Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
This was where students started dying. Where the weeding process truly began for the year.
And my only instinct was to protect Jiselle.
We didn’t speak as we made our way toward the dorms. Jiselle hadn’t questioned anything, but I could see it in the way she moved-she was thinking. Processing. She knew this wouldn’t be just another challenge.
We parted as she went into Silver Claw dorm, and I left to my private quarters. Turns out, when you have a reputation like mine, no one wants to dorm with you. Not that I was complaining.
I grabbed the essentials. Weapons, water, light packs.
By the time I went back to the intersection of male and female dorms, Jiselle was already waiting, which was impressive but not surprising. It reminded me of when we were kids going on some dangerous childish adventure, and she’d be there before me and Ethan, demanding to go too.
She had tied her hair back and changed into cleaner, thicker leathers, probably anticipating the cold of the night. I couldn’t help the twitch of my lips. Always so smart. She barely glanced at me approaching before walking off, and I burned the twist in my stomach as Maximus-Freaking-Laker pushed past me and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle, before meeting his partner.
I replaced the feeling with anger and swore to myself that I’d end him one day.
We continued to the drop-off point at the edge of the academy grounds.
“You have until sunrise,” Bastian reminded us. “Failing to find a claw will result in consequences. If you find another team in possession of a claw, you are permitted to engage in combat.”
No one needed clarification on what that meant.
The second the signal was given, we were thrown into the trees.
And so survival began.
We were no longer students of the same academy anymore. We were enemies hunting down and protecting something precious to us.
And that precious thing was walking a few feet ahead of me, her light-brown hair catching in the faint light of the setting sun as she adjusted the strap of her training bag over her shoulder.
Her frame was smaller compared to most of the wolves around us, but she was leaner now, stronger. The past few weeks had stripped away whatever softness had once settled in her limbs. She was all sharp edges, all coiled tension, all fire.
And I hated that I noticed.
She shifted as if she could feel me staring, then threw a glare over her shoulder at me. “What?” she asked, eyeing me with suspicion.
I masked my pain with indifference as I was so used to.
“Nothing.” I said quickly, turning on my heel without warning her. “We need to move. This way.”
Jiselle scurried behind me to catch up, falling in line with my steps. “So, what’s the plan?”
I hesitated. “We locate a claw, keep it protected, then head to the cave near the southern cliffs before nightfall.”
Her brows furrowed. “A cave?”
“It’s safe,” I said shortly. “Best we do this as soon as possible. By night, things will get…messy. If you see a classmate, don’t regard him as such. Because make no mistake, we are all enemies now.” I jabbed a finger to my chest. “The only person you trust until sunrise is me, got it?”
She exhaled sharply but nodded. “Fine.”
Then, just as quickly, she went back to ignoring me.
I rolied my shoulders, trying to shake off the irritation curling in my chest as we walked for another twenty minutes in complete silence.
Hell, I knew I was an ass, but once upon time, we could’ve had a decent conversation without Ethan being present.
‘Yeah well once upon a time, you didn’t sleep with her and left her for two years, asshole, my wolf bristled, the first time he’s spoken to me in weeks. He’s pissed that I’ve pushed Jiselle away when she came here. He’s pissed that I won’t claim her. But he doesn’t get it. He wasn’t there as yet. I owed Ethan everything. Do I love him more than Jiselle? No. But do I keep my word? Absolutely.
Yet, my pesky emotions got the best of me and I finally snapped.
“You’re seriously going to keep up the silent treatment during this?”
She didn’t even glance at me. “Seems to be working so far.”
I clenched my jaw, trying not to snap. “Fine. Then let’s split up and meet back here in thirty minutes.”
Jiselle stopped dead in her tracks leveling me with a glare that 1-annoyingly so-found sexy as hell.
“Are you crazy? That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
I exhaled, annoyed. “It’ll be faster-“
“It’ll be stupid,” she interrupted, eyes blazing. “And dangerous.”
I didn’t give her room to argue. “Meet back here in thirty.”
Then, I walked off.
I spotted the claw wedged between two boulders at the top of a ravine. It was a death trap.
The only way to retrieve it was by scaling the uneven rock face, and one wrong step meant falling straight onto a jagged pike of stone below. Impaled.
A weaker wolf wouldn’t stand a chance. They’d die instantly.
Fear prickled my scalp. What if Jiselle found a claw in a place like this? What if she was standing right now at the edge of a similar drop, trying to climb down?
I snatched the claw quickly as if it was sitting in the grass unprotected, heart pounding as I swung myself back up. My pulse thundered in my ears. What if she slipped?
The thought ripped through me, cold and paralyzing. Why was I so stupid? She was right. Splitting up was dangerous but I was so angry at…
Myself.
I was angry at myself and punished her for it, because she isn’t the one keeping us apart. I am.
