CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

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• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  I wake up with a start. For a minute, I forget where I am, and then I hear the chain jingling against my collar.Right. I’m in the cellar of the Rogers Lake pack ranch. They jumped on me when I was on my way back to Caleb, locked a silver collar on me, and took me here. Caleb. That’s why I awoke. The amulet around my chest is glowing and pulsing. I wrap my hand around it, trying to understand what that means.With the collar on, my powers are nearly impossible to access, but if I can just break through the magical barrier it’s created, I will be free. I close my fist tightly against the amulet, doing my best to access its magic. I put my other hand on the claiming mark, feeling it throb in my flesh.I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Even though I can’t shift into my wolf form, I can still access her, somewhere deep within me. She’s there. I know she is. I remember how I felt, racing through the forest. My strength. My passion. The image of my snow white fur i

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  For some reason, the pack house is empty. All the lights are off. I have no idea what’s going on. Malcolm told me about his plan, but maybe something went wrong. Maybe the Rogers Lake pack already killed everyone here, or maybe they’ve all gone to the ranch.I’ve never seen a pack house this empty. Even Arnold is gone. I prowl around quietly, my ears on alert for any sound or motion. I don’t turn the lights on, preferring to let my wolfish senses carry me.I smell Malcolm - he was here recently. So was Miranda. But they’re not here right now. Arnold is gone, as is everyone else. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of a struggle, though, so it seems like everyone left willingly.Where could they have gone? I have to find them. I’m their Luna, and it’s my job to look after them. But first, I need to find Caleb. I need to be with him again. I need to tell him that I never meant to leave him. That I’ve always been fighting to get back to him.I lift my nose and take a deep breath

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  I don’t know how long I stay there, curled up against Caleb’s lifeless body. I cry until there are no more tears, and then I just stare into the dark of the empty pack house.My body feels limp, like a wrung out dish towel. My mind is racing with thoughts, but none of them seem to really go anywhere. Just days ago, I was the Luna of the pack, preparing to mate with my beloved, then proudly wearing his claiming mark.Now, I’m not the Luna anymore. I don’t know what will happen to me, or my position within the pack, now that I don’t have Caleb around to protect me.My hands close around the amulet. It was warm before, alerting me of Caleb’s death, but now it’s just cold, hard stone. I can still feel the magic spell deep within it, but it seems to have gone quiet.Some time passes, and then I hear the door pushing open. It’s Malcolm and Miranda and most of the rest of the Flagstaff pack. They switch on the lights, gasping when they see me and Caleb in the lounge chair

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  Malcolm declares himself the new Alpha, which makes Miranda the new Luna. She stands by his side, one arm around his waist, and even though we just finished the funeral ceremony for our last Alpha, she can’t hide her grin.I look over at Arnold, hoping that maybe he knows of some rule or ritual that can help me, but even though he looks rather annoyed at having Malcolm as his Alpha, he just gives me an apologetic shrug. There’s nothing he can do. “Now,” Malcolm says, pointing at me, “I think there was the issue of what to do with this Omega traitor.”“I’m not a traitor,” I say through gritted teeth. “Caleb and I were betrayed. You worked with the Rogers Lake pack to set us up.”“Now, we all know that can’t be true,” Malcolm says with a roll of his eyes. “For one thing, you and Caleb have that magic amulet, so you can’t be betrayed.”“It doesn’t work that way,” I try to explain, but Miranda interrupts me.“Plus,” she says, “we all just spent the whole day hanging out

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  My jaw drops. I can’t believe what I’ve just heard. Malcolm, mere minutes after declaring himself the pack’s new Alpha, has proposed that I become his Luna.I have no idea how to respond, but fortunately, Miranda takes that issue off my plate by flying into a shrieking rage. “What!? Malcolm!” Miranda rushes to his side, looking like she wants to slap and kiss him simultaneously.“Calm down,” Malcolm says, putting his hands on Miranda’s shoulders to soothe her. “You’re still my mate. One and only. Forever.”“I know,” Miranda coos. She kisses him, sloppily, and I feel almost sick at the show they’re putting on. “But it is possible for an Alpha to take multiple Lunas,” Malcolm continues. “I found it in one of Caleb and Arnold’s old books.”“Is that true?” I ask, turning to Arnold.He nods. “It’s unusual, since most werewolves, once mated, feel a strong bond to their individual partner. However, in some circumstances, an Alpha may have multiple Lunas.”“Yeah,” Mal

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Malcolm looks shocked, like he never expected me to choose death over a life spent in his thrall. Then, once the surprise fades from his face, a vicious sort of excitement takes over. Beside him, Miranda looks like she’s starving, and the only thing she wants to eat is me.“Well,” Malcolm says, narrowing his eyes at me, “you heard her. Flagstaff pack, as your Alpha, I give you both permission and command - KILL HER.”After that, everything starts moving incredibly fast. I feel the world around me go blurry as the pack moves in, all lunging at me together.For a moment, I feel sure that I’m about to die. The Flagstaff pack is full of tough, strong wolves, and they have killed much bigger prey than me. These are experienced hunters who know how to take down an elk together. The difference is, though, that I’m not prey.I’m a wolf.In an instant, I shift, feeling the same crackling magic ripple through my body as it did the first time. I land on all four feet in the

