Capítulo 2 Meditating alongside a Bear

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒄𝒌

Benjamin thought with concern about his mood swings; his Luna would bring peace and serenity to the wolf, love to his life. That's why, if he assumed that she was really the cause of his agitation and turned out not to be, he risked the little self-control he could barely maintain.

As the Alpha, he worked hard for his pack, had agreements with packs and clans across the country, some with alphas in Russia and Spain. These agreements ensured that peace between species and cooperation among clans were guaranteed.

Unlike other Alphas, he had no qualms about maintaining cordial relationships with mortals. He actually had some human friends, like Ryder, for example. His neighbor cooperated with him, keeping an eye out in case it was needed. Benjamin provided him with protection, not that Ryder knew-of course not-but few humans pleased him as much as Ryder did, and that made him a possible target for his enemies.

That's why his wolves' patrols extended to his neighbor's lands. Normally, on Saturdays, he would go to Ryder's house; his friend was a good poker player, and with him, Benjamin wasn't a leader, he wasn't in charge of any pack, he was just a silly wolf who seemed to enjoy losing his money.

However, on that Saturday, he wasn't on his way to drink good beer and have a good time; he was about to receive another good friend, so good that it was worth sacrificing his Saturday games.

Kieran Mathews was the Alpha-a shapeshifter of bears-leader of the Three Peaks Clan. A clan that Benjamin liked because they welcomed all kinds of shapeshifters, even accepting mixtures between species. It was a policy he would like to start, but in his pack, there were very old wolves who clung to tradition, and mixing shapeshifters was, according to their standards, a total aberration.

They were among those who considered wolves at the top of the shifter hierarchy, believing they were kings while others were mere commoners. An example of this, according to traditional thinkers, was that bears remained wild; their beasts were not one with them. But sometimes, Benjamin would like to know what Kieran felt about having another mind in his, sharing decisions. It didn't displease him, nor did it make them seem wild or inferior, but rather stronger than them, the wolves.

Kieran and he had met three years before because one of Benjamin's wolves had arrived wounded at the Three Peaks Clan. Jako had been sent as a goodwill ambassador to the first annual shapeshifter meeting hosted by the Three Peaks Clan. Just before he arrived, he was attacked and seriously injured.

Benjamin traveled there and sympathized with Kieran. After that, they occasionally chatted, and Kieran had already visited them twice.

The new visit- the one that would cost him his poker day- was taking place to sign a treaty between clans and packs. This alliance would completely change the fate of those unmated wolves. Once the treaty was ready and signed by the leaders of each clan in the world, wolves and shifters could roam the lands of other immortals to find their mates.

The hosts committed to welcoming the visitor, providing them with food and whatever they needed. If their mate was there, they would undoubtedly welcome them, granting them the same benefits as their original members.

"Welcome, Kieran. You've made a long journey," Benjamin said as they embraced.

"Benjamin," Kieran replied as they hugged, "it's always a pleasure to come for a visit. It has been long, but it distracts me to get out. I still have problems with Nessa. I feel she's mine, but Hunter, my bear, doesn't."

"The last time we spoke, you sounded interested, but that's it."

"She's been with us for over two years now. I don't know much about her past. But I love her, damn it!"

"I'm sorry; I can't even imagine what you must be feeling. Isn't there a way to confirm if she's yours?"

"In our case, as you know, we share our minds with our bears, and the recognition between mates must be mutual. Even though I feel Nessa is mine, Hunter, my bear, doesn't."

"It's strange; I can't make sense of why only you feel her as yours."

"Tell me about it. The feeling of having my soul complete is amazing, but I can't have her. I even thought about bonding with her without considering what Hunter thinks, but he will kill her. If I bond with her, he will kill her."

"Why?"

"Hunter wants his true mate, and I understand that. It would be like him imposing one of his mates on me; I would reject her for trying to find mine."

"I'm sorry," Benjamin said.

"Seeing her with an idiot is killing me, so I decided to go on a trip. Since I can't be present at the summit, and although I'll send Adam, one of my wolves, I prefer to read the agreement and sign it in person."

"Alright, let's take a tour of the town. It serves as a distraction for me and my damn wolf, who seems more restless than usual."

"You speak of him as if he's independent."

"I didn't mention it before because I haven't fully accepted it myself; only my enforcer knows."

"You honor me by trusting me."

"I trust you, Kieran. I've tried to hold him back, but I feel like he's about to take control."

"My bear could talk to him, to his spirit."

"Could he? Maybe he can help me understand."

Benjamin asked his pack members to take care of his house and not allow anyone in. Knowing they were secure, he sat down with Kieran to meditate. Hunter, Kieran's bear, found himself in a dark, misty area that felt icy; if he weren't so furry, he would have been in trouble.

𝐴 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝐾𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛'𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡

𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛'𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑑.

𝑀𝑦 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟; ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝑀𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒; 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝐼 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙.

𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢...? 𝑁𝑜, 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡?

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜. 𝐼𝑓 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑓.

𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘.

𝐸𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦.

𝐷𝑎𝑚𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠. 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒; ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑. 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛.

𝑆𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚?

𝑊𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝐾𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒; 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑝ℎ𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡.

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑢𝑡?

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒.

Benjamin felt the change; his wolf was at rest, so he opened his eyes, but Kieran was still in a trance, and he knew it; the bear was still in control.

"Hunter?"

"Alpha, you have quite a talkative wolf."

Hunter told Benjamin everything, who listened in amazement.

"So, I just need to let him out."

"Correct, Alpha. Let me tell you, no matter how strong I am, Kieran doesn't lose his essence. Sometimes we are in more control, but we know that humans are the ones in charge."

"But if you don't dominate Kieran, why does he fear that you'll kill Nessa? I'm sorry for asking something so private, but for me, there's a lot at stake."

"You have the right to ask because my actions contradict my words. I won't kill Nessa, never. Because I know what she means to Kieran."

"Why don't you accept her?"

"Wolves and vampires don't mate with just any human; there must be a connection. That means if their mates are human, somewhere in their family tree, there's an immortal, even if they themselves are just human."

"For us to be mates, our partner must have some immortality in their family; I know that."

"Well, we bears need the other nature of the human to be awake. To put it simply, it doesn't matter if our mates are just humans, but at least one of their parents must be a bear, and Nessa isn't like that. If Kieran mates with her, he will eventually see her die, and I don't want that."

"You're doing it to protect him."

"Yes, and he doesn't understand. I understand that he feels she's his and she may be, but she doesn't have what's needed."

"It's a lot to take in; let Kieran come back."

"I will."

"Thank you for your help."

"It's been a pleasure, and by the way, your wolf is truly powerful."