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
AuroraMy eyes are covered in thick, tightly tied fabric. Something about my senses have been dulled, a dry, toxic taste on my tongue making me cough. I don’t recall drinking anything, but the feeling of a mute potion weighs heavily on all of my senses.I try to wiggle my arms free of the binds that keep them pinned behind my back but like all my attempts before, I’m met with a harsh slap that sends me flailing onto my side, the feeling of warm blood pooling under my nostrils. I can’t even smell the blood, feeling it drip off my cheek while my arms and legs are still wrapped up in metal ties and fabric restraints, my ankles bound, and my wrists kept tied behind my lower back.I drop my face down, trying to protect it, unwilling to prompt another hit from whoever keeps me captive. It’s impossible for me to see a thing, to know the scent of my captor, unsure what else to do so I lay helpless on the cold, wooden floors, waiting
AuroraI don’t sleep. Not even a minute. Every fiber of my existence is focused on staying awake, staying alive, and keeping myself backed into the corner of the closet where I’ve been thrown into and left alone since I arrived. It’s the heavy inclination I have that keeps me awake, watching the doorknob, waiting for Xander to barge in, beat me, humiliate me, and ultimately kill me.At least he removed the blindfolds and handcuffs, replaced only now by a metal collar that squeezes my throat and sports a long, tough chain.I at least want a fighting chance; I need to be awake and alert in case I have to fight. I won’t win, I accepted that long ago, but it would be better than dying in vain without a hint of struggle involved. I may be weak, famished, and ultimately dehydrated, but there isn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that I will at least go out laying a hit or two onto the second prince, to at least prove I am not an
JaxsonIt’s nearing a week without a sign from my mate. My wolf is ready to bite off anyone’s head who tries to tell me to stop looking for her. I have patrols sent out in droves at all hours of the night, every hour during the day, and I refuse to let it stop until she is found. I pace the ballroom, my father talking to his advisers, his beta, and Philip brough his daughter Stella.Stella is Aurora’s age, a year away from feeling the mating pull, but that never stopped her from having feelings for me in the past. I hate to admit that I used to entertain the idea if we never found our mates but now that I have, I’ve kept a purposefully long distance away from her. I don’t have it in me to talk to her now, moving away when she approaches to speak with me.I wave her away and she abides, nervously braiding her long, brown hair. She moves back to her father’s side, beta Phillip speaking to my father in hushed tones
JaxsonI ransack the entire cabin, all but ripping off the floorboards, and I can’t even find a hint of her scent. My anger is bubbling, my wolf barking in my head. I need to shift and kill every single person in here until they tell me where my mate is. Luke grabs my shoulder, turning me around, and pointing at a little scrap of fabric on the floor behind the couch.I kneel over it, pulling it into my fingertips, and I realize soon it’s not fabric, even if it resembles a few strands of string. It’s hair. It’s long and white, cut evenly as if sliced from her head, and I bring it to my nose to double-check, filling my senses with the floral perfume of my mate’s natural aroma.My body trembles.I push the couch clear across the room, throwing the table through a window and continue destroying everything in my sight. I push outside, fuming so much that steam may actually be exuding my skin. I stand in front of the
AuroraI toy with the collar around my throat, trying to connect to my wolf, knowing that if I shift, it will break off. It’s only a dream, though, the wolf’s-bane still heavy on my tongue.Xander barges into the closet and I back up, my body shivering into the corner. He hasn’t let up on his threats, on his beatings, and worst of all I have felt him nearing closer and closer to using my body for his own pleasure.He pulls me out of the corner by my neck collar. I force myself to a weak stand, unable to keep up as he hurries us through the cabin and outside, the weather cold and the wind brisk on my naked body. I try to breathe, try to catch my breath, but it’s no use. He drags me through the snow behind his every lunging step.I finally pull back, trying to make him stop, but it only makes his fist find my scalp and pull me to my feet, tossing me in front of him to walk. I know better than to ask questions, simply ab