Fated (Forever Book 2)

by Regan Ure

  I glanced down to see his fists tighten slightly.

  “I was expected to train like everyone else, and sometimes he expected more from me because I was his daughter.” I didn’t like to think about the past because there was no happiness in it but I knew that I needed to do this. “The few times I’d refused, he’d ensured I received a fitting punishment…Sometimes it was a beating and other times he’d lock me up and only give me a little food and water for days.”

  Everyone thought they knew Victor but I knew the depth of what he would do to get what he wanted. He was worse than the reputation he’d earned throughout the territories.

  I noticed the slight tense of Blake’s jaw and knew he was struggling to control his temper, and it made me feel warm inside.

  “I’m not sure why he kept my mom around initially but when I got older and the punishments didn’t seem to be working anymore, he decided to use my mother to ensure my obedience instead.”

  He ran a hand through his hair as he looked away from me.

  “I’d dreamed of running away but there was no way I could let anything happen to my mom.”

  He stood up and began to pace. He was struggling with all the details of my life. It had been much harder to live through it.

  “There was no way to get her out of here so I did the only thing I could. I did whatever Victor wanted even though it meant doing…terrible things.”

  He stopped pacing and turned to face me. I held his gaze for a few moments, wondering what he was thinking. He walked closer and I tried to stop myself from leaning away from him. Being this close was pushing my boundaries of trust. I had to trust that he wouldn’t touch me without my permission. He bent down in front of me and looked at me.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said gently. He meant it and I felt my heart squeeze. “I know it doesn’t erase the hurt I caused or what happened to you…it doesn’t change the fact that your mom will die, but I just wanted you to know that if I could have changed any of that, I would have.”

  His words reached down into some hidden part of me, a part of me that had been pushed into the darkness my whole life that wanted to come out into the light. I tensed my jaw and pushed it back into the darkness.

  Words are just words, I reminded myself. For me to completely trust him, he would have to prove to me that I could trust him. His eyes scanned my face and he reached out to touch my cheek. I was stunned but his fingers never connected with my face; instead they hovered slightly above my skin.

  “You don’t know how badly I want to touch you,” he admitted softly, and I swallowed. “After hearing what happened to you, I want to hold you and tell you everything will be all right, but I won’t touch you until you ask me to.”

  I held my breath, my eyes fixed to his. He hadn’t done what I’d expected and I felt a little off balance. It was rare that people didn’t behave the way I expected.

  He stood up and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said softly. I could see by his expression that whatever he was going to tell me, I wasn’t going to like.

  Thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to figure out what he could have done that made him look so guilty.

  “From this point, I want you to be able to trust me,” he said. “So I need to tell you everything.”

  I clasped my hands together as I tried to keep my nervousness from my face. Normally I was able to keep my emotions in check but when I was with Blake it was harder. It was like when he looked at me he saw deeper into me than anyone else.

  “All I ask is that you listen to what I have to say and give me a chance to explain,” he requested. I contemplated for a few moments while he watched me before I gave him a brief nod.

  “I lied to you,” he admitted softly.

  A tense silence settled over us. It didn’t surprise me, but it still hurt.

  “I didn’t come here because I forgave you and wanted to mate with you,” he revealed, and I felt my heart crack. It wasn’t like I was surprised because from the moment he’d shown up I’d suspected he had ulterior motives, but still, the fact that he admitted it was harder to cope with.

  As much as I wanted to walk out and ignore him, I stayed sitting on the bed, trying to keep him from seeing how much his admission was affecting me.

  “I came here to mate with you but I was doing it to keep the packs safe,” he further explained, and I let my gaze drop to the floor.

  It felt like I’d been physically hit and I struggled to keep calm. He’d lied and deceived me, but I’d done the same. I took a deep breath.

  “We needed to make sure you could shift so you would be strong enough to hold your alpha title. The longer you are unable to shift, the more vulnerable you are,” he explained softly. I kept my gaze to the floor. I couldn’t look at him.

  “We need you to stay in charge of this. We want peace, and if another alpha gets your pack that won’t be guaranteed.”

  It made tactical sense but his words cut right through me. I’d known he’d come here with ulterior motives but even though it had been expected, it hurt that I’d been right. I pressed my lips together and lifted my gaze to look at him. His eyes studied me to see how I’d taken the news of his betrayal.

  “I listened to what you had to say,” I said as I stood up and walked over to the door.

  I reached for the handle.

  “I let you explain.”

  That had been all I had agreed to.

  “Keri—”

  I didn’t wait to hear what else he wanted to say. I opened the door and left, slamming the door so hard it nearly broke off its hinges.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Keri

  I was so angry, I wanted to hit someone. I took a deep breath and released it, hoping to dispel some of the anger swirling around inside of me, but nothing was easing the fury building up.

  I stalked over to the gate and indicated for the guards to open it. A need to run overtook me. My emotions took over and I needed to get out of the property before anyone saw me lose control, and it was going to happen at any second.

