Damiano’s Bakery had always been a fond memory of his. The smell of freshly baked bread and the taste of homemade butter slathered on its side had been a delicious inducement to keep him attentive and quiet during the informal meetings that occurred in the front of the shop.

A look about the room gave him a new perspective. Gone were the days of sitting on the table, kicking his legs out over and over as he ate the sample of bread that Mr. Damiano never seemed to run out of.

As an adult. As the representative for the Orsino family, he had a new reason to be here, but remaining somewhat ignorant of the topics on the list for discussion. He was sure it was a way for Alfonse to hold onto the control of the meetings for as long as possible. Something he didn’t begrudge the man who had stepped in and up to care of their concerns while they’d been gone.

But even that patience was wearing thin. Standing along the wall, Uberto had left the chairs in the room for the other men to occupy. He wasn’t exactly sure how many men would be in attendance, and he would never have dreamed of occupying a chair that an elder should have for their own.

As the men entered, they walked into the room and crossed straight to Alfonse’s side.

Uberto didn’t perceive it as a slight. On the contrary, he considered it more than appropriate. Alfonse was the face that everyone saw on a regular basis. These men might not even recognize his face. The ten years that he’d been away had changed his features. Changed his attitude as well.

Something he was more than thankful for.

“Uberto?”

He felt the hesitant touch on his arm and looked up into the eyes of Ezio Bennetti. “It’s good to see you.”

Ezio nodded. “I feel much the same way.” He sighed, a soft sound that sounded almost like a memory. “I took one look at you standing here and I remembered your mother.”

The older man’s words confused him. “My mother?”

“Yes, your mother.”

Ezio’s eyes darted to a nearby chair and Uberto took the man’s elbow and walked him over and seated him against the wall.

“She was gone before you were old enough to remember much of her. Your father did his best to take care of you boys, but he had none of her sweet disposition to pass on.”

Uberto felt a strange tingling feeling behind his eyes. “My father’s disposition was anything but sweet.”

Ezio’s grin was bright and his eyes held a mischievous glint. “Truer words, son.”

The two shared a laugh before Ezio spoke again.

“Maybe that’s the way of things with a mate bond.”

The words caught Uberto’s interest. “How so?”

“Your father had power and a fire in his gut that served him well. A warrior through and through like his father before him.” Ezio’s sigh was a fond one. “But your mother was gentle and soft. She could tame your father even when he was in a rage. Her touch drew his human back to the surface, kept him whole.”

Uberto considered his words. “That sounds like Valerio.”

“That may be,” the older man explained, “but I see the three of you boys and think of how we see your parents in you.”

“As you said. I didn’t know my mother much. Maybe that’s why I can be such a boar. It’s in my nature and without my mother’s nurturing love, I have more of my father in me.”

And the thought didn’t sit well with in him.

Ezio folded his arms across his chest. “That’s not what I said, Uberto, but perhaps you’re not ready to hear it.”

Alfonse walked into the room and all of the conversations stopped. One could point to the fact that they were all of an age and from eras where civility and respect were expected.

Or there was the alternative that the men in the room knew exactly how strong Alfonse Bruno was, and didn’t want to test the man’s anger.

Who did?’

Ezio curled his fingers toward Uberto, drawing his attention and bringing him closer. “Who,” he wondered aloud, “is that?”

Uberto was glad that he hadn’t taken a seat in a chair. He felt his bear push hard as he picked up the first scent of the other man. Man and beast tracked the man with their eyes as he walked across the room and sat beside Alfonse’s chair.

The other men in the room didn’t seem as affected by the stranger’s presence and Uberto wondered if they had met the man before. Touching Ezio’s shoulder he leaned closer to ask the older man. “You haven’t seen him before?”

Narrowing his eyes across the room, Ezio gave the man a good look and shook his head. “Not that I can recall.”

Uberto nodded. “I’d like to speak with you later if-”

“Thank you all for coming,” Alfonse’s booming voice was made for such purposes. “As you can all see,” he gestured toward Uberto against the wall, “This year we have Uberto Orsino attending our gathering.”

The assembled group murmured the acknowledgement and some their greetings.

“We have a number of smaller issues to address, but I would like to broach the subject of the largest issue first and see how far we can proceed in solving the issue and then return to the smaller, less significant points.”

There were nods around the room and none of them could hear any signs of dissent, so the meeting continued.

Alfonse’s expression was nearly serene as he started the discussion. “Beside me is a visitor to our valley from Neive. Renaldo Gallino has heard of our predicament and has come to me with an offer.”

Uberto moved slightly and felt the rough surface of the wall scratch his back through the soft weave of his shirt. When this meeting was done, he had plans to speak to Salvatore. He didn’t like being in the dark and he doubted his brother would like it any more than he did.

“As many of you have expressed to me in the past, my daughter Emiliana is a rare treasure, not only in my family, but also here in the village of Santa Biago.”

His heart contracted at mention of his mate, but neither he, nor his bear, were happy with the current situation.

“Young women born into our families have not been gifted with the ability to take the same bear-form that we do. There were stories of generations in the long past where such power existed, but not in our recent memory. Emiliana is the only woman in our world with rare ability and she should be treated as the unique woman she is.”

Uberto could agree with everything Alfonse was saying, but his gut was telling him not to speak up too soon. The patience that he was showing wore on him.

“Renaldo has come to make an offer.”

Offer?

Uberto took a step away from the wall and felt Ezio’s smaller hand on his arm, but it didn’t restrain him in the least.

“He would like to take her as his mate.”

Uberto only knew one thing in that moment. Rage.

He was halfway across the room in a blur of motion before several of the elders took hold of his limbs and some used themselves as a shield.

