Three weeks later

"Well?"

Aimee looked up from the book she was reading while lying on her bed to see her mother standing in the open doorway. Her stomach tightened in response. She'd been dreading this visit all day and hoping her mother had forgotten about it.

She should have known better. Maman had a memory that was second only to Aimee's.

"I felt nothing, Maman. Sorry."

Maman made a sound of disgust deep in her throat as she came fully into the room and shut the door.

Aimee got up to make room on the bed so that her mother could sit down beside her and set her book on the nightstand, taking care to not lose her place. She'd met with the other bear clan this afternoon, as hopeful as ever.

And as all the times before . . .

Nothing.

"I tried, Maman. I swear I did, it's just . . ." She sighed wearily as she remembered the look of expectation on Randy's extremely handsome face. He'd wanted her to accept him as much as she'd wanted it, but it was followed by a look of extreme disappointment when she'd shaken her head at him. She'd felt nothing for the other bear.

Nothing at all.

"Maybe I felt the quickening and just didn't realize it."

Maman gave a low laugh. "No, ma petite. There is no mistaking the sensation. Every part of you is awake and alive. It burns like fire through your body. The urge to mate is so strong that there is little you can do to fight it. It becomes an all-consuming necessity."

Aimee looked away as a wave of terror consumed her. The only man she'd ever felt that way for . . .

Was a wolf.

"I shall tell their Regis that you're not interested. However, they may request a mating try."

Aimee cringed at the thought of bedding a guy she didn't really know and one she wasn't lusting after. "Randy was nice, but . . ."

"But what?"

I don't want to sleep with him. And there was more than just that. She also held a bitter secret that she dare not share with anyone.

Aimee bit her lip, afraid to tell her mother the truth.

I'm Arcadian. . . .

She tried her best to say those words out loud. She'd been trying to say them for years. Yet once again, she choked on them. Her mother would be crushed to learn the truth. Aimee had been born Katagaria just like her mother. But during puberty, she'd converted over to Arcadian like her father.

It was the most guarded secret she had. Absolutely no one knew the truth of her base form.

No one.

For that matter, no one outside of the immediate family knew Papa Bear Peltier was Arcadian. The scandal of that had scarred her mother, and yet Maman had mated with him so that she could have the cubs she'd always wanted. So that she would be able to continue the Peltier seat on the Omegrion-a seat that had been held since day one by her mother's line.

It was the animal in her mother that pushed her to mate and procreate.

But the proud human in her rebelled at the thought.

Her mother leaned forward. "You are about to be in season again. For decades you have spurned suitors. It's time-"

"Maman, please. I know my duties." And she did. The problem was bears were different from the other animals. Even when in season, the female picked out the male. If he didn't appeal to her, win her over as it were, there was no sex and therefore no chance of mating.

If they didn't mate, there could be no cubs.

Her mother's illustrious lineage would die out and another clan would take the Peltier place on the Omegrion-yet another reason her family was so incredibly protective of her. If Aimee could mate with a Katagari bear, then there was a chance she could have a Katagari daughter who could take her mother's place at the Omegrion when Maman grew too old for those duties. Then no one would have to know the truth about Aimee.

It was the only hope they had and the full weight of that responsibility was never far from her thoughts.

"I will keep trying."

Maman nodded. "There will be more Katagaria here tomorrow. This is a clan out of Canada. They have a dozen males for you to survey. I pray you find at least one of them worthy."

So did Aimee. "I'll do my best."

Maman nodded. "That's all I ask." Rising from the bed, she made her way to the door and left.

Aimee flipped the pages of her book as thoughts poured through her. What was she going to do?

It's not your fault. Her mother had mated to an Arcadian. No one could help that. Dev, Remi, Cody, and Kyle were all Arcadians and her mother knew about them and still loved them, regardless of their base form. Granted her mother was in denial over it, but they'd never hidden the fact from her.

Only from the rest of the world.

She's your mother. She'd never hurt you.

Not entirely true. Her mother was a bear with the full instincts of one. To protect their den, her mother would kill any of them who threatened their security and well-being. It was the nature of their species.

Aimee never let herself forget that. Her mother had more compassion than most, but when Maman hated someone, such as in the case of Wren, there was no reasoning with her. Once Nicolette's mind was made up, she could never be swayed.

And that was truly frightening.

"What am I going to do?"

You will mate with one of those bears tomorrow and pray to the gods that one of them causes you to get a mating mark.

It was her only hope.

Otherwise . . .

No, she couldn't even contemplate that. Her clan's survival was all that mattered. Above her happiness and most of all, above her life.

She would mate with a Katagari bear even if it killed her.