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42 - The Journey

Author: Grace Kara
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-10 01:38:02

His gentleness, it was a strange thing. It wasn’t in grand gestures or soft words.

It was in the way he looked at me sometimes, like he saw something more than just a weapon or an unwanted mate. It was in the way he’d started asking, not just commanding.

In the way he’d occasionally let a conversation drift beyond training or strategy, into something almost like shared understanding. He was still Austin Kaelen, ruthless and manipulative. But with me, only with me, there was a subtle easing of his iron control, a crack in his armor.

It was unsettling, and yet.... it drew me in, even as I reminded myself of the monster he was, the monster he was making me.

The journey itself was a blur of motion and simmering tension.

We took the black Land Rover again, the one that had carried me away from the river that was supposed to be my grave. Austin drove, his focus absolute, his hands sure on the wheel. I sat beside him, watching the familiar landscape of Havenwood Creek give way to
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  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   90 - Watching

    "Brother," she said, inclining her head just slightly. Not a true show of submission, but enough acknowledgment to prevent an immediate challenge. "It's been a while." "sofia," I said, my voice neutral. I stopped at the edge of the clearing, keeping some distance between us. Not out of fear, but strategy. I wanted to see what she would do, how she would approach this reunion. "What brings you to my territory?" Her smile widened, showing teeth. "Can't a sister visit? I heard you'd taken over after Roric's unfortunate... accident. I wanted to see for myself." "News travels," I observed. "Even to the nomad territories." "We have our ways of staying informed," Sofia said. Her gaze shifted to Selena, who stood slightly behind me and to my right. , the traditional position of a Luna during a formal meeting. Sofia's eyes narrowed, assessing, calculating. "And who's this? Your......mate?" I didn't answer, didn't need to. Sofia had always been good at reading situations, and the way Selen

  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   89 - Possibly

    "Do you think she wants to challenge you?" Selena asked. "It would be a death wish," I said. "Sofia's smart enough to know she can't win against me directly." I finally looked up at her. "But she's also arrogant enough to think she might find another angle. A weakness she can exploit." Selena's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her cup. "Me," she said softly. "Possibly," I admitted. There was no point in lying to her. Selena wasn't some fragile thing that needed protection from harsh realities. She was my creation , a weapon I'd forged from broken pieces, a Luna worthy of standing at my side. "Sofia never did understand the value of what was right in front of her. She always thought power came from force, not strategy." Selena set her cup down and moved behind me, her hands coming to rest lightly on my shoulders. The touch wasn't sexual; it was proprietary. Claiming. "What's your

  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   88 - Prejudices

    "Brother," she said, inclining her head just slightly. Not a true show of submission, but enough acknowledgment to prevent an immediate challenge. "It's been a while." "Sofia," I said, my voice neutral. I stopped at the edge of the clearing, keeping some distance between us. Not out of fear, but strategy. I wanted to see what she would do, how she would approach this reunion. "What brings you to my territory?" Her smile widened, showing teeth. "Can't a sister visit? I heard you'd taken over after Roric's unfortunate.....accident. I wanted to see for myself." "News travels," I observed. "Even to the nomad territories." "We have our ways of staying informed," Sofia said. Her gaze shifted to Selena, who stood slightly behind me and to my right , the traditional position of a Luna during a formal meeting. Sofia's eyes narrowed, assessing, calculating. "And who's this? Your..mate?" I didn't answer, didn't need to. Sofia had always been good at reading situations, and the way Selena ca

  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   87 - Fourth Day

    " Do you think she wants to challenge you?" Selena asked. "It would be a death wish," I said. "Sofia's smart enough to know she can't win against me directly." I finally looked up at her. "But she's also arrogant enough to think she might find another angle. A weakness she can exploit." Selena's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around her cup. "Me" she said softly. "Possibly," I admitted. There was no point in lying to her. Selena wasn't some fragile thing that needed protection from harsh realities. She was my creation , a weapon I'd forged from broken pieces, a Luna worthy of standing at my side. "Sofia never did understand the value of what was right in front of her. She always thought power came from force, not strategy." Selena set her cup down and moved behind me, her hands coming to rest lightly on my shoulders. The touch wasn't sexual; it was proprietary. Claiming. "What's you

  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   86 - According to Plan

    AUSTIN_____The thing about exile was that it never truly ended. Not for those of us who understood what it meant to live outside the bounds of normal society. I'd built my entire existence in Havenwood around this principle, never getting too comfortable, never believing that my position was secure, always keeping escape routes and contingencies in place.So when Marcus came to me with news that Sofia had been spotted near our western border, I wasn't surprised. I was fucking annoyed, but not surprised."When?" I asked, not looking up from the maps I'd been reviewing. Supply routes. Patrol patterns. The endless, grinding work of making sure an entire pack didn't starve or get slaughtered by rogues during the coming winter."Last night alpha," Marcus said. His voice had that careful neutrality he'd perfected over the decades of serving under Vorlag and Roric. A voice that communicated information without opinion attached. "The patrol spotted her watching from the ridge above the we

  • The Rogue's Reluctant Mate   85 - Long Term

    "Garret recommended deeper, actually," Esther said. She was looking at Austin the way she'd been looking at things since the council restructuring..carefully, assessing. "We compromised." "Good," Austin said. He seemed genuinely pleased by this, which was strange enough that I asked him about it later when we were back in the den. "Why would you care about how we compromised on garden bed depth?" I asked. He looked up from some reports he was reviewing. "Because compromise means you're actually working together rather than just following orders. That's what makes something sustainable. Not the fact that the Alpha said to do it. The fact that the people doing it feel invested enough to have opinions about it." He set down his pen. "Also, if the system is working and people aren't resentful about their assignments, they're less likely to do stupid things like help defectors escape or maintain secret intelligence networks." "So the garden is a political project," I said. "Everythi

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