It was not lost on him that many of these men seemed to be more interested in protecting the outsider in their midst, rather than avenge the insult to one of their own.

“Let me go!”

Alfonse pushed himself into the middle of the group and leaned down until they were eye to eye. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” He tugged on his arm and felt the seam of his shirt rend under the strain of his movement. He wanted blood. Whose didn’t seem to matter at the moment. And his bear, for once, wasn’t the one thirsting for the most blood. Uberto wanted to bathe in it. “Emiliana is my mate!”

He turned his glare to the man they called Renaldo and made sure he saw the rush of power flaring through his veins. The men holding him struggled to keep a hold on him as his limbs thickened.

Uberto felt the rush of blood through his veins, surging like crashing waves through his arteries and each breath felt like the hot rush of air from a bellows, fanning the flames. “Mine!”

The elders struggled to hold him, hands sliding from his arms and legs as he tried to literally climb over the barricade and tear the stranger to shreds.

“Leave!”

His ears were filled with the rush of blood, all but drowning out the sounds in the room, but he didn’t need ears to see the satisfied snarl on Alfonse’s face. “I intend to hear him out.”

“Your daughter has a mate!”

“A mate,” Alfonse shot right back, “that she refused. She sent you away, Uberto. Have you forgotten the last ten years?”

“You know what’s between us, Alfonse. Emiliana and I have spoken to you about this.”

“And that was fine when you were both young and immature, but Emiliana can no longer hide behind her youth. She must have a mate.”

“She has one,” he growled and forced his body under control. That he needed answers more than blood was proof that he was managing to keep hold on his temper. “She has me.”

“And yet, she refused you then. And the town saw your rather chilly reception by my daughter, Uberto. Bow out gracefully and save your family the embarrassment.”

Shrugging off the meaty hand of one of the many men in the room, Uberto managed to extricate the rest of his limbs from the men he had once respected. “This circus is your doing, Alfonse.”

Uberto felt the anger rolling through his veins, the burning air in his lungs threatening to boil his body from the inside out.

Someone set a restraining hand on his shoulder and Uberto stepped away, turning to meet Renaldo’s curious gaze. The other man was enjoying the show, at least that’s what his dark gaze revealed.

“I’ve heard of you, Orsetto.”

Little Bear.

And within him, Uberto’s bear wanted to go paw to paw with Renaldo. He would show the other man the punishment for poaching in Santa Biago.

“You abandoned your home and your mate. Why should anyone care what you claim to be yours.”

“She is mine.” He turned back to the assembled group. “How many of you knew this was going to happen?”

The room stilled and remained as such until the only noise that Uberto could heard beyond the roar of blood pulsing in his ears was the hum of the nearly antique soda machine in the corner.

Uberto felt his claws push free of his fingertips, and fur pushed out of his skin as his shoulders broadened and his muscles thickened.

He saw fear in a few eyes and smelled the rancid scent from others.

“Who knew?”

Three men who stood with Alfonse, but half a step behind him, raised their hands.

The one with the most silver in his hair seemed determined to speak. “We’ve had ample time to speak of it, Uberto. Ten years have been lost while you’ve gallivanted across the ocean. Do you realize what a precious gift she is?”

He growled. “This ‘gift’ you speak of,” he struggled not to bellow the words at them, “is a person. A woman who won’t appreciate being treated as chattel.”

“We have no choice, Uberto.” Alfonse stood with his arms folded over his chest. “We’ve had fewer and fewer shifters born into our valley through the generations. There was a time a little more than a hundred years ago when the bears outnumbered the humans in this corner of the world.

“Those that mated with humans, lowered the numbers significantly.”

Uberto understood the basics of the genetics involved, but what mattered now was the insane suggestion that his mate take another man in his place. “She wears my mark.” He turned to Renaldo. “How can you ignore that?’

He shrugged. “The same way your ‘mate’ has been able to turn her back on your mating.”

Renaldo’s eyes swept the crowed and Uberto did as well. If anyone had told him a few hours earlier that his entire future was going to be called into question, he would have laughed at the insanity.

And yet, after he’d heard what Emiliana’s father had planned for her, he felt as though his world had turned him upside down and hung him high enough that he’d never get down without cracking open his skull.

Straightening himself to his full height, aided by the thick press and stretch of his ursine muscles, Uberto glared at the assembly. “This will not be decided today! I will speak with my brother tonight and I’m sure Salvatore will have something to say about your ridiculous idea.”

Alfonse seemed unconcerned with the idea.

“And there is one other person that should have been told of your plans ahead of time.”

Alfonse made a vague gesture toward Renaldo. “Their brother Valerio would likely see the importance of this idea. He is the one of those that act as a healer amongst our people. I doubt he’d let his brothers rush of emotion affect him beyond reason.”

“My brothers love their mates like the air in their lungs. If you believe for an instant that they would be in favor of my own mate taken away, you truly have lost sight of the world around you.

“But I was referring to your daughter, Alfonse. You haven’t told her of your plan, have you?”

He shook his head. “I’m the one who has seen her waste away waiting for you to take her in hand.”

Uberto felt his stomach twist into a knot at the other man’s words. “I can see why she feels the way she does. How can you say you love her and treasure her and then discount her own feeling and the soul within her body?

“I will speak to Emiliana tonight, Alfonse. I suggest-”

“You?” he scoffed. “You want to suggest what?” The older man glared at him. “And what makes you think I would care about your plan. It will never happen.” Uberto walked toward the front door of the bakery. “But I suggest you take tonight to think about what you will tell your daughter when you reveal that she’s little more to you than a bargaining chip.”