your mate or stay here by yourself.”
“Bellamy, stop trying me. I’m not in the mood.”
“I’m not trying. I’m doing,” I said as we had a silent stare off.
I wasn’t going to back down from Kenzo. If I had to fall down this entire mountain to get to the bottom, I was. Nothing was going to stop me from finding out about my past, not even my grumpy mate.
Chapter Eleven
KENZO ATALLAH
I wantedto choke the shit outta of Bellamy. She thought she was running shit, but she wasn’t doing anything but setting herself up to get fucked. Literally. We didn’t want to not go to the Kismet Packlands for no reason. Over the last year, we’d gotten close with the Taylor brothers. After becoming closer to Cree, my bear was fondest of his wolf. Visiting them was never an issue. The problem was us not completing our mating bond with Bellamy. Marking her was enough to keep my bear at bay, but having our mate around a bunch of horny, unmated Wolf shifters would have us on edge. Bellamy was too beautiful to go unnoticed. Her face alone was enough to steal every shifter's attention. However, add in her sharp hips, meaty ass and melon shaped breasts, and Bellamy was a walking death trap for any unmated shifters who tried to go after her. If you knew anything about Wolf shifters, you knew they would surely try her, which was why we didn’t want to go to the Kismet pack until we were able to fully be mated. We respected Cree and his brothers too much to disrespect them by killing one of their pack members. With Bellum, we’d already lost control and killed one of our own because he thought he could get away with fucking our mate while knowing she was our mate.
Apparently, we weren’t going to have a choice but to deal with this shit, though. Currently, we were carrying Bellamy on our back as we made our way down the mountain toward the valley where the Kismet packlands started. Bellamy was clumsy as shit, and every few steps down this steep walk, she was falling over her own two feet. She really had a big disconnect with her animal because there was no way in shifterdom she could be so clumsy. After her second fall, we couldn’t watch our mate keep falling on her ass. We picked her up and threw her on our backs. At first, she wanted to whine and complain, but eventually, she figured out we weren’t stuttin’ her.
“Kenzo?” Bellamy called out to us.
“Yes.”
“Who were those men back there?”
We let out an annoyed sigh as we thought about the council members who were at our cave earlier. None of them posed any real threat to us. Not to be cocky, but none of the council members could handle us in any shape or form. They were a bunch of bitches who gaslit each other into believing they were actually tough. The four of them were the types of shifters that had no business being leaders. They were privileged shifters who used the respect everyone had for their lineage as a false bravado. None of them had shit going for themselves, and if it wasn’t for Fate, no female shifter would’ve wanted to fuck with them.
Our disdain for the new council had been long standing, even before I first met Bellum. My bear could always tell how weak they really were. Mateo Monroe was the leader of their little pack. He was the second biggest Bear shifter on the council. His family was the Monroe aka Polar Bear shifters. Darius Moreno was the one I choked. He got on my nerves more than any of them. He tried to be tougher than what he really was, and his brown bear wasn’t even that big. If you asked me, his youngerbrother Kai should have gotten the seat on the council. Naheem Maruska was a flunky, doing whatever the others told him to. His family members were the leaders of the Panda Bear shifters. Last and literally least was Hendrix Gonzalez, coming from the Sun Bear lineage. Sometimes, I forgot he was there. He barely talked or said much, just sitting and looking with his beady eyes.
For the most part, they only used their status as leaders to fuck other female shifters, despite all of them being mated. Hearing them try to speak on our mate when none of them respected their own mates, coupled with their actions over the years, there was no room for us to ever respect any of them. They were a bunch of hypocrites with inflated fucking egos.
However, we chose to bite our tongue to keep the peace. Honestly, as long they didn’t disturb us or fuck with the daily lives of the village, we didn’t give a fuck what they did. It wasn’t until they tried sent one of their bitch-ass flunkies—the bear shifter we killed—to intentionally fuck with Bellum that our dislike turned into hate for all of them. The respect I once showed them, went out the window. All four of them could kiss our ass after we took a shit.
What I disliked the most about the weak four was the fact that I knew it was my destiny to be the leader of the Bear shifters. My grandfather told me for years before he passed that it was going to be my job to take back the gift my family had given the other Bear shifters. I didn’t want that. My bear did, though. Watching over a bunch of shifters felt like babysitting. It was starting to look like we weren’t going to have much of a choice, especially if the weak four tried any more funny shit. Killing them would be our pleasure, and we wouldn’t have had any choice but to be the leader of the Bear shifters.
Under normal conditions, the job of a council leader was passed down to the oldest son in each generation in each of the families. However, a Bear shifter from a different familycould challenge a council leader for their spot. If the said challenger won, their family would replace whatever family the losing council leader came from. Challenges could be issued between council leaders as well. It wasn’t as common as outside challenges, but it was possible. The winning council leader would then rule over the losing council leader’s section of bears in addition to their own.
“My other fellow leaders of the Bear shifters.”
“I thought shifters had Alphas or something like that?” Bellamy asked curiously while laying her head down on my back.
“Most do. My family was supposed to be the Alpha family, but my great-great-grandfather wanted to be fair and share the power with other families. He hoped it would keep things balanced and keep us from becoming too powerful.”
“So, you're a leader?”
“I am.”
“Your bear is big as hell,” Bellamy said absentmindedly, sounding amazed.
“My family is special. Fate gave us more than others.”
“Because your family members are the true leaders of the bear shifters?”
“Correct.”
“That’s cool, I guess.”
“It’s really not. I don’t care to be anyone’s leader. I just want to live a quiet life with my mate and our cubs.”
