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Nineteen
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED ESCAPE Twenty Three
I place my hand on my belly as I stare out of the window, trying to visualize mine and my baby’s future. There’s no way Shane would be the kind of father any child should have. He’ll be worse than my father, who at least was only cold and distant. He was never cruel like Shane.When a bus pulls up beside the gas station, I shift my focus to it.The bus driver who gets out isn’t the same one who brought me here, though he’s wearing a familiar blue uniform. I watch him step out of the bus and head straight for the tiny shop attached to the gas station.Just outside, Shane fills up the car. The fumes are so strong that I don’t know how it doesn’t bother him at all, given how sensitive our noses are. He’s gazing into the distance, looking distracted. I guess he’s thinking about Bree. Or maybe he’s thinking about getting rid of me so he can be free to be with her instead of me.Minutes pass, and then the bus driver emerges from the shop and heads toward the bus. Whether he’d stopped to us
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED ESCAPE Twenty Four
“It might have something to do with a certain girl tossing his car keys into the forest, and him snarling at the people on a nearby bus who offered to help him look for them. He was still looking when I came after you, and I couldn’t help but notice in completely the wrong place.”My mouth falls open in surprise because I hadn’t thought I’d tossed the keys that far, or that he’d have such difficulties finding them.Before I can ask Mack how he can be so sure Shane was looking for his keys in the wrong place, he steps out of the forest. I take in the blue Sedan parked at the side of the road, which I’m guessing must be his.After helping me into the passenger seat and closing my door, Mack rounds the car and climbs in. Once he’s started the engine, he doesn’t move. Instead, he turns to me and his eyes dip down. “Seatbelt, love.”I smile at him and buckle up as he does the same, and then in no time at all, we’re heading back toward Winter Lake before I can think to ask him about Shane.
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED ESCAPE Twenty Five
Mack shrugs. “It might. It might not. But I’m guessing you probably haven’t eaten a decent meal in a while if you’ve been driving for hours to get here. The diner in town can give you a chance to eat and rest.”Is he being serious?By now, even Shane, who’s stopped a few feet away, is looking as stunned as I feel. I’ve long since abandoned my mission to drag Mack inside, to observe him instead. I consider pinching myself because I’m becoming increasingly convinced that I didn’t wake up from my nap and none of this is happening.Shane blinks. “Are you suggesting I rest and eat before I come back and kill you?”“No,” Mack says, still in the same calm tone. “I’m saying that tonight when we fight, I wouldn’t want you thinking for even a second that the reason you lost was because you weren’t well-rested. This way, you’ll know you had just as much rest as I did.”I stare at the back of Mack’s head with my mouth hanging half-opened. Slowly, I lift one hand to my arm and pinch myself. I don
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED ESCAPE Twenty Six
I get ready to close my eyes because, despite the Winter Lake Pack’s utter confidence in their alpha, they don’t know Shane the way I do.Before I can close my eyes, Mack steps out of the way of Shane’s attack with time to spare. I inhale sharply because I did not see that coming. As I’m busy coughing and choking because it felt like air went down the wrong way, Mack makes his move.Bennett, or someone—I’m not about to take my eyes away from the fight to see—claps me on my back as I stare, stunned, as Mack, with a speed and a ferocity I’m not expecting, clamps his jaws around Shane’s throat and slams him hard enough to the ground that I flinch.No matter how hard Shane struggles and fights, nothing he can do can get Mack to release his grip.Slowly, Mack’s jaws tighten until it’s clear what’s going to happen if Shane doesn’t stop fighting.To my utter disbelief, with my mouth hanging open, I watch the impossible happen. Shane stills his struggles and concedes the fight.He won. Mack w
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED ESCAPE Twenty Seven
