All Chapters of Mated (Mortal, Book Two): Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

WendyIce floods my veins, and my legs feel like lead. It's impossible to move them. One of the Silver Hunters whistles, and there's a responding whistle in another part of the woods."You thought you could get away, hm?" A Silver Hunter approaches, and though they all look the same under the helmets, I recognize the voice. He was one of the hunters who tried to stop me in the wishing well.Did they get the Golden Coin?My heart squeezes.If the coin is as powerful as Alec says, if it has the ability to grant immense power and wishes to whomever holds it, would the Silver Hunters even be out here looking for us? Wouldn't they be back at Hawthorn, making plans to fry bigger fish?I lick my lips and take a step back. Alec presses against my shoulder. "Stay back," he growls.The Silver Hunter looks at one of his buddies and chuckles. The hounds are straining at their leashes, several of the hunters using all their strength to hold them back."What are you going to do, boy?" The

WendyFlames lick the sky, and smoke chokes the air. I push through the haze, my eyes burning from the heat. All around me, the walls are on fire.“Wendy!”My heart lunches. That voice! It’s Brynn!“Brynn!” I whirl around, looking for the first friend I made at Hawthorn. I haven’t seen her since we split up when the Silver Hunters attacked the school, and since then, I’ve constantly been wondering if she’s okay. Or if she’s even alive."Where are you?" I yell."I’m here! Help!"I spin around again, and suddenly, I'm in the wishing well. The cool water dances, and at the very bottom of the well, the Golden Coin sparkles."Up here!" Brynn calls.I lean back and catch sight of her at the very top of the stairs. She clutches the railing and looks down at me, her eyes wide and panicked."Hold on!" I run up the stairs."Hurry! They're coming!"A looming figure appears behind her shoulder, and my breath catches in my throat. I want to scream, to warn her, but it's like my voice

Wendy"I think that's deep enough." Alec stands back and wipes his brow, leaving a smear of dirt on his forehead.I twist my lips at the hole we've dug. We both know it could be deeper, but we've already hung around in one spot for an hour. We're pushing our luck when it comes to evading the Silver Hunters.There's an awkward moment as we stand there. Professor Trowles's body is next to the hole, her eyes closed and her face pale. All of her energy and sparkle is gone. She's nothing but a husk of the person she was.Anger and sadness ripples through me. I barely even knew her, but she was one of the few people at Hawthorn who welcomed me in with open arms. She didn't whisper when I entered a room or treat me like I had the plague.Which one of the Silver Hunters was responsible for her death?My fingers curl into the dirt. I want to find that person. I want to make them pay for what they did.Energy courses through my veins, and I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. I'm d

Wendy"You're sure this is it?" Alec asks.I check the address on the scrap of paper. Check it again."Yep." Nodding at the mailbox, I stuff the paper into my pants.Alec rubs his head. "I don't know. This seems off."It's hard to disagree with that. The address the old woman gave us brought us to an old warehouse. The place is definitely abandoned, and the whole place has a creepy vibe.The fence surrounding the warehouse is twisted like a pretzel. The chain link has tarnished with age, the metal corroding and warping. A tree has found purchase on the fence and grown halfway over, branches reaching out towards the warehouse as if to throttle it. The old warehouse has been abandoned for a long time, with smashed windows and a cracked sign.It looks like no one has stepped foot in this place for years.So, why would Igor Rhodes be here?Anger rises in my chest. "We came all this way for nothing," I grumble.That woman must have been lying. She tricked us into giving her that

WendyIn the tunnel, Alec paces back and forth, his fist pressed to his mouth. I can nearly feel the energy crackling off him."I don't know whether to trust him or not," he says.Sighing, I take a seat on a barrel. "What does that even matter? Like it or not, he's all we have."He shakes his head. "He's freaked out. Afraid of something or someone.""Yeah." Using the toe of my shoe, I draw a line in the packed earth. "He didn't seem to be scared of the Silver Hunters, though. It's something else.""And I doubt he'll tell us what.""If he'd just tell us, we could move on.""I don't think he wants to move on," Alec says. "I get the sense he's been underground for a long time. I might actually be worried about him. If he doesn't rejoin the world soon, I think he might go crazy."I nod, agreeing with him. "There's something about him that's just ... off.""What do you mean?"I wrinkle my nose. "He's not a bad guy, but he's been closed up in that cave for so long.""You mean h