Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
“Not now,” I whispered. “Please… not now. Not like this.”
But the pain didn’t care. It came in waves-rolling, deep, cutting straight through flesh and into bone.
The forest swam before my eyes as I stumbled upright, dragging myself back toward the stronghold, limbs heavy and legs numb. Every breath felt like I was inhaling smoke, and the wind around me blurred into a kind of pulsing rhythm I couldn’t drown out.
Somehow, I made it back to the warded walls before my legs gave out.
I collapsed just outside the corridor that led to our quarters, my vision swimming in and out of focus.
That’s where Nate found me.
His footsteps hit the stone with a speed I hadn’t heard from him in days. Then he dropped to his knees beside me, one arm going around my shoulders as the other cupped the back of my head like I might break apart if he didn’t hold me together.
9:56 Wed, Sep 17
“Jiselle?” His voice cracked, hoarse. “Hey-hey, look at me. What’s happening?”
I clutched his shirt. “I… I think it’s starting. It hurts-I thought-“
He pulled me in tighter, rocking slightly, his breath ragged. “Breathe. You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
I let him hold me. Let myself believe, for one heartbeat, that I was. That we both were.
But then the pain stopped.
Just like that.
My body went still.
The tightness across my stomach faded like a wave retreating back to sea, leaving behind silence and cold sweat.
“They stopped,” I whispered. “The contractions… they’re gone.”
His hands trembled where they held me, but he didn’t loosen his grip. “You’re sure?”
I nodded slowly, though my whole body felt like it had been dragged through fire.
“For now,” I whispered.
He pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes.
We sat there in the quiet, just breathing.
But the silence that settled around us wasn’t comforting.
It was something else.
It was the kind of silence that held truth.
Heavy. Unspoken. Unavoidable.
I felt it in the way his hands stayed still. In the way his breath stuttered just before he pulled back.
I knew the words before he said them.
“You’re not just carrying a child anymore,” Nate said softly. “You’re carrying a decision.”
The words sat between us like stone.
9:56 Wed, Sep 17
“What decision?” I asked, but my voice had no bite. No real curiosity. Because deep down, I already knew.
He looked at me-not with anger, not with blame-but with something far more dangerous.
Resignation.
“Between us.”
I didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink.
His hands didn’t move, but the bond between us shifted again, just slightly-like something old and fraying at the edge.
“I feel her choosing,” he said quietly. “And I don’t think it’s me.”
It wasn’t cruel.
It wasn’t bitter.
It was honest.
And that made it worse.
Because the silence between us after that wasn’t just still.
It was sharp.
It was a blade.
And I didn’t know yet whether it was meant to cut us apart… or force us to bleed together.
Nate’s voice cut across the stronghold’s war room like a blade, sharp enough to silence even the whispering flames. The map of fractured leylines between us curled at the edges from the heat still radiating off my skin, and I could feel the pressure building behind my eyes. Again.
Bastain didn’t flinch. He simply turned his head, fingers still clasped behind his back. “Do you ever stop letting emotion compromise judgment?”
The tension cracked.
I stepped between them, my chest already tight from the child rolling beneath my ribs. “Enough.”
But neither of them looked at me. Not really.
Nate took another step forward, fire in every line of his body. “You’re planning to use him.”
“I’m planning to protect her,” Bastain replied, voice still cold, still too calm. “And if you can’t see that-“
“He’s my brother.”
“And he’s not entirely himself, is he?” Bastain’s eyes finally landed on me. “She knows it. Don’t you?”
My hands curled into fists.
The flame inside me flickered at the edges of my spine-ready to lash. It wasn’t just from the arguing. It was the child. She was reacting again. Every pulse of their anger churned her power closer to the surface.
I drew a slow breath. “Bastain, Nate… please. If we fight amongst ourselves, we lose before the Hollow-born even arrive.”
Bastain’s jaw ticked, but he turned back to the map. “One of the Triad has already been compromised. You think Aedric doesn’t know what that means?”
“He hasn’t lost himself,” Nate snapped. “He’s not like them.”
“You’re not sure.” Bastain didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. “And if you’re wrong-if Ethan becomes the doorway-then everything we’ve built falls.”
“Don’t leave me,” I gasped.
:
*
My fingers clutched Nate’s wrist, slick with sweat and blood, as my body arched from another contraction that felt like it had split me down the center.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, voice low, fierce, shaking.
Another scream clawed its way from my throat as fire rippled under my skin, not metaphorical, not imagined -but real. Every contraction came with a pulse of heat that flared out across the room, singeing the air, making the floor tremble.
Outside, chaos screamed.
Roars. Steel. Shouts. Bones breaking.
But I wasn’t out there.
I was here. Trapped in this room.
My body was a battlefield, and the war hadn’t waited. It had come for us now, with talons and ash and blood- soaked teeth.
“They’re inside the walls,” Eva said sharply.
She knelt beside me, pressing damp cloths against my burning skin, not wincing even when her palms sizzled from the contact.
The midwife was already gone-her neck snapped before she could draw breath for a scream. A Hollow-born had breached the northern side. Bastain had dragged the beast’s body away and slammed the door shut, warding it with everything he had.
But he was pale. Drained. And the chalk runes were already dimming.
“It’s not holding,” Bastain muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “It’s drawn to the flame. To her.”
“I’m not ready,” I whispered. But it was a lie.
I wasn’t ready for the pain. Or the screams. Or the way the child inside me clawed her way out not with cries or kicking feet-but with fire and pressure and a will that wasn’t entirely mine..
But I had been ready since the moment I chose her.
Since the moment I let go of the blade and believed she’d bring something better into this world.
Even if I didn’t survive it.
*Jiselle*
“Don’t leave me,” I gasped.
:
*
My fingers clutched Nate’s wrist, slick with sweat and blood, as my body arched from another contraction that felt like it had split me down the center.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, voice low, fierce, shaking.
Another scream clawed its way from my throat as fire rippled under my skin, not metaphorical, not imagined -but real. Every contraction came with a pulse of heat that flared out across the room, singeing the air, making the floor tremble.
Outside, chaos screamed.
Roars. Steel. Shouts. Bones breaking.
But I wasn’t out there.
I was here. Trapped in this room.
My body was a battlefield, and the war hadn’t waited. It had come for us now, with talons and ash and blood- soaked teeth.
“They’re inside the walls,” Eva said sharply.
She knelt beside me, pressing damp cloths against my burning skin, not wincing even when her palms sizzled from the contact.
The midwife was already gone-her neck snapped before she could draw breath for a scream. A Hollow-born had breached the northern side. Bastain had dragged the beast’s body away and slammed the door shut, warding it with everything he had.
But he was pale. Drained. And the chalk runes were already dimming.
“It’s not holding,” Bastain muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “It’s drawn to the flame. To her.”
“I’m not ready,” I whispered. But it was a lie.
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