Rejected Mate and Following Fate novel Chapter 113

It feels like time stands still and I watch in disbelief as both Sierra and Radar try to regain composure, confusion etching the face of both and even I have no clue how this just happened. Sierra clutches the point above her left breast as though suddenly inflicted with pain and looks down, gasping in surprise. Her hand sliding away to reveal where her mate mark from her union with Juan is, something that can never be removed. Yet, before my very eyes it begins to heal and fade away into nothingness as though it never was. The one mark in life that a wolf can never erase or heal from and yet hers is washing away like dust on a smooth surface when hit with a gentle breeze.

I gawp in surreal stillness, filtering into my head what this could possibly mean. Radar too fixes his focus on her mark as it disperses and the two of them seem to pause, stuck in a time freeze for a few seconds as all this slowly drips into reality. Expressions unreadable and the air suddenly seems to tingle with an undefined energy.

“We?” Sierra is the first to disrupt the pause, her voice barely a whisper above the noise of the chaos around us and Radar only nods. Hearing her loud and clear. His face pale from being wounded and yet the disbelief and wide-eyed shock can’t be missed. He’s stunned, his head working at a million miles an hour trying to process if this is real. Even though we are in the center of a bloody hurricane it feels like they are the only noise, and this is the only detail I’m zoned into. My brain trying to register what this means.

“You imprinted…your mate mark is gone….. that means.” I stammer it out, voice wavering with a sudden need to cry, emotion hitting hard.

“Juan isn’t bonded to you anymore. Your life now belongs to Radar.” Leyanne’s voice comes from behind me, and I jump in fright at the sudden intrusion of a welcome figure. Relief at her sudden appearance and yet my face falls when I see she isn’t standing alone. Pushing between my guards, who easily give way to her, there is a large black cloaked figured standing behind, an intimidating presence that I can’t miss. I guess wherever she was , it involved finding this ghoul.

My eyes are drawn to the solid, tall, figure; mysterious in their shroud of fabric which conceals all shape, a hood pulled up and over so not even a face is on show. An air of death lingering around them and I shudder and pull my eyes back to Leyanne. Dismissing this detail and more interested in what just happened before my very eyes.

“How can this be…how could we?” Sierra breaks into my train of thought, stammering with a shake to her voice, and I turn back to them. Just in time to see her reach out and trace Radar’s features so lovingly it makes my heart ache. The touch of true love, and his eyes are fixated on hers, but he holds himself in check knowing this isn’t the time or place to maul his new mate. A sudden private moment between them, a flicker of nonverbal communication, and I look away, instantly shy and feeling like they need a moment.

“Leyanne, where did you go? How can you be sure this has broken the bond?” I cut in, so many questions but most importantly, her whereabouts. Giving Sierra space and pulling the focus to other things.

“This means if Juan dies, then Sierra will be safe? The bond is dissolved? She’s really mine?” Radar’s gravelly voice takes over and he pushes him self up onto his haunches before awkwardly moving towards Sierra so he closes that last gap, taking her hand and tugging her. She’s still half sitting, half laid on her back from the sheer intensity of the imprint and he hauls her to him in a flash. All inhibition gone now that they have just had the purest form of bonding known to our kind. His shyness evaporated in knowing she’s his now and he no longer has a reason to hold back. He cradles her head against his neck in a flash pull against him, and despite all the craziness around us, I feel a sheer elation of joy. Seeing them wrap around one another as if it’s as natural as breathing, something deep inside of me finally feels a sense of contentment for them. This is what I always hoped for her.

“I have it on good authority that imprinting with a wolf can only happen when the fates intend it to be so. Anything previous, becomes null and void. Juan is your distant memory; the mate bond is broken. I’m guessing your fated mate was always here in front of you and was biding their time to step up. Your fates always like an out to tie up their loose ends it seems.” Leyanne takes on that air of smug she is so good at and yet the figure looming close can’t be ignored, even in this happy moment. It keeps drawing my focus, a familiarness about his presence pulling me to him.

“Oh my god” Sierra blurts out, tears hitting hard, and yet sense brings us all back to the seriousness of where we are. We can’t get swept up in this, even though it’s a huge deal, while our world is still crumbling around us.

“Who is he?” I cut in like a knife, pointing sharply at the stranger, focus pulling back as that dark shadow moves closer to our inner circle of safety within my guards. I can’t ignore him if he insists on coming nearer and all my defensive senses spike up.

“Don’t recognize your own brother?” Jasper’s husky voice comes at me from under his fabric shield and he slides it back slowly, revealing amber eyes glowing in his human form. That handsome face, those wide shoulders, and yet there’s not a single hint of sibling adoration in his eyes.

“Jasper! Why are you here?” I blanche, torn between elation and yet sudden anxiety given our last interaction. His whole aura is different form before, and I know that he came here with the mindset that he had the last time we meet.

“Your father sent me to bring you to him. You paged him after all.” He pulls back the cloak enough to reveal his tall and strong physique, draped in tailored black clothing, and air of superiority on him now I see him like this. He doesn’t scream wolf anymore, in his posture, his manner, or his fashion sense. He’s spent too many years with the likes of Darrius, and it’s rubbed off in all the wrong ways. He’s as cold as one of them and that joy of finding me last time, has evaporated.

“He can stop this mess before I go to him. Call off his demons first!” I spring to my feet, suddenly enraged that he thinks he can click his fingers to summon me, even though I was the one who put out the call. I am not about to run off into his fold of demons with a brother I don’t trust anymore.

“The quicker you see him, the faster this battle will stop.” Jasper sneers at me, anger tinging his words at my refusal, and he clenches his jaw in agitation at my own disdain seeping through. I can feel his anger simmering below the surface and I know just being here probably has stirred up a million pains in his heart. Memories he doesn’t want to relive.

“You know he has no intention of stopping this don’t you? This is just a ploy to move me out of the battle zone….. because I’m important to him!” I retort, not sure that it’s true but just unwilling.

“You’re important to me too. You don’t need to be here, among this. Come with me and see him, in a safe space. No one will touch you by my side.” Jasper steps to me and I move back in perfect sync, so our distance remains constant. His flash of furrowed brow showing his displeasure at my evasion and he grits his teeth that I’m being headstrong in this matter.

“Stop it now. Alora go with him, you’re no use here and I give you my word, your father will be waiting. The only way to end this is to find a middle ground. You know what he wants.” Leyanne lays a hand on my shoulder as though to coax me but I shrug it away. She brought Jasper to me, so no way in hell is she on my side in this.

“I want my pack to be safe. I’m going nowhere until everything stops. If he wants to see me then he calls his creatures of right now!!! NOW, JASPER!” I erupt at him; tears bite my eyes and desperation seeps out. I won’t abandon them to swan off until I know nothing else will happen while I’m gone.

There’s a moment of silence as we stare at one another in a battle of wills. Tension sparking between us and that good old Whytte stubbornness shines through. Leyanne drops behind me and moves back to the still hugging pair of wolves who are lost in their own world right now. The mate bond pulling them out of reality.