I'm Dying Mate (Iona Blackfield) novel Chapter 23

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THIRD POV

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Arthur Blackfield has accepted the job of his Father-in-law not because he wanted it but because it was the responsibility that was thrusted to him. he didn’t expect that the Elder who taught him to fight back in the temple would be the same man that would drive him to elope with his mate.

The beautiful Cara that he has watched grew up while he was too scared to talk to, but he has watched her throughout the years. She’s the one known to excel in her studies both in the arithmetic’s and sports. He admired her form and the grace she had when he first saw her.

So, when she first shifted, and she comb through the temple (because she smelled him. everywhere in the temple) she was blunt and straightforward that she wants him more than anything. It took him a while before he accepted that the beautiful red-haired Cara was his mate. He, of course, asked her father’s blessing first because he is the Elder that took him from his human family. He wore his best clothes and rehearsed his words before he stepped up to the apartment Elder Kylo and his family resided in, in the temple.

It wasn’t Elder Kylo who opened the door though, it was his beautiful Cara that smiled so brightly at him with green hair streaked in her red. Later, he would come to know that Cara felt constricted being the perfect daughter and dying her hair is the only form of rebellion she possessed. At that time, he just stared at her stunned yet again while he fiddled and push his glasses up

He’s still human at the time and he didn’t have the perfect vision. He told her, that he was there to ask her father’s permission, but she quickly pull him outside and told him that her father would never approve of this and it’s better and safer to elope.

He was young, in love and completely infatuated with the girl that he semi stalked throughout them growing up. Before they know it, they were packing their stuff and running away when the sun was down.

He sent a lot of mercenaries and hunter to their house. It caused a couple of miscarriages but their babies’ deaths aside they were adamant on staying together because of love. Cara’s nerdy human mate which she turned the next chance she got to being alone with him. They kept moving and when they had twins they were sure to keep each other safe.

When it was nearing for the birth of the twins, he asked safe haven on his elder brother Raven

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in his territory. He quickly gave them safe passage without the Elders knowing and Cara delivered the twins safely.

Now, Arthur is the holder of more than 125 prisoners from different packs and some came from the Elder’s trials. There were a lot of criminals there with a grave and heinous crime and he even hired a few demons to torture them when they can but within those 125 only one was his prisoner.

It’s the man that took his sister away. he knew that he beats his little sister. Dianna came to him one day to beg for money and the bruises on her body was proof enough for him to

deduce that it’s Smith who did those.

He, of course, gave her the money she asked and ask some of his trackers to keep tabs on her life but for some reason his trackers came out empty. He just learned that his mother was to blame for that. Her ability to hide Dianna and lona astounds him and not only him but

also his brothers.

It seems his Mother hated them more than they thought. She hated them so much she didn’t care that Dianna was getting abused and her granddaughter was sick that she kept them

from the werewolf world.

He took Smith when he heard he owes a ton of money on a gang near his pack. He knows the boss and asked for Smith be handed to him if he doesn’t pay his dues and as luck would have it, Smith wasn’t able to pay. He had him, he finally had him. the things he wanted to do, the things he wants him to pay for.

Smith said so many things during his tortures that he thought they were just lies. He yapped on about lona being sick and Dianna being dead. Maybe, it was the strong denial that his precious little sister was dead, and his niece was sick that kept him from believing him.

He gruffly sighs while drinking the glass of whisky on his desk. He sees the door open and it was his mate. She struts to him with a worried look. Her red hair untouched by chemicals for

years now.

“You’re keeping things in again” she pushes the whisky down from his hands while she sits on the desk. He presses closer to her, making her legs open wider and let them drape on his lap. “You know that I don’t like you keeping things from me. it doesn’t really end for you when you do”

“I’m not” Arthur playfully says, kissing her chin.

Cara frowns “I don’t believe that shit. Is it about little dove? You know, you suck at lying because you have a lot of tells”

Arthur sighs, he can’t ever keep anything from her. The reason he loses in gambling is

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because Cara often knows when he is bluffing or when he has good hands “No, more of her

father”

“Why? What’s wrong? He’s here and safe in our keeping” she touches Arthur’s lips with her finger and drag it to one side. She widens her legs to accommodate his large frame.

“I know but I had a dream that he…escaped. It was horrible”

“This is also about the light readers isn’t it?”

Arthur nods admittingly “yes, you know she is right”

“they don’t read the future, Arthur. They just see the truth in lies and whatever she says isn’t a sure thing to come true.” Cara caresses his cheek, calming his nerves immediately.

“I love you, my squirrel” Arthur whispers his pet name for her.

“I love you too, my love” She leans down and kisses him softly on his lips. Their hands entwining as Arthur pulls his chair closer to her. Pressing himself to her front and pushing her legs wider.

There was a rapt at the door that stops them. Cara groans while Arthur straightens Cara’s dress and placing her on her feet before moving to the door.

He pulls it open with a strong pull “What?” he asks his Beta Landon.

“He escaped” that was all he said for Arthur to understand.

“Okay, you know what to do. Look for him and figure out how the fuck he got away” Arthur growls at him, wanting to grab his Beta’s collar and ramming it to his wall.

