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Chapter Ten

Author: Wilson
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-03 18:42:41

The Devil’s Castle

The gates creak open with a slow groan, revealing a long stone driveway flanked by towering pine trees. Beyond them, the estate rises like a beast carved out of shadow and steel impossibly tall, sprawling, and cold. Even from here, I can feel the power humming in the air, thick and ancient.

My chest tightens. I swore I’d never set foot on this cursed land again.

But here I am.

Beside me, Gina leans forward in awe, her lips parted, eyes wide. “It’s… beautiful.”

It’s not.

It’s a graveyard wrapped in silk.

“It’s big,” I offer instead, keeping my voice even. She doesn’t need my fear. Not now.

The SUV slows as we pass the inner gates. Uniformed guards stand along the entrance, their expressions blank, their eyes sharp. Bloodfang wolves. They don't nod. They don't smile.

They watch in silence.

Ryan says something into a headset I can’t hear, then pulls the SUV into a stone-carved circle drive in front of the main building.

He gets out first.

The moment his boots hit the
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  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Sixty Two

    GinaThe fire burns low in the grate. Shadows slip across the walls, long and restless, as if they can’t find peace either.I should go to bed.But my body won’t move.I sit in the same spot long after Dante leaves me alone, staring at the dying embers. My thoughts twist and tangle until I can’t tell which ones are mine and which ones are old echoes of everything I was taught to believe.I was nothing.I was a burden.I was a mistake.Except now…none of that is true.I am a daughter.I am an heir.And I might be a mother.My hand drifts to my belly, the gesture automatic. Even the possibility that something tiny and alive is growing inside me is more terrifying than anything I’ve faced.Because what if I ruin it?What if I break this the way I break everything else?A soft knock interrupts the spiral.For a moment, I think about pretending I’m asleep. But I already know who it is.“Come in,” I call, though my voice sounds distant to my own ears.The door creaks open. Rose slips inside

  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Sixty One

    GinaI don’t look back.Even when the cold wind rises behind me, whipping hair across my cheek like a plea, I keep walking.Because if I turn around and see him standing there in that clearing, watching me leave I don’t know if I’ll have the strength to keep going.My legs feel like they’re made of glass. Every step could shatter me.But I force myself to focus on the trees ahead, the iron gate that’s barely visible through the mist.This is my choice.I tell myself that over and over, like a prayer. Like a curse.This is my choice.When I reach the threshold of the estate grounds, two guards watch me warily. They don’t speak as they push the wrought-iron gate open just wide enough to let me pass.Their eyes say enough, that they don’t know what to make of me. That maybe they pity me. Or fear me.I don’t care.All I care about is the silence waiting inside the house.I step over the threshold. The gate clangs shut behind me with a finality that rings in my bones.Inside, the hall feel

  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Sixty

    RyanI don’t move.I stand there in the cold, my breath fogging the air, and watch her disappear back down the path toward Dante’s estate.Her cloak flutters behind her like a shadow I can’t catch.Even when she’s out of sight, I still don’t move.Because if I do, if I turn around, if I let my legs carry me back to the car I think I’ll fall apart.The wind is bitter against my skin. It seeps into my bones. But none of it feels as cold as the emptiness hollowing out my chest.This isn’t how I thought it would end.Not with her walking away from me.Not with me letting her.If you decide you want me, I’ll be here.I meant every word. And maybe that’s the worst part.Because I’m not the boy I was when I first met her. I’m not naive enough to think love is enough to heal every wound. But even knowing that, I still can’t imagine a life where I don’t wait for her to come back.I drag a hand over my face, trying to scrub away the sting in my eyes. My palm comes away wet.Goddess, what is wro

  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Fifty Nine

    Gina I didn’t sleep that night.After I left Dante in the study, I went to my room and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the flames flickering in the small hearth.They burned down to embers while my thoughts burned brighter.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Ryan’s face in the clearing his voice breaking as he told me he would love our child no matter what I decided.I heard my own mother’s voice, too, echoing in the quiet.You were always stronger than you believed.But I didn’t feel strong.I felt like I was standing on a precipice, with no way to step back and no guarantee the ground would catch me if I fell.By dawn, I knew what I had to do.I dressed in silence, pulling on a heavy wool cloak and tucking my hair under the hood. The estate was quiet as I slipped out too quiet, as if everyone else was holding their breath, waiting to see what I would choose.Outside, the air was sharp and clean. Frost clung to the edges of the stone steps and turned the bare branches to lace

  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Fifty Eight

    GinaAfter Ryan left the courtyardhis scent lingering like a promise I didn’t go back inside right away.I stood in the doorway, my hand pressed to the rough wood, trying to quiet the war in my chest.I had never imagined a life where I could choose. Where no one owned my fate no alpha, no parent, no ancient pack feud.But choice was a terrifying thing.When the wind finally grew too cold to bear, I stepped back into the hall. The quiet was so absolute it made my ears ring. Every footstep echoed like an accusation.At the end of the corridor, a door stood open. The study.I knew without looking that Dante was in there. Watching. Waiting.My heart fluttered a soft, unsure beat and I nearly turned back.But I was done running.Slowly, I crossed the threshold.He was at the window, silhouetted by pale winter light. His coat hung from the back of a chair, and his shoulders looked heavier without it, as if the weight he carried had finally sunk into his bones.For a moment, he didn’t turn.

  • FAKE MATE, REAL BOND   Chapter Fifty Seven

    GinaI stayed on that wall until the sun rose fully over the trees.For the first time in what felt like forever, I let myself feel everything. Not just the fear or the anger or the disappointment but the strange, aching hope that maybe…somehow…I could start over.When I finally climbed down, my legs were stiff with cold. I made my way back to the house slowly, bracing for more questions I didn’t know how to answer.But the courtyard was empty. Silent except for the creak of the iron gate.I almost made it inside without seeing him.Almost.But the moment I set foot on the threshold, Ryan’s scent hit me sharp, familiar, and impossibly comforting. My heart stuttered.I turned.He was standing just beyond the gate, hands clenched at his sides, jaw tight. His hair was windblown, his eyes hollow.He looked like he hadn’t slept, like he’d run the whole way here.For a second, neither of us moved.Then, without a word, I stepped outside again and closed the door behind me.He didn’t wait fo

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