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Chapter 21
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Kira
Coffee.
I’ve been up since just after 5am. I went for another hard run, even after yesterday afternoon’s half marathon. I’m sore, and my head slightly hurts. But with tired muscles, I fall asleep at night without the itch. Running keeps my mind at ease and the booze at bay. And it seems to be working, despite the three pairs of sneakers I’ve already worn out.
Coffee has become my new vice. It’s a cycle. Run. Coffee. Collapse from my exertions. Repeat. I seek it out eagerly, and Dina even got a new coffee bar in the kitchen downstairs to indulge me. It seems she was as happy for the new apparatus as I was. She and I have had a blast adding speciality milks, flavors, and Goddess knows what to our early morning concoctions. I swear that woman doesn’t need caffeine, but here we are.
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Kira“Hello, Ben.” I shook his hand, avoiding his eyes. His skin was warm, and I withdrew my hand quickly, wiping my now clammy palm on my jeans.Perrin looked between us, smiling as if nothing had happened. Which, I guess according to him, was perfectly true.“You are the Beta Select, correct?” Ben’s voice was bright and anxious, still grateful that I was playing along.“Yup.” I turned to Perrin, anxious myself to remove myself from this entire situation. “So, what are we looking for again?”Perrin’s face grew suddenly darker in alarm, his eyes shifting briefly to Ben and then back again. &
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PerrinBy the time Marge and I cleared a quarter of the library, it was time to get to Gowan’s training session.I called for Kira, who reappeared only too quickly from somewhere on the far side of the history section. She looked equally displeased and disheveled.“You ok?”“No.”“Can I help?”“Are you alcohol?”I stopped, catching her arm. “Are you serious?”She yanked her arm from my reach and scowls. “Yes. But don’t worry, I’m headed straight to the pack house to meet Mark.”
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Perrin“I’ll be fine, thanks though.”“You sure?”“Yea, probably just dehydrated,” I lied.Seth dropped me off at the steps of the pack house. I hated when he Mother-henned me. It was enough to have vomited out the side of his car on the way back; I didn’t need more pestering.Besides, I was feeling better now that my vision had cleared, though a cold prickle on the back of my neck remained. I wasn’t feeling totally myself, and despite what I had told Seth, the uncomfortable feeling of memory brought me back to the temple that night.I closed my eyes, taking a seat towards the front doors of the pack house lobby, trying to force myself t
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Alpha JasonThe knock at the door was soft.“Come in.”I glanced up as my wife slid silently into my office, shutting the door quietly behind her. “It’s nearly dinner,” she said.I glanced at my watch. I had been preparing next week’s training topics for Perrin all afternoon. The training list was long; history of past treaties, personnel profiles on everyone in the Alpha Guard that weren’t retiring; political tactics and negotiations, geography and pack histories of our neighbors; the economics of running a pack; and importantly, our human liaisons in the nearby pure-human cities that knew about us and kept our secret. That last one was complicated, messy, and of utmost importance.I knew we had years to
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Alpha JasonTwelve Years Ago“How is she?” Kyle’s anxious face didn’t give me the comfort I had hoped. I was alone in a private waiting room. I couldn’t even look at him, my face in my hands.“Where’s Perrin?” He asked instead.“With your wife.”“Oh.” Kyle slumped next to me. He smelled of sweat and the woods. I wasn’t sure how deep he had been on patrol when I called him back. But I was grateful he was here.“What happened?” He asked. He knew it was serious, but I couldn’t tell him anything on the phone at the time because I hadn’t known anything.
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KiraCloser…. So close—I could feel the vibration, the hum of it–But the vibration of the object I wasn’t holding pulled me thoughts away and distracting me away from the brink. Goddess damnit! No. I was too close. I slammed my free hand towards the object and silenced it, desperating clinging to the release that was now slipping through my fingers–I pushed the other vibration deeper within me, pushing against my clit to the point where pleasure and pain were one in the same. So close–so close I—It began vibrating again,
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Kira“Kay!”His voice was bright. Elated. Goddess, it felt good to hear him.“I’m surprised you picked up!”“Why?” Ethan asked back, genuinely surprised.“Because you never do!” I accused.“That’s because you never call me.” I could hear the grin on Ethan’s face. It had been too long. Just random texts here and there. It wasn’t enough. I missed him.“That’s because you never call me!&rd
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 29
KiraI ignored Perrin as he pounded on my door, refusing to use the spare key I knew he had to my suite. It was out of courtesy, more than anything that he didn’t just let himself in. But I appreciated his honor in this sense anyway.I heard his phone buzzing from the other side of the door. “Yea, sorry. I was talking to Kira… yea, everything’s fine.”Liar. But I was glad to hear his steps recede down the hall towards the elevator. I needed my space to process in my own space. In this suite.Rather, my mother’s suite, My thoughts wandered to my conversation with Ethan. I had the right to the Beta Select suite by now. I hadn’t seen it in years; but truth be told, I remember it being beautiful.
