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Chapter 123: Panic Room, part 3
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Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 124: Xander's Truth
(Xander POV)As I stood on the border of Bloodstone Pack, waiting to give the “go” signal to the second group of fighters, I felt ready, nervous, and introspective.I knew that our odds of success on this mission were low, and that many of our fighters would die. It was a harsh reality for me to accept. The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on me, knowing that many wolves that I had known and respected for years may not be coming home…. and knowing that I may not come home myself.The weight was so heavy that I had been unable to sleep the night before the attack. My heart, my stomach, and every part of my body burned and hurt painfully. On a positive note, experiencing the stress before the attack caused me to gain a new appreciation for my father. Despite challenging him for years on why he had become so reluctant to engage in war, I now understood.War was not easy. Only a fool would think it was.Even so, I was determined to see this through. The risks and the stress
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 125: Xander's Answers
(Xander POV)There are a lot of things to tell you, and a lot of things I am sure that you want to know, so I will just dive right on in.How long have I known that Leo and Piper were fated mates?Since shortly after my father agreed to the arranged marriage between Leo and Piper.How did I find out?After I failed to convince my father to back out of the arranged marriage bullsh&t, I visited a seer. I needed to know what Leo’s interest was in Piper, and why he was going to such great lengths to get her, and my trusted investigators were coming up empty.Did my father know?He knew that I was going to see a seer, but I never told him what the seer told me. He had been adamantly opposed to me going. He warned me that it was dangerous to know the future, especially without any context for it. He also warned me that the quality of the information yielded from a seer not only depended on the seer, but also on the quality of the questions themselves. It was not something a novice shoul
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 126: The Attack Plan
(Xander POV)It was now 11 am on Friday morning.The first two waves of the attack had been successful. In minutes, I would give the green light for the third and final phase.This was the phase that I was most looking forward to, because it was the phase in which I would personally go into the packhouse and rescue Piper. Goddess, how I missed her. It had only been two weeks, and yet it felt like a lifetime.According to my senior warriors —and according to my own observations— we currently had 164 seriously injured warriors on our side, whereas Bloodstone had 42. Neither side had suffered any casualties yet.Normally, a count of 164-42 would represent a devastating loss, even without any known casualties. However, these numbers were actually far better than we had expected going in.You see, we never intended to truly win the attack. We merely needed to create enough of a distraction so that we could get our special forces, including myself, into the packhouse.The general frame
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 127: Xander's Man Crush
(Xander POV)Spoiler alert: the final wave of the attack did not go as planned. Or at least not the way that I planned.Before I explain what happened, I need to back up a little bit and explain some more about how Ellis factored into all of this. Fully understanding Ellis’s motives and his role will become important later.Admittedly, looking back on it, it is a little tough for even me to understand what I was thinking back then. Was it my desperation that caused me to trust Ellis so much? Was it my immaturity? Was it my love for Piper?I don’t know. But I suppose the best place to start is this simple cliché:“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”I think this saying comes the closest to explaining why —despite knowing Ellis for such a short period of time— he and I became very close very quickly. Indeed, from our initial conversations, it became obvious that Ellis hated Leo Bloodstone even more than I did. And because of his hatred, rules did not matter to him. Nor did et
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 128: No Ordinary Attack
(Leo Bloodstone POV)I had been fighting in my wolf form for hours, alongside my father, Nick Brogan, and the rest of my team.I had barely broken a sweat, and we were doing a good job of dealing with the overall threat. However, enemy fighters kept coming at us, and I could not shake the feeling that something was off.Of course, I had felt that way from the moment that I was notified that we were under attack.Almost from the get-go, there were several clues confirming that this was no ordinary attack —some small; some much more obvious.Clue # 1 was that we were attacked at all. It had been at least ten years since the last direct attack on Bloodstone Pack. We took pride in our reputation for being ruthless, unforgiving, and undefeated; most packs and rogues in the country knew not to mess with us. That someone —or multiple someones— had decided to attack us meant that we were dealing with wolves who were either desperate or who had a death wish.Clue # 2 was the bizarre way th
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 129: Hallway Confrontation
(Xander POV)“Looking for something?” F&&k. F&&k, f&&k, f&&k.Running into Leo Bloodstone was not part of my plan. Nor was it part of any of my contingency plans.I turned around. Leo was leaning smugly against the wall with his arms crossed, wearing just a pair of basketball shorts.“What are you doing, Xander?” he asked. His tone was patronizing, like he was talking to a young pup instead of another alpha. Worse, he seemed more annoyed than angry. It did not bode well for the position that I was now in.I sighed. I was not going to let this a&&hole get under my skin. I reminded myself that he had more to lose —and more reason to worry— than I did right now. All I had to do was improvise and everything would be fine.I hoped.“What does it look like I am doing?” I sneered. “I am rescuing Piper.”Leo glared at me. “She doesn’t need rescuing.”“I heard she is marrying you tomorrow,” I challenged.“She is,” he confirmed.“Then she needs rescui
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 130: Double-Crossed Betrayal
(Xander POV)“If you are expecting an apology and a retreat, you can go f&&k yourself. I would do anything it takes to protect Piper.”“Anything?”“Anything.”Leo's question and tone sounded ominous, but like the master manipulator Ellis had described him to be, Leo went a completely different direction.“Then act like the best friend that she thinks you are. Think for a minute about what she wants and what is best for her.”“What does that mean?”“It means that you need to support her decision to marry me. And if you can’t, you need to go home to your new mate and let her go.”F&&k me. This pompous, narcissistic a&&hole was even more full of himself than I realized.“I will NEVER let her go, you A&&hole. Marrying you will destroy her. I have heard about your plans for her.”“You are wrong. I love her, Xander. I would never hurt her.”At that point, the sincerity in his voice almost broke me. Almost.But then I realized that Leo was talking to me as though I was nothing more t
Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal Chapter 131: Xander's Mind-Game
(Xander POV)I would love to tell you that hearing about the passcode and phone call was all it took for me to fully appreciate how wrong I had been to trust Ellis.It wasn’t. Of course, Leo’s words planted deep seeds of doubt in my mind. But I am a stubborn male, and my hatred of Leo ran deep. Trusting Leo over Ellis was not something I would easily do.Ultimately, accepting that I had been played by Ellis would not come until I was forced to face reality in a horribly devastating way later, when I returned to Blue Ridge.So what happened instead?Well, instead of immediately accepting the deep sh&t that Ellis had gotten me into, I experienced about 120 seconds of shock while I processed the information Leo had given me. During those 120 seconds, I really did entertain the possibility that Leo was telling the truth, and that this whole thing had been a set-up. It made me feel numb and betrayed and at a loss for what to do next.But then —as I stood there, with Piper just behind t
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