Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
“No-” he winced. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“I pardoned you,” I snapped. “Not because I forgave you. Not because Twanted you back. I did it because Eva begged me. Because she would’ve shattered without you. But don’t stand there and pretend like this was some twisted reaction to my mistakes.”
His jaw worked, struggling with words. “If you hadn’t let the bond grow-“
“You think that’s an excuse?” I hissed. “You think that makes it okay?”
“No,” he said quickly, but there was still something in his eyes-some shadow of justification clinging like rot.
I shook my head, heart hammering in my chest. “You don’t get to come here and rewrite this. You don’t get to make me question what you did.”
His shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry,” he said again, but it was quieter this time. Less defensive. More broken. “Why are you really here?” I asked, swallowing hard. “Why risk everything to find mo?””
HostJ
That stopped me cold. “What?”
“We don’t have much time,” he said, reaching for me. “You have to come with me. Now.”
I recoiled. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Jiselle, please,” he begged, his voice cracking. “I know I messed up. I know I hurt you. But I’m still bound by blood-I can’t tell you everything. Not yet. But I know what they plan to do when they find out what you are.”
“What I am?” My heart stuttered.
“I can’t say it,” he gritted out. “They made sure of that. This damn mark in my hand will ensure I drop dead if I saw even one word. But-“
“Ethereal?” I asked. My voice barely carried over the wind, but it was enough.
He froze.
Didn’t nod. Didn’t blink.
Just froze.
So still I thought the forest had swallowed all sound.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” I whispered. “That’s what they’re afraid of.”
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t have to.
“It seems like you already have your answer,” he said hoarsely.
“So that’s it? I know I’m not like you and Nate. But Bastain makes it seems like I’m more powerful and that’s the only one that is more powerful that what you two are. So that’s what I am, aren’t I? That’s why they will kill me?”
“If you stay here,” he said, stepping closer, “they’ll kill you. The Solstice? It’s not a celebration. It’s a ceremonial ritual.”
I stared at him, my breath ragged. “Why should I trust you?”
“Because I love you,” he said simply. “And I never stopped.”
My throat closed. “You loved me, and you still marked me against my will.”
“I was desperate,” he pleaded. “I thought they’d protect you. I thought I could stay close. But I was wrong. I heard things while I was locked up. Plans. Whispers. If you’re what they think you are…”
I didn’t want to hear it. “So your solution is to run?”
“It’s the only way,” he said fiercely. “I know how to get past the barriers. I’ve been planning since the moment they locked me up. We leave tonight.”
“No,” I said, flat and final.
He looked like I’d hit him. “Jiselle-“
“I’d rather take my chances with the school. With Bastain. With the council. Here. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
His face crumpled. “They’ll KILL you, Jiselle. For what you are.”
“Then let them try,” I said, voice shaking.
Just then, a low growl rippled through the trees.
Max tensed. I turned.
Nate.
He stepped into the clearing like a storm made flesh, his eyes locked on Max with unfiltered hatred.
“I should’ve known,” he snarled. “You just can’t help yourself.”
“Nate,” I said quickly, holding out a hand.
Max straightened. “I’m not here to hurt her.”
“You already did.”
“Don’t act like you’re a saint,” Max snapped. “She loved me first.”
My stomach twisted. The words hit like a blade.
Before I could say anything, Nate lunged.
I threw myself in front of him, arms up, my heart in my throat. “Stop!”
He froze, breathing hard, chest rising and falling like he’d been holding back fire.
And just like that-
Max was gone.
No sound. No movement. Just gone, like mist pulled back into the shadows.
*Jiselle*
The walk back to the academy was suffocating.
Not because Nate said anything-he didn’t. Not a single word. And not because the forest loomed around us like it might swallow us whole. It was because the silence between us wasn’t just silence.
It was grief.
It was rage, pulled tight like a bowstring and held there, trembling.
His hand stayed pressed against the small of my back as we made our way out of the trees, as if he needed to make sure I didn’t vanish. He wasn’t breathing right-each inhale was too sharp, too quiet. His jaw was set, but his eyes… his eyes looked like they hadn’t blinked since Max vanished.
I didn’t blame him.
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Everything Max said rang in my head like a siren-urgent, warning, full of fear and something else I couldn’t name. When the academy’s outer buildings came into view, bathed in the soft silver of moonlight, I finally spoke.
“He said they’ll kill me.”
Nate stopped walking.
He didn’t turn to me.
He didn’t even blink.
He just… stopped.
For a moment, I thought he might break. That the fury I felt pulsing off him would snap, and the sky itself would crack in half with it.
But then he nodded.
And kept walking.
We didn’t say anything else until we were inside-until we made it to his huge room tucked into the western dorm wing- Black Claw Dorm. It was dark, save for the flickering golden glow of a single enchanted lantern on the wall. The air smelled faintly of old wood and spell ink-someone must’ve been studying in here recently, but it was empty now. I now realized how long I had been in the infirmary. And how familiar and weird it felt coming into this dorm and going into Nate’s room instead of Max’s.
I sat on the edge of the couch, wrapping my arms around myself as if that might help hold everything in. Nate stood for a long while, his arms crossed, his shadow stretching long against the floor.
“I need you to tell me everything,” he said finally, his voice low. “Word for word.”
So I did.
I told him about Max. About the way he’d looked-disheveled, panicked, but utterly sincere. About the things he said he heard while locked away. About how he couldn’t speak freely because of the blood oath. And most of all… about what he feared.
That Solstice wasn’t a celebration.
That it was a ritual.
I didn’t know what kind of ritual, but I wasn’t looking forward to it.
I told him how Max had begged me to run. How he said he knew they would kill me once they found out what I was.
He was calm the entire time. But when I said the word-Ethereal-Nate flinched like I’d struck him.
“So it’s true,” he whispered. His eyes found mine. “That’s why Bastain lied. That’s why he tried to stall them. He knew. He always knew.”
The weight in my chest was unbearable.
“I don’t even know what I am, Nate,” I whispered. “But everyone else seems to.”
He moved toward me slowly, lowering himself Successfully unlocked! dn’t touch me right away. Just sat there. Quiet.
Breathing beside me.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “I don’t know how to feel. He forced a mark on me. Then he tried to save me. And I still feel like I can’t breathe.”
That’s when Nate reached out, sliding his hand into mine, and pulled me toward him. Not urgently. Not passionately
Just… completely.
My body melted against his, and for the first time since the council chamber, I let myself feel something that wasn’t fear. I buried my face in the space between his neck and shoulder. I breathed in his scent-spice and wind and something uniquely Nate-and my walls cracked.
He didn’t say he’d protect me.
He didn’t promise it would be okay.
All he said was, “We’ll make a plan. Together.”
His arms tightened around me then, like he was trying to fuse me to him. His hands were warm and strong, sliding up my spine slowly, reverently.
Then his mouth brushed my jaw.
The contact sent a sharp tremor through me, and suddenly I wasn’t in this lounge anymore.
I was sixteen again.
A moonlit night.
A familiar bed.
Nate’s mouth trailing kisses down my collarbone, his voice rasping my name like it was the only thing he knew.
Heat flared through me so fast I gasped.
And then I felt it-not just as memory, but as connection.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?