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“Take that trash away from me,” he pointed at me, then at my parents.
My dad was furious, but Sander’s standing in the sleuth was much higher than his, so I understood he had to hold back his reaction. Mom stared at us, shocked. Yuliana ran up to me and hugged me. When she opened her mouth, I knew her well enough to realize she intended to call Sander angry names. I shook my head. “Don’t,” I whispered.
Yuliana gave me a concerned look but stopped herself.
“What’s going on here?” The voice of the Alpha resounded in the square, booming and commanding.
Sander stood proud when the Alpha approached us. A giant of a man, the leader had a long bushy beard, and equally bushy eyebrows.
“I refused to accept her as my mate,” Sander said, pointing to me. It didn’t seem like he felt any remorse for his actions.
I stared up at the Alpha, wiping away my tears. He had a harsh expression on his face.
“So you don’t want to mate with this half-breed?” The leader of our sleuth asked Sander to confirm his choice once and for all.
“I don’t,” Sander replied without hesitation.
Oh, Goddess of Nature, why oh why did you have to pair me with such a cruel guy out of all the people in the sleuth? I sent the words to our deity, but of course no reply came. Even if the Goddess of Nature thought that Sander would be a good partner for me, and I for him, the man in question had made another choice. And he’d already rejected me; such a severe gesture was final.
“Then there’s no place for the half-breed in our sleuth,” the Alpha’s words shook me to the core.
I opened my mouth to question how the leader could kick me out of the clan just like that? I had done nothing wrong. Just because Sander didn’t want me as his mate, I was supposed to leave my life here behind? I was to abandon my parents and my best friend and my job? And go where? There was nowhere in Venezuela that would accept a rogue – a bear shifter without a sleuth. A rogue was an outcast, shunned by everyone.
My father was quick to react. While I was lost in my thoughts, he voiced the question I couldn’t escape. “Why? On what basis are you throwing Daphne out?”
“I have overlooked the fact that you diluted Perez blood for too long. I accepted this creature that is neither fully a human nor a bear shifter into our sleuth, but if she has not proven worthy of her fated mate then there’s no place for her here,” the Alpha’s words were cold, and I felt the finality of them. I had never seen someone quarrel with him and come out of the argument victorious. The Alpha’s word was law.
And if he said there was no place for me in the clan, then I needed to leave. I would be someone with nowhere to go. Maybe that fate was to be expected though? I touched the scar on my cheek. Sander had rejected me because of my half-breed nature – something I had no way of influencing but he also didn’t want me because I was ugly; and all thanks to the scar I had gotten defending the clan from our enemies. Throughout the year I’d had the wound on my face, people had stared at me a lot, whispering amongst themselves. How could I have ever thought my fated mate would accept me in this state?
The Alpha gave me until the end of the day to leave. With nowhere else to go I made my way to Rio Caribe, a port town. Isla Paraiso was the only place I could think of that someone like me could call a home: someone who had nothing, someone who was utterly alone, without trust in others and without hope. This defeated creature was who I was now. I was no longer under the illusion that I deserved the care and acceptance of others.
The boat hit the pier, taking me out of my thoughts. I waited for the sailors to put down the gangway. I waved at the captain and made my way onto land. I had to wait a moment to get used to being on stable ground again but soon I put on my backpack with the small amount of belongings I had taken with me, and I walked away from the boat. I also hoped that these steps forward meant I was leaving my past behind completely. I was ready to start a new future here on Isla Paraiso, the island whose name meant paradise. I was still holding out hope that the island would turn out to be a good place for me.
The captain’s words were still in my head, warning me not to expect much from the island’s inhabitants. The port buildings stood empty, and the road I followed north was overgrown with vegetation. Hopefully, soon I would find the road that branched west to the Santuario sleuth. I could only hope they would accept me and wouldn’t throw me away like my previous clan had done. Perhaps I could at least trade with them and just live alone somewhere on the island in peace.
I had been walking for ten minutes when the bushes to my right rustled, and out into the middle of the road came seven men wearing black vests and khaki short pants. They were all bear shifters; the animal within me recognized them as others of my kind.
I stopped in my tracks, staring at them, but what I saw in their gazes made me shake in fear. Lust twisted their features; some even licked their lips.
Of course, I hadn’t thought about the possibility of this kind of physical danger. There must be some women on the island, but convicts had to be primarily male. The sight of a female such as myself must have been interesting to them, even if my face was ugly.
I took a step back, but the bushes behind me rustled as well and then two other men blocked my way back to the port.
“How interesting. What do we have here?” One of the men took a step towards me. He was handsome, if one was into men with mustaches, and he had to be one of the largest and most muscular shifters I had ever met in my life. On his biceps the number 17 had been tattooed. By the way he looked at me, like I was prey and he was the predator, I already wished I’d never met him at all.
“Leave me alone!” I spit out. I took off my backpack, putting it on the ground. I considered shifting and running away, but that escape plan would mean abandoning all of my belongings, but did I really have a choice? The men didn’t have pure intentions towards me.
Could I even outrun nine bear shifters? I was a spectacled bear, which were a species of mid-sized animals, smaller compared to the grizzly or Kodiaks of Northern America. Even for our kind, my own form was small and not very swift. I had never quite mastered moving around as an animal, so I was very clumsy. Now I wished I had practiced more.
Before I could make my decision, two men appeared on the road leading farther north. One of them was large and muscular with short-cropped hair and elaborate black tattoos on his right arm and chest. He wore no vest or t-shirt, so his magnificent six-pack was on full display. His face was hot too, as if sculpted from the hardest marble, befitting a Greek god.
The other man who walked right next to him wasn’t as tall or heavily built, but he moved with a lot of grace. He had a halo of curly dark brown hair on his head, and his sexy face was clean shaven. Even in this situation he wore a friendly smile. My bear recognized the men as bear shifters. She seemed to find them both interesting, and I chastised her – this was no time to ogle pretty guys.
“Victor, fancy seeing you here!” the smiling man exclaimed, giving the leader of the shifters who had ambushed me a wave.
“I can’t say I return the sentiment.” Victor and his people turned around to face the newcomers.
My gaze connected with the gaze of the curly-haired man. A shocked expression appeared on his face. Was I really so ugly that I scared people? I looked away, but my sight landed on the taller of the guys instead. He opened his lips in surprise.
