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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TWO
We all stand in reverent silence for a moment. Then Norah, the wolf who appeared to explain the origins of the carving and its blessing, nuzzles against Orsina. At the same time, Arlo pats his heavy paw on Zach’s shoulder again.Before our eyes, the wolf and bear disappear, their bodies flowing into small images now visible on Orsina and Zach’s skin. On Orsina’s upper arm, the image of a wolf, and on the exact same place, Zach has an image of a bear.The carving is no longer. Now, Norah and Arlo and their legacy live on in the strange, beautiful tattoos marking Orsina and Zach.Bears don’t do claiming marks as part of their mating ritual - Orsina told me that, when we were stuck in the prison trailer together talking - so this seems to be taking their place. Zach and Orsina are now sealed into their mated bond, marked with and for each other.“Well then,” Barrett says, coughing awkwardly. “I can’t say I fully understand everything that’s just transpired, but as the Alpha of
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THREE
Things are looking like they’re going to settle down in Montana, so Jasper and I decide it’s time to go home. But we don’t want to head straight back to the Santa Cruz tree house. It seems like Isaac and Regan have things well under control there, so we hop in with the San Diego caravan and plan for some relaxing beachside time.Jasper and I still haven’t actually sealed our mating bond, but our friends Sarah and Nash take it upon themselves to get us a beautiful hotel along the way, a massive penthouse all to ourselves, overlooking the granite cliffs and blue lakes of Glacier National Park.“Don’t worry about keeping up with the rest of the caravan,” Sarah tells me, pressing the lacquered wood hotel key into my hand. “We’ll have everything nice and ready for you when you get home.”“Take as much time as you like,” Nash tells Jasper. I can see in both of their expressions that Sarah and Nash are so happy for us, especially me, finding a new mate after the heartbreak of losing
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FOUR
SIX MONTHS LATER“Regan, are we all set for the self defense overnight this weekend?”“Absolutely, boss!”I smile and head back down the hallway toward the bedroom wing that Jasper and I now share. We’ve converted my old living suite into a temporary guest space for clients who want to stay for a more immersive experience. After six months, we have our training business off the ground. Howling Wolf Tactical Trainings has become a huge success, especially now that we take human and pet dog clients as well. People come from all over the country to work with us, training guard dogs, search and rescue canines, and even the occasional service dog for paralympians and other outdoor, active service dog teams. “How are things going with this overnight?” Jasper asks me, pulling on his workout gear as he steps out of the shower.“Regan says everything is all set up,” I tell him. “The first night, they’ll be sleeping up here, and then we’ll do a beachside campout with tactical e
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE
It’s been a long morning out on the beach. We’re training wolf shifters, which mean we’re a bit more casual and friendly with them, more open about who we are, than when we’re with human clients. But this group has been slow to warm up to us. They’re from a wolf pack out in Maine, sent out by their Alpha to train with us, and it’s clear that not all of them were too thrilled to spend a few weeks out in California getting run ragged by Jasper and me.“It’s miserably hot out here,” one of the shifters whines as he grabs a towel and wipes his face. Santa Cruz isn’t exactly a tropical paradise, but there’s no shade out on the beach, and it’s probably warmer than wherever they’re from in Maine.“We can go for a swim in the water later,” I promise him, handing him a fresh water bottle.“That’s too cold,” he says.“Not in wolf form,” I tell him. “Have you ever gotten in the ocean as a wolf?”He shakes his head. “Always figured the salt water would be bad for my fur. Plus, the o
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX
Zach and Orsina don’t have any idea who the wolf shifters were who tried to attack them in Serpent’s creek.But I think I do.“Let me see that again,” I ask, gently taking Zach’s arm and inspecting the burn from the wolfsbane weapon. “You said it smelled bad?”“Awful,” Zach says, wrinkling his nose at the memory.“I couldn’t smell anything,” Orsina says with a baffled shrug.“That’s because it was wolfsbane,” I tell them. “It’s an incredibly dangerous magical herb that can kill or severely weaken werewolves. You were lucky to make it out alive.”Zach and Orsina seem to share my relief at their well being. They lean in on each other, arms around each other’s shoulders.“There’s only one wolf pack I know about that’s running around with wolfsbane weapons,” I say.“Really?” Orsina’s eyes go wide. “You know those guys?”“If it’s who I think it is, yeah. It’s Sarah’s old pack out of Flagstaff, Arizona.”“Your Luna’s old pack!?” Zach looks angry, worried, like h