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Deidre“How about this?”Mistra shakes her head, the pink dress I’m holding not doing it for her. Of course it wouldn’t. Mistra only wears dark and… darker. Except for the day she came back from vacation. From ‘visiting her son.’ Here. In Texas.“How about this?” This dress is darker, with a slit up to the thigh that should make any she-wolf her age think twice.“Too revealing,” she dismisses it. The hangers clank loudly on the rack as she disapproves of yet another rack of options.“Mistra?” The clacking plastic stills in response. “You wore pink when you came back from Texas. You think I didn’t notice?”A considering pause follows, then, “I was in a different mood, then.”“Oh?”“Yes. It was… the fresh air.”“So logic would dictate the color would suit you now as well, wouldn’t it?”Another pause. “I suppose.”I thrust my arms around the corner of the clothing rack, holding the original pink once again. She grabs it reluctantly and holds it up to her chin in front of a full-length mi
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Perrin The sound of my camera phone clicks and I don’t bother checking it before sending it to Lo. Then I switch shirts, and send another. PERRIN: Blue or green? LO: Either. They each bring out one of your eyes. LO: Goddess you look good. Before I can type a response, a video call from Lo pops up on the screen. I can tell based on the angle of the camera that she’s propped me up against a glass on Dina’s counter in the kitchen. “Hey there, beautiful.” Beautiful doesn’t do her justice, even mid-meal. Her eyes are bright and full of laughter, as if she’d just been joking with Dina. She munches on a carrot stick, grinning. “You know it’s not fair for you to just send me pictures like that.” She lowers her voice. “When you know I really want the other kind of picture.” I laugh, angling the camera so she can see my bare chest. “Gross,” I hear a mutter somewhere off-camera. “I’m not going to be attacked while I’m having lunch, Jack. You can be excused for ten.” “Thank Goddess.” Ja
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Deidre “Fontaine?” I flick through my mental list of scholars. Nothing registers. “Well, if he’s not a medical scientist or researcher, I probably wouldn’t have heard of him.” Mark grunts, throwing his phone down next to his lunch plate. “I’ve got nothing. The internet is supposed to be helpful. All I have are a bunch of university papers and a bunch of research I can’t make heads or tales of.” “Ah yes. My husband’s Beta, ever the academic,” I smile over the brim of my cup. “Quit it,” Jason growls, absorbed in his own phone screen. “Janas is keeping tabs on him, but other than going back to the infirmary, he hasn’t done much apart from call a taxi to take him to a restaurant.” Mark blinks. “A restaurant?” “Yes,” I quip. “The social environment in which people elect to eat and enjoy one another’s company–not that you’ve been to one in the last ten years.” “Seriously?” Jason snaps, head swiveling between Mark and I. “This is the last thing we need.” “A restaurant is not a securit
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Kira The tour was incredibly boring. Ben was professional and polite, wandering at a pace that Lo could keep up with, without getting breathless and being able to contribute to the conversation. It annoyed me how courteous he was. Jack spent most of the tour looking around inconspicuously for all of the cameras, finding their hidden reflective lenses in the niches of wood and leather around the Archives. From what I could tell, he’d found twenty-six of thirty. A flashing, toothy smile catches on another camera. Fine. Twenty-seven. They were just making the far side of the stacks, near the stairway that led down to the pack Archives, when Sirius became incredibly more interested. “And what are these?” He asked pointedly, looking at the stairs and the ropes that separated them off from prying visitors. “Ah. The Royal Archives of the Aperture Pack,” Ben said admiringly. “Home of our pack lineage, royal birth and marriage documents, copies of temple ceremony proceedings, and histori
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Kira I watched through the screen as Lo’s baby bump proceeded the rest of her into the frame, extending her hand to greet Ben’s. It was more formal than I’d ever seen either of them interact; but I recognized the show. It was all about appearances. Impressing this scholar. A moment later Sirius eased into the frame, his height nearly blocking out all of Lo except her belly, his own graceful hand extending to capture Ben’s as they exchanged greetings. “Good morning, Professor–?” Ben opened warmly. Smooth. And good. Since I still had no idea what this guy’s last name has to do a thorough background check. I looked at my legal pad, tapping my pen on the blank page. Mark was clear with his instructions, and so far I wasn’t doing very well. “Oh! Just Sirius, please. No need for formalities.” Lo stepped out from behind Sirius, her face beaming with that pregnant glow of hers, despite the gray-scale of the monitor. “Sirius, this is Benjamin, the scholar and historian I was telling you
