JADE“You and this baby are my life. And I will lose mine before I let anything happen to the both of you.”I didn’t know what it is about Atlas wars that made me shiver in fear. And he felt that because he immediately asked what was wrong. And I want to tell him, I really do. But I don’t want to ruin the moment of peace we were having here. Leaving all our problems in the real world. Not to mention how I couldn’t even explain what was going on with me. All this dreams, they made nonsense. Or maybe I was scared they were making too much sense.I knew he wouldn’t call me crazy if I told him. He would try and understand then find a solution. The thing is, I’m the one thinking I’m crazy.“Something is on your mind.” He gently urged, not really pushing but not dropping it either. “If there is anything you don’t like, baby. Tell me and I’ll fix it. Is it the weather? I heard pregnant women feel so hot. I should have picked a cooler location, I’m sorry about that—““Atlas.” I covered his mo
ATLASJade has been acting really weird lately. And I’m trying to be understanding, to not push her into telling me what is on her mind, but is has bee really fucking hard, knowing something is disturbing her and not being able to help. I tried to coerce her into speaking. So, she wouldn’t have to deal with the burden alone. A problem shared is a problem half shared and all that shit.She has been impossibly tight lipped. I didn’t like that. This was supposed to be an ‘US’ time before the baby gets us. Our minds weren’t supposed to distract but it seemed hers chose this as the perfect tike to make a show.I couldn’t sleep tonight. I had laid down for a while and pretended to sleep. I find myself doing that a lot in the past two days. I always wait until she falls asleep before my body will also give up on me. We spend most of the day lazying around, exploring the beach, swimming and making sweet love. And at night, we cuddle and go to bed. But it hasn’t been that way for the past few
JADEAtlas was too perceptive and I knew he wouldn’t let it go, not when he knew something was wrong with me. I should have expected something like this sooner. Then again, he was very good at keeping his thoughts to himself. Even though he was more transparent with them now. I could feel what he was feeling through our bond. Too bad it didn’t allow you to read people’s minds. Them I would have known what he was planning.He usually feels asleep before emergencies. I was used to that. I hadn’t expected hi to stay awake. Like he knew I would wake up.What surprised me the most had to be the fact that he didn’t push for me to tell him everything. It was in alphas nature to be compelling and always want to have their way. And I know he is like that too. So, him not doing it was a big thing to me.He cuddled me, stroking my hair gently, our breathing in synch. I eve forgot about the nightmare. Tonight’s own had been particularly gruesome but I couldn’t remember the details of it. I just r
JADESomething bitter churned in my stomach, a lump lump formed in my throat but I remained casual.“It was’t hard to guess what had happened. I got dressed and left immediately.” He let out a shaky breath. “I’d made up my mind to never see her again, but then she showed up at work and she was crying about things, and I couldn’t turn her down. So I helped her get place to stay. She promised to pay back when things went back to normal. And then we found out she was pregnant, I couldn’t turn her away.”“Were there any others? Besides her?” I didn’t way to know. I shut my eyes. The slight relief I felt at knowing she wasn’t his mistress and that they weren’t having a relationship while we were married faded with that question.You would ask why I was doing that to myself but I wouldn’t have and answer to tell you.“No.” He answered honestly. “Not after I married you. I’ve never been with anyone besides her and that too was a mistake, Jade, I promise.”I believe him. Maybe I was naive and
JADEA sharp pain on my lower abdomen woke me up. I tried to bite through it but there was no stopping the small moan of pain that slipped out. I shut my eyes tight, clamping my lips shut in hopes of keeping any more sounds from coming out. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him up. He had gone to sleep pretty late last night, well, I did too but it didn’t matter.We only had one more day here and I would rather spend it wit happy smiles. I bit my lower lip, hoping the pain would subside. Braxton hicks the doctor had called it. She said it would pass after a few minutes. I’m just wondering why the fuck it even happens. But well, pregnancy is weird so I guess that is a pass for it.“Baby?” Atlas’s voice was croaky from sleep. He reached for me. I forced my eyes open and saw him sitting up, looking at me worriedly. “What’s wrong? Which part of your body is hurting?”I shook my head but he must not have understood what I was saying because he got up and started looking for his pants
ATLAS It seemed like Andrew was waiting on the line, because he picked own the first ring. I doubt it even rang in the first place. “Took you long enough.” He grunted as soon as he picked. Sounding like some angry bird. “Was I supposed to call you on vacation? I’m taking a break from everyone, especially you.” He went silent for a moment and I imagined him rolling his eyes at me. I had the time to chat with him now because Jade had gone back to sleep after the water bath. She gave me a look after saying the pain had stopped. That ‘I told you so’ look. I just nodded and let her get away with it. But I was still calling for the doctor to come and check on her. While I think I know everything one might need to know about childbirth. I could rather my first born child was delivered in the hospital, or at least, the comfort of our home. Where professional doctors could check him and make sure both Jade and the baby are in perfect condition after. I couldn’t do that all alone ion this i
