Gray Back Alpha Bear(24)

The fur retracted from her fingers as Creed shrank into his human skin. It was strange touching him when he Changed. A rush of power blasted through her where her fingertips connected with him, and when he was done, a shiver traveled up her spine until her shoulders shook with it. Her bones felt like they were vibrating, so she shook out her hands, then reached for him again.

Creed didn’t say a word, only hugged her waist and buried his face against her shoulder. His body was rigid against hers, and gooseflesh covered his skin, but he didn’t move to leave and find clothes. In her arms, he seemed content to just be.

“My mom was human, and my dad didn’t tell her what he was. She found out the first time I Changed that shifters existed, but she didn’t know what I was. Not really. She thought I was a demon.”

A helpless gasp left her lips, and she hugged him tighter.

“She tried to exercise me in her basement and make me normal. Make me into the human boy she’d wanted to give birth to. She wasn’t right in the head, and I had to hide my Changes. Sneak out, or it would upset her. She got crazier until one night on my seventh birthday, she said she’d tried long enough. And then she drowned me in the bathtub.”

Tears streamed down Gia’s cheeks as she shook her head, unable to fathom what he’d been through. Her parents had been distant, sure, but they would’ve never done anything like that. No one in their right mind would.

“I fought hard, but it was one of those deep, claw-foot tubs where the edges are hard to grip when they’re wet. The water was filled to the top and she was determined, and I couldn’t Change. I tried to call my bear to defend myself, but he was too scared inside of me, all curled up and unreachable. I wanted to live so badly, but my lungs were filling with water, and I could see her above the surface. Her eyes were vacant as she watched me die.”

“How did you get away?”

“I didn’t. Everything went dark, and I woke up later draped over the tub. I guess she left me there, and something in me pushed to crawl out of the water to air. She’d turned off all the lights and was sleeping in her bed like nothing had happened. I guess she planned to take care of my body in the morning. Or maybe she was just going to leave me there. I don’t know.”

Gia stroked Creed’s hair over and over to calm herself as much as to comfort him. She wanted to flinch away from the pain in his voice, but he needed to tell someone, and she was glad he’d chosen her.

“I called the police, and they took my mom away. As far as I know, she’s still in a ward, raving about ridding the world of her demon son. I visited her once after I’d aged out of foster care. I didn’t have any money, any resources. I was sleeping on the streets and begging money for food. I just wanted her to see that she hadn’t ended me. That I was still alive. She said I wasn’t her son. That her son was dead in the bathtub at 303 Janey Brook Road. She told me to go look in that bathtub, and I’d see the demon she’d left in there. Damon Daye found me the next week. I didn’t know who he was, but he took me to dinner at some fancy restaurant near an alley I’d been crashing in. He fed me and told me he’d just learned about my mom, and he knew who my father was. He wouldn’t tell me, but he knew. He paid for me to stay in a motel that night, and the next morning, he enrolled me in community college, even paid for my dorm room. He must’ve pulled some mighty big strings because I’d struggled with moving from foster home to foster home, and my high school grades were shit. But he told me that I had to prove my mother wrong. I had to make something of myself, and then someday, he would take me back to her and show her what a good man I’d become. He told me, ‘Good men make sacrifices for others,’ and he believed I would be great someday.” Creed’s voice cracked, so he cleared his throat before he continued. “So I worked hard, made the grades, and I graduated with an associate’s degree in Forestry. The second I was done, I came to Saratoga because Damon felt like the closest I would ever get to family. That’s where I met Matt, and I didn’t mind taking on the problem bears or how hard they make my life because, ‘Good men make sacrifices for others.’ No one ever believed in me until Damon, and every one of my crew has dealt with the same shit. All I needed was the faith of one person to turn my life around. I want to be that one person for them.” Creed eased away and kissed her forehead. “All the good intentions in the world, but I still can’t get in the damned water, though.”

“Who needs water, anyway,” she murmured. “I don’t care if you can’t get in.”