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Kira Janas walked me through my controls. Eight screens, two keyboards, something that looked like an old-school joystick, and enough cords and plugs to cover the majority of the Luna’s office. I wondered what she’d think of it now; it’s usually pristine surfaces now covered in a jungle of electrical equipment. “Got that?” Janas said for nearly the seventh time. “Yes,” I muttered, sitting down in the seat behind the Luna’s desk. It was the last place I ever thought I’d sit, and shifted uneasily as I put down my crutches. The ruse was still necessary in case anyone came in here with Cynthia while I was working. I had felt the glances as Janas wheeled me in this afternoon, crutches across my lap as we passed the busy lobby of the pack house. Many offered greetings and wishes for a speedy recovery, all genuine. It made my back stiffen at the deception. I made a mental note to talk to Perrin about just how different his legacy was going to be from his father’s… and despite my own sel
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BenMy alarm goes off, and I don’t even want to reach for my phone.It’d be great to stop the two-day hangover that plagues me. But something else entirely when I’ll look at my screen and realize Kira hasn’t called me back. Or texted.Not like she would.I roll over, swatting blindly at my bedside table until my phone drops onto the floor, vibrating and jittering across the cheap carpet like some strange bug.I test my eyes, flickering them open against my ceiling.Well. At least my hangover is gone today. I exhale. I’d rather have the pain of that hangover instead of the anger I feel at myself. Not just anger.Shame. Annoyance.And the worst part? The self-pity.I’ve drowned in the feelings of the last few days, addicted to the self-sabotage of not eating, not consuming anything and not trusting myself. I’ve been sober for years. And doing this now? Giving into temptation? I want to blame my thesis. My stupid failed research. I want to just burn all of it to Hell and back. But gnawi
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Perrin“Holy shit.”Mark softly whistles behind me, unnerved at the site of it as we drive in. The Chiyad training facilities is enormous. No. gigantic. Whichever one is bigger.“This is where Ethan’s been training,” I say unnecessarily, awed at the outside of it. I wondered if Ethan could escape being the favorite for the Beta championship by just having access to state-of-the-art facilities. Mark doesn’t answer, but drives to a series of parking spots on the side of the building. “I know Ethan’s been working hard,” I go on as we get out of the car. “And Justin had only mentioned they were working on getting their facility renovation underway. Is this the before or after? They couldn’t have done all of this in just a few months.”Mark’s neck cranes to look up the side of the building. “I don’t know.”We walk into the large side entrance, automatic doors whooshing in around us with crisp, air-conditioned coolness. I blink twice as a discreet whirring sounds, a scanning of our bodies
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KiraI set the phone down on the bedside table, pulling my blankets over me at the chill that had nothing to do with the temperature of my room.What the hell?But I couldn’t help but smirk. My gut instinct about the visiting wolf hadn’t been totally off. Something hadn’t been right about Sirius. Not wrong, per se… but definitely not normal. Were all European wolves that way? And how Mark had discovered our pack had a visitor less than twelve hours after they’d left? I didn’t know. Some type of Beta secret perhaps. He’d tell me in time. I was beginning to realize just how much I had to learn.I frowned, knowing Royhill would likely come pick me up in the morning. I stared at the clock. It was way past my bedtime. Not that I cared. I scratched at the stupid fake brace on my leg.On the positive side, apparently hiding away in the Luna’s office was going to be exactly what I was up to, the joke made earlier to Jesamine in jest or not. And sooner than I had anticipated; Naineeve was her
