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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SEVEN
With my wolf eyes, better adjusted to the darkness, I finally see it. The San Diego pack, all in wolf form, their fur a rainbow of greys and browns, is racing up the mountain toward us.They’ve arrived just in time.I join them, adding the pounding of my paws to the sound of them descending on the bear clan.My first order of business is to free Jasper, biting through the ropes around his arms with my sharp teeth. Then Orsina and Zach are freed, joining us in the battle.It’s a brutal and difficult battle. Bears are strong, difficult to take down, and vicious in their own way. Wolves are faster, though, and we outnumber them. The San Diego pack hasn’t been struggling under a generational curse that’s been slowly killing them off, so we have nearly twice as many members as Barrett’s bear clan.I see one of the younger members of the bear clan, a male who seemed rather obsessed with Orsina, chasing her down. I pounce on him, biting down with my strong jaws and giving Orsin
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EIGHT
“Let’s talk about this,” Sarah says, approaching the bear clan’s Alpha slowly. “I think we can figure something out.”“What do you mean?” Barrett asks.“A truce,” Nash says. “No one here wants this mountain to blow up. It would destroy your clan and your home as well as that of the wolf pack.”“I have no choice,” Barrett says. “It has to happen. If some of us die, then their sacrifice was necessary to rescue our clan.”“Rescue your clan from what?” Sarah asks. Her voice is gentle but firm, the same tone she uses to talk to Stella and Samuel when the two children are squabbling or misbehaving. “From whatever destruction those wolves have been bringing down on us since long before I was born!” Barrett shouts.“That sounds really hard,” Sarah says. “I bet it feels like your clan has been cursed.”“We have! It’s a curse! And the only way to end it is to finally destroy them!” Barrett points accusingly at Jasper and Zach, now huddled together behind the San Diego pack.
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NINE
No one in the San Diego pack was able to talk Greyson out of his insistence that he ought to be the one to carry out the potentially fatal rescue mission. He says a grim goodbye to Nash and leaves to creep up the side of the ridge where he can sit, unnoticed by the bear clan, until and unless he needs to leap into action and sacrifice himself for the rest of the pack.As for me, I’m determined to make Greyson’s sacrifice unnecessary. He won’t need to come down on Barrett and try to wrestle the detonator away from him if I can just convince the bear clan’s Alpha to listen to us.We decide that I should be the one to try and talk to him. He trusts me, or at least he knows me, after our time together. I’m not exactly the sorceress that Layla is, but I am her Star Twin. Plus, I know all about the carving and its inscription, and the blessing and curse that form its two sides. “I’m coming with you,” Orsina insists. I open my mouth to protest, but she just takes me by the hand and
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY
One member of the bear clan steps, skinny and ruddy faced, steps forward. “Could the wolf girl read the poem again?”Barrett hands the carving back to me with a commanding grunt. I obey, reading the inscription slowly, clearly, and loudly.“Yeah, I know some of those lines,” the bear says.“Where from?” Barrett asks.“My mom used to sing a song like that,” he tells us. “But it wasn’t about a blood feud or a curse or anything like that. It was longer, and kind of different.”“Different how?” Barrett sounds like he’s getting impatient now, and I don’t exactly blame him.The tall bear clan member looks nervous, twisting his hands together. “I’m not sure if it means anything, or what it means…”“Damn it, Rocky, just tell us what the song said!”“It was a love song,” Rocky says. “About a great love. She used to say it was about the two mountains, a girl and a boy, but there are lines in the song about wolves and bears. It’s all romantic, lots of kisses and longing lo
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE
“WHAT!?” Barrett’s eyes look like they’re going to burst out of his skull. “Zach and I are in love,” Orsina says with a wide grin. “And we are going to be mated.”“No, no, no no no no no.” Barrett crosses his arms and shakes his head. “I’m on board to make a truce with the wolves, and see if this blessing thing is real, but I draw the line at a member of my own clan becoming mates with one of them.”“But that’s how we end this thing once and for all,” Orsina pleads.“This has gone too far. I won’t have it.” Barrett reaches out to take Orsina by the arm and pull her back toward him. “We’ll let your new wolf friends go, but we bears are going back to our camp site to talk this over.”“No!” Orsina yanks her arm back from Barrett and stands beside Zach. “I’m not leaving him.”“Well I’m not allowing this,” Barrett says. “Just because you kids found some cool rock down by the stream doesn’t mean we’re going to change how we do things after hundreds of years.”“But doing
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
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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
