Resisting The Alpha (Werebear Shifter Romance) (The Crane Curse) by Liliana Rhodes Read Free Book Online Page A

wolf. My entire family were Alphas. Its hereditary you know, not much different than those bright green eyes of yours."
    "Who..." Faith couldn't utter the words.
    "Killed me? Well some asshole, obviously," Miranda said. "Trust me, I've been angry about it for thirty years. He took me from my life, my baby."
    "You had a baby?"
    "Yes, a son. He was everything to me. I never had a reason to live before him. That night I had just put him to bed. He was only five years old then, so young...things like that simply shouldn't happen," she said then was silent. "A group of four men came with torches. I heard them coming and grabbed my boy. It was just me and him and I needed him to be safe. I carried my half asleep son into the woods, into an area I knew was thickly overgrown and begged him to stay there. Then I came back here.
    "They had set the house on fire," she said as her face filled with horror. "They were looking for us, calling for my son. They called us devils and said the fire would purify us and rid us of our evil. I killed three of them, before I sensed my son coming closer..."
    As her words faded Miranda began running like when Faith first saw her the night before. She turned back and Faith finally saw the expression on her face was a mixture of love and worry. Then as she turned to continue forward something stopped her. Miranda turned towards Faith and dark red blood spread across her white nightgown. As Miranda collapsed to the ground Faith ran to her and fell onto her knees beside her, sobbing.
    "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," Miranda said sitting up, suddenly healed.
    Faith wiped her tears with the tips of her fingers and shook her head. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. I just...I'm so sorry. You said I can help you. Just tell me what it is and I'll do it."
    "That man never got my son, but he did take from me the one thing I had from his father. My husband was in the military and had recently been deployed. I'm sure they knew that when they attacked. Before burying me the man removed my wedding ring and slipped it into his pocket, but he never made it home."
    "What happened?"
    "When an Alpha dies and a child is left behind another Alpha must protect that child. My son's godfather was Alpha of the next territory, Connor Overstreet. He felt my death and arrived as quickly as he could. My spirit watched as Connor destroyed that man, ripping him apart as if he was nothing. The ring fell to the ground but Connor didn't know about it. He found my son and took him away before he could see what happened."
    "Did your son stay with Connor? Wait, is he...?"
    She laughed. "No, he's not Caleb. Caleb was born later. Unfortunately state law and shifter law don't coincide and back then no one really cared about shifter law anyway. My son was taken from the Overstreet family and placed into an orphanage until his father returned from duty. I watched him grow. I saw the incredible man he became and then when he was ready he chose to follow in his father's footsteps and enlist. My son had fallen in love by then with a beautiful girl and I hoped to see them marry. I wanted to give him my ring to give to her. But then she stepped in," Miranda said bitterly.
    "She? Who? What happened?"
    "The same woman who deserted you at birth," Miranda sneered. "She was just like those men, she hated shifters and didn't want her daughter to be with one. She broke them apart and did everything she could to keep it that way."
    "My mother? You know my mother?"
    "She couldn't keep them apart forever though. True love has a way of finding each other again plus they were fated to be together, you know. But for so long he was lost. Lost without his other half, his mate. You've met him. You knew him as a child and were one of the few who accepted him despite his being a shifter. You later kept him safe when Abel imprisoned him with the other wolves."
    Faith recalled the handsome wolf shifter she moved into one of the cells that housed the