Burden by Lila Felix Page A

do to his s on. “is why we are necessary. We were told to stop taking records. But history has told us when we are commanded to stop keeping the histories is the exact time we should double our efforts.”
    “You will help me.”
    “Us,” my mate reminded me from across the kitchen.
    “Of course. I will be over first thing in the morning with the written words. We were denied technology but we are sneaky. We have ways to get computers. They may be older, but they work.”
    I nodded at him and took my place next to my female who had dinner ready.
    She made us sit down and served us regardless of my defiance. Rev ate like a maniac. And after almost every morsel was eaten, he sat back and began to tell us the depths of the deceit he’d only scratched the surface of.
    “That money is going to a bogus company. The addresses and accounts are dead ends, all tunneling into a single account. They all go back to a pseudo name. I’ve never heard of any bear with such a simple name. But I will check the records when I get home. But they were stupid. They left a trail a mile wide, and spotlighted. As we speak, that money is being filtered out of their account slowly, back into the clan’s account. I’ve already recovered fifty grand and there’s plenty more.”
    “How much did they take and over how long?”
    He scrubbed the top of his close shaven head, “Over a million dollars in the span of twenty three years. The way I set it up, in a few hours, we will have all of our money back. And then I will close all trails. By the time they find out we’ve stolen our money back, it will be too late.”
    I leaned down, shoving my eye sockets into the heels of my palms. “He should’ve paid attention. How could he let this happen?”
    “ There are many things you should know about your father. I must be going home. These things weigh heavy on my soul. I will be back in the morning. Anyway, our Coeur looks like she needs time with you. Goodnight.” He got up abruptly and then spoke over his shoulder before leaving, “I will help you in whatever I can to make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes of your father. But it will not always be easy to listen to me—and it most certainly will not be without grief. I will, however, always tell you the truth.”
    And then he was gone.
    I didn’t know what to think, my mind was muddied with things I’d never wanted to face. I sat at the table for an hour while Echo cleaned around me. I felt weak. I felt useless. I felt like quitting.
    I looked back on my childhood and for the first time, realized it for what it truly was. It was a saga of preparing me for nothing. He hadn’t prepared me for anything but some cushy life, telling others what to do and how to do it. He never trained me to be an Alpha—he simply trained me to be the ignorant son of a pompous and faulted father. I’d have to learn the hard way.
    “Come on, Hawke,” she pulled me up and led me upstairs and repeated my efforts from nights before. I was in shock, the hole my father had left me to crawl out of had finally caved in on me.
    “Undress, I’m gonna run the water. You have to relax.”
    You hurt—she hurts —my bear called to me, knotted in a nest of worry. But I did her bidding, undressing down to my boxers, sitting on a chair next to the tub.
    “He’s right. I never saw my father show my mother affection. Not even a handshake. I swore that if I ever found a mate, I would treat her as she should be treated.”
    “And you do,” she knelt before me and rested her head on my knees. “I think that’s why I’m here. All of this stuff would’ve come to light anyway and you needed me to be here to go through it with you. It’s nice to be needed.”
    “I do. I need you so badly,” But I was no longer talking about her role as the Alpha female. I spoke to her now as a male speaks to his mate.
    She looked up at me and then surprised me, “Tomorrow, mate. Tomorrow. That way we will be as strong as we can. I