Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

-Jace ~

The way I remembered the Clear Waters pack was a distant memory.

The softness, the tranquillity of the landscape...everything that made it what it was...is now steel, metal..a cold harshness.

The brutality in contrast to how I remember it was a wake up call to how long I had been away. I had been gone, what shy of a year...look how much has happened in that year. Mum said steel borders, I imagined steel borders...but to actually see them was something else.

Not only that, warriors of the Dark Phantom pack had infiltrated the pack here...turning the clear waters warriors into something else.noveldrama

I get it, Dad needed to send them to protect the borders but if the Dark Phantom was considered night...then the Clear Waters was always knowns as being the light to its darkness.

It had been a week since Callie and I left the Dark Phantom pack.

A week of Callie getting used to her new pack, and taking the time to get to know the pack members.

Today the family descended, everyone...and I mean everyone was coming. Even the Arancea's...apparently my family cannot do anything without them.

But them coming serves a purpose once and for all.

Today, I would announce the date Callie would be made a pack member and the Luna through me marking her.

We talked about it in detail, more Callie bringing it up every time she could...

...Was I sure I wanted to mark her...

...I shouldn't mark her to keep the mate bond open in case I change my mind...

...That she can be a pack member and be a Luna that way...

But in marking her, I was setting Cleo free. I was unchaining myself from the very thing that threatened to topple me.

My mind was made up.

I was at the sea border over looking the peaceful beach. This was my favourite spot in this land, if I pretend not to take notice of the steel borders to either side of me...I can envisage complete freedom inside of this pack. How it was. Just looking out to the horizon gave me peace.

Since returning I have ensured I was at each and every training session.

I'm appreciative of the work the Dark Phantom Warriors have done here but it was time they left. Once my family leave, they...along with Auntie Alora and Ezra would be leaving too.

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It was time for a fresh start, time for a new leadership upon this pack. Time to accept my fate.

My phone rings, my fingers moving to accept the call immediately.

"Alpha, the Alphas, Miss Josie and Knox are here." A guard's voice updates me over the phone.

"Grant access." I grunt out before ending the call. They were early.

"Time to get this done." I murmur to myself, not noticing a figure moving towards me in my peripheral vision.

"Are you sure about this Jace, there is no rush?" Auntie Alora moves to my side, I could sense her unease of stepping down and leaving the pack that she had called home for the best part of twenty years.

But she had given up so much, never having children of her own, never exploring the world...surely it was about time she did what she wanted.

"You've kept the pack safe all these years, it's time you enjoyed retirement."

"To be honest Jace, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"What do you mean?"

"This is the first pack that has felt like home to me, real home. I'm not sure how I feel about leaving."

"What about Ezra?"

"He's suggesting we return back to Jude's pack, be with his family." She shrugs out, as she loops her arm between mine, resting her head against my upper arm.

"I'm beyond grateful for what you have done here Auntie Alora, how you have kept the pack safe for me.

I know it can't have been easy not having Mum here, but also trying to keep up with the demands of an off site alpha.

If you wanted to stay here, this is your home, you can stay. I just thought you would want to do something different."

The sound of cars arriving pulls my

attention away from the

conversation, towards the alpha

house. When Mum hands me the

Alpha title I'll be able to control. through the pack link, who the guards let through the gates but for now it was all done through Auntie Alora as Beta or technology. Most of the time, the guards calling me for clearance.

I may be the future Alpha but I wasn't born here, or raised here...I cannot feel the pack link until I accept the Alpha title from Mum.