Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond novel Chapter 532

~Jace ~

The way I remembered the Clear Waters pack was a distant memory.

The softness, the tranquillity of the landscape…everything that made it what it was…is now steel, metal..a cold harshness.

The brutality in contrast to how I remember it was a wake up call to how long I had been away. I had been gone, what shy of a year…look how much has happened in that year.

Mum said steel borders, I imagined steel borders…but to actually see them was something else.

Not only that, warriors of the Dark Phantom pack had infiltrated the pack here…turning the clear waters warriors into something else.

I get it, Dad needed to send them to protect the borders but if the Dark Phantom was considered night…then the Clear Waters was always knowns as being the light to its darkness.

It had been a week since Callie and I left the Dark Phantom pack.

A week of Callie getting used to her new pack, and taking the time to get to know the pack members.

Today the family descended, everyone…and I mean everyone was coming. Even the Arancea’s…apparently my family cannot do anything without them.

But them coming serves a purpose once and for all.

Today, I would announce the date Callie would be made a pack member and the Luna through me marking her.

We talked about it in detail, more Callie bringing it up every time she could…

…Was I sure I wanted to mark her…

…I shouldn’t mark her to keep the mate bond open in case I change my mind…

…That she can be a pack member and be a Luna that way…

But in marking her, I was setting Cleo free. I was unchaining myself from the very thing that threatened to topple me.

My mind was made up.

I was at the sea border over looking the peaceful beach. This was my favourite spot in this land, if I pretend not to take notice of the steel borders to either side of me…I can envisage complete freedom inside of this pack. How it was.

Just looking out to the horizon gave me peace.