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Fourteen
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FATED ESCAPE Fifteen
Mack reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, reminding me that I just woke up so my hair is probably crazy right now. I lift a hand to smooth it down, but he catches my hand and holds it in his larger, warm one. “Because I thought it’s what you wanted.”I forget about my attempt to do something about my crazy hair. “But not what you wanted?” Is Mack real or just something I dreamed up?“No, Aerin. It’s not what I want.” Mack’s voice is soft, and his dark eyes warm the longer he gazes at me.“You kissed me,” I murmur. He nods slowly. “I did.”“But you stopped. You said it wasn’t a good idea. Is that what this is about?” I ask, my mind going back to our kiss in the garden and the pang of disappointment that struck when he ended it more suddenly than I was expecting.“I stopped because it was leading somewhere that you’re not ready for it to lead. I know it isn’t what you want.”I want to tell him that he’s wrong, that I know what I would have wanted to happen. “What do
FATED ESCAPE Sixteen
He sounds like he means it. But that isn’t enough to stop me from shaking my head because it isn’t true. I know it isn’t true. I’m ordinary. I’m plain. The only thing special about me is what I am and what I can do.He lifts his head, and his brow creases in a frown. “You don’t believe me.”“You don’t have to tell me that,” I tell him, as if what I’m saying doesn’t matter. As if I don’t care what he thinks of me. “I know I’m not.”He stares into my face for so long that I start wishing I was somewhere else—that I was someone else—because this is the moment that he’s finally seeing me the way Shane sees me: worthless. This is regret I’m witnessing. This is Mack trying to find a way to let me down gently.I open my mouth, ready to tell him that it’s okay, I’m used to it. But he speaks before I can.“If the person who made you think that ever came to Winter Lake, I think I could quite happily gut him. And that’s not in my nature,” he says mildly.I blink at him in surprise. “Oh.”Mack l
FATED ESCAPE Seventeen
As if suspecting that I haven’t finished saying all I wanted to say, he waits. He’s right. In the short time I’ve been here, with him, I’m finding he can read me better than people who’ve known me— lived with me—for years.“One day a girl is going to turn up, and she’s going to tell you that she’s your mate. No. She won’t have to say a word. You’ll lock eyes with one another, and you’ll know. And then I’ll wish I hadn’t stayed. You’ll wish I hadn’t stayed.”“Not all shifters find their mate.”“No, they don’t.” I concede, but sometimes the universe wills it. Sometimes it flings two people together just as it did me and Shane. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t find yours.”I wait for him to admit I’m right because I know I am. A second passes before he says what I was expecting.“No, I guess it doesn’t,” he says.With my gaze fixed on the ceiling, I nod, all while bracing myself for him to tell me it’s in our best interests for me to leave sooner rather than later. Before these feeling
FATED ESCAPE Eighteen
As I lift my head so I can peer into his face, the quiet contentment that I’ve been feeling since Mack and I finally got out of bed early in the afternoon to have a late brunch fades. “I don’t know.”His sharp eyes miss nothing. “You don’t want to.”What I don’t want is for anything to ruin my unexpected happiness. Making love with Mack, then us sharing a shower before we laughed over our meal, has made today so perfect that I don’t want it to end. He even washed and dried my hair for me before braiding it, knocking my hand aside whenever I tried to take over.No one has ever taken such care of me before, and I don’t want a run with Mack to be the start of things going wrong.But I don’t say any of this. I lower my head and tuck it under his chin as he strokes a hand up and down my back while the other arm remains locked around my waist. “I don’t know how my wolf is going to react to yours,” I tell him quietly.I could lie, but the thought of adding more untruths to what feels like
FATED ESCAPE Nineteen
My ankle twinges when I land, and I roll it carefully. It doesn’t hurt so much as ache, which was my excuse to get away from the house when Mack told me he and Bennett needed to talk about something. Luckily, he believed me when I told him a walk would help ease it. Well, at least I hope he believed me.Mack was right that shifting seemed to deal with the last of the pain and I’m sure by tomorrow even the ache will be gone.At the first drops of rain landing in my hair, I glance up through the trees and discover while I was distracted thinking about Mack, the sky has darkened even more. Now it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain, it looks like a storm is coming.I figure it’s time to head back to the house since I must have been gone for at least an hour which, if Bennett was due to arrive just before I left, has to mean he’s been to the house and left by now. I can’t imagine what they have to talk about will take any longer than an hour, especially since Bennett has never struck m
FATED ESCAPE Twenty
I can’t afford to turn away from something that might mean the difference between survival and starvation.“Come back to the house. I’ll have Adela look at your ankle tomorrow,” Mack says in his frustratingly calm tone, making all the sense in the world.Because he’s an alpha, Aerin. They’re used to winning all arguments and convincing you to do things you don’t want. That’s just the way they are.“I’ll take you wherever you want to go. I said I’d do it before, and if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.”I can’t believe him. I know this is just another way to trap me here. Somehow, he’s guessed what I am, even if he hasn’t mentioned it yet. I can’t trust him.But I also know that I don’t have another choice. I can’t be pregnant and stumbling around in the rain like this with nothing. I’ve fallen before, and luckily the only thing I hurt was my pride. The next time it might be something I can’t get back up from. Like my neck.Without a word, I turn around and limp my way back
FATED ESCAPE Twenty One
She doesn’t convince me to stay; she doesn’t convince me of anything. All she does is smile softly as she places a hand on my arm. “There’s a great deal of strength in you Aerin. Perhaps once you stop running, you might use some of it. Take it from someone who’s lived a long life, the power to create and heal will always be stronger than the power to destroy.”Before I can work out what she means, or even ask her, she rises and heads for the door. “Now, don’t forget that book I gave you. The crutches too, and take care.”After Adela closes the door gently behind her and I hear her soft tread on the stairs, I turn my gaze back to the window and the view I know I’m going to think about—and miss—for a long time once I’ve gone.I wish I’d asked her about why Mack and his pack are here, and why he took the name Winters. I want to know what happened to his mother, and whether her being an omega is the reason he’s able to read me so well. But mostly, I want to know why he didn’t tell me th
FATED ESCAPE Twenty Two
The dark anticipation lighting his eyes tells me exactly what kind of talking he intends on doing, the physical kind. With his fists, or most likely, with teeth and claws. “You can even judge the winner between us. How does that sound?”Shane is the alpha of one of the most aggressive packs in the country, while Mack is alpha of a pack so tiny it wouldn’t even register to the Dacres. I won’t be judging a fight; I’ll be watching an execution.I don’t say a word, just quietly return to Shane, who grabs my hair again, making me cry out even louder than I did before.He leans into my face. “Try running again, Aerin, and see what I do.”As I stare into his eyes, I realize he hates that I’m his mate, that it’s me and not Bree. He’s always been closed off to me, and in a way, I was relieved he kept his distance. But now I wish I’d known how he really felt.I could’ve saved myself so much pain if I’d run away long ago.When I lower my gaze to the ground, Shane makes a sound of disgust becaus
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