Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
But we all knew better.
No dream wrote prophecy.
“No one else saw this?” Bastain asked.
Ethan shook his head,
Nate moved closer, squinting at the mark. “It’s like the script from the door.”
“Same etching.” I said.
Eva stepped forward. “But it’s on Ethan. Why him?”
“Because I’m the third,” he said quietly. “Flame. Veil. Blood.”
My stomach turned.
Bastain folded his arms. “It may be a warning. It may be a choice. Either way-
The leyline pulsed.
We felt it beneath our feet.
A tremor. A spark. A rush of magic so fierce I staggered.
Nate clutched his chest.
Then collapsed.
Blood bloomed across his palms, dripping from long, thin slices that hadn’t been there before.
“NATE!” I dropped to my knees beside him. “Nate, stay with me!”
His eyes fluttered, breath shallow.
Bastain cursed under his breath, already tearing open a satchel of herbs and wraps.
Ethan hovered beside me. “What the hell is happening?!”
“The bond,” Bastain said grimly. “It’s cracking. The Triad is unbalanced.”
I pressed my hands over Nate’s, trying to stop the bleeding. “What does that mean? Is he dying?”
“No,” Bastain said. “But if this continues__”
He didn’t finish.
Because we already knew.
The bond may not kill us.
But whatever was trying to control it…
Just might.
And in Nate’s blood, I saw the cost of what we were becoming.
Not chosen.
Not blessed.
Just three wolves bound to something ancient, unstable… and hungry.
And only one of us would survive if the others fell.
*Jiselle*
The wind had changed.
I noticed it before anyone else-the shift in the current, the way the trees held their breath. Something about the air felt tense, like the land itself was bracing. Not for a storm. Not for magic. For something colder. More final.
Like war.
I stood at the edge of the canyon as morning bled across the sky, the mountains still dressed in mist. The leyline below pulsed faintly, but not with its usual rhythm. It felt… shallow. Strained. I could sense the ripples now, even when I didn’t mean to. Like the child inside me was using my body as an antenna, reaching outward for something I didn’t understand.
Something I wasn’t sure I wanted to find.
Boots crunched behind me, and I didn’t need to turn to know it was Eva. Her footsteps were too quiet to be Ethan’s. Too grounded to be Nate’s.
She came to stand beside me, her arms folded across her chest, her gaze fixed on the canyon below like it had betrayed her.
“They’ll be here before the new moon,” she said flatly.
I blinked, heart stalling. “Who?”
“The Hollow-born.”
My mouth went dry.
Eva didn’t blink. “One of the northern scouts came back this morning. Said he spotted them three days ago- moving fast. Controlled. Organized.”
“How many?”
She hesitated. “Too many.”
The silence stretched.
“Bastain’s preparing the stronghold,” she added. “Fortifying the leyline sites, trying to seal the weakest fractures. But even he says it won’t hold for long. If they reach the Academy ruins…”
“They won’t,” I said, more instinct-than conviction. “We won’t let them.”
Eva finally turned to me, her silver eyes narrowed. “You know they’re coming for you, right?”
I met her gaze. “I know.”
Vouchers
Because Aedric wasn’t subtle. He never had been. The visions. The tree. The child flinching at his presence. He was circling now, drawing closer, and even if he didn’t know it yet, I could feel the bond forming between him and the life inside me.
And I hated it.
Hated how some quiet part of me understood it.
Ethan found us a few minutes later, hair wet from the river, face grim. He didn’t look at Eva. Not really.
“We need to talk,” he said, gaze fixed on me.
I followed him without a word, leaving Eva behind with the wind and her worries.
We walked in silence toward the ravine path, where the light grew softer and the mist hung low. The sky overhead was a dull grey, the kind that pressed against your lungs and made everything feel heavier than it should.
When we reached the small rise overlooking the southern treeline, Ethan stopped. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled hard.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “About what Bastain said. About the fractures. About… him.”
My stomach coiled.
“I think I should leave,” he continued. “Go ahead. Try and draw Aedric away. Give you more time.”
“No.”
“Jis-“
“No.” I turned to him, fierce now. “You think he won’t follow me? That he won’t find me wherever I am? You think if you just… offer yourself like bait, he’ll ignore the thing he’s really after?” I gestured to my stomach, my voice shaking. “He’s not after you. Or Nate. He’s after her.”
Ethan swallowed. “I know.”
“Then why the hell would you leave?”
“Because I’m tired of standing still,” he snapped, the mask slipping for a second. “I’m tired of watching all of this happen and not doing anything.”
“You are doing something. You’re here. You’re helping. You’re-“
“I’m watching you fade,” he said, and that shut me up. “I’m watching you slip further into this power, into this bond with him, and no one knows how to stop it. Not even you.”
I flinched.
He ran a hand over his f
He ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. That was-“
“No,” I said, voice hoarse. “You’re right.”
We both stood there, worn down and silent, until he finally said, “I won’t go. Not yet.”
But I knew the seed had been planted.
And that terrified me more than any vision.
***
Nate didn’t come to dinner.
Didn’t join the leyline rounds.
Didn’t even send a message.
For hours, I tried to convince myself it was exhaustion. That he was just resting. That his silence wasn’t deliberate. But as the stronghold slowly emptied for the night, and the last violet candle in the mess hall burned itself down to a puddle of wax, I felt it in my bones-the ache of the bond stretching thinner than it ever had before.
It wasn’t broken.
But it was fraying.
I found him exactly where I suspected he would be-in the shadow-drenched observatory, where the sky cracked open above the stone arch and stars spilled through the gaps like old gods watching from afar.
He was lying on the low couch near the far wall, half-curled on his side. A wool blanket was tossed haphazardly over his legs, his shirt undone just enough to reveal a flash of pale chest and a cluster of fading bruises near his ribs. His hair was messy, falling into his eyes, and his hand dangled loosely off the edge of the cushions, fingers twitching now and then like he was dreaming of something just out of reach.
But his eyes were open.
And when I stepped inside, he didn’t turn.
He didn’t blink.
He just kept staring at the sky.
The air in the observatory was cold, but not bitter. The kind of cold that made your skin tighten and your emotions feel sharper than they had any right to be. I swallowed and crossed the threshold slowly, the stone floor cool beneath my bare feet.
“Are you going to pretend I’m not here?” I asked, voice soft, almost unsure.
He exhaled, the sound long and tired. “I’m tired. Jis.”
“That’s not an anser.””
“No.” He sat up slowly, every movement stiff with weariness. His face twisted slightly as he shifted, a hand pressing to his side like it hurt just to breathe. “It’s not.”
I made my way toward him, my pulse a slow throb in my ears. “You’ve barely looked at me lately.”
“That’s not true,” he murmured.
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