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Chapter 99
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Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 100
Deidre “I was hoping you could tell me,” he said quietly, the unspoken threat and question coming out in a low, soft cadence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said too quickly. He let out an alarming chuckle, so fake that my body stilled again, alert and waiting. I had no reason to think I was in any danger. This was my step-son for Goddess’ sake. But the looming golden eyes that he fixed on me had me unsteady, despite being seated. His next words were slow and careful as he watched me react. “Mistra may be at a loss as to why I came out this way, but I can assure you she has told me enough about her own son to know that whatever happened to him also happened to me.” My body shivered, my flesh crawling with every word of his unwelcome suggestion, willing my body not to give away anything. “I also know Mistra well enough to know she really has no idea what happened to me,” Sirius went on smoothly, admiring his nails as if he just had them polished, breaking his stare as
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 101
Kira“Are you ready?”Perrin puffed beside me. He was up early, his own mind racing about tonight’s patrol. I hadn’t slept a wink. I was up for most of the night, restless and staring at the ceiling. I didn’t want my thoughts muddied by that stupid potion as I’d have enough in my system soon enough. I was paying the price, my pace feeling slower than usual.I replied, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”“Any idea who you’re paired with yet?” he asked, breathing hard. We rounded a corner and started an uphill mile. It was still dark, the faint orange of the morning just teasing the horizon. “Nope. Janas just said it’ll be a new recruit. Somebody I don’t know well enough. Probably someone I haven’t sparred with.”“Who’s left?” He knew I had beaten nearly three quarters of the Alpha Guard by now.I wiped sweat off my face. “Not many. But Janas said it would be someone who wouldn’t know my scent either. That’s important.”Perrin nodded, grunting as we made the final ascent. “So that leaves…” his
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 102
KiraThe sound of his paws on the dewey earth were soft but rhythmic. He paced behind me, allowing me to lead.Well, at least he got that much right.We spent much of the first hour in silence, I set a brutal pace that had his wolf form panting. I only stopped once to allow him to catch his breath. If I kept this pace up, there was no way he’d be able to tail me in another few hours. The fiery orange of the sky I had welcomed this morning plunged to purple, then faded to navy of a starless sky. It was going to be a foggy night; a rarity for early summer. Luck was clearly in my favor. The less visibility, the better.Do you usually run this fast? The mind link stopped any hint of his heavy breathing to permeate his speech, but I knew he was pushing himself. I slowed just a fraction. Why, can’t keep up?Just curious. You seem to be running pretty fast. I felt the wolfish grin of pride spread across my lips. I was going fast. So?Just wondering what you’re running from.My paw nearly
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 103
KiraI ran. Hard. Not to punish him, but to silence the battle going on within my mind. There were no sounds except my own harsh breathing, which was beginning to match the ragged breathing coming behind me. There were no words except the periodic crackling of the radio in the quiet of the night.As agreed upon weeks ago, Mark had started issuing hourly notices as the time crept by. Janas had instituted it shortly after Ethan’s attack, making sure that each radio carried by a patrol pair had its volume turned up to hear any announcement. Ben had carried the radio tonight, strapped to his hind leg. Despite being my partner, that was one part of the plan that had gone off without a hitch. There was a reverse call button that could be pressed by a wolf’s paw, alerting headquarters of our location in case of danger without speech. It was meant for immediate purposes; could be pushed by either the wearer or his partner. Any need to really communicate required phasing and talking directly
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 104
KiraI stared down at my paws, the pads becoming raw: swollen and blistered. I sat back on my hind legs, clawed at my neck; my muzzle; the nose I had just pushed into the weeds. I could feel my throat clamping, my tongue feeling like it was too big for my mouth.I needed the sleeping potion. Fuck. I was going to suffocate first.I didn’t have time to blame Mark. To hate him for not realizing mint was everywhere. He knew about my allergies. How could he–No. Not enough air…I wheezed, coughing, struggling to pull any air into my lungs. Dizzy and nauseous, I urged my body forward, stiff legs refusing to cooperate. I grabbed the third bag with my mouth, just barely breaking it with my teeth. It burst within the box.Fuck.I pushed myself over the edge of the box’s side, forcing my muzzle to the bottom to lap up as much as I could. It wouldn’t be the full dose of the sleeping potion, but it would be enough. All the while my entire body was laying amidst the mint, the raw blistering fester
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 105
DeidreThe stretcher comes careening into the operating room, Jennivah steering with a frenzy. Her eyes are wild; nearly afraid. I’ve never seen her like this, even after Ethan.“What the hell happened?” I bark at her, putting on my own scrubs. I haven’t even shed my blazer. Jason called merely five minutes earlier. That was not part of our plan. This was not part of our plan.Jennivah parks the cart and I prepare myself for what I see. I do my best to separate the mother and healer. She’s just another patient. Just. Another. Patient. I turn to the gurney only to see Kira’s bloodied body on full display beneath the fluorescents. I am not prepared. My heart constricts and I force back the bile rising in my throat.My blood is all over her. Light scrapes cover her body, but she’s swollen. Red. And raw.Jennivah manages, “Irene is with Ben. He’s pretty shaken up.”“Is she stable?” My eyes don’t leave her body but I can hear how empty my voice is.“Yes. Mark used a cannula to keep her a
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 106
Perrin“Go,” Jesamine says. “Go to her. Now!”She pushes me out of her bed. I don’t hesitate.“Lo! LO!”But doesn’t wait, scurrying down the hall as fast as her aching legs will take her. I know her joints hurt. I spent the better part of this morning giving her entire body a massage.But she beats me somehow to the lobby– to the front doors. I see her disappear in a blare of red lights as she takes off in the back seat of Charlie’s waiting SUV. What have I done?I reach for my phone, trying to call her. It goes right through to voicemail.I have no choice. I run.**The back trails are dark, not yet lit by the morning sunrise. I realize that I have no idea what time it is; Jesamine had kept me company for hours, but it was out of…Friendship. I nearly stumble over a tree root in the trail as the thought crosses my mind. Have we really come to that? Are we finally through the stumbling awkwardness of what we once were, and finally turning the corner to something more–I see the wind
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 107
PerrinShe is all curves. More lush, more prominent; higher peaks and lower valleys. I had made love to her less than a day ago. But now? I feel like I’m exploring her body now as if it were our first time. I can’t believe how quickly she’s changing beneath my fingertips as I trace every inch of her.I know Lo. I know her heart. And in her careful, subtle way, she has made her point. It’s not truly because she seeks attention; she doesn’t feel abandoned or abused. Nor did she threaten me with the warning of our flame going out. Rather, she’s giving me pause to think, to check myself; to ensure that I don’t start down a path I can’t come back from. She wants to ensure that later, I don’t regret missing the most precious, milestone moments of our lives: the ones that I don’t forecast to want to remember, but she knows that I allow myself to be caught and carried away by other things. She always cares about our future, even if I’m tied up more in the present.I press my lips to hers, the
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Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 160
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 159
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 158
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 157
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 156
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 155
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 154
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 153
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
Chosen Mates, Stolen Fates Chapter 152
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
