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.

“What do you mean?”

“This is the first pack that has felt like home to me, real home. I’m not sure how I feel about leaving.”

“What about Ezra?”

“He’s suggesting we return back to Jude’s pack, be with his family.” She shrugs out, as she loops her arm between mine, resting her head against my upper arm.

“I’m beyond grateful for what you have done here Auntie Alora, how you have kept the pack safe for me.

I know it can’t have been easy not having Mum here, but also trying to keep up with the demands of an off site alpha.

If you wanted to stay here, this is your home, you can stay. I just thought you would want to do something different.”

The sound of cars arriving pulls my attention away from the conversation, towards the alpha house. When Mum hands me the Alpha title I’ll be able to control through the pack link, who the guards let through the gates…but for now it was all done through Auntie Alora as Beta or technology. Most of the time, the guards calling me for clearance.

I may be the future Alpha but I wasn’t born here, or raised here…I cannot feel the pack link until I accept the Alpha title from Mum.