Another chapter update - hope you enjoyed! Be sure to leave a comment letting me know your thoughts. Thank you for all the likes and gems - they are great ways to let me know what you think of the updates and mean a great deal! Next chapter update will be tomorrow. Catch up then - Ellie xo
Jackson POV I hold my breath trying to listen to what Christian is telling me to listen to. All I can hear is the blood pounding in my ears. The pain is destroying me. I cannot breathe and I cannot hear. Suddenly there is a faint sound that teases my hearing. I sit up trying to get closer to the sound. I dare to look to Carrie and see her color returning. How is this possible? I watched her die. I felt our mate bond break. I slowly reach my hand out to touch her hand, and I feel a sense of calm wash over me. I am lulled into a sense of peace as I hear a slow, but consistent beep. The machine is beeping! I was hearing it more clearly now. I slowly stand beside my mate and stare at the rise and fall of her chest. She was back. I do not know how, but I feel myself fall to her chest simply sobbing uncaring who is present. I sense people moving away from us, giving us privacy as I thank the Moon Goddess for this incredible miracle.
Carrie POV I could feel myself surfacing from the clouds. I felt like I was back in my body. My chest was sore, but not as bad as it had been. I could feel sparks on my hand, “Come back to me, baby,” I hear Jackson saying over and over again. One more layer of dust, and I will be free. I will be able to communicate with him. “Reba?” I call out. I hear some shuffling, “I am here,” she calls out sounding distant. “It is time,” I reply. “I am ready,” she says sounding stronger and closer to me. With that last step, I called out to Jackson through our mind-link, “Jackson?” I say sounding weaker than I felt. I felt him stiffen beside me, “Carrie?” he asks cautiously as if he is not trusting himself. “I am on my way back to you,” I reply stronger and more confident. I feel him kiss my hand, and then my forehead. As he is starting to move back from me, my eyes slowly open. I blink at the brightness against my eyes that have not been open for a
Jackson POV As we stand there waiting to go into the room where the DNA samples will be collected, I cannot help but feel a sense of disgust at myself for being in this position. Disappointed that if this is true, it will devastate my mate. Carrie has been amazing, but how much can she take before it becomes too much? “Stop worrying Jackson. I am not going anywhere,” Carrie murmurs beside me. I pull her into my arms, “How did I get so lucky to have you as my mate?” I ask her as we stand there holding one another. “I will remind you of that when I have a temper tantrum,” she says with a chuckle. A temper tantrum or two would be warranted. With her own fertility worries, on top of this mess, she deserves to be angry. And hurt. But she is displaying none of that. Right now, she is being here for me and for that I am grateful. “Are you hungry? You have not even eaten or been to the Pack house yet,” I ask with concern. “This will no
Jessica POV We were back in my room, after having watched Carrie come back to life. I realized as I watched what Carleton must have gone through watching me die and be revived. I could not fathom what emotions he ran through before he landed on joy that I was still with him. Relief that I had not been lost. I was looking at changing when Carleton enters the room. “What are you doing, gorgeous?” he asks me. “Just trying to decide what to put on,” I reply as he comes up behind me wrapping his arms around me. “I think nothing would be a good start,” he says as he cups my breasts, pinching my nipples through my bra. They immediately respond to his attention, going hard. He nuzzles my neck, “I think we should get down to the business of marking,” he suggests as his hands slide down my body pulling my hips back against his hardness. I can feel myself getting wet at the thoughts of having him inside me. It had been too long. Too long fo
Carleton POV “I do not have my wolf,” Jessica whispers. I am still inside of her. I lower my head to rest in her neck. “That’s okay, gorgeous. We will figure it out,” I say as I remain over her resting the bulk of my weight on my arms. “No, I cannot feel her,” Jessica says in a panic. “You are still healing. Give yourself a chance to heal. She will come back,” I promise her as I move slightly and slip out of her body. I see the tears in her eyes, and I roll to the side pulling her into my arms. “I promise it will be okay,” I murmur to her as I feel her tears drop on my chest. She wraps her arms around my waist and simply lays there. I eventually hear her steady breathing and realize she has fallen asleep. I lay there enjoying having my fated mate in my arms after so many months alone searching for her. I wish I had a link to someone here. I was too far away from my own Pack to reach out to someone to find out if this was normal. And the