JADEI knew I wasn’t dreaming when I woke up and saw I was in air. Literally. I was confused at first but it soon turned into fear as I started looking around, wondering what was going on. I heard voice after and felt calmness wash over me as soon as I recognized Atlas was among the men I could hear speaking. But what were we doing here. I was in a bed. Secured by some belts. “She is starting to wake up, alpha.” An unfamiliar female voice spoke. And I jerked up at the sound of it. Except the binds keeping me in place halted my movements before I could get any far. My heart was beating at a million miles per second and I could almost watch the nightmare happen in full time. I force myself to calm down. Freaking out in confusing situations has never helped anyone. Especially me. “Baby.” Atlas’s voice, full of relief has me instantly feeling better. My eyes widened as he rushed to me, getting on the bed side me. He takes my hand in between his and rubs them together. Then he brings i
JADEAlpha Zade and his mate, Feyre were the epitome of a perfect and powerful couple. They had two kids. A girl named Raya who was three. Heading her name automatically made me think of Ray. She was a ray of sunshine. Just like my Ray. And her little brother who was a year old and she clearly took her big sister job seriously. As soon as we got to the pack house, she had run out to her parents. When she noticed us, she introduced herself. Shoulders squared and all. “Hello, I’m alpha Raya. It is nice to meet you. Who are you?” I noticed her father smiling proudly while the mother face palmed. I chuckled because I could see Atlas in the future. He was already looking immersed in everything the little girl was doing. We introduced ourselves to her and she said it was nice to meet us and welcomed us into their home. What I loved most about them was no one tried to stop her. She was being perfectly respectful and it was good to be that well spoken at her age.“You should keep it down
JADE“i needed to come see him.”“Why?” He collected the baby from me “I told you that there's no need to. Why do you feel the need to come here even after I told you not to?!”“Because it's not just your victory! It's not just your life that he was after! It's mine too! And it's Ray's too! So yes, I needed to come down here to get closure.”He needed to understand that this meant something to me too, just as it did him.“Closure? Is that why you put the baby at risk? How much more closure do you need?”What on earth was he talking about?“Risk? Incase you didn't notice, I was there with him! I was at risk too! I needed him to look me in the eye and tell me why he did what he did to my family.”“Or maybe it's because you're too hung up on the past and you just can't let go. Incase you havent noticed, you're so stuck in the past and you are obsessing over it. Move on!”Well, I'm glad he finally got to say what he wanted to. Now I know how he feels about me trying to find answers. I w
JADEI didn't think it was worth it at first. Going to see the man that had made me grow up without parents and without the concept of what a true family felt like.But after much thought, he needed to know that all his plans failed and I was going to rub it in his face..I'd gotten all three pieces of the stone together and wore it around my locket.It would hurt him so bad to see that in the end, I won.Iniko decided that that was the right moment to start crying and everytime I dropped him back in his cot, he cried even louder.“Young man, what is it that you want? You've been fed and burped and I just changed your diaper so there's no way you could have soiled it again -”I stopped and remembered what happened yesterday so I took a peak for myself. There was nothing im his diaper.“So what exactly do you want?”I wish babies could talk.I guess I didn't have any other choice than to take him with me then. Atlas would blow a fuse if he found out that I took his son to see Ford.Whe
ATLAS“By wasting any more time, we are not doing ourselves any good! Sixth Circle pack is vacant. We have their leader in our custody and I've taken down every opposition in our way, do you think it would be long before we get more interests?”Sometimes, having a cabinet infuriates me so much. It was like I was speaking to brick walls. I didn't see any reason why they couldn't just agree to me taking over the Sixth Circle.It would even be better for us because it would improve our army base, it would make our pack bigger and in general, it would be a plus for us.But they weren't seeing it that way. All they were seeing was the fact that Ford had committed something against the pack and they weren't going to take it.I mean, what better way to teach him a lesson by taking over his pack?“Alpha, we're not disputing the fact that you've gone a long way-”“But you're diminishing my efforts. What's the whole point of defeating him and taking him into custody when I can't even go ahead a