“You want to stay for lunch, Bennett? I told my father to let me live my own life, and we’re having a celebratory meal. By meal, I mean a pile of bacon.”Bennett blinks at me and shifts his confused gaze to Mack. “Yeah, just bacon,” Mack confirms.After a long pause, Bennett shakes his head, only this time, the hint of a smile curves his lips. “Uh, no. I’m good. I need to get back to the shop.”We say our goodbyes and once he’s disappeared back around the house, I follow Mack inside. I’m heading for the kitchen when Mack grabs my hand and tugs me upstairs instead.“But…bacon?” I cry out mournfully, turning to gaze back down the stairs.“We have to work up an appetite first, and stop looking at me like I just kicked your puppy,” Mack says when he glimpses the expression on my face.“You promised me bacon and failed to deliver.”“But I note you’re not stopping me,” Mack says, as he backs me to his—no, to our bed with his hands on my hips.“Aren’t I?” When the back of my legs hit the bed
Last Updated : 2024-10-29
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FATED ESCAPE Fifty Six
‘Why not?’ Sylvie had questioned curiously, her adoring teenage heart thumping frantically at the thought of being married to Ran, of being his wife, of sharing his life, his bed… A delicious shiver of anticipatory pleasure had run through her as she’d willed her stepbrother to say that there was a mysterious someone in Ran’s life, far too young for him as yet, a special someone...herself…But instead, disappointingly, prosaically, Alex had told her, ‘An estate manager’s salary and tied accommodation in a small cottage are hardly up to the standard or style of living that the women Ran dates are used to, and he’s far too proud to want to live off his wife...’‘The women...?’ Sylvie had flared unhappily, whilst her mother, who had been listening to their conversation, had chipped in disparagingly.‘Ran would be far better off marrying some farmer’s daughter, a girl who’s been brought up for that kind of lifestyle...’Sylvie remembered how Alex’s eyebrows had risen at this display of s
FATED ESCAPE Sixty Five
It was several seconds before Ran bothered to respond to her unrehearsed but determinedly distancing little speech, and for a moment Sylvie thought that he was actually going to ignore what she had said, but then he turned towards her and said, ‘So what you’re saying is that it’s to be purely business between us, is that it?’It took every ounce of courage that Sylvie possessed, and then some, for her to be able to meet the look he was giving her full-on, but somehow or other she managed to do so, even if the effort left her perilously short of breath and with her heart pounding almost as painfully as her head, She agreed coolly, ‘Yes.’Ran was the one to look away first, his face hardening as he glanced briefly at her mouth before doing so.‘Well, if that’s what you want, so be it,’ he told her crisply, returning his attention to his driving.His response, instead of making her feel relieved, left her feeling... What?Disappointed that he hadn’t challenged her, hadn’t given her the o
FATED ESCAPE Sixty Four
The next thing she knew, Ran was taking her very firmly by the arm and propelling her towards the door, ignoring her protests to leave her alone.At the top of the stairs, to her infuriated chagrin, he turned round and swung her up into his arms, telling her through gritted teeth, ‘If you’re going to faint on me, Sylvie, then here’s the best place to do it.’She wanted to tell him that fainting was the last thing she intended to do, but her face was pressed against the warm flesh of his throat and if she tried to speak her lips would be touching his skin and then…Swallowing hard, Sylvie tried to concentrate on banishing the agonizing pain in her head but it was something that she couldn’t just will away. As she knew from past experience, the only way of getting rid of it was for her to go to bed and sleep it off.They were downstairs now and Ran was crossing the hallway, thrusting open the door and carrying her out into the fresh air.‘What are you doing?’ she demanded as he walked p
FATED ESCAPE Sixty Three
They were supposed to be confined to the park area surrounding the house and not cropping the grazing he needed for his sheep. There must be a break in the fence somewhere—the new fence which he had just severely depleted his carefully hoarded bank balance to buy—which meant…There had been rumors about rustlers being in the area; other farmers had reported break-ins and losses.Once he had seen Sylvie settled at the house he would have to come back out and check the fencing.Sylvie winced as the Land Rover hit a rut in the road, sitting up and just about managing to suppress a sharp cry of pain—or at least she thought she had suppressed it until she heard Ran asking her curtly, ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’‘Nothing... I’ve got a headache, that’s all,’ she stressed offhandedly, but her face flushed as she saw the look he was giving her and she realized that he wasn’t deceived.‘A headache?’ he queried dryly. ‘It looks more like a migraine to me. Have you got some medication for it
FATED ESCAPE Sixty Two
