Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail Novels & Stories

"Targeting her? She's the one who's been spreading all this occult nonsense since she got here, turning the whole department upside down!" Astrid took a shaky breath, her voice trembling just enough to sound convincing. "I didn't ask for this. I'm just trying to use what I can do to help people avoid bad outcomes." She stepped forward, looking at each of them in turn. "Let me ask you something. Have I ever hurt any of you? I kept you out of trouble with patients' families. I stopped you from getting on that bus. Even if I was right about that old man, what reason would I have to harm him? I didn't even know him!"

I asked, my tone sharp and demanding. I could feel my heart racing as I waited for his response, hoping he had some useful information that could change everything. “She’s missing. Astrid is gone from the pack, and Dane is searching everywhere for her,” the voice declared, a hint of satisfaction in his tone. I ended the call, a wave of relief washing over me, and a smile quickly spread across my lips as I turned to face my father. “I guess you have good news?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, and I nodded eagerly.

Turning Astrid looks almost embarrassed by our show of I want to say affection but honestly it is just pure filth going through Adira’s mind right now. “Ok, take your position, Adira, we need you to show Astrid and Autumn some of the easiest ways to keep Ajax from actually pinning you” Ares tells my tart of a wolf, who is still purring at our mates. ‘Adira concentrate, Astrid needs us’ My wolf pouts but takes her stance.

Before I could say anything, Wilfred rushed off while shouting, "Dad!" He pulled David Parker through the crowd and brought him to us. I didn't catch what Wilfred said to David, but David's face went from one angry look to another before he fixed his gaze on Clement. "You're the one threatening to boot my son from the Parker family's company? Since when does some outsider decide who stays and who goes?" David snapped. I'd heard that the founder of Vastflow Corporation had always been living overseas. I'd never met him since joining the company. I never would've thought Wilfred was the founder's son.

Effortless beauty. “I'm serious,” I continued. “I don't want you pregnant. If you want to trade your diploma for diapers, go ahead and repeat Aunt Joy's life. She dropped out of school, married a useless bastard, and he still left her.” Astrid bit her lip to hide a grin. “Relax. I know how to protect myself.” Her phone rang. The sharp tone cut through the room. She checked the screen, glanced at me, then answered. “It's Mom.”

“But what I believe is not enough. This is about the park’s law, and right now… she has made your case bad, really bad.” “So what happens now?” I began pacing around “Astrid’s words carries weight.” He hesitated. “The elders are meeting as we speak. “If they think you deliberately endangered a pack member, we are looking at total exile.” “Exile?” I stopped pacing as I turned to him, “But I’m not even supposed to be here in the first place but for the invite, I have already been exiled.” “Well, Dorian’s trying to stall the decision but Astrid played all this well. She made sure everyone saw her bleeding, the timing, the location, they were all on point.”

“They’re saying Thalia’s disgraced. She's been locked up.” I hugged her, hiding my smirk. She didn’t know I’d spun the web that trapped Thalia. “Good riddance,” I muttered into her hair. “She won’t hurt you again.” Tara hovered, wringing her hands. “She’s not well, Vexley. Look at her. Shaking like a leaf.” “I’m not a leaf,” Astrid snapped. A spark of her old fire flared. She tried to stand but wobbled. Franka caught her elbow, steadying her.

“You didn’t use to be.” Zade was quiet again. “Because you wanted to leave. And we were wrong as well,” he said at last. “About a lot of things.” There was another pause. Astrid bit her lip, tears threatening. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, I don’t know if I want to leave anymore,” she admitted, her voice shaking. “Everything is changing too fast. One second, I’m just a maid. The next… People are staring at me like I’m a threat. Or worse, like I’m a toy. I was okay being invisible.”

“Apology not accepted, you can leave now. This… whatever you all are trying to pull here, it won’t work on me.” Kaveh grunted, the sound low and rumbling in his throat. For a moment, he studied me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve. The intensity in his dark eyes made my skin prickle. “Are you always this difficult, Astrid?” “Difficult?” I echoed, a spark of anger cutting through the confusion. “My entire life has crumbled. I don’t know the truth from a lie. And now strangers are claiming I’m part of their family? Forgive me if I’m not rolling out the welcome mat.”

There was no more space to run, no more time to fake, and no more lies left to tell. Astrid looked at Carmilla, her amber gaze locking onto the vampire's crimson one through the fading twilight. The internal firewall she had built to keep her pack's demands away had completely crumbled, leaving behind nothing but an immense, unyielding devotion. She didn't care about the trial. She didn't care about the council. She was done bleeding for an empire that demanded her to be a monster. "No more," Astrid growled softly, the register of her voice dropping into a quiet, absolute certainty.