I needed to find her. Now.
I bolted through the trees, every muscle in my body tight with urgency.
I reached the meeting spot and she wasn’t there.
Panic surged like acid in my gut. Damn it, Jiselle.
I closed my eyes, reaching through the only connection I had to her-our mate bond. I’ve never used it before, but I’d be damned if I didn’t find her right that minute. ! squeezed my eyes shut, as dangerous as doing so was, and forced my senses outward. Where are you?
Nothing. Then-
A scream. Her scream.
My entire body went cold. Then hot. Then I was running, tearing through the trees like a beast unleashed.
And for the first time since this assignment started, I was terrified. liselle
I barely had time to push myself upright when the sound of rustling leaves and snapping twigs sent my heart racing.
Then, suddenly, Nathaniel burst through the trees like a force of nature, his eyes wide, his breath ragged.
His entire body was tense, his chest heaving as he scanned the area, his gaze landing on me almost immediately. Before I could utter a word, he was on me, his hands gripping my arms, bundling me up like I was something precious and fragile.
“Are you okay?” he rasped, his voice hoarse with panic. “I heard you scream.”
I blinked up at him, stunned. His blue eyes were wild, frantic, scanning me like he was memorizing every inch of me to make sure nothing was missing. His hands brushed over my arms, my waist, my shoulders, searching.
I barely registered the sting in my cheek until his gaze landed there. His entire body went eerily still.
Then, with a gentleness that felt so wrong for someone as brutal as him, he reached up and brushed his thumb against the cut staining my cheek with blood. The softness of it-of him-stole the breath from my lungs.
His brows furrowed, his lips parting slightly like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words. I could see it in his eyes-the pain. The raw, bleeding pain of something he would never say out loud.
“Nate?” I whispered, so quietly I wasn’t even sure I had said it at all.
He inhaled sharply, like the sound of my voice physically hurt him.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, his voice breaking over the words. “I shouldn’t have left you.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing myself to step back. “It’s fine.”
But he didn’t let go.
His grip tightened, his fingers curling slightly into the material of my leathers. His scent was stronger now, intoxicatingly warm, but sharp-a sign that his wolf was dangerously on edge.
For a split second, I wondered if I should push him away again. If I should remind him that this wasn’t who we were anymore. But then, I thought of his wolf. The poor creature had done nothing to deserve this.
So, I let him hold me. For his wolf’s sake. And for mine. For the first time in two years, she felt… safe. I felt safe.
His breathing slowed, and finally, he pulled back just enough to meet my gaze again. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
I exhaled “I think I sprained my ankle.”
Nate muttered a curse and immediately dres
Ito his knees in front of me.
I gasped. Nathaniel Morningstar was on his knees. In front of me. Me
Before I could even process it, his hands were on my hips, sending a jolt of heat through my veins. My heart pounded violently in my chest.
He barely nudged me back against the boulder behind me to sit, but the effect of it had my entire body locking up.
When he looked up at ine, his blue eyes weren’t the usual icy, frigid things I had grown accustomed to. They looked like the ocean-vast, soothing, and deep enough to drownin.
I felt my defenses cracking.
“I’m just going to test it, okay?” he murmured.
I nodded wordlessly.
The moment he twisted my ankle, a sharp pain speared through me, and I hissed.
“Yeah,” I bit out. “That’s sprained.”
Nate exhaled roughly, like my pain physically affected him. “It’ll heal in a few hours, but I need to get you off it. I got a claw, so we can go to the cave-“
He stopped mid-sentence, his entire body going rigid. His eyes locked onto something in my hand.
A claw of my own. It fitted perfectly in my hand, the cold metal biting into my palm. I didn’t have time to think about when they even had time to make hundreds of metal claws, anyway.
His expression brightened with something unreadable as realization dawned. I had gotten one too.
I knew the question before he asked it.
I rolled my eyes, already irritated by the doubt I saw flicker through his gaze.
“How do you think I sprained my ankle?”
I jerked my chin toward a tree a few feet away, where a rope still dangled from a high branch. Below it, a field of raw wolfsbane.
A death trap. If any wolf fell in that, it would probably burn their skin from their bones.
Nate’s face went pale as he pieced it together.
I smirked. “I had to scale the tree, grab the claw in a backflip, and then land away from the wolfsbane. But my landing was sloppy and I twisted my ankle, which caused me to fall and cut my check,” I explained.
Something like pride flickered in his eyes, though he still looked completely thrown.
“We used to scale trees all the time when we were kids, Nate. Don’t look so surprised.” I tilted my head, my voice dipping into something teasing. “Besides, don’t you remember when you and Ethan used to force me into and through impossible cramped spaces? I’m incredibly flexible.”
His entire body stilled.
A muscle in his jaw flexed, his eyes darkening in a way that made my stomach flip.
