All Chapters of Fated in the Dark : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

“ I’m saying he can’t mark you.” Rhett’s voice was firm. Unyielding and Mira hated him for it. Not in the way that made her want to tear him down, but in the way that made her want to shove him up against the wall and make him feel what it cost her to nod and say, “Fine.” Because it wasn’t fine. Jace stood just behind her, silent and she could feel the ache in him. It was the bond twitching just under the surface, the longing curling in his chest like smoke. She wanted to mark him too. Her body burned with it, but Rhett was right. The pack was already whispering. “They smell it,” he continued, pacing in front of the hearth. “Not everything, but enough. The tension. The attention. A bond doesn’t need teeth to be noticed.” She folded her arms. “So we just pretend I belong to you, and Jace is—what—?” “Not yours,” Rhett said, but softer this time. His tone held more regret than order. Jace said nothing. But she knew his silence wasn’t surrender, it was containment. He was holding him

They were going to watch her. Not the way a soldier watches an enemy. No, this was worse. This was political scrutiny—cold, exacting, and unrelenting. Mira had seen it before, at training summits and disciplinary boards, but never like this—never when the thing under the microscope was her heart. The Summit gathering wasn’t a battlefield, but it might as well have been. The only difference was that the wounds would be invisible unless she let them show. So she dressed with care, straightened her posture, silenced her wolf, and stepped into the hall like a weapon that had never been touched. The gathering room was formally arranged, with the task force, Summit officials, Alpha, and Beta seating. The symbols of allied packs flanked the main wall. Each leader brought quiet expectations, their judgments carefully concealed behind patient smiles. Mira took her seat near the task force delegation. Not beside Rhett. Not beside Jace. That had been deliberate. Distance was a strategy, e

The forest was alive with the pounding of paws and breath. Moonlight flickered through the pines as the pack ran in full form—wolves streaking through the trees in a tide of fur and muscle and freedom. For one night, there were no monsters, no politics, no hidden bonds. Just instinct and freedom. Rhett ran at the front, Mira at his flank, Jace trailing just behind. Their bond hummed in the space between them, not touching, not acknowledging, but present. This was how they worked. Wild, wordless, powerful. His wolf thrived on it. Until it was shattered. A hawk’s cry overhead—three sharp bursts. A signal. Urgent. Rhett slowed, then stopped, shifting in a breathless flash of fur to skin as he stepped toward the messenger. Beta Kellen, clothes in hand, stood stiff-backed at the tree line, already halfway dressed. Rhett yanked his pants from the pile where he’d stashed them and gave a growl. “What is it?” Kellen hesitated, then: “A Summit observer’s been dispatched. They’ll arrive w

Jace sat on his bed with his hair still damp and a towel wrapped around his waist. He couldn’t feel his hands, not because they were numb, but because everything else was screaming so loudly inside his head that his body had gone quiet to survive. His mind replayed the moment Rhett had said it out loud, to the Summit, in a room full of pack leaders, envoys, and a woman known for stripping Alphas bare with three questions and a polite smile. He had stood there, without flinching, and claimed Jace. Claimed him as his mate. Jace stood still long after the meeting adjourned, Mira at his side, her shoulders squared in that infuriatingly elegant, lethal way she did when holding the world back with sheer force of will. He envied her composure because inside him, a war was happening. One part of him, the Beta, the soldier, was doing threat assessment, calculating fallout, replaying every word of the Summit exchange, and mapping weaknesses in their defense. But the man? The man was shak

He couldn't sleep. Not with the Summit still buzzing in his ears. Not since saying the words that changed everything. Jace Rowan is my mate. The room had gone dead silent and still, the bond hadn’t faltered. If anything, it had solidified. Rhett sat in the shadows of his office long after the others had cleared out, elbows on knees, head in his hands. The fire had burned low, casting long, gold-lit fingers across the wall. It wasn’t fear that knotted in his chest. It was uncertainty and under it, the growing pulse of something like need. When he finally stood, his legs felt heavier than they should. Like the truth had altered his gravity. He didn’t go to his room, he went to Jace’s. The hallway was quiet. No guards posted nearby. The house was still. He knocked once, softly. No answer, but when he tried the handle, it opened. Jace sat on the edge of the bed, shirt half-buttoned, hair damp from a recent shower, staring out the window as if he could see into the future through the