THE CAGE (The Chosen Series #3)

CH2.♙c4 ♞f6

"Would you like to listen to music, Mаленькая Mышь?" Damir asks from the driver's seat, his midnight eyes peering at me through the review mirror. I offer him a small smile and nod several times. "Any requests?"

"80's." The genre rolls off my tongue so quickly that I know my mouth has spoken on autopilot. Shay would always ask me this question, knowing the answer, and I'd always say the same. Shay. I already miss him, his familiarity. I know I can still communicate with him, but for now, I need to focus on my duty and be the woman Alexander needs me to be.

Eyes crinkling in amusement, Damir honors my request, and the familiar sound of Eurythmics 'Sweet Dreams' fills the rear of the black escalade.

Inclining my head in appreciation, I open my backpack and take out my journal. Automatically my fingers glide over the tattered red leather of the cover, following the intricate loops of the Dara knot embedded into the material. The pattern, resembling the root of an ancient oak, is the symbolic representation of strength, wisdom, power, leadership, endurance, and most importantly, destiny.

The journal is one of the only things I have of Máthair. The pages are filled with her story and now mine.

When my finger traces the same pattern for the third time, the leather binding releases, and I open the cover. Máthair was gifted the journal when she turned 18 by her parents, who had it blessed by a Cailleach to only open for her or a direct descendant.

I lean back in the chair, pages open, and allow my mind to process the past month's events. As images filter and form, my fingers continue to move to the most recent entries on my brother.

Griffin, thirteen years my senior and nearly a foot and a half taller, is now the Alpha of the southern Mac tíre dubh clan. Except for our dark hair and eye shape, we don't share many physical traits, Griffin taking more after his father, Lorcan.

Following the words on the page, I absorb the written code and smile softly at what his life has become.

Griffin's story, beginning in my Máthair's hand, covers his conception, his time on the Ranch, and then the facility until the day Máthair died.

I'll never understand how Oтец could leave his blade unattended. Tracing the V on my neck, my anger still boils when I think of how the same bone used to mark us as his. Ended the life of-

Fingers dancing over Máthair's script, I shake away the memories of her death even though vague and pause when the code changes to mine. These notes are childish but tell of the remainder of our time together at the facility and our escape.

Griffin's story, however, does not truly begin until he meets Ava, his mate.

The words cover how he sacrificed himself to save her life and waited for her return. I grimace at the pain he endured during their time apart and continue reading about their reunion, securing their bond, and the misunderstandings that complicated their union.

I feel my cheeks raising, my lips moving into a smile when I think of how the two acted around each other. Ava thought Griffin to be the monster, and my brother, being the gentle giant he is, allowed her to believe it.

Like watching a backward game of cat and mouse, the person Ava was running from was also her protector, her Maité Fíor. My notes cover their reconnection, Ava learning the truth, and now the child that grows within her womb. My nephew.

I take a moment to think about Ava. As the daughter of another powerful alpha wolf, Ava carries the Alpha She-Wolf blood. Her kind has been fiercely protected for centuries, the knowledge so heavily secreted that only the Alpha's of the Mac tíre dubh's clans and their Beta's know the truth of what they are.