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Night falls, and I’m still somewhere in the forest, looking for a place to settle down.I can see the lights of the city twinkling below, and I make my way closer, wondering if my parents are still at the little apartment where we started out living in Flagstaff.But as I approach the door, lurking in the shadows, the reek of death hits my nose. A streak of blood, visible through a window, leaves me certain.My parents are dead.I had suspected as much, back in the pack house when I chose death over staying with Malcolm and Miranda. Usually, a wolf’s pack bond with their family members would be enough to override their willingness to die. But I was so sure that I had nothing left to live for, and I realize now that if my parents had been alive, I would have wanted to survive if only to avoid putting them through the devastation of losing their only child.I prowl around the edges of the apartment, not wanting to go in. I can smell Malcolm and Miranda here, and I know the

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER THIRTY

  I dream.In the dream, I’m sitting beside Caleb on the porch of the cabin. He looks older, a few more lines around his eyes, some lighter hairs peppered through his dark curls, but he looks happy.I hear laughter. In front of us, running around on the grass, are two cubs. Our cubs. A boy and a girl, currently chasing each other back and forth across the stream, splashing as they jump.“I always wanted to bring my own cubs here,” Caleb says, reaching over to take my hand. “They’re adorable,” I say, stroking his hand with one finger. I’m wearing a ring, I notice. One with blue gems in it.“I’m so glad Arnold figured out how to split the amulet,” Caleb says, noticing me admiring the ring. “Now everyone in our family is protected.”I see two dark stones, each hanging around the necks of my children. No one can ever betray them. They are the future of this pack, intelligent and kind, born to be leaders. Neither of them will grow up like I did, ridiculed and ostracized.

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• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED

  Damian is a healthy baby, well loved, and by the time he’s a few months old, it’s obvious that Jasper and I don’t need to stick around in Serpent’s Creek. The mansion is nearly full to bursting with wolf and bear shifters excited to be part of this new family and to dote on the precious baby whose existence symbolizes a fresh start for everyone.Jasper mentions going home to Santa Cruz a few times before I’m happy about it, though. I tell him that Orsina could still use my help, or that there’s still some magic I want to learn from Clara. He sees right through my excuses, though. “Are you nervous and going back to live somewhere with those guys in the basement?” Jasper asks me one evening, sliding his hands around my waist to nibble at my earlobes as he asks. “Maybe,” I say. “Now that he’s not a rabbit anymore, and he’s seen me and spoken to me, and he’s already gotten out once -”“He didn’t get out,” Jasper reminds me. “We let him think he escaped.”“I know, but he th

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE

  My eyes fall shut easily, after such a long day. But I don’t sleep very deeply. Instead, I get caught up in a long, complex dream.In the dream, I’m back in the celestial realm, standing in the same dungeon cage that Coello used to keep me in. Sterling is there, too, walking up to me with those piercing gray eyes and that familiar smile. “Hello,” he says. He leans in to kiss me, and I think that the bars will prevent him from being able to, but he just passes right through. I feel his hands on my face, his lips on mine, and he kisses me for a long time.When I open my eyes after the kiss, I’m no longer in the cage. Now, Sterling and I are standing on top of the massive tower where we found him, high up above the rest of the celestial realm. But when I look out, I don’t see the rolling, starlit darkness of the celestial realm. I see the golden yellow plains of Montana, the valley that stretches out around Serpent’s Creek.“Where are we?” I ask, feeling strangely dizzy.

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT

  Clara and Zach arrive soon enough, and we all go careening up the mountain. With Clara behind the wheel, we get back to the house in record time. Orsina is sweating now, her breaths coming heavy and hard, and Zach has to help her out of the truck and into her room.“Can you shift?” Clara asks her, gently lowering the laboring mother down into her bed. “It’s so much easier if you shift.”“I think so,” Orsina says. She squeezes her eyes shut, holding her breath. It takes a few tries, but soon she’s a bear, curled up on top of the quilts in her bedroom.“Perfect, perfect,” Clara coos. “There you go, mama bear.”“Could that cause a problem for the baby?” Zach asks, hovering in the doorway. Clara asked him to bring towels, and he’s already brought twice as many as we’ll need, but he has yet another armful. I don’t even know where he’s getting them from, at this point. Even a mansion like this can only hold so many towels.“What do you mean?” Clara asks, her voice calm and unf