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SEVEN
Orsina seems relieved that the plan ends up being to take them back to Montana. I can’t blame her. We leave Regan and Isaac in charge of Howling Wolf, which is much easier to do this time for a handful of reasons. One, I’m tired of dealing with the unhappy training clients from the pack out in Maine. Isaac, with his gruff, silent warrior personality, will probably be able to handle them better.Second, I know they’ll do a great job. Now that we’ve been working together for six months, I trust Regan and Isaac with every aspect of the business. I know that Regan had some past problems with Sarah and Nash, but all of that seems like water under the bridge, and since it didn’t even involve me, it’s easy enough to just be Regan’s friend and business partner.They see us off, waving from the driveway as Jasper, Orsina, Zach and I head out on the road, making our way back toward Montana.“I can’t wait to get to Clara’s,” Jasper says, watching as the mountains and cliffs of Montan
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT
JASPERWeston leads me and Zach over to a small path that leads into the woods. I’m genuinely surprised that he wants to spend time with us. But we’re about the same age, and now that he’s taken over as Alpha, maybe he wants to demonstrate strong leadership by forging these bonds.There’s a clearing in the woods with a little campfire already burning. Weston sits down on a log and starts handing out hot dogs and sticks to roast them on.“Thanks for this,” I say, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about this. Up until very recently, Weston and his crew were engaged in a blood feud with me and Zach, trying to kill us and destroy our ancestral cave.But I’m grateful for the second chance. I’m not sure what my parents would think of me having this sort of “guy time” with a bear shifter, but we’re the generation in charge now, and we get to forge a new path forward. “So,” Zach says, biting into his charred hot dog, “how’s it been, taking over as Alpha? I always figured it mus
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY NINE
Orsina and I are trying out best to get out of the trailer. She’s shifted into bear form and managed to claw back a small metal panel, which I’m doing my best to pry open and unscrew using a blunt butter knife from one of the camper’s drawers.Suddenly, just as I’m about to give up on this plan and attempt something else, there’s a massive THUD against the side of the camper. We hear Zach and Jasper pounding on the windows, shouting for us.With their strength added to our efforts, they’re able to rip the window out of the camper’s wall completely. Orsina shifts back and scrambles out, with Jasper reaching in to help me do the same.“What happened?” I ask. Jasper and Zach both look bloodied and battered. I jump into Jasper’s arms and he holds me tight, obviously grateful to see me again.“We’ll tell you later,” Zach says, breathlessly. “For now, though, we’ve gotta get out of here.”We race through the woods, all four of us shifting into our animal forms to make better t
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The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED
Damian is a healthy baby, well loved, and by the time he’s a few months old, it’s obvious that Jasper and I don’t need to stick around in Serpent’s Creek. The mansion is nearly full to bursting with wolf and bear shifters excited to be part of this new family and to dote on the precious baby whose existence symbolizes a fresh start for everyone.Jasper mentions going home to Santa Cruz a few times before I’m happy about it, though. I tell him that Orsina could still use my help, or that there’s still some magic I want to learn from Clara. He sees right through my excuses, though. “Are you nervous and going back to live somewhere with those guys in the basement?” Jasper asks me one evening, sliding his hands around my waist to nibble at my earlobes as he asks. “Maybe,” I say. “Now that he’s not a rabbit anymore, and he’s seen me and spoken to me, and he’s already gotten out once -”“He didn’t get out,” Jasper reminds me. “We let him think he escaped.”“I know, but he th
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE
My eyes fall shut easily, after such a long day. But I don’t sleep very deeply. Instead, I get caught up in a long, complex dream.In the dream, I’m back in the celestial realm, standing in the same dungeon cage that Coello used to keep me in. Sterling is there, too, walking up to me with those piercing gray eyes and that familiar smile. “Hello,” he says. He leans in to kiss me, and I think that the bars will prevent him from being able to, but he just passes right through. I feel his hands on my face, his lips on mine, and he kisses me for a long time.When I open my eyes after the kiss, I’m no longer in the cage. Now, Sterling and I are standing on top of the massive tower where we found him, high up above the rest of the celestial realm. But when I look out, I don’t see the rolling, starlit darkness of the celestial realm. I see the golden yellow plains of Montana, the valley that stretches out around Serpent’s Creek.“Where are we?” I ask, feeling strangely dizzy.
