My True Mate: Book 3

By Bella Lore

On the night of her first shift, Sarah, 18, expects everything to change—and a lifetime with the Alpha. But one thing happens that she doesn’t expect.

She fails to shift.

In an instant, Sarah loses everything: her pack, her mate, and her future. An outcast in the woods, Sarah wonders about the mysterious rogue who haunts the den’s perimeters. But she is just a human now.

Sarah struggles to balance her allegiance between her former pack and her new existence as a human.

Can she enter into a forbidden romance with a wolf?

And who, in the end, is her true mate?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bella Lore
• Release date: Jan 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094393513

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M Y   T R U E   M A T E

(Book 3)

B e l l a   L o r e

Bella Lore

Debut author Bella Lore is the paranormal romance author of the MY TRUE MATE series, comprising four books.

Bella loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit bellaloreauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2022 by Bella Lore. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright Photographee.eu, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY BELLA LORE

MY TRUE MATE

MY TRUE MATE (Book #1)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #2)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #3)

MY TRUE MATE (Book #4)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

CHAPTER FORTY SIX

CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

CHAPTER FIFTY

CHAPTER ONE

(The Prisoner)

It’s cold and my feet are bleeding as is my head.

But I don’t stop running.

My beloved.

My child.

I have to get to them!

The rain is hindering my ability to see, the drug they pumped me with leaving me weak and helpless. I can’t summon any of my usual strength.

I run, half-blinded, bleeding from wounds that refuse to heal.

I can hear the men chasing after me and I try to run faster but I know it is of no avail. I don’t stand a chance.

I can hear howls in the distance and I recognise them.

My beloved!

I try to run towards them but an arrow pierces my back leg, making me stumble forward.

Falling to the ground, I try to reach out to my heart.

But I can’t reach out to her, our link damaged and blocked by whatever they have fed me int these few days of captivity. And then I hear a rustling and A beautiful wolf emerges.

My heart is filled with hope as I see her watching me.

 My love!

I reach out my hand to her and then it all vanishes.

I jerk awake and when I look around myself, I’m in a dirty dungeon, the stone floor, cold under my bare skin. I can make out the wounds that have gotten infected over the years from countless beatings, from sessions of torture that my body has become accustomed to.

Oh, I think to myself, dully. It was the same dream. The same dream I’ve been having for twenty years.

I look down idly at the dark chains that are clasped against my wrists and ankles. I know they are infused with dark magic, the same magic that has kept my powers and madness at bay for all these years.

I sigh, tired, my body still hurting from the latest visit tot he torture chamber.

I can hear the breathing of the others around me, in the same position as me. I am the oldest one here. Those that were here before me have long been killed. Others decided to join our captors rather than suffer anymore. However, I have chosen to live out my days like this, hoping death will one day wrap me in its warm embrace.

They sent countless women to me, women of my own species who can bear me a child. However, every time they attempted to do so, they were unsuccessful. My heart and my body belongs to my mate, even as the most fundamental part of me knows that she no longer exists on this earth.

The loneliness inside of me is wretched every time I try to desperately search for any sign of her, hoping for a single spark inside of me, something to tell me that she might - that there might be just a chance that -

But in these twenty years, the part of her that was within me, has remained empty and lifeless.

How did you die, my beloved? I often wonder to myself, my eyes dry as I stare up at the grimy ceiling, having already lost the ability to cry. Did it hurt? Did you blame me for not saving you? What happened to our child?

But years have passed and I have not a single answer to appease my tormented soul.

I felt the moment my beloved died. I felt her pains of childbirth, her grief, and then they knocked me out. But even in my unconscious state, I could not reach out to her but I could feel her slipping away from me.

And then she was no longer.

My light, the love of my life, she had died, leaving me behind.

Sometimes, when I am a little lucid, I try to wonder what our child would have looked like. There is no doubt within me that it is no longer in this world.

Or my captors would have taunted me. They like to taunt me in an effort to break me. They did bring me a child shortly after but I knew it wasn't mine.

How long? I wonder to myself, direly, watching a rat scamper across the dungeon floor.

My eyes shut close and I allow myself to dream. I know they're not my dreams. I know they're planted within my head by the witch who keeps me int this drugged state.

However, tonight my dream is different. Instead, of the usual violence, of the blood curdling sights that force me to scream myself hoarse, I wake up in a large meadow.

Am I dying? I ask aloud, my voice harsh.

A familiar laughter fills the air, nearly making my heart stop.

I turn around and I see a glimmer of a light in a female form. I stumble towards it, Mir-

However, my voice breaks when I see that it faceless person.

You’re not-

Glowing hand come to cup my face and then it is my beloved’s voice speaking to me, You just have to be a little more patient, my love.

Heart broken tears burn my eyes as I recognize the voice that I have been thirsting to hear for so long.

I try to hold on to her wrists, to hold her to me, but my hands pass through her.

No, I try again, and her voice is filled with sadness.

Just a little more patience, darling. You and I will be together soon enough.

Her voice is getting fainter and I panic, No, wait! No, don’t go! Don’t leave me!

My voice is hoarse as I see a darkness begin to replace the bright field, a darkness that is oh, so familiar to me.

Fear grabs me by the throat, No, please!

My voice is broken as I see the female figure begin to fade away.

Miriam! I howl, brokenly.

No! Come back!

Her voice is sad even as the nightmare begins to consume me, She’s coming for you. Wait.

Who is coming for me?

And then the darkness wraps around me and my screams don’t stop.

CHAPTER TWO

The delegations are arriving today, Andrea tells me, the teenage pack member that I hired as my assistant.

I look up from where I signing off on some equipment, What time?

