Star-Crossed Mates Read Online Free PDF

own so badly you fell for it.” No, sorry didn’t cut it, but Ross’s anger for the hurt Klaus caused did. And now, Clay understood.
    He’d have refused Ross’s offer had he thought it came from pity, but his mate’s emotions were too complex to define. It was a cocktail full of paradoxes, love, hate, self-loathing, disdain, fear, desire, longing, and so much more. Clay yearned to find the source of each and every one of those emotions, but for the moment, he contented himself with this simple embrace. It meant more to him than any of Klaus’s false promises, kisses, or lies.

    * * * *

    Klaus stood in the center of the small room, watching his two mates embrace. They seemed to fit together, Ross’s red hair almost entwining with Clay’s black one. Klaus had known from the very moment he’d stepped in the small Irish town the human was also his mate. It just complicated things further and made renewed fear course through him.
    His men told him Ross held some mysterious mind-control abilities. Had they seeped into Klaus’s dreams, or had Klaus accidentally affected him? A flash of a dark void swept through his Star-Crossed Mates
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    mind’s eye. This time, he could see both Ross and Clay staring at him with dead, accusing eyes.
    He choked, trying to reach out to them, but they didn’t hear. They embraced each other, and under Klaus’s very eyes began to disintegrate, their flesh tearing apart, their bones turning to dust, until nothing remained but ash.
    An odd force pulled him out of his daymare, and Klaus found himself staring into Clay’s concerned eyes. “Klaus, are you okay?”
    the young spirit wolf asked.
    Klaus blinked away the slight dizziness and noticed a curious Ross peek over Clay’s shoulder at him. “I think we should talk,” he said, “but seriously this time. All cards on the table.”
    Clay looked doubtful, but Klaus detected a flash of hope in his eyes before it was carefully hidden. “I’m an open book,” he said.
    Klaus looked at Ross, who nodded. “It sounds fair to me.”
    His mates’ agreement made Klaus feel a bit better. He got up and considered his words. “I’ll go first. You two hate me, and you have every reason to do so, especially Clay.”
    “I don’t hate you,” Clay said in a barely audible whisper.
    No, he didn’t. Clay was incapable of hate. His gentle soul held so much affection Klaus didn’t consider himself deserving of it. At the same time, Klaus knew whatever love Clay felt for him was quickly dying, killed by his own brutality.
    “I won’t bore you with long tales,” he began.”The gist of it is this.
    I’ve always had dreams, dreams that often foretold the future. Most of the time, they’re useless, too erratic to make sense of. With some, I can’t even tell if they’re true visions or simply the manifestation of my own fears. But there has been one vision in my life that came to me as clear as day.”
    As he spoke, Klaus remembered it, the image that haunted him for so long. He’d first seen it the day before his official introduction to the pack. Back then, he hadn’t even known Wolfram. But the moment he’d seen the Magistrate, he’d known the horrifying images would 32
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    one day come to pass. It was his role to stand as Wolfram’s shield and prevent their nation from crumbling down.
    “I admit Wolfram is very dear to me. And yes, we used to have a sexual relationship before I ever met Clay. He is an attractive man, after all, and we are extremely close.” He paused, unsure how to explain the rest. He trusted his mates implicitly, but there were some secrets that didn’t belong to him. For all spirit wolves, Wolfram didn’t have any weaknesses. Only Klaus knew of his night terrors. Only Klaus had been there when Wolfram screamed the names of his fallen people. To speak of it would be a betrayal.
    Klaus sighed and rubbed his eyes. Yet again, he was in front of a choice. Every time, he’d dedicated himself to duty,