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT
Clara and Zach arrive soon enough, and we all go careening up the mountain. With Clara behind the wheel, we get back to the house in record time. Orsina is sweating now, her breaths coming heavy and hard, and Zach has to help her out of the truck and into her room.“Can you shift?” Clara asks her, gently lowering the laboring mother down into her bed. “It’s so much easier if you shift.”“I think so,” Orsina says. She squeezes her eyes shut, holding her breath. It takes a few tries, but soon she’s a bear, curled up on top of the quilts in her bedroom.“Perfect, perfect,” Clara coos. “There you go, mama bear.”“Could that cause a problem for the baby?” Zach asks, hovering in the doorway. Clara asked him to bring towels, and he’s already brought twice as many as we’ll need, but he has yet another armful. I don’t even know where he’s getting them from, at this point. Even a mansion like this can only hold so many towels.“What do you mean?” Clara asks, her voice calm and unf
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN
When we call home to let Regan and Isaac know what’s going on, they’re thrilled to hear that Barrett is okay and that Zach and Orsina have a safe place to land. They tell us that Howling Wolf is doing amazingly well - after so many volunteers and friends came to help us with the battle, we’ve gotten tons more clients in the shifter world, and we’ve been able to hire a handful of new employees.Since they seem to have things well in hand, Jasper and I decide to stay in Montana. We set up in one of the westward facing bedrooms, next door to Zach and Orsina. Clara and Bennett take an upstairs bedroom, smaller but cozier and with more privacy. With Weston defeated and his supporters scattered after our Santa Cruz victory, the rest of the bear clan needs a leader and a place to stay. Through a peaceful process, Clara and Barrett become the Alpha and Luna for the bear clan. Bear clans don’t typically refer to their Alpha’s mates as a “Luna,” but Clara is a wolf, and the title just see
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SIX
“Barrett!” Orsina rushes to his side, laying a hand over his forehead. He lifts his head weakly at her voice, then his eyes spark with recognition.“Orsina…” he croaks, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Help…”Everything then happens in a flurry of activity. Clara sends everyone but Orsina out of the room, giving each of us specific directions. Jasper is sent to get a bowl of hot water and towels, I’m supposed to find a medicine kit under the sink in the kitchen, and Zach is told to go secure the perimeter of the house, especially the rear door.I return with the medicine chest in my arms. It smells familiar, full of the healing herbs and magical potions Layla often uses. It’s also got modern medical stuff like clean white bandages and stitching kits.Clara instantly sets about getting Barrett to sit up. She holds a glass of water to his lips, encouraging him to drink and take a handful of pills and capsules she’s picked out of the medicine chest. She works on Barrett fo
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE
We barely have time to process everything Clara has told us before she’s packing us a picnic dinner and ushering us out the door. We pile into her battered, ancient Jeep, which is almost definitely running more on shifter magic than gasoline at this point, and she heads out toward the mountains. “So, uh,” Orsina asks, after a bit of silence, “does that mean this is, like…you?” She rolls up her sleeve to show the tattoo mark of the wolf that appeared on her arm after the spirits from the carving gave their blessing.“It is perhaps an image of me,” Clara says in her cryptic way as she careens up the switchbacking roads. “Or, perhaps it is another manifestation of my spirit. There have been many over the years.”“What about your beloved?” Orsina asks. “The bear shifter you fell in love with. Where is he?”“That is a lovely question,” Clara says softly. “At times, we have found each other. At other times, our spirits have been far from one another. Since the curse took a deep
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR
It takes Malcolm and Coello a little while to accept the reality of their new situation - that Malcolm is irreversibly bound to Coello, and that Coello is bound to us by virtue of some very powerful magic Layla cooked up for us. They snarl and fight, argue and wheedle, and even try to bust out of their chains by brute force. But nothing works. We’ve won. Malcolm and Weston are both banished to cells in the basement, very far apart to prevent them trying to scheme together. Maybe someday we’ll have another use for them, but for now, it’s a breath of fresh air to know that my biggest enemy, and the biggest enemy of my pack, are both completely neutralized. I had hoped that we would be able to relax and settle down for a bit now that this problem has been solved. In fact, we had a lovely day after the battle, with all our friends and volunteers and former trainees lounging on the beach and splashing around in the cool water.But something is bothering Orsina. She paces, agitate
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE
The Moon Rabbit doesn’t waste any time once Malcolm agrees to the binding spell. With quick, almost spider like hands, Coello spreads the stalks and herbs out on the rocky beach, fluttering them into complex shapes. I stand on my tiptoes, peering out from behind my hiding place. Coello’s form of magic is rough and brutish, nothing like the delicate work Layla does. But it does the job. Malcolm steps over the edges of the intricate shape Coello has created on the ground, and even I can feel the burst of intense magic that snaps through the air as the spell takes effect. “I look forward to having you in my service,” Coello says with a low bow. “For now, however, I must depart. Do enjoy your newfound power.”Malcolm smiles, flexing his hands like he can somehow feel himself getting stronger. Then the two separate, Coello sneaking back into the tree house before anyone catches him outside.I’m surprised, but not entirely so. Some of us thought Coello would try to get as far a
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TWO
The various wolf shifters staying with us to help out have been instructed not to speak with the Moon Rabbit, but to keep a close eye on him. Coello soon gives up trying to draw them into conversation and instead just wanders around the busy tree house, doing what he clearly thinks is subtle reconnaissance in preparation for his escape attempt. What he doesn’t know is that his ability to slip out of here isn’t going to be the result of his own careful cleverness. It will be perfectly engineered by me and my team, right down to the very moment. It’s early afternoon when we get the signal. We’ve had scouts placed in inconspicuous locations all around the forest and the town of Santa Cruz watching for any sigh of Malcolm or Weston. Sure enough, they roll into town with a huge entourage of bear shifters and werewolves. Our scouts say that they’ve set up a campsite near the beach about a mile south from our location, and that Malcolm is heading our way on his own, apparently to chec
