Chapter 6 Chapter Six

Jax

"Kill them!"

While my father handled his biggest archenemy and the father of my mate, I barked the order at our elite warriors. I had to get my father to believe I was with him with his entire killing spree he set out and trained me my whole life preparing for. Deep inside, I hated it. I hated it all.

Just as I voiced out the command, I link them.

'Do not touch them, do you understand? Make chase, but do not engage,' I order.

'But sir, you said - '

'You dare question me?' I snarl at the one warrior who linked me back.

'N-No, sir.'

'If you touch a single hair on their bodies, I will know, and I will come for your head, am I understood?' I say firmly, my eyes glowing brighter as I watch them run after my mate and her mother. She's wounded. It won't be long until my warriors catch up to them.

'Yes sir!' they reply in unison.

'What happened to her? Why is she suddenly so thin?' my wolf, Isha, huffs in my mind. His worry and suspicion was beginning to rise.

I have the same question rolling over and over in my head. When I met her sunken eyes, she was pale as a sheet of paper, her body looked like the life was sucked out of her, her lips were severely dry and cheeks shrunk, and she smelt strongly of vomit. Was she sick? But that's impossible.

Werewolves rarely get sick - if not at all. We have special healing abilities that help us heal faster. So that can't be the case, I thought.

'Jaxon,' my wolf huffs, pressing forward.

'The bond... it's weak,' he observes, and I clench my teeth as guilt eats at my battered heart.

'Jaxon' Isha whimpers as realization finally caught up with him, and I hang my head.

'What have you done?' he demands, whimpering at the broken pieces left of our bond.

'What I know is best for her,' I reply.

'What's best for her? You fucking rejected her!' he snarls, his tone laced with betrayal and pain.

When I left her, I was at holding on to the last of my strength. I injected myself with wolfsbane, at a specific part that would only affect the wolf to sedate him for a couple of hours knowing he was against the idea of rejecting our mate. I had to. However, it made the human side weak too.

After I rejected her, I blacked out. I woke up back in our tent, yet I could vaguely recall hearing Aria scream out in pain. My heart clenched, but there was nothing else I could do. This is the only way I could protect her from my father. The only way I know how to keep her safe.

I was hoping she would take my offer and leave the pack within the next three days, but when our eyes locked, and my gaze landed on her near-skeleton body, I couldn't help the shock that took over. She lost so much weight in a span of days, to the point she is nothing more but skin and bones.

'Jax, we are closing in,' Mason, my best friend and the best of my warriors links me.

'Just circle them, make sure they don't attack. I'm on my way,' I link back, and turn to my father crouched in front of the Alpha Kai. His eyes drift to me for a moment, and a sadistic smile spreads on his lips.

"Tell them to bring back that pretty daughter of his, I'm curious..." he chuckles, and it's as if my world goes dark abrutply. "How would her father react when I fuck her to oblivion?"

As soon as I heard him say that, my face darkens and fists clench, not realizing a low growl slipped past my lips, loud enough for him to hear. My wolf desperately clawing in my head.

In a moment, my father stands tall in front of me. His glare shooting into me directly, and I freeze.

"Did you growl at me, boy?" he asks, his voice low.

"No, Sir." I look down at the the ground. My entire body shaking violently in my rage. I know my father well enough to be one to make good on his threats, and once he set his eyes on Aria, I know it will be too late. I've seen the women forced into his tent, and not one of them ever came out alive.

I won't let that happen to Aria.

Not in my fucking life.

"Good. Now go fetch our prisoners," he commands, when a deep growl resounded in the air.

"Nixon! Let them go! It's me you want!" the older man all but screams, as if he's ready to offer himself up anytime in exchange for them. My stomach sinks before I turn away, and take my leave. Guilt gnawing at me like sin.

I have to succeed. And I will if it's the last thing I do.

Aria

We sprint into the forest. Mom dragging me behind the trees and bushes when she sensed them getting near, while all I could think of was the coldness in Jax's eyes when he gave that order. His face was dead serious, his eyes void of any emotion and warmth I had grown accustomed to. It's as if he really wanted me dead.

My heart clenched so painfully I lost ability to breathe. My knees weakened, and I eventually slump to the ground as my stomach started to ache extremely bad. We have been running for what felt like hours and the rogues haven't stopped.

Mom crouches beside me, worry in her eyes despite the fact that she was bleeding severely.

"Honey what's wrong? We have to keep going, I promised your father," tears trek down her face, her lips quivering.

"Mom, something's wrong. I could feel it," I gasp just as I feel the inside of my thighs begin to dampen. My stomach contracts hard that my eyes widen.

Horror washes over both of us, as I look down.

There was blood. So much blood that my pants turned red.

"Aria!" mom shrieks, while all I could do was stare at the amount of blood flowing nonstop.

Please, please, please...

"Mom..." my voice was weak, almost a faint whisper as realization washes over me like the antarctic sea itself had blown right into my head. My body freezes and my lower lip trembles as I summon my voice.

"My baby!" I squeal and look at mom who then pulls me into a hug. Her own tears dripping down my cheeks and combining with my own, as the most unimaginable pain wraps around me like a snake before squeezing the air out of my lungs, and I couldn't breathe. My eyes stare vacantly at the space ahead, and realized we had come to the spot where Jax and I had first met.

But all thoughts drift away as my mind came to, with mom still holding me in her arms and we could hear growling and snapping of teeth not too far a distance.

It was impossible for her to get me back to the doctor in time to stop the blood. But with the amount of blood streaming between my legs, we both knew there was no chance it could have survived.

"The baby's gone," she whispers just before the most agonizing scream tore through the forest, startling even the rogues who chased us all the way hear to skid to a stop in front of us. They sniff the air seeming to have noticed the scent of blood and huff subsequently shaking their heads. The metallic stench fills the air, growing stronger by the second more blood drains out of me.

Mom held me in her arms and cried silently as she tried to comfort me with the greatest, unimaginable pain of my life, not even caring about the rogues inching closer toward us. It was one thing to be rejected by my own mate, the love of my life, but losing our pup, the one good thing that happened in my life, was a whole new other. It was devastating.

Tears stream down my face like a river, and my body went numb just as the sound of a huge wolf running this way, and the smell of his scent, invaded my thoughts.

"Move." His deep voice commands.

The wolf shifted, and I watch numbly as he steps into my line of sight, the rogues paving a path for him and bowing their heads instantly in submission. And there he stands, with all his goddamn glory.

My mate.

Mom lets go of me only to shift back and snap her canines at him, snarling and snapping her teeth protectively for my sake.

But his green eyes were locked on me and the pool of blood I now gravel on.

"You killed it..." I whisper, not taking my eyes off his. If looks could kill, he would be by now.

"You killed it!"

He simply looks at me in confusion as he opens his mouth and says,

"What are you talking about?"