“We think he had help. There were signs of someone from the outside taking the doors out and knocking out the two guards on the entrance”

“How’d they got through the biometrics?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out” Langdon says while walking away from his Alpha. “I’ll report it when I do”

Arthur shuts the door closed and sees Cara’s horrified face. “They don’t read futures, eh? If they’re this good at guesses they might as well be”

The Manor

Trace Woodworth has no idea of the allegations given to him. Rebellion? Why would he start a rebellion when his people finally found lasting peace? Do the werewolves know how idiotic their words were? And to drag an innocent human in the midst of this all.

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Since meeting, Trace did nothing but drank his sorrows away with blood and with alcohol.

to his Grandpa Max but the broken

Don’t mistake that he is happy since he is back to talkin

heart he nursed is a different story.

lona was his first love and not having her with him was a hit straight to his soul. He has been too busy inheriting everything his long-lost father five years ago that he wasn’t able to visit her. God knows how much he wanted to just take her in his arms and bite her. Turning her in to him but at this point that was impossible.

He apparently has a mate out there and lona has found hears. He sighs again when he sees Alfred, his second in command enter the room with a pile of files. He has ordered him to find out where this rebellion rumors started. It was a long search in the files as vampires have a habit of recording everything to the point that it seems the files were never ending.

He should be looking for his mate since he is a vampire and traditionally you find your mate before or when you turn twenty-five. He’s still eighteen but the stakes were high for him to look for one because most lords and ladies around the vampire territory are usually mated.

Trace could care less about the mating thing because how could he look for someone else when he’s too heartbroken to function. He cursed under his breath while pushing the whisky down his throat again, hoping that forcing it would quickly turn him drunk.

“None?” Trace lazily asks him. Alfred shakes his head as an answer. He puts the documents on the ground, letting it fall and scatter at his feet. “Hmm, if it’s not from our section of the territory.”

Alfred nods already knowing what his leader was going to say. He has been doing the same work for weeks now since the discovery of his Lord’s little human being taken under the custody of the werewolf Elders. The vampire council only cares because Trace is part of what makes up the council.

Trace sighs while leaning back to his seat. He plays with the back legs of his chair while staring at the ceiling. He lazily licks his lips while sighing. “Well, I have always liked puzzles”

“That is true” Alfred agrees with his eyes suspiciously squinting at his leader. His long brown hair in a tight ponytail and his beard neatly trimmed. The first time Trace ever saw the man, he looks like one of those hipsters that uses typewriters and are into steam punk.

He grins at Alfred. “You know, I’m about to do something stupid.”

Alfred sighs “If it is stupid enough to leave the coven then I don’t think that’s a good idea”

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“I’m not leaving” Trace taps the surface of his desk, fervently. “Just going to be dead for a few days”

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“That’s the same”

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“Oh, come on, I died once” Trace playfully throws his paperweight in Alfred’s direction. “I’ll live again”

“Not from an execution, you won’t” a traditional execution is cutting the head off of the criminal and no one is known to come back from that. Not to mention, the body is burned after and the head is drowned in water to make sure there was no coming back from it.

“Hmm” Trace pretends to think about it, but Alfred already knows he has made up his mind.

Alfred has been cleaning up after the young leader and he would have hated the young man if he wasn’t such a good leader. The coven has never been this peaceful and prosperous in a long time. There were still changes that the nobles were hard to swallow but Trace ruled with an iron fist.

“You can be it” Trace says while standing on his feet and ignoring Alfred’s widened eyes. “I can trust you with the coven. You’ve known how I run it and I trust you to keep it that way

unless change is necessary”

“You can’t be serious” Alfred says, striding after beside him

Trace grins “I’m Dead serious”

Alfred was sure that Trace is a pureblood at how mad he is generally.

At the Temple

Trace pouts at the size of the temple, it’s a few hours’ drive to get to this territory and he is disappointed at the small size of what the werewolf Elder’s call as a home. This was it, this is the home that holds his little human.

Ah broken heart be damned. He wants to save that human for all his worth and make sure she’s safe. So, who cares if he loses his life? She would have done the same for him. he stretches while he could feel the glares of the werewolves around him.

Alfred was just a meter behind him. he was the last one to exit the car they’ve taken to get to this point and it was small, so it took him a while to feel his legs after the long drive. Vampire or not, having small leg room is the curse everyone is going to carry.

“You’re really going through with this?” Alfred’s disbelief is laced in his voice. He stares at his lord waiting for a reply or even a reaction but there seems to be nothing as he ignores him.

“Trace!” Alfred says, ignoring that this is one of the rare moments he is calling his lord with his name. it’s a title that nobody has ever called him in a long while.

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Trace snaps his gaze at Alfred in a lazy manner and shrugs. “We’ll see” Trace then throws the keys to Alfred. “Get some rest and stretch those legs before going home. Don’t wait up, Dad”

“Trace!”

But he was too late, Trace was walking up the steps of the temple where guards are finaking him after he told them that he’s there for an audience with the Elders. He follows one of the three guards as they go deeper and deeper in the temple. They took him to different turns and dead ends, he knows that they were just trying to confuse him if there was a chance for him to escape.

“Oh, just let’s head to the fucking conference room. I know the blueprints of your temple the same as you know the blueprints to my castle.” Trace rolls his hands and even outruns the guards to the conference room where he sees the five Elders.

Roosevelt is the oldest member of the council. He was the only graying werewolf Trace has ever seen with blue eyes and thin lips. He looks like he has been thinning since his old images consisted of him being buff and big.

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