Haverton Hall’s rooms might not possess quite the vastness of the palazzo’s marble-floored rooms, nor the fading grandeur of the Prague palace, but Sylvie had already lost count of the number of salons and ante-chambers they had walked through on the lower floor. The gallery felt as though it stretched for miles, and as she studied the dusty wooden floor of the ballroom her heart sank at the thought of inspecting its lofty plasterwork ceiling and its elegantly inlaid paneling. And they still had the upper floors to go over! But she couldn’t afford to show any weakness in front of Ran and have him crowing over her. No way. And so, ignoring the warning beginnings of a throbbing headache, she took a deep breath and began to inspect the paneling.‘The first thing we’re going to need to do is to get a report on the extent of the dry rot,’ she told Ran in a firmly businesslike voice.He stopped her. ‘That won’t be necessary.’ Sylvie paused and turned to look angrily at him.‘Ran, there’
FATED ESCAPE Sixty One
The shaming fact was that, no matter how she tried to convince herself otherwise, she had done exactly what she had promised herself she would not do and allowed him to take the upper hand. And worse than that...far worse...she had... Quickly she swallowed the frighteningly familiar and painful lump of aching emptiness she could feel blocking the back of her throat. No way... She was not going down that road again...not for a king’s ransom. The arrogant, selfish, almost cruel way Ran had just behaved towards her proved everything she had ever learned about him. She was under no illusions about why he had kissed her like that... It was his way of reminding her not just of the past, but also of his superiority...of telling her that, whilst she might be the one who was in charge of the project they were going to be working on together, he still had the power to control her...to control her and to hurt her.Sylvie turned swiftly on her heel, not waiting for him to see the emotions she
FATED ESCAPE Sixty
FIVE miles or so before her ultimate destination Sylvie pulled the car she had hired at the airport over to the side of the road and switched off the engine—not because she was unsure of where she was going, not even because she wanted to absorb the beauty of the Derbyshire countryside around her, magnificent though it was as it basked warmly in the mid-afternoon sunshine, devoid of any sign of human occupation apart from her own.No, the reason she had stopped was that she had been tellingly aware for the last few miles not just of the slight dampness of her hands on the steering wheel but, even more betraying, of the increasing turmoil of her thoughts and the nervous butterflies churning her stomach.When she finally met...confronted...Ran, she wanted to be calm and in control of both herself and the situation. She was not, she reminded herself sternly, meeting him as an idealistic teenager who had fallen so disastrously and desperately in love with him, but as a woman, a woman who
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Nine
‘Just wait until you see it, though, Sylvie. You’ll love it. It’s a perfect example of...’ ‘We’re already very close to the limit of this year’s budget,’ Sylvie warned him sternly, ‘and—’ ‘So what? We’ll just have to increase this year’s funding,’ Lloyd told her with typical laid-back geniality.‘Lloyd,’ Sylvie protested, ‘you’re talking about an increase of heaven alone knows how many million dollars... The Trust...’‘I am the Trust,’ Lloyd reminded her gently, and Sylvie had to acknowledge that he spoke the truth. Even so, she gave him an ironic look to which he responded by informing her loftily, ‘I’m just doing what I know the old man would have wanted me to do...’‘By buying a decaying neoclassical pile in the middle of Derbyshire?’ Sylvie asked him dryly.And she was still shaking her head as Lloyd told her winningly, ‘You’ll love it, Sylvie...I promise you!’Cravenly Sylvie was tempted to tell him that she was far too busy and that he would have to find someone else to take ch
FATED ESCAPE Fifty Eight
‘YOU’RE not serious...’Sylvie frowned as she studied the synopsis pinned to the front of the file her employer had just handed her.Lloyd Kelmer the fourth was the kind of eccentric billionaire who, by rights, only ought to have existed in fairy stories—as a particularly genial and indulgent godfather, Sylvie thought. She had been introduced to him at a party to which she had been invited by some acquaintances of her stepbrother’s. She had only gone to the party because she had been feeling particularly lost and insignificant, having only recently left her American college and moved to New York. They had got chatting and Lloyd had begun to tell her about the trials and traumas he had experienced in running the huge wealthy Trust set up by his grandfather.‘The old man had this thing about stately homes, I guess I kinda feel the same.He owned a fair handful of the things himself, so he kinda had a taste for them, if you know what I mean. There was the plantation down in Carolina an
