Bear Protector - Bella Love-Wins Page 0,14

so we can shirk our responsibilities. All we want is for each man to be given the choice to step up…or not. My mother still lives in a nearby village, as do many of my soldiers’ families. It is no different from the way you must also put every effort into honing your craft to protect your family as well.”

Kiera looked away. She turned ghostly pale. “I …I have no family. I lost my parents during the Big Storm. My mother passed first, when the destroyers attacked. My father…he was one of the Chancellor’s personal guards. He was also killed that winter.”

Dammit, he did not mean to be so insensitive as to assume she still had kin. “I am very sorry for your loss. How old were you?”

“Eleven.”

“I apologize for assuming…I must be going.”

“It is fine. I appreciate your compassion, Commander Oslo.”

“You can call me Xander,” he said, still not moving from his spot.

“I will try.”

“We can continue our conversation tomorrow.”

She nodded. “Well, good day…Xander.”

He waited for her to leave through the front entrance. As far as Xander was concerned, this first meeting could not have gone any better than it did.

It was roughly a two-mile ride back to the camp. Usually, the first storm of the season would take place around this time, just before noon. Today, most of the villagers were outside doing last-minute fortifications to their homes, barns, and other buildings. He sensed the glances that the ordinary humans threw his way. Condescending sideways glimpses, the sort someone might give to a flea-ridden stray dog crossing their path.

Humans who did not suffer the loss of a shifter or witch in the family had a tendency to be the most scornful. The way they looked down on him and his men would be laughable if it were not so disheartening. Even with the threat of the destroyers returning within weeks, this group had no respect for the lifesaving contributions he and his troops had made to the region. To them, they were serving a purpose, no different from trained guard dogs.

Their lives were so different now, compared to all the years of his childhood. Back then, every person was equal, including the small percentage of them who bore the features that seemed to predispose them to have the 236-k gene. Villagers would say they all had the same ancestry. That assertion made sense, given that the region was more of an island after the first destroyers appeared on Azmark hundreds of years ago. Xander’s mother would tell him he had his father’s physical frame, height, black hair, and bright blue eyes. He had no pictures of the man, and no memories either. His father had passed away when he was very young.

According to what he had learned in school, sixteen powerful witches had come together to stop humanity’s complete annihilation. Human weapons and technologies were of no use, and in fact, did more to submerge the land under water than kill off the monsters. The sixteen witches were somewhat successful in casting spells to ward off the destroyers, but not before the majority of the population perished. This group of witches turned out to be the heroes of their day, and the surviving citizens all sought their leadership. That was the time that the world’s districts were born. Each one was comprised of several tiny land masses, called regions, with each witch becoming a Chancellor of their respective area.

Even when the Chancellors ruled all those centuries ago, all men, women, witches and familiars were equal. The historical accounts told that the Chancellors communicated for as long as they could, but satellites and land-based infrastructure eventually broke down to the point where each region was on its own, isolated islands onto themselves. Beyond the land masses were expanded oceans, which the destroyers ruled due to their expert swimming capabilities. Shipping, fishing and any water-based activity ceased abruptly as a result.

Their lives here had been different, right up to the winter that Minassus had transformed him and the first wave of men with the 236-k gene. He and the first set of turned shifters had a month as heroes while Minassus was in a coma. At the time, their actions were seen as noble and brave. Unfortunately Minassus recovered, and soon after, citizens learned the full cost of what it meant to carry the gene. All men in the central village were ordered to report to the Great Hall to be tested. Those in surrounding areas had similar experiences. Minassus