The afternoon, Andrea replies. I already told Lucas. Three delegations are supposed to be arriving. One from the Black Wolves Pack, one from the Midnight Wolves Pack, and one from the Wind Winder Pack.

She looks down at her clipboard, her expression serious behind her thick rimmed glasses, The Black Wolves Pack is sending their Alpha, his daughter, and five of their top soldiers, and three pack elders.

She turns the page, The other two packs are sending in two elders, one member of the Alpha’s family, and seven senior soldiers.

I frown, Why is Raymond and his daughter coming?

Carmine, Andrea looks at the file. She recently had her Luna last year and shifted. That’s all I know about her.

I lean back in my chair, studying my reflection in the window of the wooden cabinet. My silver hair is tied into a loose bun and my dark blue eyes are tired. Being seven months pregnant is not fun. Especially if you’re the Alpha of the pack.

Any reason they sent in?

Andrea shakes her head, Their messenger didn’t offer much.

Just then a tall man with russet hair which is tied into a small bob at his nape and golden eyes, walks in, demanding, You didn’t have lunch. Why?

I look at my mate, Lucas, I didn’t get time. The delegations are arriving today. There’s a lot to be done-

Go away, Andrea, My mate shoos away my assistant who looks more than happy to leave.

Closing the door behind her, he gives me a sharp look, That’s no excuse to avoid food.

He lifts my thin wrist, You've lost so much weight over the past few months!

I get up and walk right into his arms, absorbing his heat and strength and love, I know. I’m trying.

This baby is sucking you dry, My mate mutters and I can feel his concern inside of me.

That’s one of the benefits of being a true mate, a rare bond that only some shifters get to experience.

I sigh into his new, breathing in his scent when there’s knock on the door.

Andrea, who had just left a moment ago, peeks in, looking a little strained, Ah, one of the delegations just arrived.

I frown.

That’s early.

***

The delegation in question is from the Black Wolves Pack.

I greet the Alpha, Raymond, and my eyes settle on his daughter, Carmine, who has been staring at Lucas ever since we walked out of the den to welcome them.

You’re early, I give him a sharp smile.

Well, Raymond is a handsome man, but as he wraps his arm around his daughter’s shoulders, I can tell that he is a doting father as well. Carmine was very anxious to get here. This is the first time she’s leaving the den. With the situation as it is, I didn't allow her to go roaming as most of the youngsters prefer to do.

Carmen is a beautiful blonde wolf shifter with baby blue eyes. She has a gentle face but I can read the aggressiveness in her eyes which have yet to acknowledge me.

I'm surprised to see a female Alpha, Her father comments and I sense a hint of derision in his tone.

However, I give him a smile that is as sharp and deadly as a blade, Yes, well, our pack is progressive that way.

More than a year ago, I had been a confident but meek girl who had been forced to grow up in a world surrounded by betrayal and bloodshed. Now, I am the Alpha of Stone Wolves, a pack that I’m slowly dragging out of their olden mindset.

I have to say, Raymond raises a brow, looking down at me. I prefer dealing with a man.

His eyes move towards my mate who has his hands stuck in his pocket as he looks at the delegation, a disinterested look in his eyes.

Then you’ll be sorely disappointed, I smile. My mate, Lucas, deals with the soldiers and their training. He doesn’t deal with the administration and the running of the pack.

Your mate? Carmine finally speaks, and her brow is furrowed. He’s your mate?

This time Lucas wraps his arm around my waist in a possessive hold, his hand coming to rest on my stomach which is quite obvious under my dress.

As you can see, I meet Carmine’s gaze which holds a hint of disappointment which immediately transforms into craftiness right in front of me.

You’re with child, Raymond says, disapprovingly. A pregnant wolf should stay in her quarters.

It immediately occurs to me that the Black Wolves might be a little misogynistic and backwards in their thinking.

I’m an Alpha, Raymond, I bare my teeth at him. I stand in front of the pack, not behind them. And if you want this alliance to work, you should stop trying to intimidate me. This pack doesn't run by your rules.

His face grows cold at my words but I know how he world of wolf shifters works. Any signs of weakness can be a death sentence in front of other packs.

If you have questions about our drills, Lucas is your man, I smile at him, my tone lethal. "But do keep in mind, that I am the Alpha."

I can see that Raymond doesn’t appreciate my tone or my words but my job is to build a good relationship with his pack, not kiss his ass.

However, all the while, I can see Carmine watching Lucas. I had figured that she would stop once she realized that my mate was a taken man.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Why don’t you lead them to their rooms, Martha, I can see that Raymond doesn’t like being dismissed like this.

I watch Martha lead them inside and I hold on to Lucas’s arm, my eyes narrowed, That one’s going to be trouble.

The Alpha, right? Lucas nods in irritation and I shake my head.

"No. The daughter."

CHAPTER THREE

The remaining delegates arrive by the afternoon and they’re far more accommodating that the ones from the Black Wolves Pack.

The fact that we managed to reach out to even three wolf packs who are willing to build alliances with us is a massive feat. The Midnight Wolves Pack and the Wind Winder Pack have both suffered at the hands of the order of Eternity but managed to save their respective packs. The Black Wolves Pack is mostly composed of merchants and they trade with humans regularly. That is why when they detected something strange happening years ago, they closed ranks and refused to let anyone in. However, just because they have not been directly affected, doesn't mean they're not aware of the problem. They were quite eager to talk about an alliance with us when I sent them a messenger,

However, as we all settle for a welcome feast for the three packs, I can see that The Black Wolves are going to be a pain in the ass. Raymond and his daughter are the first to arrive. Their dresses are simply but screaming money and elegance.

Carmine is a beautiful