Jaxson
I’ve never had to fight so hard in my life to keep from shifting and killing someone in my way. My hands haven’t stopped shaking for two days, my fists stuck in place at my sides, worried if I pull them up even a little, I’d put a hole in the walls of the medical wing of the palace. No one will speak to me, not the healers or the guards outside the door, posted permanently to watch my mate at all hours, every day, even if I am around and capable of protecting Aurora.
I should have been there to prevent this and from now on, I will be. I wanted to give her space, even while I saw her in the courtyard, upset and clinging to her old friend, I held back my ferocity of her embracing another male. I wanted her to feel a semblance of familiarity here in her new home, but seeing her runaway so upset, and watching him chase after her, I thought for sure she would have pushed him away the same way she has done me the last few weeks.
JaxsonIn my most powerful form of wolf, I stalk out of the medical room, head hunkered down while my father, in the same, black and gray wolf form, follows behind. I aim to rush down the hall, to do right by my mate and rid this bloodline of such scum, but my father’s leniency only goes so far with me.He moves in front of my path, head held high and teeth showing, wanting me to submit but even as my Alpha, he cannot penetrate my anger. I raise my head up with his, showing him I do not intend to submit to a ruling based solely on the perpetrator being his second son, and only on the severity of the harm he has caused the future Luna of our royal pack.You will stand down, son. Or I will force you.You’re being more disciplined with me than you are with the son that clawed into my mate’s back. If you intend on blocking me from establishing justice, father, then I will have no choice but to force my way through
AuroraI can hear Jaxson outside the door with his father, king Kennedy, arguing about how Xander got away and took some of the royal pack members with him in his escape. I want to feel comforted by the fact that Luke isn’t to blame anymore, and at least Xander is gone and can’t threaten me again, but I can’t help feeling like the second prince isn’t done with me yet.He wants to be Alpha. He wants to be king. And right now, Jaxson and his father are the only two wolves standing in his way. I can’t imagine what he is willing to do to get to the throne but for now, I feel safer without him down the hall from me.“Leave this matter to me, Jaxson, I mean it,” the Alpha says, his voice making me shiver.Jaxson doesn’t even sound frazzled by his father’s command. “If I catch wind that Xander is coming back to do anything to her again, I will send my guys out to have him killed. Now leave
AuroraLuke hasn’t woken from his injuries yet, but I feel obligated to try and sneak down to the medical wing as best as possible. It never works. The door is always guarded by warriors, but I have noticed a lag of protection at one time during the day.High noon.I don’t know if it’s because they are changing shifts or grabbing lunch, but I watch the steps of shadows leave the crease under the door for exactly ninety-four seconds. I’ve counted everyday since I’ve been locked back up here.When the sun peaks, my heart throbs, wondering if Luke is awake and scared of his surrounds; just like I how I feel.I watch the shadows disperse and decide it’s time to move.I grab for the fire poker, a long iron bar still hot from resting in the heated logs, and I jam it between the doors, trying to not make too much sound. The hot iron sizzles against the cold door, and I slide it down until it catches
JaxsonI have always had a temper, there is no mistaking my fits of rage when things don’t work out the way I had exactly planed out. I don’t like calling it meticulous by any standard but severe could be a more ambitious word to call it what it is. When I get mad, I’m furious, there is no lever lower than that.Seeing my mate curled into the lap of another male, who tenderly cradles her in his arms, I begin to ponder if there is a level higher than severe.I stomp into the room to rip her from his arms, but she flinches away from my hand, as though I am a threat, and she is helplessly at my mercy. I pause, my warriors circling the two of them, one of them threatening to grab for the mutt holding my mate but I slam a fist into his forearm, watching him recoil away from doing so.It’s obvious I’ve had this situation mistaken.I went to check in on my mate, holding another present I grabbe
Aurora“Come on, little one, don’t stop for me.”I blush, Luke leaning against the wall, his body pained but his smile the same warm grin as it’s always been. I move to hug him, stopping a few paces short, the pain of his smell so different to me now. I hadn’t noticed it on my birthday, or in the medical wing when I ran to check on him, but I smell it now.He smells like his mate, Mary.It hits me then. I have to let our love go. We wouldn’t be here if things weren’t the way they are meant to be. Me with Jaxson, Luke with Mary. It has to be for a reason, for some unknown cause that I wish I could change, but I’m not powerful enough to make that kind of change, no matter if I want to or not.He closes the gap between us, pulling me in a tight embrace, holding me off the ground for a moment so he can fully take my arms and my body into his. I smile, then laugh, feeling weightless and carel
JaxsonIt’s impossible to sleep. I don’t even pretend anymore, sitting up in bed, reading one of my father’s old war books on strategy, feeling Aurora shift under the covers and whimper for me to hold her. I let my hand rest on her bare back, watching her settle at my touch and drift back to sleep. I hardly have it in me to look at her now.Not after what she said to Luke.I had my father tell Luke he will leave by sunrise and if he doesn’t, he will die here. I can’t have someone like that around my mate. She was manipulated to kiss him, to be alone in a room with him, knowing damn well that I would have found out and been furious.She is confused, she told me that herself and I believe it, but I will never let her near that asshole again. He saved her life and that’s the only reason he is still breathing in this palace. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him the second he reached for her.
JaxsonThe room is alive with singing voices and a homemade, candlelit cake. Jacki brings it to the table where Aurora sits with her friends, a group of three rag-tag buddies that I have no interest in being closer to than these mingling moments. I invited them to the palace the first time, and they sent her little crush to tell her they can’t be friends and interact anymore because of who her mate is.Because of me.I just wish that we didn’t have to make this trip here. After Xander’s exit, I don’t feel safe without the full protection of my warriors, but I know if it came down to a scrap, I could take him alone. I still retain backup to watch the edge of the property, taking shifts of five during the day, seven at night.I don’t want to ruin this night for Aurora, or the weekend I’ve blocked to be here so she can be with her friends and her parents, because as it looks right now, I don’t think the
AuroraI don’t know where to run, just that I have to get away. I don’t want to be nineteen, I don’t want my birthday to ever come again. Not for my twentieth especially. I can’t be mated to someone like Jaxson, seeing him tear a ruthless bite into my best friend’s throat. He could have easily killed Luke for just wanting to come see me.I know it’s complicated after I kissed him, after what I confessed to him, but I didn’t know what else to say or do at that moment. It was a mistake. I may not feel the mating pull yet but I felt the pain in Jaxson’s heart, in his wolf, when I betrayed him. But that never gave him the right to power play Luke and bite him like he had.I can’t stand to be around him right now.I weave upward through the valley, slowly hearing him and his warriors filter off of my trail as I travel in and out of the crease of the mountains. Luke and I used to travel through