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN

  When we call home to let Regan and Isaac know what’s going on, they’re thrilled to hear that Barrett is okay and that Zach and Orsina have a safe place to land. They tell us that Howling Wolf is doing amazingly well - after so many volunteers and friends came to help us with the battle, we’ve gotten tons more clients in the shifter world, and we’ve been able to hire a handful of new employees.Since they seem to have things well in hand, Jasper and I decide to stay in Montana. We set up in one of the westward facing bedrooms, next door to Zach and Orsina. Clara and Bennett take an upstairs bedroom, smaller but cozier and with more privacy. With Weston defeated and his supporters scattered after our Santa Cruz victory, the rest of the bear clan needs a leader and a place to stay. Through a peaceful process, Clara and Barrett become the Alpha and Luna for the bear clan. Bear clans don’t typically refer to their Alpha’s mates as a “Luna,” but Clara is a wolf, and the title just see

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX

  “Barrett!” Orsina rushes to his side, laying a hand over his forehead. He lifts his head weakly at her voice, then his eyes spark with recognition.“Orsina…” he croaks, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Help…”Everything then happens in a flurry of activity. Clara sends everyone but Orsina out of the room, giving each of us specific directions. Jasper is sent to get a bowl of hot water and towels, I’m supposed to find a medicine kit under the sink in the kitchen, and Zach is told to go secure the perimeter of the house, especially the rear door.I return with the medicine chest in my arms. It smells familiar, full of the healing herbs and magical potions Layla often uses. It’s also got modern medical stuff like clean white bandages and stitching kits.Clara instantly sets about getting Barrett to sit up. She holds a glass of water to his lips, encouraging him to drink and take a handful of pills and capsules she’s picked out of the medicine chest. She works on Barrett fo

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE

  We barely have time to process everything Clara has told us before she’s packing us a picnic dinner and ushering us out the door. We pile into her battered, ancient Jeep, which is almost definitely running more on shifter magic than gasoline at this point, and she heads out toward the mountains. “So, uh,” Orsina asks, after a bit of silence, “does that mean this is, like…you?” She rolls up her sleeve to show the tattoo mark of the wolf that appeared on her arm after the spirits from the carving gave their blessing.“It is perhaps an image of me,” Clara says in her cryptic way as she careens up the switchbacking roads. “Or, perhaps it is another manifestation of my spirit. There have been many over the years.”“What about your beloved?” Orsina asks. “The bear shifter you fell in love with. Where is he?”“That is a lovely question,” Clara says softly. “At times, we have found each other. At other times, our spirits have been far from one another. Since the curse took a deep

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR

  It takes Malcolm and Coello a little while to accept the reality of their new situation - that Malcolm is irreversibly bound to Coello, and that Coello is bound to us by virtue of some very powerful magic Layla cooked up for us. They snarl and fight, argue and wheedle, and even try to bust out of their chains by brute force. But nothing works. We’ve won. Malcolm and Weston are both banished to cells in the basement, very far apart to prevent them trying to scheme together. Maybe someday we’ll have another use for them, but for now, it’s a breath of fresh air to know that my biggest enemy, and the biggest enemy of my pack, are both completely neutralized. I had hoped that we would be able to relax and settle down for a bit now that this problem has been solved. In fact, we had a lovely day after the battle, with all our friends and volunteers and former trainees lounging on the beach and splashing around in the cool water.But something is bothering Orsina. She paces, agitate

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE

  The Moon Rabbit doesn’t waste any time once Malcolm agrees to the binding spell. With quick, almost spider like hands, Coello spreads the stalks and herbs out on the rocky beach, fluttering them into complex shapes. I stand on my tiptoes, peering out from behind my hiding place. Coello’s form of magic is rough and brutish, nothing like the delicate work Layla does. But it does the job. Malcolm steps over the edges of the intricate shape Coello has created on the ground, and even I can feel the burst of intense magic that snaps through the air as the spell takes effect. “I look forward to having you in my service,” Coello says with a low bow. “For now, however, I must depart. Do enjoy your newfound power.”Malcolm smiles, flexing his hands like he can somehow feel himself getting stronger. Then the two separate, Coello sneaking back into the tree house before anyone catches him outside.I’m surprised, but not entirely so. Some of us thought Coello would try to get as far a

• The Alpha's Mate   CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO

  The various wolf shifters staying with us to help out have been instructed not to speak with the Moon Rabbit, but to keep a close eye on him. Coello soon gives up trying to draw them into conversation and instead just wanders around the busy tree house, doing what he clearly thinks is subtle reconnaissance in preparation for his escape attempt. What he doesn’t know is that his ability to slip out of here isn’t going to be the result of his own careful cleverness. It will be perfectly engineered by me and my team, right down to the very moment. It’s early afternoon when we get the signal. We’ve had scouts placed in inconspicuous locations all around the forest and the town of Santa Cruz watching for any sigh of Malcolm or Weston. Sure enough, they roll into town with a huge entourage of bear shifters and werewolves. Our scouts say that they’ve set up a campsite near the beach about a mile south from our location, and that Malcolm is heading our way on his own, apparently to chec