Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
Behind me, Nate came to stand at my side. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. His presence was the only steady thing I could feel in that moment-the bond thrumming quiet and constant between us, like a tether pulled taut.
I didn’t look at him as I whispered, “It’s started.”
He didn’t ask what I meant.
Because he already knew.
Bastain’s tent had never felt so small.
Everyone was there-Ethan, standing rigid at the back with his arms,crossed tight across his chest; Eva, seated beside Bastain, her face pale and shining with sweat; Max, silent at the edge of the room, eyes fixed on the ground like he was trying to burn holes through it.
The blade sat in the center of the war table, resting on a cloth Nate had laid down. No one touched it. No one dared.
“This is Council-forged,” Bastain confirmed, his voice low, almost reverent in its horror. “I’d recognize that sigil anywhere.”
“You think the Council’s attacking?” Ethan asked, his voice sharp with disbelief. “Why?”
“They’re not attacking,” Eva said, barely above a whisper. “They’re calling.”
Everyone turned to her.
She looked up slowly, her eyes glassy but clear. “It’s not a weapon. It’s a message. They want her.”
The tension in the room splintered all at once.
“They want me?” I repeated.
Eva nodded. “The Gate’s being pulled from more than one place now. It’s not just Kael. It’s not just the ruins or the valley. It’s being summoned from inside the Academy.”
A beat of silence.
Then she added, “The stones are humming. I can feel them. Whatever is happening-It’s already begun
The room erupted.
Ethan swore. Max started pacing. Bastain murmured something in a language I didn’t recognize. Even Nate’s jaw clenched tighter.
“Retreat,” someone said. “We regroup, we move further south.”
“No,” someone else snapped. “We strike. We go now, cut through the gorge-‘
“Enough,” I said.
No one heard me.
I raised my voice. “Enough!”
The room stilled.
I stepped forward and placed both hands on the table, eyes locked on the blade.
“We don’t run from the place that made us bleed,” I said. “We reclaim it.”
The silence was louder this time. Deeper. It sank into skin.
Bastain cleared his throat. “She’s right. If the Academy has become a vessel, retreating will only give it time to fully awaken. We don’t want that.”
Eva’s fingers trembled in her lap. “It’s not fire,” she whispered. “Not yet. It’s steel. A blade she knows.
A brother’s scream. A fall too fast-“
Her voice broke. Bastain reached over and placed a palm against her shoulder. “It’s anchoring again,” he said quietly. “She’s not seeing possibilities anymore. These visions are countdowns.”
My stomach turned.
The Gate wasn’t coming.
It was here.
And it was using everything-us, the stones, the flame, the blood-to push open its walls.
Max stepped forward.
“I’ll go ahead.”
Everyone turned to him.
“What?” I asked.
He didn’t flinch. “I’ll scout the Academy. Alone.”
“No,” Nate snapped.
Max didn’t look at him. His eyes were on me. “If someone inside is summoning the Gate, we need to know who. And fast. You can’t walk blind, not with your name already carved into stone.”
“You’ll die,” I said, voice flat. Not cruel. Just honest. e Academy
“Maybe,” he said. “But if I die now, it’ll mean something. I’ll see who turned the place I loved into a death trap-and I’ll stop them before they touch you.
His voice didn’t tremble. It didn’t rise.
IA
It just was.
I looked at him for a long time.
There had been so much between us-pain, regret, history. And yet, in that moment, there was something else too.
Something heavier than forgiveness.
Something quieter than peace.
“Alright,” I said.
Nate looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
Max just nodded once.
And that was it.
That night, I found Nate sitting near the leyline. The water was glowing faintly with violet light, the current slower than usual-like even the river was holding its breath.
I sat beside him. He didn’t say anything.
Neither did I.
For a while, we just watched the light ripple through the reeds.
Then I spoke.
“It’s not just a bond anymore, is it?”
“No,” he said. “It’s not.”
“What is it?”
He turned to look at me, his expression unreadable.
“Purpose,” he said. “It feels like purpose.”
The words hit something deep inside me. Something I hadn’t been able to name.
“I’m scared,” I said.
“I know.”
“I’m scared it’s going to take more than I can give.”
He reached over and laced his fingers through mine.
“Then we give it together.”
I looked at him, eyes burning. “If the Gate wants me to fall…”
He waited.
*I’ll make sure I fall like a star.”
AUD
He didn’t smile.
He just nodded.
And I knew he understood.
The next morning, a scout ran into the camp.
Mud streaked his boots. His chest was heaving.
“They’re not going to wait,” he gasped. “The Academy-it’s under siege.”
Everyone froze.
His eyes locked on me.
“And they’re asking for you by name.”
Jiselle’
The march didn’t begin with war drums. It began with silence.
Low fog clung to the edges of the valley like breath held too long, and every footstep felt heavier than it should’ve. We didn’t speak much as we moved. The air was too dense, too expectant, like the land itself knew what waited ahead. And maybe it did.
By nightfall, we reached what used to be the outer village. Once, it had housed the Academy’s workers-the cooks, the blacksmiths, the quiet women who harvested herbs from the cliffs. Now it was hollowed out, still upright but abandoned, left to rot in a world that didn’t remember it. Or pretended not to.
I stepped through the remnants of a gate half-swallowed by ivy. The hinges groaned, not from rust but from memory, and I swallowed the unease crawling up my spine. The others followed behind me. Nate at my right shoulder. Eva and Ethan a few paces back. Bastain flanked the rear, always watching, always listening.
We set camp near a dry well in the center of the village. The stones around it were warm-too warm for nightfall. Eva crouched beside it, fingers brushing over the moss-coated edge.
“This place is wrong,” she whispered.
I knew what she meant. The leyline was here, but not in its usual rhythm. It pulsed unevenly-like a heart skipping beats. I could feel it, thrumming through the soles of my feet like the earth was trying to whisper something too old for language.
I took the first watch. Nate offered, but I refused. I needed space. Not from him, exactly. Just… from everything. The world inside me hadn’t stopped shifting since the mark reformed, since Max left, since Eva’s prophecy painted the road ahead with blood.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about Max.
The way he looked at me before he left. Not with desperation. Not even with regret. Just acceptance. He hadn’t asked for forgiveness, but I’d given it anyway, because I couldn’t carry the weight anymore. And now, every step I took into this valley felt like walking through echoes of people I’d loved and lost in pieces.
The wind picked up, brushing through the broken windows like breath. I stood near one of the old shrines-its roof collapsed, but the frame still bore the sigil of the Academy, weathered and cracked. I traced it with my fingers.
“I thought this place would feel like home again,” I murmured.
Nate’s voice came from behind me, quiet. “Does it?”
“No,” I said. “It feels like memory. But not mine. Like I’m walking through someone else’s ghosts.”
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