The Mark of Fate: Book 3 of The Marked series by Ford, Rinna (romantic love story reading .TXT) 📕

warning,” I growled and clenched my fists. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I wasn’t going to let her continue to berate me because she wasn’t dealing with her own shit. I had too much to deal with on my own without adding more problems to the mix.

Thankfully, she finally decided to heed my warning and pinched her lips together tightly until she reached the corner of a hallway and slipped away.

When I knew she was really gone, I sagged against the nearest wall letting my beasts slip away. What a mess.

I hated fighting with Camille but she was getting harder and harder to be around. I knew it was because of what happened to Grayson and although she had said she was going to blame the Council for his death, she seemed to be blaming me. Apparently, she could form a support group with the number of people who blamed me for everything that was happening.

But what if she was right? What if the she wolf was right? Was I really to blame?

Chapter Twelve

“What the fuck is he looking at?” Xander growled, just low enough for Matias, Devlin, and me to hear.

He was referring to Alec, who was sitting close to the other end of the long dining room table with some of the other supes as we ate breakfast. He kept glancing toward my mates and me more than usual, in a sort of nervous way. It was rather odd and apparently, getting on my mate’s nerves.

Alec was released from the infirmary four days after my unfortunate visit and moved into a room on the second floor, just down the hall from mine. A lot of the rescued supes had been released from the infirmary and most of them had decided to stay and help out with the rebellion. The ones who didn’t want to stay had their minds altered before they were teleported away with no hard feelings. They’d all been through enough and we felt they should be able to make up their own decisions about their lives.

Alec was one of the ones who decided to stay. At first, I was excited to have him as part of the group for no other reason than he was nice to be around. From our first interaction, I could tell he had a great sense of humor and liked to keep things light, even in the most tense situations.

I had hoped we would become friends, but I didn’t push him and since he chose to spend most of his time with the other casters, it didn’t really happen. That didn’t mean he wasn’t friendly; in fact, he offered to train with me a couple of times when others acted a little too gun-shy around me, most likely because of my earlier magic mishaps. Word had spread that my magic had completely vanished, and that my caster mate had died which caused it, but that didn’t keep others from acting frightened around me.

The first time I heard the rumor, a shark shifter named Laos was talking to another shifter about it. I almost took his head off in a rage but Xan was standing right next to me when it happened. No one who knew about the potion told anyone else (Dev had spelled everyone who knew, so besides him, my mates, and me, no one would be able to speak about it) so the fact we were suppressing my magic was a huge secret. I should have known others would be confused about how one day I was destroying everything in my wake accidently, then the next I was magicless. It was a logical guess, but it still pissed me off that they would say Ronan had died. Thinking back on that day, I thought maybe that was why other supes didn’t want to train with me. But Alec never refused and I appreciated it, especially since I knew my main targets in the Council were casters. I needed as much training against casters as I could get.

Almost everyone loved Alec for one reason or another, especially the women. My mates, however, hated him with a fiery passion. We’d even fought over it. Two and half weeks had passed since my first meeting with Alec and they had both had altercations with him which involved me too. I wouldn’t have understood their anger and protective jealousy if it weren’t for the fact that Alec was just naturally charming, which even I wasn’t immune to, but I didn’t want him, just like I didn’t think he wanted me.

Sitting there at breakfast with Alec oddly glancing at my mates and me, I had to wonder if I was wrong about him and his intentions. Soleil, who, like my mates, hadn’t cared for Alec from our very first meeting when Matias got upset, and nudged against my mind angrily.

“Leave him alone, Xan,” I harshly whispered and looked down at my plate trying to ignore him, Soliel, and everyone around me. Even though I should be starving, I couldn’t eat another bite. I was tired of being on edge. “He’s been through a lot and he’s confused.”

As if he heard me, Alec stood from the table and winked in my direction before picking up his plate and glass and taking them into the kitchen. I put my hand on Matias’ arm and shook my head at Xan as they both began to stand, as if to follow him. They really didn’t like him.

“That’s enough,” I growled and released them.

Picking up my fork, I continued eating what was on my plate, if only to stall them from going after Alec like they wanted to. I probably should have let them beat him into next week for being such a shit stirrer (he knew what he was doing with that wink) but I didn’t want to deal with another fight. I wasn’t protecting Alec as much as trying to keep Matias and Xander from starting something and giving