All Chapters of Unwanted Mate: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

IslaI don’t know how long I’ve been in the root cellar, but I’m sure that the sun is skimming the far horizon. My leg is aching like it does in the coolness of the evenings. A chill has settled in the root cellar and my body shivers to ward off the cold.There is no light here, no way to know what is going on. Reaching out through the dark, I try to call to either of the dragons. Our connection is faint, almost like it has been broken and now only a thread remains.Aegir had brought me a dress shortly after I was locked in here. It is not warm; the chill is slowly seeping into my bones. But the new dress and small blanket are keeping my teeth from chattering. For how long, I don’t know. Small shivers are running through my body and my leg begins to ache more.Metal scrapes against metal as the door leading down to the cellar is unlocked. Light streams through the door, blinding me as Aegir appears with a skein of water, a bowl of stew, and a blanket. I want all three. I will take non

IslaThe pain in my arm reduced almost as soon as Björn had touched me. He laid me on the bed and Magnus sat on the edge of it opposite his brother. Laying in the middle of the bed, with the two men on either side of me, I easily slip back to sleep. They each kiss my forehead, something that Magnus does easily but Björn only does when someone is watching, and the pain dissipates completely.As I drift deeper into sleep, I feel the dragons come to me. Guðmundur nuzzles me and I feel Magnus wrapping his arms around me. Ragnvaldr also nuzzles me as Björn presses against me and cups my cheek. The dragon speaks to me, but it is the man’s voice that I hear.“Forgive me.”I am unable to think about what he wants me to forgive him for. Even if I could, there are too many things to choose from. Leaving me here. Dagmara. Ignoring me. Trying to get me to leave.As the list grows, I slip further into the dark silence of sleep. Even as I reach out for them, both dragons move just out of reach. A p

BjörnI don’t know what has come over my beast to make him act the way that he is. He’s not getting close to Isla like he usually does. In fact, he’s staying away from her as if… I shake my head to clear those thoughts.Why would my beast be afraid of Isla?She walks with a slight limp. In our shared mind, I see her walking and my eyes are drawn to the off-balanced sway of her hips. Deep in the recesses of my mind, I hear him purr.Haakon sits down at the table, leaving several places empty between him and us. He is still too close, and I give him a warning look that he just chuckles at. My beast snarls and snaps at him – completely unlike him towards the old gamekeeper.“The next several months should be interesting.”I don’t know what he means by that. I don’t have the chance to ask him either. I’m too busy trying to keep my beast in check as he snarls and snaps at all the males that get too close.What the hell has come over him? Where is all this sudden protectiveness coming from?

IslaSeath is here. Aislin is here. Their boys have grown so much and there is another on the way.I push past both Magnús and Björn to get to my old friend. My former protector. He catches me and holds me as I cry. I know that the black sap lotion on my skin must be hurting him, but he does not seem to care.While I lived in Vindolando near the northern wall, there were few people who were kind to me. Seath and Aislin were never cruel to me like so many in the village were. But they were not overly kind to me either. That was until my grandmother was killed.Although I had helped her with the birth of Aislin’s oldest, the second came only hours after Grandmother's death. He was the first and only birth that I assisted on my own. I

MagnúsWe compare what we experienced in the sudden depths of the pond. The pressure that was squeezing our chests. How the darkness gave way to what looked like stars. Feeling as though something was pulling us down.It was all surreal. I thought that I was dreaming, perhaps dying. None of it made any sense. Ever since we both came into our prime, the water has barely covered us. We always had to sit to cover our entire bodies with the water.Now it was so deep that we both had the momentary thought that we would never see Drekiby again.Eventually, we start on the path leading back to the village. I had taken Björn to the meadow with the healing pond to get him away from the wolf. Seath, I believe that is his name, had angered my brothe