Burden Read Free Page A

would record a saying and then at the press of a button, repeat it. I’d seen one of the cubs playing with one, ‘Yes, Alpha. Yes, Alpha. Yes, Alpha.”
    “Make yourself scarce then.”
    I skipped the niceties and bolted. Entering the woods, I shed the backpack and the clothes, bundling them up and stuffing them into the worn bag. A smile broke out over my face as I felt the first of the change, my shift bringing me down on all fours, rounded black ears taking over my human ones, short claws replacing my fingernails, a warm blanket of fur sprouting from my pores.
    My vision phased and my hearing peaked. My bear saw things so differently than I did. I was reactive while she was proactive. She saw the most minor of movements and color.
    Grabbing the bag in my mouth, I sprinted for the boundary on one side of a trickling stream. The perfect watering hole and sleepy lullaby mixed in one shot. I shifted back into my human form and put my clothes back on, which didn’t do much in the freezing weather. I played for a while in my temporary freedom, splashing and tiptoeing through the cold spring water until my stomach growling and muscles churning reminded me of my real mission.
    I sat on the edge of the water and partook of my meal. It lasted less than ten minutes as hungry as I was and after quenching my thirst with the clean spri ng water, I laid back, my bag as my pillow, under the warm sun and gentle wind and took the best nap of my life.

 
     
     

     
     
     
    About a mile before the entrance to the Grizzly clan lands, I slowed down the truck to a crawl. It was cramped again in the truck, and River and Flint groaned when I lessened to a turtle pace. It wasn’t very nice to pull into another Alpha’s lands at full throttle, petal to the metal.
    “You’re killin’ me , Alpha. We won’t be there until tomorrow. And I’m about to kill the other Beta in this cab.”
    “We have to be respectful. We don’t want him to get defensive. We are coming in here to potentially steal one of his clan members. Have some tact.”
    “I have no tact,” Flint moaned.
    “That’s what B says,” River joshed him.
    “At least I have a mate. You can’t even find one. No one wants to put up with your shit.”
    I recoiled mentally, that one stung, and it wasn’t even targeted at me.
    “Sorry, Alpha.”
    “It’s fine. That’s my problem. Can’t find a female who wants to step into the tornado with me.”
    “ Not to add to the stress, but B says there are some clan members not making their kids go to school every day. Principal Landry told B yesterday that you’d be getting a letter about the seriousness of truancy and the possibility of fines for parents of truant children.”
    I punched the steering wheel in anger, “I don’t get it. Does everything have to be an exact, specific, order from my mouth in order for them to do something? Do I need to visit every parent and command them to make their cubs go to school before they’ll be obedient? I swear, if I don’t spoon feed them, some things they just don’t get. They need an Alpha female. But I’ll be damned if I can find one. I shouldn’t have to micro-manage everyone.”
    “Chloe is certainly willing,” River snickered beside me.
    I rolled my eyes at his jeering, “She practically humps me if no one’s around. It’s ridiculous. Maybe I can command her to get over herself. She knows how it goes. We are not mates and I’m not interested in anything with a female who isn’t my mate.”
    “Well, I heard she’s been sniffing around the LaFourche Clan, so maybe you’re okay.”
    They laughed at the humping comment for a while until we approached the gates—iron gates, at least seven feet tall with a grizzly bear design in the rods.
    “Straighten up, Betas.”
    I stuck my head out of the window and greete d one of the guards at the gate. He was stoic and suspicious, but after I stated my name, he let me in immediately with a much friendlier attitude and bared his