Their Polar Bear Dilemma

2 - The Truth Comes Out

Candace

    I was laying across the couch with my head resting on my mum’s lap, shedding tears of sadness.  The other cubs at school had been teasing me for a few days straight, because I had no father.  They would ask the most horrible questions, implying my mum was a slut or a homewrecker.

    Everybody in the pack knew my mum showed up with no mate and a cub in her belly.  The story my mum told us was that my father was killed by rogues, while protecting his pregnant mate.  I grew up thinking my father died to keep us alive, and I loved hearing my mum tell me stories about him.

    “Why did he have to die?  It’s not fair!  All the other cubs have a mum, a dad, and lots of siblings.  All I have is a mum and nobody else,” I cried, resenting the world for taking him away.

    My mum was tenderly running her fingers through my curly, blonde hair, then she stopped and anxiously mumbled, “My darling girl, there is something I need to tell you.”

    I could tell by the tone of her voice, she was getting ready to drop a bombshell on me, so I sat up and insisted, “What is it, mum?  Please, just tell me.”

    Her baby blue eyes started glistening with tears, then she grabbed my hands and blurted out, “You father is alive!  It was all a lie.”

    “What?  This whole time?  It’s all been a lie?” I whispered in disbelief with wide eyes.

    “I’m so sorry, Candace.  I wanted to tell you many times, but I was scared you would hate me.  I’ve already lost everybody else.  I can’t lose you, too,” she whined, giving me puppy dog eyes, but I wasn’t having it.

    After jerking my hands away from her, I narrowed my eyes into slits and hissed, “How could you?”

    Before my mum had a chance to say another word, I jumped to my feet and ran out of the tiny cabin.  I had never felt so betrayed, and it was hard not to grab my own mum by her throat and squeeze the life out of her for lying to me my entire life about something so damn important.

    As soon as my feet hit the ground, I sprinted toward the nearest patch of forest.  It was also the side of the mountain that got the most sunlight, making the forest lusher and allowing me to hide from sight.

    I could hear my mum calling my name, but I wasn’t about to respond to her.  Instead, I climbed up a tree and sat on a sturdy limb, shaking with rage.

    When she stopped shouting my name and returned to the cabin, I jumped down from the tree limb and headed down the mountain.  Eventually, I got to the area where the terrain got too rough to continue in my human form, so I shifted into my polar bear.

    Hours passed by with me idly wandering around with no specific destination.  It allowed me time to think, and that led to many questions whirling in my head.  When the questions got to be entirely way too overwhelming, I made my way home, so I could demand answers.

    I found my mum sitting on the porch steps, crying into her palms, making me feel for just a second.  Then I remembered why she was crying, and the anger immediately returned.

    After stalking across the yard, I shifted back into my human form and stepped around my mum while grumbling, “You have some explaining to do!”

    Again, I didn’t give her time to respond before I entered the cabin and rushed to my bedroom.  After throwing on a large t-shirt, I returned to the living room and demanded to know everything.

    “Honey, your father is not a good man.  He used me for his own pleasure, then he kicked me to the curb for his disgusting, werecat mate.  I was only trying to spare you the nasty details of my past,” she dejectedly mumbled.

    “Who is he?  I have a right to know my father’s name,” I questioned while glaring at my mum with contempt.

    “Once I tell you, it will change everything.  Are you sure that’s what you want?” she questioned in return.

    “Dammit, mum!  If you weren’t going to tell me who he is, why did you say anything about it in the first place,” I ranted in frustration.

    “Fine!  You are the first-born daughter to the one and only Silas Davelle,” my mum rushed to say, making me gasp in surprise.

    Once I got over the initial shock of what she said, I warily asked, “Silas Davelle, as in King Silas?”

    “Yes,” she whispered with her eyes cast down at the floor.

    “How could you let me go more than sixteen years, not knowing my father is alive and the King of Werebears?  I can’t believe you kept this from me for so long!  My life could have been so much better!  I could have been living in a castle, getting doted on all the time!  I will never forgive you for this,” I snarled, feeling even more enraged.

    “Please, Candace!  I’m so very sorry!  I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want you to know that your father didn’t want us.  You were so young and innocent, I couldn’t put that on you,” she attempted to reason with me, but I couldn’t feel anything but anger and resentment.

    “I’m going to stay with Noah for a few days.  Don’t come looking for me.  I seriously don’t want to see your face for a while,” I growled before rushing back outside and heading to my boyfriend’s cottage.”

    We had been dating for almost a year, but we were keeping it light up to that point.  We were both only sixteen, so we had no way of knowing if we were mates or not, and Noah was adamant about not mating with anybody until he found his fated mate.  I could only wait and hope he turned out to be my fated mate.