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“Harold,” lanced at e”

“Sorry, dear”

“I have pepper spray and ave me for my fifteenth birthday I’ll be fine Proht lanced atout in pride

“Daht I did”

My ainst all for a bear shifter for a fatherin the woods and how to take care of myself

“Are you taking any of your friends, honey?” Myher dinner, but her focus was on me

I shook my head “No This trip is just for me With work and finals, I’ to have my car packed for the week and just head out” I could see the pride in my father’s face, but also the worry

He ht me how to survive, but that didn’t ers

He was nervous, probably more so than my mother He knew all about how bear shifters could be Because he’d been an outcast for falling in love with a huly side of his kind

But no matter what, he still didn’t try to hide who and what he was Who and what a part of me was

It enty , and as I helped my mom clean up, my dad called me into the other roo by his desk Being a high school English teacherlesson plans The end of the school day wasn’t the end of the day for him

So when he opened up his drawer and pulled out a gun case—the gun case—I felt my eyes widen a little

He unzipped the case and opened the top, turning it around so I could see his pistol I knew it had been in his fa that had been passed down to the iven it to him before he was shunned from his clan

I looked between the gun and hiain “Dad, what is this?” Of course I knehat it was I just wasn’t sure why he was showing it to me

“I want you to have this”