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Forty Nine
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FATED ESCAPE Fifty
It isn’t until he brushes a tear from under my eye that I realize why he wouldn’t. “I wish I could take all your pain from you,” he says in a sober voice. “I think, even if you told me not to, I’d do it anyway because I never want you to be in pain.”“I think that’s love,” I admit. “Yes, so do I.”“I think I’ve decided.” “On what?”“Where I want us to make love.”His eyes darken. “Really? And where is that?”“Here, beside the stream.” I lean up and kiss him. “And then in the stream.” I kiss him again. “And then—”He raises an eyebrow. “You’re thinking I’m capable of far more than I am.”My smile fades. “No, I’m not. And I’ve decided, that as Luna, I’m going to be as demanding as you.”He grins. “Is that so?”I nod. “Yes, but only in bed. Like you.”“Well, I’d better get to work giving my Luna what she wants,” he murmurs as he lowers his head to mine.His next kiss is full of heat and desire, but it’s also tempered with the tenderness that is, and always will be, Mack.At first, we mov
FATED ESCAPE Fifty One
After giving me a boyish grin, he lowers his head to give me a hard kiss. But then he hesitates and the doubt in his eyes is clear to see. “I don’t know how I feel about leaving you here.”“Everyone is back at the house, so that means I’ll be okay.”When his expression shifts, I know he understands what I’m implying. “My da is there; he won’t hurt you.”I’m hoping Faith is too because I still haven’t told Mack about that tree. But I need to. Soon.“Then I’ll be fine. Go. The walk back will give me a chance to prepare for a hard conversation I have to have with my father before he leaves.”When the last of his doubt falls away, he presses his cell phone into my hand. “I’ll call as soon as I get back. Don’t go anywhere until I do, okay? I wouldn’t want you getting lost in the forest and a hiker taking a kiss that belongs to me.”I grin. “They all belong to you. Now go.”After one last grin, he sits back on his haunches, and as I watch, he smoothly, easily shifts into a sleek gray-brown
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Two
The guilt flooding through me is nearly overwhelming because no one deserves to have their mind broken. “I didn’t—that wasn’t—”The venom in Bree’s gaze silences my stuttering apology because it’s clear there’s no point. I’ve made myself her enemy and nothing I say or do will change that. It’s all right there in her gold-eyed glare.“His wolf attacked me. Nearly killed me,” she says, in a deceptively mild voice, as her eyes burn with rage. “Me. His mate.”I don’t speak. I don’t have the words to say a thing.“He says your name in the night. Sometimes he talks about the baby. He pretends not to remember, says he was just talking nonsense, but I know he does.” Bree’s next laugh is brittle. “His father had to come and save me. Oh, he had such fun rubbing it in my face that Shane would always view you as his mate. That his wolf would never let him forget he walked away from his child.”I shake my head as I will her to understand. “No, Shane didn’t want the child. He said—”“It doesn’t mat
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Three
When I feel my muscles waking up, I move to sit up. As I do, I realize that, despite Bree dragging me into this, none of this has anything to do with me. Not anymore.My movement attracts both of their attention. Shane turns to me with eyes filled with anguish that I can feel across the distance separating us.He treated me terribly. He was cruel and abusive. But I know he loved his father. It’s impossible for me not to pity him, even after everything he did to me. “Aerin.”He says my name in a way he never has before, just as he’s looking at me as if he’s seeing me for the first time. “You’ve gained weight.”I nod.Probably has to do with all the bacon Mack has been determined to feed me the last couple of months.His eyes continue to sweep over me before settling on my rounded belly.When his gaze doesn’t move, I curve a hand protectively over myself, remembering what he said about my baby, and remembering that I’m still far closer than I ever want to be to the cliff at my back.He
FATED ESCAPE Fifty four
After I’ve spent several seconds working on my breathing and quieting my panic, I glance up at Mack, because before I start climbing, an act that could still end in my death, I have to look at him again. We lock gazes. “I love you.”He narrows his eyes. “This isn’t you saying goodbye, is it?”I smile. “No. Telling you—hearing you say you love me—seems to give me strength.” His eyes soften. “I love you too.”After swallowing hard, I force myself to release the death grip I have on the protruding piece of rock and reach for the first place to put my hand. I take a second to reassure myself that I have a secure grip, and then I move my left hand.I pull myself up, grateful beyond measure that I have the benefit of being naturally strong because of what I am. If I were a regular human and forced to rely on my upper body strength, I’d have been at the bottom of the cliff before I knew what was happening.Although it feels like it takes an eternity, I find some grooves to rest my toes, easi
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Five
Although I’m not able to control my gift yet, one day I will be. I let her see there is a strength in me that she could never hope to destroy. That my mind is stronger than my body and I can flatten her with mine. She looks away.That’s when I turn back to Mack. “I’m ready now.”He takes my hand and we walk away, Bennett, still in his wolf shape, trailing us.We stop at the clearing near the stream long enough for Mack to dress in the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing before, and slip the rucksack of food containers on his back.On the way to the house, Mack tells me he and Bennett shifted to wolf to come after me when I didn’t return or answer the phone. Since Bree did nothing to hide her tracks, it was easy for him to follow the drag marks through the forest and to the clearing.I fill Mack in on everything that happened, including my mistaken belief that Faith or his father tried to bring a tree down on my head. He listens in silence, and then he scoops me into his arms and refus
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Six
“Our pack here is small—tiny compared to the Boones and the Dacres. But it’s a pack with a Luna who happens to be the most powerful omega of her generation. I might be wrong, but I’m sure a lot of shifters would be happy to live in a place with an alpha who will cook breakfast for them and care about every single one of them. And we have a child on the way. We can grow and keep on growing. We have a future. You’re walking away from yours. So, when our child asks where they came from, I will tell them the truth. Nothing. Because no pack, however strong, however big, can stand long without a future. Just look at the Raleighs.”This time it’s me turning and walking away from him. I don’t make it far.“What are you offering? An heir for the Boones?”I stop and peer over my shoulder. “I’m not offering you anything for something I should already know. A child should know who their mother was and where she came from. I’m not paying for that information. I’m just telling you what will happen
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Seven
“I know this because while I was frying bacon, she turned up at the front door wanting to know if my father had left yet. She also warned me that my father was intent on pushing you and Faith together, something she’d been trying to get me alone to tell me, but never could.”Mack’s expression is unreadable. “So, she’s staying?”I shrug. “I don’t know. I told Bennett to talk to her, that I’d be okay.” A thought suddenly occurs to me. “The Lonergan pack. I forgot to ask—”“Adela hadn’t heard of them and neither have I. She has a lot of friends, so I’m sure she’ll know more in the next couple of days.”I nod. “It’s so strange that I have a name now, but it means nothing to me. I thought I knew most of the packs, but I’ve never heard of the Lonergans.”“We’re a tiny pack,” Mack says as he cards his fingers through my hair, “and no one has ever heard of us. You hadn’t heard of us before. But a name is a good place to start.”“But you weren’t the Winter Lake pack before. What if they’ve ch
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