The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 255

Warning-3

“What’s wrong?”

“I know you planned to visit during the autumn festival. In two weeks.”

“Yes…”

“Don’t.”

Lori blinked. “What?”

“Don’t come home. Not for the festival. Not for anything. Stay at the academy.”

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Her mother’s voice was shaking. Lori could hear it now-the tremor beneath the words, the effort it took to

sound calm.

“Mom, what is happening? You’re scaring me.”

“I don’t have time to explain everything.” Her mother’s voice dropped even lower, barely audible. “Just say that you’re stuck with your job. The headmaster’s office. Anything. Tell them you can’t get away.”

Lori’s blood ran cold.

“Promise me, Lori.” Her mother’s voice cracked. “Promise me you won’t come home.”

“I promise.” The words came out automatically, propelled by fear. “But Mom-”

“Don’t say a word to anyone. Pretend you don’t know anything.” A pause. A shuddering breath. “The Alpha is arranging a chosen mate for you.”

The world stopped.

Lori’s hand tightened on her phone. Her vision tunneled. The students walking past her blurred into smears of color and sound.

“What?” The word came out as a whisper.

“The pack is not in a good situation.” Her mother’s voice was bitter now, laced with anger that had been building for months. “We are losing members. The decrease is accelerated. Birth rates are down. Young wolves are leaving for other packs. And the Alpha…” She paused. “He is using the only available resource that can help him gain members or influence.”

Lori’s stomach turned.

“He is controlling the matings.”

The words landed like stones dropped into still water.

Lori felt sick.

Chosen matings were supposed to be voluntary. A choice made by two wolves who looked at each other and said *yes, I choose you.* It was sacred. Personal. Protected by pack law.

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But if the Alpha was controlling them forcing them-then it wasn’t a choice at all.

It was breeding.

It was livestock.

It was everything her mother had always feared.

“Mom,” Lori said, her voice shaking. “He can’t do that. It’s against the law. The Council would never-”

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“The Council doesn’t know.” Her mother’s voice was sharp. “And even if they did, do you think they would care? We have no influence. No power. No one to speak for us.”

Lori’s mind raced.

“What about Dad? What does he say?”

Her father’s silence on the other end of the line was answer enough.

“He knows,” her mother said quietly. “He is trying to find a way out. But the Alpha is… persistent. He has been pressuring us for weeks. And now…”

“For weeks?! Now what?”

“He has chosen someone. I don’t have too many details.”

Lori’s throat tightened.

Her mother’s voice broke. “Just promise me you’ll stay away. Don’t come home. Don’t let them know you’re aware. If the Alpha finds out that we warned you…”

“He’ll punish you.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. All I case is to know you safe.”

Lori closed her eyes.

Tears burned behind her lids, but she refused to let them fall. Not here. Not now. Not in the middle of a path where anyone could see.

“I promise, Mom,” she said. “I’ll stay at the academy. I’ll pretend I don’t know anything.””

“Good.” Her mother’s voice steadied slightly. “Good girl.”

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

A pause. A soft, broken exhale.

“I love you too, my Lily. So much. We will figure this out. Somehow.”

The line went dead.

Waining 3

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