Mate? Or Die? Novels & Stories

“You won’t fucking tell me what to do!” “I was just giving you an option since it seems you hate me so much. I don’t see why you’re willing to keep me as your mate when my existence bothers you.” He gripped the collar harder, restricting my airflow. “You know there’s a high chance I’ll die when you reject me, so do it and free yourself from this torture,” I whispered, ignoring Ru, who was yelling at me to shut my mouth. “So much for wanting to protect your new life!” she said.

I could feel my heart sink as she spoke, a heaviness settling in my gut that was impossible to ignore. "Mates," she said, the word hanging in the air like a delicate thread, "means two people the gods themselves have deemed to be perfect for one another, two souls intertwined in a way that transcends mortal understanding. It's a connection that is said to be forged in the heavens, an unbreakable bond that pulls these two individuals together across time and space, across lifetimes. It’s a love that is supposed to be pure, untainted by the world's harsh realities. But that’s the thing—love is never that simple, and neither is the idea of a mate."

My brows creased, and my lips trembled as I spoke, “You want me to what? Die?” “Not die,” Marlena explained, rising to stand in her ritual circle. “Just cross over. Briefly. Long enough to find him. It’s up to you now.” “Oh.” Sounds to die for. I bit my lip and glanced at Valen with dread and remorse. My mate shimmered in and out like a flickering candle at the end of its wax, barely holding on, his light struggling not to vanish. “I’m so sorry,” I murmured unintentionally aloud.

I’m dead, and nothing will change that. So what good is anger here? Nothing can change what has come to pass, but I need to know one thing before moving on. “I get it; I’m dead. I probably should have been killed long ago or not given life, to begin with. Just tell me one thing, is Gianna alive?” “What would it matter?” Fate asks. “If she were alive, you die, she dies. That’s how the mate bond works.” “We’re all well aware how the mate bond works, Fate, as I created it. We don’t need your dictation on the matter.” Selene tells Fate while side-eyeing him.

“Dead? You did all this just to kill her anyway?” Mateo shot him a gray look, zipping his mouth in an instant. “Bring her alive. I don’t let investments go un-doubled.”

Danny responded as Anthony tiredly rubbed his hand over his face. "I can't do this again, I don't even know this girl, and I felt the mate bond click into place, and immidately, now I can feel that ebbing away like I did before. It's like a slow death march." he said as I swallowed. When my mate died, it was instant, and I felt it like an elastic band snap. The sting was brutal and instant and knocked me off my feet. However, a mate to die slowly weakening with each moment whilst less of a whip lash moment must be hell.

Damn this mate bond. "I'm done with you," I snapped, my eyes blazing. "I don't need you, James." "Emily, I'm about to become Alpha," he said, waiting for me to relent. "Being my mistress is your best choice. Your mother's life is at stake." He turned to leave, adding, "You'll come around. Your mother can't wait." "I don't need it!" I screamed after him, collapsing, tears streaming down my face. Was there no escape? Would I watch my mother suffer?

He walked to me and held my shoulder. “If you truly want to see that day, you have to gain the happiness of your mate, you have to make her love you to the extent of being able to cross the mines for you,” he said, and that only made my confusion more tangled. “Why that?” I asked and he cleared his throat. “I will just need you to open your ears and listen attentively,” he said and I nodded, ready to listen to all that he had to say. Why do I have to gain my mate's happiness before my 23rd birthday? And why I still feel the mate bond even after rejecting her.

Matei said, “Is that why you don't allow it to be to the death?” I asked, and he gave me a slow nod. “She is MY fucking fated mate… not theirs…” I said, and he nodded. “And having you killed in this challenge will drive her to madness… either way, the one enduring the aftermath is her…” he said, and I cursed.

Amalie asks. “Yes.” “Did you try that?” “Only a dozen times.” “Weird,” Amalie mutters and absentmindedly takes a sandwich from the container. “I am going to ask again…Are you sure she’s dead?” “Yes,” I growl softly. “I told you…feeling your mate die, it’s…you just know. You can feel a part of yourself dying with her.” Amalie abruptly looks up at me. Her blue eyes are glowing brightly, casting a halo over her face. The spirit is awake. “Hello, mate,” she says in an eerie, papery soft voice.