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Thirteen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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
Last Updated : 2024-10-29FATED 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 : 2024-10-29
Latest chapter
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