JADERay and I weren't speaking for now.How could she hide something like that from me?“Where is she?”“I have no idea. All I know is that she ran away when we were little. She knew that he would come after her and she didn't want to put you in danger. So she ran away and left your nanny to take care of you. I don't know where she is.”How could she do this?“Before I lost my memory, did I know?”“No, you never knew.”I couldn't believe this. I lost my appetite for the rest of that day and I just stayed in Iniko's room because I couldn't even speak to anyone right now.I'd spent my life thinking my mother was dead only to hear that she was alive and she ran away because of that beast.“It’s not her fault, you know. Your mother ran away to protect you and Ray didn't tell you because she wanted to keep you safe. You have to forgive her.”I didn't blame her. It wasn't her fault things turned out like this. I was just hurt that I didn't know.Later that day, I took Iniko on a walk so h
JADEI was just realizing that this baby has Atlas's eyes and hair and everything!“This baby is rigged.”He turned around in shock.“What are you talking about?”“You did something to make the baby look like you.”He laughed and shook his head.“No, I didn't. It's just a coincidence.”“Coincidence? Look at this baby and look at you. It seems like I didn't even have anything to do with his birth.”“Don’t worry, you can have the second baby.”I scoffed.“You think I'm going to let you have another chance to have photocopies? Big joke.”Iniko was so small and he seemed so fragile.Ray brought my food and she took him while I ate.“I wish my grandmother was here to see him.”She gave me a sad smile.“Me too. She would be so proud of you.I'm proud of you.”I'm so happy my sister was here with me. She was the one who had been by my side throughout and if the child had been a girl, I would have named her after Raya.“Thank you for everything you did. If not for you, I don't know how I would
JADE“I'm going to need your blood as well. Atlas, I promise it won't hurt her. Just a little nick.”He nodded and she dragged the knife across my finger.“Place your finger over the stone and let the blood cover it entirely. Do not take your hand away from the fire.”It was a simple instruction but it seemed so intense.It was almost over. My legs were beginning to feel well and it was getting harder to quiet my screams.“What do we have here?”That voice. He was here.“What are you doing here?”All I had to do was keep my hand over the fire until the stone bled.Ray helped me stand up straight while Atlas and Andrew faced my uncle.“So this was why I came here. How did you do that? How did you call the other stones?”I eventually removed my hand from the fire since we had found them.“I always knew it was with one of you. That stupid old hag told me she couldn't find the other piece but I guess she gave it to you. “Why were all the worst things happening tonight?I was in labor and
JADEAtlas returned later that evening.I was right with what I'd thought.“What have you been up to?”I knew he knew I'd been eating because of the smirk on his face.“You know you don't have to hide from me when you eat right?”Oh, I did.“If you see how much I eat and the way I eat, I don't think you'd want to be married to me anymore.”He burst out laughing.“What makes you think I care about the way you eat? As long as you're healthy and our baby is fine, I don't care.”“But then, what if I get fat? I'll be so big that I won't be able to eat. I don't know why I eat so much.”This was actually a worry of mine. Normally, I ate but my appetite was not this big.“Blame it on the baby. I figure when you give birth, the cravings will stop and even though you do get fat, you're still my wife. It doesn't change anything.”I was really married to the best man ever, wasn't I?“You’re the best.”“I know. Ray says that we have to get there before midnight so that she can prepare everything.
JADEAt this point, I was realizing that the earlier we did things, the better.“I’ll arrange for the sacrifice to happen tomorrow. We need to move as fast as we can before he gets Intel that were here.”I didn't want to have to run with this big belly of mine.“What are you going to need?”“Don’t worry, I'll take care of it. Just bring the stone.”We went to bed that night because we were all completely exhausted.“Hey, are you okay?” Atlas asked when we were in bed.“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?”“You didn't cry when you found out that he killed your father. You didn't cry when you found out that she was not your grandmother. I'm worried.”Now that I think about it, it's true. But it was because I didn't feel like crying.“I don't know. Maybe my body just hasn't proceses it yet. Maybe its because I hate him so I'm not bothered that he's not my father and I never really knew my father so i can't cry for him. I've already mourned for my grandmother.”I just didn't feel the need to cry b
JADE“Jade, step away from that.”I walked back towards them and stared at the pile.“What kind of animal would do this?”I had no idea but I think I was beginning to understand why she wanted us to find this place.This place held secrets.I went back to the wall to look at the drawings and try to understand them.I used my fingers to trace them again and this time around, I heard the voice clearer.“Look at the bigger picture.”I stepped away from the wall so I could see the entire thing. There were more drawings to the side and when I walked up, I noticed that there was a sign at the bottom of it.That sign…looked all too familiar but I couldn't just place my finger.“Ray, come see this. I've seen this before but I don't know where it's from.”She crouched beside me and stared at it for a moment.“I know it's familiar but I don't know where it's from, either.”Andrew and Atlas joined us and just within seconds, they knew.“We know.”They shared a look and it made me scared.“Jade,