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Thirty Eight
Last Updated:
2024-07-12 17:32:02Related chapters
FATED ESCAPE Thirty Nine
A moment passes in silence as if everyone’s picturing what that would look like. Or maybe they, just as I am, are thinking of the Raleigh pack and how quickly the aggression spread without Connall there to exert his control to stop it.Why would he leave? He had to have known what would happen if he walked away from a pack as aggressive as the Raleighs were. Was it grief for his dead mate that made him not care anymore?Connall breaks the silence. “Well, whatever this training guiding thing is doesn’t sound the least bit interesting to me. Certainly not as interesting as that other thing Aerin can do.”Now I know someone told him about what I did to Faith, and one swift glance around the table reveals Penny ducking her head. But not before I glimpse her flushed cheeks and the guilt in her eyes.I should’ve known it’d be her. No one likes to gossip the way Penny does.I clear my throat. “It was an accident. I didn’t—"Connall interrupts me. “I’m sorry I missed it. Who’d have thought
Last Updated : 2024-07-12FATED ESCAPE Forty
I’m not expecting to find Adela sitting with a tranquil expression on her face, as if we aren’t about to have an epic alpha challenge blow up in the next two seconds.Before I can offer to go get Mack, or suggest that we, you know, run for our lives, she murmurs words so low beneath her breath that I almost miss them. “Pay attention, and close your eyes.”Closing my eyes right before a battle between two alphas erupts behind me is the absolute last thing I want to do. But I trust Adela enough to do as she says.As soon as I close my eyes, I feel her tap my head. A sign to pay attention, to focus.It takes a few seconds because I’m anything but calm right now and my heart is racing as panic kicks in, but eventually I do.And that’s when I see the thin silvery threads swirling around her. I know there’s physically nothing there. What I’m seeing is her gift, or rather, a physical representation of it.I track those strong, silvery strands to a soul pulsing with so much red and orange tha
Last Updated : 2024-07-12FATED ESCAPE Forty One
My intention to tell Mack about her attempt to kill me goes right out of the window. “Yes. She has. So, like your father, maybe it’ll help if I’m not here so much. I’d still come back to the house in the afternoon to talk to my father.”Even though I wish I could stay at Adela’s house and not return until Connall and my father have left, it isn’t fair for me to abandon Mack to deal with everything on his own. What I’m doing is already making me feel guilty as it is.Sighing, Mack scrubs a hand over his face. “What is it?”“Family,” he murmurs. “Just family.”I move close enough that I can tuck myself under his shoulder. “I’m sorry. If it’s any consolation, I think mine is just as bad as yours.”He offers me a tired smile. “Yeah, I got that. I still can’t believe he didn’t tell you about Shane and Bree.”I shrug as if it doesn’t matter. Although the pain isn’t as sharp as it was when I initially found out, that doesn’t mean it’s gone. “With hindsight, it kind of makes sense for him. A
Last Updated : 2024-07-13FATED ESCAPE Forty Two
When I first met him, I thought this shifter with the big build and heavy muscles would be just as gruff as Bennett was at first, but he’s always been so kind to me. He’s a gentle giant with the sweetest smile, and I’ve never known him to raise his voice even once.“It’s okay to be conflicted about me being with Mack instead of Faith,” I tell him. “I understand.”For a second, his eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror. “I’m not done. Finding our fated mate is something we all dreamed about. I never thought that years later Mack and I would have a conversation saying we hoped for the opposite.”My eyes flicker to Tina, who’s staring out of the window, and return to Warren. “You spoke about that? When?”“After I met Tina a couple of years ago, and not long after he met you.” I frown. “I thought you’d been together longer than that.”“We were misfits,” Tina says in a soft voice, still not looking at me. “Or strays, I guess. Mack collected us and formed us into a pack.”Knowing Mack
Last Updated : 2024-07-13FATED ESCAPE Forty Three
Over a meal of lasagne and salad that Adela and I made, all my efforts to ground myself crumble under the pressure of my father’s pointed remarks about me failing to live up to the Boone reputation, and Connall making sly digs at my expense despite Mack’s repeated attempts to stop him.Faith doesn’t look at me, and Tina doesn’t either. I get why Faith wants nothing to do with me, even if she did try to kill me, but it hurts that Tina is treating me the same way.I doubt she’s the only one of my packmates who thinks I’m failing in my role as Luna by staying with Adela. No one will say it. Not Chris, who’s busy eating, or Warren, or Penny talking with Faith as Mack talks to Adela, but I’m sure they’re all thinking it.By the time we’ve all eaten and are outside, all shifted and ready for the pack run, the only place I want to run is right back to Adela’s.Although Mack and I tried to talk earlier, two minutes later our fathers were back to snapping at each other, which meant we couldn’t
Last Updated : 2024-07-13FATED ESCAPE Forty Four
First, I head upstairs to pack a few more clothes, clothes I have thanks to Mack’s generous shopping trips, and then I go to say goodbye to Mack.He’s in the lounge with Tina, Warren, Penny, and Faith, getting ready to watch a movie. Ordinarily, I’d be joining them, but since Adela sleeps early, it isn’t fair to ask her to stay just so I can watch a movie with everyone first.After I say goodbye to the rest of the pack, Mack walks me outside. “You sure about this? I could always drive you over to Adela’s after the movie? Or you could take the car?” He kisses my brow. “Or you could just not go at all.”I smile up at him. “Nice try, but it makes the most sense for me to go with Adela now. I’d only wake her up if I come back later.”Already, I can see her fighting back a yawn as she waits for me in her car.Mack peers into my eyes, not looking convinced by my smile or my words. “Aerin…” “It’s what I want. It’s one movie night. Anyway, I could do with an early night.” Before he can conv
Last Updated : 2024-07-13FATED ESCAPE Forty Five
After climbing the stairs and entering the room, I close the door behind me and move to sit with my back against the wall, my legs stretched out in front of me and a stuffed yellow bear cradled against my belly.With no idea whether this baby is going to be a boy or a girl, we’ve tried to stay neutral with a soft buttercup yellow paint for the walls, a white crib that I watched Mack build, and a matching baby changing table and dresser set up on the wall near the window.As the window overlooks the backyard, I hear Faith laughing as Mack explains his gardening process. My attempt at tuning it out goes so miserably that I regret not escaping into the forest.I know this is Mack being friendly so Faith will open up about why she’s come to Winter Lake in pain, but that doesn’t make it any easier to listen to when I also know how easy Mack is to love.When there’s a soft knock at the door, I turn to it with a smile. “You can come in, Moses.”A second later, the familiar lean figure of the
Last Updated : 2024-07-13FATED ESCAPE Forty Six
“My son is the next alpha of the Raleighs, which means he doesn’t need to be tied to a weak omega carrying another man’s pup. Soon, he’ll realize that, if he hasn’t already, that is.”Although his words are hurtful, they’re not unexpected. Not with the way I’ve caught him staring at me, and not with the things he’s said. But since I doubt I’m going to change his mind about anything, I don’t even try. I continue walking away.“She killed herself. Did Mack tell you that?”The pain and rage I feel building inside him warn me that I’m dealing with anguish so old that it’s practically ingrained in him. It makes me even more wary, because every time he’s in pain, it will trigger his anger.I keep walking toward the house because staying isn’t safe. “I didn’t say you could leave,” he murmurs.I hear him take a step as if to follow. My heart thumps in alarm, because if he tries to hurt me, I’m going to hit him with emotion and I have no idea what it’s going to do to him. Probably make this si
Last Updated : 2024-07-13
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
