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CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT
After a few minutes of vicious, overlapping argument between everyone, Arnold puts his fingers in his mouth and lets out a high pitched whistle that startles everyone into silence. Many of the Arizona shifters who had still been asleep on their makeshift beds sit up, rubbing their eyes and looking confused.I hope they feel half as frightened and helpless as I felt, waking up in a cage made of silver bars with Malcolm and Brandon standing over me, threatening Nash’s life.“What, specifically, are you asking for?” Arnold asks. I’m grateful to him for taking over these bizarre negotiations - he knows a lot more about werewolf law and lore than I do, and I doubt I would even be able to talk about the notion of losing my baby without dissolving into screaming sobs.“Our proposal is as follows,” Brandon says. “The child will return to Arizona with us, to be raised as a member of our pack.”“Only the child?” Arnold asks.“Its mother is welcome to accompany it in order to care
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SIXTY NINE
Juliana heads off to fix some tea, Samuel on her hip. I sit down in the living room with Nash, Arnold, and Layla.“So,” Layla asks. “What fresh miseries have those mangy desert dogs decided to inflict on our pack today?”“They want to take Stella,” I say, clutching my infant protectively to my chest. “Why?” Layla asks.“They know she’s a Crescent Child,” Nash explains. “We discovered it last night, on the beach, and they were nearby.”“Ah,” Layla says. “A Crescent Child. What a precious gift, indeed. It is no wonder that they would want her for themselves.”“It’s my fault,” Nash says, sounding distraught. “If I hadn’t let Regan get to my head, if I had just listened to Sarah when she tried to tell me - instead I made her stay out there with the rest of them, instead of bringing her and Stella safely inside, with me.”“It’s alright,” I say, patting Nash on the leg and cuddling up closer to him on the couch. “They would have found out sooner or later.”“Perhaps,”
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY
We send Regan away with the Arizona shifters, after Arnold gets them to promise that they’ll never come back to our territory. They seem like they keep their word - Arnold said he did a ritual to seal it, so we can be sure they won’t come back - and things get quiet again around the San Diego pack house.Arnold moves in with Layla at her clinic and spa, and soon there are all sorts of new experimental treatments at the spa. Amanda especially likes one that uses seaweed and always comes back from the spa smelling like sea spray and showing off her glowing skin. Greyson takes all the other guards and soldiers from the pack there every week for massages, and they all swear that they’ve gotten faster and stronger because of it.Nash and I still prefer the hot tub, which Layla infuses with all sorts of magical herbs that leave me feeling relaxed yet energized. My regular soaking sessions at the spa make it possible for me to juggle parenting a small child with the duties of a Luna, es
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE
After Isaac leaves, both Nash and I are pretty shaken up. We talk to Greyson about the potential additional threat, and Amanda draws a sketch of the mercenary based on our descriptions. Greyson decides to increase the guards around the edges of our territory, and starts working with Layla to find magical ways to set up more security.Nash and I try to focus on caring for our pack, especially its newest member. Stella, though, seems a bit different after the incident. Samuel’s extreme emotion triggered something in her, and her Crescent Child characteristics appear more and more frequently.One morning when she’s about six months old, Nash and I take her out on the beach to splash around in the waves. She sits at the water’s edge, grabbing fistfuls of sand and kicking her chubby little feet in the water. Nash notices a pod of dolphins swimming around a few meters from shore, and points them out to our little girl.She looks up, following her daddy’s finger, then sees the dolphi
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO
Nash and I sink gratefully into the hot water, inhaling the fragrant, herbal steam. I let Stella sit on the warm tile around the hot tub and dangle her feet into the water, though she still finds the tub a bit too hot to enjoy.“I hope they find something,” Nash says, biting his lip. He seems worried. “I just want her to be healthy, and to have a good life. If there’s something we need to be doing, or watching out for, we should know about it.”I take his hand, lacing our fingers together under the water. “She’s perfect just as she is, and she seems happy and to be doing fine. Juliana says she’s growing well and hitting all the same developmental milestones that Samuel did, which is a good thing.”“Yeah,” Nash says, but he still sounds nervous. “It’s just that we’re so young, and my parents aren’t around anymore, and yours aren’t either, so I wonder if there’s something we’re missing about raising a baby shifter.”“Arnold and Layla are experts in all this stuff,” I reassure
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE
Nash and I wake up the next morning very excited to see what happens when we take Stella to the beach. We slather her fair skin in sunscreen and pag a bag full of snacks and toys, then head down to the water.Juliana and Samuel are already there, stretched out on a towel with a big striped umbrella shading them. We set up a spot nearby and Samuel starts clapping and waving at his best friend.Although we’re both nearly holding our breath, waiting for Stella’s unique nature as a Crescent Child to reveal itself, the entire day passes without any interesting incident. Nash takes Stella out into the water, wading through the surf with her on his hip, and afterwards we all take a nap, cuddled up together as a family, feeling safe and sun sleepy.Amanda and Greyson are off exploring a village market, and Layla and Arnold arrive on the beach later in the afternoon, both looking well rested and rosy cheeked. Layla comes bearing ice cold popsicles and a spread of cheese, crackers, and
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR
Stella continues her singing, adding more complexity to the sound, sliding between octaves as effortly as if she was playing a violin. I feel transfixed, lost in her song.Then, the glow coming from Stella’s fur begins to spread out. First, it runs along the sand in drifting tendrils, meeting up with the ocean at the edge of the waves, where it rushes over the surface of the water like an oil slick.“Incredible,” Arnold whispers. No one else speaks. Stella finally quiets down, looking expectantly out at the ocean. Rising up from the glow are figures, somehow standing on the water and walking toward us.Layla gasps, and as the figures get closer, I do too. Standing before me, their bodies made entirely out of a slivery lunar glow, are Caleb and my parents.Other figures appear, people I don’t recognize, and they approach Nash, or Layla, or Arnold. There seems to be someone here for everyone, and I hear muffled cries of overwhelmed joy as all my pack members here on the beach
The Alpha's Mate CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE
Beside me, all the other living shifters on the beach seem to be having a similar experience. I hear them murmuring in conversation with the souls who have come to speak with them, then one by one, the glowing spirits depart, leaving us standing on the beach, facing the ocean, our hearts full.Nash walks over to me, silently taking my hand. “I got to talk to my dad,” he says quietly. “He says he’s so proud of Stella. And of me. Congratulated me on finding such a wonderful mate.”“My dad said the same thing.” I lean against Nash, feeling soothed by the sturdy warmth of his body. It was wonderful to see Caleb again, but he was right - I belong with Nash now, and it feels right and good to be physically beside him. Slowly, the rest of the shifters who joined us on this trip drift over to us. Most are sniffling with bittersweet tears. All of them look grateful if a little bit shaken. “I think some questions have been answered tonight,” Arnold says, “but perhaps even more
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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
