Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
One of the Gatekeepers.
Or what was left of one.
“They’re still here,” Bastain murmured, voice barely audible. “Trapped. Claimed.”
The creature raised its head and hissed.
Nate moved faster than thought-stepping in front of me, blade already drawn. The heat of his presence blocked the worst of the scent, and I realized then that it wasn’t death I was smelling.
It was transformation.
Burned into submission. Reborn without soul.
Another one emerged behind the first.
Then another.
Three. Then five. All of them bearing the same sigils burned into their chests-one for the Gatekeepers. One for the Academy.
“They fused them,” Eva breathed. “Fused the orders.”
“More like desecrated them,” Ethan growled.
The creatures didn’t attack.
Not yet.
They just stood there. Watching.
Waiting.
For what, I wasn’t sure.
But I knew this: they were guarding something
Or someone.
I moved forward again, slower this time, ignoring the heat gathering at the base of my spine. My scar burned. The rune on my back pulsed. And beneath it, something else stirred-like a thread tugging through my ribs.
The throne.
It wasn’t just stone.
It was a seal.
A lock.
“Nate,” I said, my voice hoarse. “They were using this place. Feeding the Gate from the inside.”
He came to stand beside me, hand brushing
“I don’t know if we can.”
“Then we stop it. Whatever’s left-we end it.”
“We can.”
I turned to face him.
His jaw was tight. His eyes dark with fire and promise.
“You don’t know that,” I whispered.
“I know you,” he said. “And I know what we’ve survived. What we’ve lost. If we fall now, it won’t be because we were weak. It’ll be because we gave everything.”
I swallowed. “And if that’s not enough?”
He cupped my cheek. “Then we make it enough.”
My breath trembled.
I nodded once.
And we turned together.
The throne loomed ahead, and beyond it-an altar. Cracked. Blood-stained. Covered in markings I couldn’t decipher. The leyline split beneath it, forming a jagged cross through the floor.
“They were trying to recreate the triad,” Bastain said. “But this isn’t power. It’s madness.”
“We’re not the only ones who knew what the Gate needed,” Eva whispered. “Kael knew. Whoever turned on the Gatekeepers knew. This wasn’t about summoning.”
I looked at her. “Then what?”
She met my eyes.
“Becoming.”
The word landed heavy.
Behind us, the creatures hissed again.
Then one stepped forward.
Not to attack.
“
To kneel.
My blood went cold.
One by one, they lowered themselves to the floor-bodies bent, heads bowed, claws scraping against stone.
“They’re not just guards,” Max sold. “They’re vessels.”
“For what?”
No one answered.
Because suddenly-
The throne pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
And my rune blazed so hot I cried out.
Nate caught me, arms around my waist, grounding me before I fell.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely.
“I need to touch it,” I said. “The throne.”
“No-“
“I have to.”
“Jiselle-“
But I was already moving.
Step by step.
Toward the stone.
Toward the heart of this place.
The creatures didn’t stop me.
They watched.
They waited.
And when I reached the base of the throne, I pressed my palm to it.
Fire.
Not pain.
Recognition.
A thread of memory-old and pulsing-shot through my hand, through my chest, through the bond.
I saw her.
Serina.
Not young.
Not dead.
Burning.
I saw her blood smeared across this very stone.
Her flame branding the seal.
Her voice whispering one final promise:
“If the Gate opens again, it must be sealed with willing flame.”
I gasped.
And the light exploded.
It didn’t blind.
It revealed.
Carvings spread across the chamber walls-hidden before, now ignited by violet fire. Sigils. Names. Warnings. Promises.
And one command:
“Choose.”
The throne cracked again.
And beneath it-
Steps.
Leading down.
Nate was beside me in an instant.
“I’m going with you,” he said.
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?