Free Resisting The Alpha (Werebear Shifter Romance) (The Crane Curse) by Liliana Rhodes Page B

stop her from saying what she needed to say.
    As she entered the clearing, the sandy soil beneath her feet glittered softly from the moonlight. If she hadn't been so angry she would have stopped to admire it, but she didn't need the distraction.
    "Where are you?" she yelled. "How do I get you to show up?!"
    She focused her thoughts on the black haired woman who appeared before with the yellow housecoat. As her anger coursed through her veins she felt a sudden release as a word popped into her head.
    "Pea!" Faith called out with a voice she barely recognized as her own.
    A bolt of light shot up towards the sky, surrounding Faith but it didn't frighten her. She learned years ago there were more horrible things people could do to each other than the dead could. A blast of wind whipped past Faith, threatening to knock her over but she kept her ground.
    "Show yourself, woman!" she said through clenched teeth.
    Pea appeared before her. Her own emerald eyes glowing. Her short dark curls were wild and added to her crazed look.
    "How dare you summon me! Who do you think you are?" Pea spat at her.
    "Who do I think I am? How dare I? How dare you! You're lucky you're already dead old woman, because if you weren't right now I can't guarantee you wouldn't be alive much longer."
    Faith never felt such anger before. It rushed through her and made her feel invincible. Powerful. She wondered what she could do with her new strength, but then looking at the woman in front of her she remembered all she wanted was the truth.
    "Why did you do it? Why did you abandon me?" Faith asked.
    Pea's face softened but her eyes remained as cold as stones. "It was the Crane curse. I was only trying to protect you. When I had another daughter I thought that meant you were the thirteenth. And when I saw your eyes... I didn't think I had a choice. I couldn't let you be the key."
    "That's ridiculous," Faith said. "If I was the key whoever would've been looking would've known whether I was with you or not. You were saving yourself."
    Pea shrugged. "I was young. It made sense at the time."
    "Then why keep denying my adoption? Why not let me have some semblance of a normal life?"
    "Because I loved you. I couldn't give you up. I kept trying but whenever it was time to sign the papers. I...I just couldn't do it."
    "You loved me? If you loved me you would've let me go. You would've let any of those families who wanted me take me. You didn't do it out of love, you kept me alone and neglected because you were selfish."
    Pea's eyes glowed with anger but she didn't respond. Faith felt Pea's anger emanating from her like heat from a radiator, but she didn't care. She hoped Pea felt the same heat from her.
    "I spent my life waiting for you," Faith said. "For a sign, anything. I clung to this ridiculous pendant my entire life thinking maybe it was important enough to bring you back since I wasn't."
    Faith yanked the crane pendant from her neck, snapping the   silver necklace. As she held it in her hands it glowed softly from the moonlight before rising and appearing in Pea's hand.
    "My own mother gave this to me," Pea said then paused as sadness spread across her face. "She wasn't a very kind woman. She was cruel and...it's not important but I swore I would never be like her. And I wasn't, but in some ways I was worse.
    "You have an older sister. Her name is Eliza and the two of you should have been the world to me but you're right, I was selfish. I thought I was protecting the two of you but I only caused you harm. I only thought about how easy I was making things for myself.
    "When Eliza fell in love with a shifter I knew she would give birth to the thirteenth daughter from the curse. I still didn't try to find you. I wasn't even sure what the curse was, yet I wanted nothing to do with it. I kept Eliza from her love because I wanted so little to do with shifters and that damned curse, but I had no real reason why.
    "After Hannah was born, I gave her all the love and support