Bear Moon

How it starts..

Mato's POV

Once Kayla and I knew that we were mates, I did the only thing I knew to do. Let her parents know. I knew they had been planning her marriage since she was born but I didn't know it was not to be to her mate. Being her mate I realized that when I realized Kayla was mine. I knew she was to be packed off to another pack. The Russian one that my father Mortou had secured an alliance with. Why they wanted Kayla to go that far away was beyond me.

Knowing she was mine, I wasn't going to let her go anywhere. The goddess had given me a second chance mate I would be damned if I was gonna let her go that easy. I needed a plan. After having told Kayla's parents and my Beta things got wild.

"You cannot have my daughter! I have plans in place for her to marry!" Snarled Kayla's Dad. Wesley was my Beta and Kayla's dad.

"We have already arranged her marriage to an outside werebear line so that maybe one day her cubs will not have the curse." Huffed Kerry Kayla's mom. I knew they did not like being in the cursed line. Both of them had out crossings to the wolf, bear, and ancient shifter blood. The bear portion came from my father. Through my now-dead brother Barrington before he had gotten with his also dead mate Liza.

"I am not going to Russia when my mate is right here!" Shouted Kayla adding a stomp of her foot too. She turned to walk over and stand next to me.

I watched her parents carefully. I could see they weren't happy with this at all. It had ruined their plans. I knew they had spent years getting this plan together. I had heard about it when she was 15. I assumed they knew the man she intended to marry was her mate. Three years later, I realized they were wrong.

"Then we will remove ourselves from the lack and take her with us!" Her dad Wesley, never known for his great thinking announced loudly.

"You could do that, but seeing as how she is 18 she doesn't have to go." I shrugged wrapping a protective arm around her waist.

"Yes, she does!" Wesley's eyes were getting wild. You could see his bear surfacing.

"I am 18, I have the choice to stay," Kayla said with a steady stern voice. I could almost hear a command in it.

"Kayla, honey you need to come with us. You are safest with us." I heard her mother Kerry say in her cute sweet little voice she used for children.

"No mom, I am safest under Mato and Cacodemon's protection." Kayla's voice is nice and firm. I was super proud of her.

"Ha! as if that demon would come just to save you." Snorted Wesley in disbelief.

"I was told there was yelling." Grunted a voice I had thought left to the werewolf, King and Queen. I turned to see Hawk standing just in front of Athens who was grinning from ear to ear.

Wesley and Kerry's eyes nearly popped out of their heads in surprise. I could see that they were not expecting him to be around still. "There has to be more than just because of the yelling?" Kerry seemed to be the first to recover.

"Nope, it was the yelling." Giggled Athens who found a seat on the couch near the back wall.

Wesley and Kerry both glanced at each other. "I knew you guys were arranging something for Kayla. I had seen it develop." Shrugged Hawk as he stepped forward. "I figured you two would need a calm down." There was a slight smirk on his face as he stood just in front of Kayla. "So, I will hang around a bit." I knew that what he was doing was nothing more than trying to create peace. I nodded slightly in thanks for that.

"Why would you even want to deal with this tiny matter?" Kerry Kayla's mom asked a little upset.

"Why not?" Hawk shrugged. "Mato should have had a second chance mate ages ago. The fact you are trying to take his now actually upsets me." Hawk's eyes flashed their red ring to show his beast wanted to surface.

"Not everything is about the mate bond." Wesley rolled his eyes. "Kerry is not my mate. We rejected our mates because our parents wanted the alliance our marriage afforded." He added as if the idea of the mate bond was nothing at all.

"You would willingly break a sacred soul contract for an alliance of families?" It was my shocking words that flowed out of my mouth.

"Of course we did." Now Kerry rolled her eyes at us.

"Why?" I was in utter shock.

"Because mate bonds can damage you. You should know this better than I." Kerry spoke as if I was a child. "With agreements if your partner does you are not broken and can find a new alliance to better yourself." There was an air of superiority about her movements and words.

"I would rather go through that hurt and know I loved deeply. That experience is one I will always cherish." I rocked back on my heels. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about my beta couple. It shook me to the core.

"What amazes me is people like this. Willing to give up a mate bond." It was Athens who spoke behind us all. "I have watched my mate die by the hands of someone else. I know others who have been punished that way. You chose this is one thing. But pushing it on your children. A whole new wrong has occurred." Athens closed his eyes tightly. I guessed he was pushing back emotions best left unsaid. "Know you try to stop this without Kayla or Mato's approval it won't be Cacodemon who hunts you only. It will be me as well." There was a growl in his voice that ever rarely happened.

I was overwhelmed by the show of support from people I was still getting to know. Not to mention surprised but the people I thought I knew. What a crazy world we lived in.