  Blake admitting that he’d come here with an ulterior motive had just solidified my distrust for him and I didn’t think I would ever be able to move past that to trust him again. I’d suspected that he’d had a hidden agenda but it had still hurt when he’d admitted the reason he was here was to keep his loved ones safe, and that hadn’t included me.

  As soon as the gates swung open, I ran into the forest as fast as my legs could carry me.

  Breathing hard, I ran until I couldn’t anymore. By the time I stopped, my chest was burning and sweat dripped down my face. I leaned against a tree as I tried to catch my breath. The run had done nothing to stop the pain inside of me. After a few minutes, my breathing returned to normal and I brushed the moisture from my forehead.

  The usual comfort I found from the forest evaded me. This time the sight and scent of the surrounding trees did nothing to ease the turmoil inside of me.

  I hated that Blake had tried to deceive me and I was angry with him, even though part of what he said had been right. To an alpha wanting to take over a pack, I was an easy target. Logically, I knew the best way to keep my pack safe was to mate with Blake, but my emotions stopped me. How could I allow myself to mate with someone who could deceive me?

  A nagging voice somewhere in my mind reminded me that I’d also deceived him and that I wasn’t an innocent in this even though I had my reason for doing so. He also had reasons for his deception, the voice argued.

  I sat down. I looked up to the branches as I leaned against the trunk of the tree.

  So the question was, should I mate with him to protect my pack and myself, and to indirectly protect Blake and his pack? I dropped my head into my hands as I tried to wrestle with my decision.

  “I knew it was just a matter of time before you made a mistake,” a voice said.

  I shot to my feet and faced an evil-grinning Richard, my ex-beta.


  “What do you want, Richard?” I asked with disdain clear in my voice as I kept my eyes on him.

  On the outside I was calm and in control, but inside I was scared. He’d caught me off guard and alone.

  Curtis, I’m in trouble, I pushed the thought through my mind-link to my beta.

  I knew without a doubt that Richard wasn’t just here to talk. He was going to kill me. And by doing that he would become the alpha of my pack and he would run the pack just like my father had. Everything Blake and his friends feared would happen. As evil as my father had been, I feared that Richard had the potential to be even worse.

  “You can call for help but I’ll end your life before anyone can get here,” he said with sureness that made my blood run cold. It was one-on-one, but he could shift into his wolf and I couldn’t. That was my death sentence.

  There would be no winning this fight, but it wasn’t in me to give up without one. I was no coward even if death were inevitable. I’d made a big mistake but I didn’t allow him to see the fear that I felt inside.

  Where are you? Curtis asked frantically through the mind-link.

  In the forest, I answered.

  Goddammit! You stay alive until I get to you, he shouted at me.

  I tensed my jaw to stop the emotion from filtering through onto my features. I wouldn’t give Richard the satisfaction. Victor had always drilled into me that emotions caused mistakes, and he was right. My emotions and lack of thought had put me into this deadly situation.

  Look after my mom. I sent the last thought through to Curtis before I blocked further communication. There was no point. He wouldn’t be able get to me in time. I’d expected Richard to shift into his wolf and tear me to pieces but instead he remained in human form, watching me with a villainous smile.

  “I don’t need to shift into my wolf to kill you,” he said smugly as a cold smile spread across his face. “I’m strong enough to pull you to pieces with my bare hands.”

  Not only was I going to die, he would make sure it was painful. I didn’t want to feel the fear that crept through me but there was no stopping it.

  “This might just be a fair fight, then,” I couldn’t help throwing back at him. Just because I was about to die a very painful death didn’t mean I was going to let him see how scared I was, and it wasn’t in me to back down or beg for my life.

  If I was going out, it would be fighting.

  With a determined push of my chin, I held his stare as he stepped forward. All the werewolves in my pack had been trained to fight. Woman alongside men; there was no discrimination.

  Richard might be the stronger one but I still hung on to the fraction of hope that my speed might hold him off for the time needed for Curtis to get to me. He leaped forward and his fist flew toward my face but was slightly fast so I managed to pull my head out of its way.

  He laughed as I took a step backward. I’d escaped the first punch but I was far from safe. He had me exactly where he wanted me. Most people would try and run but I knew there was no point. If I ran he would shift and then I would be an easy kill.

  I was going to fight him but I had to be clever about it. If by some miracle I could hold him off, I thought I just might be able to survive this. He sized me up for a moment as I took a fighting stance and raised my fists. All my training ran subconsciously through my mind as I took in the way he stood and where his hands were.

  He balled them against his sides while he continued to smile, like he’d won this battle already.

  This time when he stepped forward he was much quicker and I didn’t make it out of his way. His fist connected with my face and I felt the momentum of the hit lift me off the ground and I flew backward. I hit the ground hard, temporarily winding me as I rolled onto my side, holding my aching face.

  There was something wet on my face where my cheek throbbed. I looked down at my hands to see it smeared with my own blood. My cheek had split open from the force of the hit.

  Richard stalked forward and I pushed myself back up on my feet, wiping the blood with my hand. The evil in his eyes grew at the evidence of what he’d done to me. He was reveling in my pain.

  “You had enough yet?” he mocked as he stepped forward menacingly.

