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CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE
“We need to come up with a plan, and quickly,” Orsina says. “They want to execute us when the Ursa Major constellation is high in the sky - and that will only be a few hours after sundown, this time of year.”Jasper stands up and starts feeling his way around the trailer. It’s dark, but my eyes have adjusted enough that I can see shadows and shapes, and I know what he’s doing.“Maybe there’s a way out,” Jasper mumbles. He bangs on the metal walls, only to have them banged on from the outside. We hear shouts from the guards, telling us to knock it off.“Probably won’t be too easy to escape, even if we could find an opening in this thing,” I say. “They have at least three of their toughest men outside,” Orsina says. “No way we’ll get past them.”“Then we need to think of something else,” I say. “Some way to trick them, or convince them, or something.”We talk for a while, offering various ideas and suggestions, but nothing comes together. Soon, the sun goes down, a
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
Once everyone wakes up and Orsina and I are back in our human forms, I gather everyone together to tell them about my idea. It seemed to crystallize in my mind as soon as I awoke from my dream, and I want to get it out of my head as soon as possible. “Orsina was right,” I whisper, leaning in to draw my head close to everyone else’s. “A good night’s sleep was exactly what I needed to come up with something.”“What’s the plan?” Zach asks. He looks much better this morning, though the bruises on his face will take a long time to heal.“The bear clan keeps talking about the Whismore line, wanting to end this specific wolf pack and family, right?”Jasper and Zach nod.“Well, I’m not a Whismore. I’m not part of the line.”“But you’re Jasper’s mate,” Zach says, tilting his head with confusion. “That means you join the family line.”“We’re not mated yet,” I say. I tug down my shirt collar to show them, in the gray morning light of the trailer. I don’t have a claiming mark
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ONE
“Alright, girl, what’s your deal?” Barrett pushes me down, hard, making me sit on a fallen log near the campfire.“Could I have some breakfast first?”“Someone give the wolf some bacon,” Barrett commands. The bear clan is all looking at me with distrust, but someone passes me a plastic plate piled with bacon, sausage, and potatoes. I dig in hungrily, feeling guilty knowing that Zach, Jasper, and Orsina are still locked in the trailer without food.But they’re counting on me. I need to be strong and clear headed if I’m going to be able to manipulate Barrett into letting me take the upper hand. I finish the meal, then set the plate on the ground. “Now tell me what’s going on here,” Barrett demands. “I’m actually from California,” I tell him. “But I’ve been having some issues with a local pack. They were trying to steal things, magical things, from me and my sister. I’m a Star Twin, actually. It’s a wolf shifter thing.”“Uh huh.” Barrett doesn’t seem too interested, bu
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO
JASPERAs soon as Ayala leaves the trailer, I feel a deep sense of loss and longing. My heart is aching. It feels like something has been ripped away from me.I can’t live without her. I’m worried about her. And we’re not even mated yet. I never realized what it was like to fall in love with someone. Now that I have, I don’t know what to do with myself. I pace back and forth in the tiny trailer, jumping up and down occasionally to stay warm.Zach and Orsina are huddled up in the far corner, their arms wrapped around each other. They’re whispering and giggling to each other, but I can’t hear what they’re talking about.I can’t focus on anything but Ayala. I hadn’t realized just how badly I would miss her when we were separated. I haven’t been away from her since we admitted to each other that we’re in love, and that we want to be mates.Part of me wishes that we had already mated. I shouldn’t have held her at arm’s length for so long. I tried to keep my distance,
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE
Barrett thinks I’m on his side. He thinks I’m willing to work with him to trick Jasper into telling me where his family’s ancestral cave is. He also thinks that I trust him and fully expect him to guarantee my safety, as well as that of the other wolf shifters, once he gets this information.Of course, he’s being played, even while he thinks I’m playing him. I have to stay calm and focused if I’m going to prevent him from figuring out what I am up to. The next thing I need to do is make sure I can get cell signal. If I can let Layla and Sarah and Nash know what’s going on, then I can get the San Diego pack to come up here and help. Once they’re out here and on our side, I know we’ll be able to get out from under this awful situation.I have to convince Barrett to let me go down into the town of Serpent Creek, where I’ll be able to use my phone to get ahold of the San Diego pack.“He mentioned the lawyer having some maps and papers,” I tell him. “Maybe if I could get those,
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR
Once back at the bear camp, the plan is for Barrett to “toss” me back into the prison trailer, shouting at me for being “useless.” That way, he thinks, I’ll be able to rejoin the prisoners as one of their friends, and talk about the ancestral cave’s location with Jasper and Zach.It would be a stupid plan if it was real. There’s no way that wolf shifters would just welcome back someone who had abandoned them like that, let alone let slip important information around them.But Barrett doesn’t seem like the sharpest fang on the jawbone, so to speak, and since I’ve presented myself as a helpless, lost, weak little girl, he isn’t paying much attention to my machinations. He does, annoyingly, seem to take a bit too much pleasure in tossing me back into the trailer. I fall on the ground, skinning my knees and collapsing on the hard metal of the floor.“Ayala!”Jasper is by my side as soon as the door shuts behind Barrett. “What happened? Are you okay?”“I’m fine,” I mumble
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE
Sure enough, someone brings us plates of dinner. I share mine with the rest of the group, knowing that they didn’t have a chance to take a break from this awful prison trailer like I did.Jasper refuses to let me give him any of his dinner, though, pushing the portion back toward me. His eyes are filled with love, and concern, and a twinge of fear. The sun goes down. Barrett will want to complete the executions tonight, if possible.One of the guards opens the door and orders me out. I stand outside in the freezing cold while Barrett saunters up to me wearing a thick fur coat.“Well, girlie? What did you get for me?”“I’m close,” I tell him. “Really close. One of the Whismore boys even thinks I have a crush on him.”“Close,” Barrett repeats. “Does that mean you still don’t know where that grave is?”I shake my head. “I’m trying, but you know, if you push someone too hard to tell you something, they get suspicious.”“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Bar
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX
I watch out the window as the stars rise in the sky and dust clouds billow from the trucks and all terrain vehicles all heading toward the location I’ve given them.The spot where Barrett thinks he’ll be able to finally eliminate the Whismore family line. The spot where he intends to kill my beloved Jasper. The spot where, if my plan has worked, my San Diego pack will be lying in wait to ambush the bear clan and rescue me. I can hardly breathe.Barrett pulls up at the spot, the rocky ridge I gave as a landmark rising high above us into the dark Montana sky.He jumps heavily to the ground, then comes around to help me down out of the truck. I’ve played myself up as a weak, helpless, lost little girl, so I have to keep playing along for a while so he continues to trust me.I see Jasper, Zach, and Orsina all being roughly led to stand near the ridge. Their hands are bound behind their backs. Their eyes follow the bear clan members who are carrying armfuls of explosives
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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
