Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
“I tried,” she said. “And I failed.”
The walls dimmed slightly as her words settled.
“But I didn’t die,” she finished.
I didn’t realize I was crying until a tear hit the floor.
“You’re telling me I can’t stop it either?”
She walked toward the far wall and placed her hand against a sigil shaped like a spiral cracking open. “I’m telling you not to make the sa did.” take l
“And what mistake was that?”
“I tried to bear it alone.”
Silence again.
But this time, it didn’t feel sharp. It felt… reverent.
We stood together in the glow of forgotten names. Names that had lived and died for a cause they barely understood. Names that had opened closed bled, screamed.
And one name still glowing brighter than the rest.
Mine.
Serina stepped away from the wall. “There’s more.”
I blinked. “More?”
She nodded. “Deeper still.”
The floor beneath us trembled.
And a spiral stairwell uncoiled from the rock.
She descended.
I followed.
The passage was narrow. Claustrophobic. Each step echoed like it was being recorded by something ancient. The deeper we went, the colder the air became but my flame didn’t rise in defense. It pulsed gently, like it was listening. ein other
At the bottom of the stairwell was another chamber.
Smaller.
But somehow more sacred.
At the center stood a single pedestal.
Upon it: a mirror.
Not glass.
Stone.
Polished obsidian etched with flame-like cracks that shimmered with violet light.
My reflection wasn’t mine.
It was hers.
Serina’s.
But not the Serina beside me.
A version of her consumed by fire, mouth open in a silent scream, arms outstretched as if shielding something behind her.
I couldn’t look away.
“Why are you showing me this?” I asked.
“Because you’ve seen the past,” she said. “But you haven’t yet seen the choice.”.
I reached for the mirror
And the light within it flared.
Runes bloomed across the surface.
Words formed from fire.
NOT ALL FLAMES CONSUME. SOME GUARD.
I stumbled back.
Serina caught me.
“You don’t have to die to win,” she said softly. “But you do have to choose.”
“Choose what?”
She stepped aside.
Revealing another door.
Unmarked.
But breathing.
Like something behind it was alive.
Waiting.
Watching.
“I can’t go in there,” I said.
“Not yet,” she replied. “But soon.”
The door pulsed again.
And in that pulse-I felt it.
A presence.
Not dark.
Not cruel.
Just…vast.
And patient.
“You said you failed,” I whispered.
“I did.”
“What did you lose?”
Her voice cracked for the first time.
“Everyone.”
The room grew still.
My chest burned. weu,
“Then I won’t,” I said. “I won’t lose them.”
She didn’t smile.
But she stepped closer and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Then don’t become me,” she said. “Become what I couldn’t.”
We stood in the violet dark.
The names on the wall above still glowing.
The door still breathing.
And the fire inside me-no longer roaring.
But watching.
Just like the flame that surrounded the pedestal.
Alive.
Waiting.
And ready.
Serina stepped away, whispering-“This isn’t a prophecy, Jiselle. It’s a pattern. And it’s about to repeat.”
“Nathaniel*
The wind had a sharpness to it tonight. Not cold, exactly. But cutting-like it knew something was coming and wanted us to bleed for it first.
I moved along the outer ridge of the Gatekeeper encampment, bootfalls quiet against stone and frost. Behind me, Ethan kept pace. Not a word spoken between us since we left the watchfire, and yet the tension braided between us like a cord pulled too tight.
We weren’t patrolling because we had to. Not really.
We were patrolling because we couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t watch her from a distance and pretend this new camp-wasn’t just the sharp inhale before a scream.
Ethan exhaled behind me. Not a huff of exertion. A sound laced with thought.
“You feel it too, right?” he said quietly.
I stopped.
Turned.
His eyes met mine, blue and narrowed. The same color as hers, but colder. Always colder.
“The weight,” he added. “Like something’s pressing down from inside the mountain. Not above. Below.”
I nodded. “It’s the leyline. And her. They’re shifting again.”
He rubbed his knuckles over his jaw. “You’re sure it’s her?”
“Yes,” I said. “Because the bond-it’s not just reacting anymore. It’s guiding.”
He looked at me. Harder now. “And that doesn’t scare you?”
“It should,” I admitted. calm-the eerie silence of the Gatekeeper’s
We kept walking, tracing the line where forest met rock, where the boundary between what was ours and what belonged to the Gatekeepers blurred. I watched the sky as we moved, stars tucked behind clouds that hadn’t quite made up their minds about rain or snow.
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?