  “As if,” I spat at him. “It’ll take more than that to kill me.”

  I saw the rise in anger at my dig at his ego. The next hit was definitely going to be harder. I watched his eyes carefully, trying to predict his next move. The slightest flicker to the left gave me enough time to avoid the next hit.

  His victorious smile waned slightly as his eyes glinted with determination. I could only hold him off for so long, and I was quickly running out of time.

  Without revealing his next move, he yelled as he ran for me and tackled me to the ground. I landed hard, expelling the breath out of my lungs, and the pain shot through me. The impact bruised my side as he rolled off me and got back to his feet.

  It hurt to breathe and I rolled onto my stomach, trying to get back up again.

  “I’m going to enjoy this,” he said with determination. The small hope that I’d held on to began to evaporate.

  “Fuck you,” I spat at him as I managed to get back up to my feet. My face and body throbbed with pain. My legs were unsteady beneath me but they held me up.

  “I’m going to watch the life leave your body and I’m going to enjoy every moment of it,” he promised in a deadly tone as his hand wrapped around my neck.

  Oh. My. God. He was going to strangle me.

  He pushed me up against a nearby tree and I tried to loosen his hold with my hands. I scratched and fought but he was too strong. No matter how hard I hit him or struggled against his hold, his gripped never weakened.

  My lungs burned with the need for oxygen as his hand closed more tightly around my neck, cutting off my air supply.

  He watched with a smile as I began to suffocate. The darkness came for me, giving me relief from my fear and pain.

  Blake

  I sat down on the bed. The sound of the door slamming still echoed in my ears. She was rightfully upset and I couldn’t argue with that. Letting out a heavy sigh, I tried to figure out what my next move should be. We’d both been less than honest from the time we’d met and somehow we needed to untangle the mess so we could move on, whether that was together or not.

  I bunched my hair in my hands as I thought about the best way to approach this.

  I wanted to give her the space to work her anger and hurt off but the reality was we were running out of time. She was vulnerable and she needed to mate with me. It was the only way she would be able to survive. After everything I’d just found out about her, I felt awful. I had no idea how bad her life had actually been and to sit calmly beside her and listen to it had taken more self-control than I thought I ever possessed.

  Knowing the truth had pushed the feelings of hate and betrayal from me. I was still trying to figure out exactly where that left me. There was no doubt about the fact that I cared for her and I didn’t want anything to happen to her. Did I feel more? I wasn’t sure.

  I wrestled with leaving to cool off or trying to get her to let me explain further. Deciding we couldn’t just leave it like we had, I made the choice to follow her. Just as I made it out of the room, I caught a glimpse of Keri stalking out the gates.

  I hung back, giving her a little bit of time before I confronted her again. The guard by the gate watched me closely while I watched Keri disappear into the forest.

  Most werewolves enjoyed nature but I think for Keri it was more than just that. Maybe it was her place to cool off. But irrespective of how she felt, mating with me wasn't something she could run from. It was hard to be around her and have to stop myself from touching her. It was hard to believe that in all the time I'd known her, I'd never touched her.

  After a few minutes I left the property and walked into the forest, deciding that I’d given Keri enough time. I followed her tracks and the faint remains of her scent. She’d run farther than I�
��d expected.

  The forest was peaceful and there was no forewarning that something was wrong until I heard sounds of a fight.

  My heart began to pump harder and I felt a fear like I’d never felt before spread through me with every heartbeat.

  Keri.

  I began to run, hoping that I wasn’t going to be too late. My anger began to build at the thought that someone would hurt her.

  On the outside she portrayed herself as a heartless person who was just like her father, but when she’d opened up to me I’d gotten a glimpse of the little girl who had just wanted her father to love her.

  The scene that came into view when I found the source of the noise nearly brought me to my knees. Richard was holding Keri by the neck against a tree.

  Alarm filled me when I saw her eyes were closed and she wasn’t fighting back. Fear gripped my heart like an iron fist and squeezed. I swear it stopped beating for the few seconds it took me to take in what was happening.

  I saw red and I lost it. I charged for him and took him by surprise, knocking him to the ground with all my strength as Keri crumpled to the ground. I got to my feet just as Richard stood up. I'd briefly met him a couple of times and knew he was just as cruel and ruthless as Victor. I made sure I stood protectively between him and Keri’s unmoving body.

  If he wanted her, he would have to get through me and I would die before I’d let that happen.

  "You think you can take me?" Richard taunted me. I wanted to tear him apart bit by bit and hear him howl in pain.

  "By the time you’re finished with me she’ll be dead," he informed me. He knew that I wouldn't risk her life to end his.

  He was right. As much as I wanted to kill him, Keri needed medical attention, fast. Richard laughed as he shifted into his wolf and disappeared into the forest.

  I swore that I would watch him die one day for what he'd done. I hurried straight to Keri and dropped to my knees. There was blood smeared from an open wound on her face. I touched my fingers to her neck to check her pulse and I felt an array of emotions sweep over me as I touched my mate for the first time, confirming what we already knew: she was mine.