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Nine
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FATED ESCAPE Ten
I guess protein bars aren’t a real food after all. “So, what do you want to do today?” Mack asks. I shrug. “I don’t know.”Although Mack has said it’s okay for me to read and watch TV and do nothing for three days, it’s hard to know what I actually want to do.Since I left the Dacre pack, I’ve spent all my time either moving to the next place or thinking about where I’d go next, because I knew staying in one place for too long would make it easier for Shane to track me.Although the Dacre pack is in a small town in Minnesota, the bus station doesn’t go to a lot of places. A determined shifter could track me, and Shane has every reason to be determined. His father taking away his position as alpha would do it.Winter Lake was supposed to be my short break. A place to catch my breath before I headed east to lose myself in New York. A city where there must be so many places to hide that no shifter nose could track me if I lost myself there. At least I hope not.I could even ask Mack to b
FATED ESCAPE Eleven
Sometimes the presence of an omega will unearth the deeper problems buried in the heart of the pack, making it easier for her to heal. It’s a little harder to ignore the malicious glee in their voices.It doesn’t take five minutes surrounded by the pack to know that my being here won’t change things because I don’t want to be anywhere near them, much less heal them.“You think he told her?” I hear someone else murmur, and once again I avoid looking in their direction. The last thing I want to be accused of is eavesdropping when I’ve barely been here a day.I can feel more lingering glances. They’re trying to figure out where I belong in the pack hierarchy, but just as with the Boone pack, I know I won’t fit here either. I feel the difference between us, even between me and Shane who’s supposed to be the one I’m closest to in the world. The other half of my soul.Shane’s pack is full of energy and fighting spirit. There are a lot of dominant personalities here. I feel them clashing an
FATED ESCAPE Twelve
So, I tried to read their emotions as they disappeared into the forest, and all I got for my trouble was a migraine that lasted for three hours, and a bad case of dizziness that made me throw up.When I missed dinner, Shane’s father came to visit me, probably thinking it meant Shane had finally gotten me pregnant. One sniff later and he was away again, leaving me alone in a dark room with a pounding head and the world spinning around me.No one else came to see if I was okay. No one cared.But this time, the distance between me, Mack, and Bennett isn’t as great as it was back then, and we’re all outside, so it should prevent me from getting a migraine. Even if it does, if I learn something important, it’ll be worth it.Opening myself up like this isn’t easy, and the only reason I know how is because the omega who trained me explicitly warned me never to attempt it.It takes every ounce of my concentration to cast my senses out in a tightly focused way because all around me I’m surrou
FATED ESCAPE Thirteen
Adela narrows her clear blue eyes, the wrinkled skin around her eyes creasing even more. “You’d better. Now, I have something for you.”As I was fully expecting Adela to leave after she’d examined my leg and told me it was well on the way to healing, I’m surprised she’s still here.But then, I remember she practically shoved Mack out of the lounge before she checked my leg, so I guess I’m about to find out the reason why.Mack, thankfully, didn’t tell her about my escape attempt out of his bedroom window before he left. I doubt it would’ve gone well with Adela. So, he’s in the kitchen tidying up the remains of the breakfast we shared that morning.After my overheard conversation from the day before, Mack gave me ice cream, water, and more food than I could ever hope to eat. But despite all his care, my headache soon transformed into a migraine so bad that I went to bed early. When he suggested it was because of the sun, I didn’t correct him. I couldn’t. I was in too much pain by then
FATED ESCAPE Fourteen
I hope he hasn’t stopped working because the thought of him putting himself out for me when he’s already done so much makes me feel crummy.“From home.” Mack goes back to studying the small growing root.“Can I help do something? Like, dig a hole for more seeds, maybe?” I ask, after scanning the ground and noting more unopened seed packets.Mack’s frown warns me what his answer will be.“Please? It’s only my ankle that hurts now, and only when I put pressure on it. I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to kneel. And I’ll still be resting it, which is what Adela wanted.”When he looks poised to say no, I make my eyes big. “Please? I don’t feel like reading, and I’d like to help.”“Okay, fine. But tell me the second it starts hurting. And not for long, not after your migraine yesterday. An hour and we go back inside, okay?” His voice is uncharacteristically firm, almost sounding like an order. I nod.A few minutes later and I’m kneeling a few feet away from Mack with a cushion under my injured foo
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
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