Carrie POV I cringe slightly at the screech that comes out of Mandy before I burst out laughing. I am exhausted and wanting to rest, but the expression she has learning she has a new role is too funny to pass up. “You have to expect that if Josh is Gamma, then you become the Gamma female?” I ask her with a smile. She looks to Josh with horror on her face, “I am so sorry. I cannot do this,” she says pacing away from Josh. “Of course you can, Mandy. You were meant to be a Gamma female,” I assure her while she lets panic take over. “If you will not be the Gamma female, then I will pass on being the Gamma,” Josh says to her. She looks at him in shock. “Why?” she asks confused. “You are everything to me. I will only take the role with you by my side,” he tells her sincerely. I watch the look that crosses Mandy’s face. “You cannot refuse the role. You will be perfect at it,” she says softly. “And you will be perfect as the Gamma female,” he re
Carrie POV It has been two long days of Jackson fussing over me. Of both of us getting increasingly tense as we waited for the DNA results. I was trying to be strong for him, but I had to admit to myself it was getting harder by the minute. I had to deal with the reality that Rosie could be carrying Jackson’s pup. What would that mean for us? As if sensing my upset, I hear the door to our room open as I roll over in bed wanting to pretend to be asleep. “I know you are awake,” Jackson says as I feel his weight on the bed. He pulls me into his arms, “I am as worried as you are,” he tells me as he lifts me onto his lap. He rests his head in my neck near my marking spot. I say nothing as I am too emotional to speak and offer assurances. “Whatever happens in a few short hours, I promise you it changes nothing between us,” he says to me. “It changes everything,” I reply as I snuggle further into him. “How?” he asks. “She will be in ou
Jackson POV I felt like I was going to vomit. “You are so sorry, what?” I demand as the doctor had paused in her response. “I am so sorry, Rosie, but the Alpha is not the father,” the doctor states to Rosie. I see the tears fill Rosie’s eyes, “It has to be his! I was only with Jackson!” she screams. “Someone has changed the results!” she continues adamant that the results were wrong. There was a small part of me that started to wonder, given her response. I needed to see the results myself. I hold my hand out to the doctor as she moves towards Rosie, “Rosie, you need to take a breath and calm down. This is not good for the pup,” she cautions as she puts a hand on Rosie’s shoulder. I scan the document with Carrie looking over my shoulder, “The two samples have been compared. There is no evidence to indicate a connection between the two samples.”. Well. There it was. The pup was not mine. This was good news. So why did I feel so lost with
Carrie’s POV Jessica, Mandy, and I sat watching our pups. Jessica and Mandy each had a boy. We had thought one might be a female but had a pleasant surprise when two males were born to my two best friends. Colton, Rosie’s pup and my half-brother, were playing with the boys. It was easy to see they were best friends being born so close to one another. Unless Colton was upset about something. Then his temper showed through. We were concerned and already working with him to control his anger. Even at his young age, we knew we needed to build the capacity within Colton to control himself, at all times. It was challenging for Jackson and me. Having a gifted child when I was still learning my own talents was keeping us on our toes. He was going to be more talented than me. It is incredible but we now believe that my father had enhanced his powers in some way that resulted in Colton’s talents being enhanced. The challenge of trying to anticipate
Carrie POV Before I can move, Christian steps forward. I see tears in the doctor’s eyes as she looks at her mate, knowing her fate. “Please, I am sorry,” she whispers as Christians looks at her with hate in his eyes. He is owed this. She almost destroyed him and the fact that she is his mate is only a cruel twist of fate. He leans forward placing his lips on hers. One solitary kiss from his mate before he reaches his hands up to her neck and snaps it as her lips rest on his. He steps back, cradling her body in his arms. I feel tears of my own rise up as I watch helplessly at our friend being forced to deal with the crappy hand he had been dealt. Without saying anything else, Christian turns and walks out of the gala event with his dead mate in his arms. Nobody spoke. They simply watched the tragic event in slow motion. As Christian exits the building, I can hear people starting to speak softly. Talking about calling it a night. Sadly, I a
Carrie POV Christian cut off the words the doctor was about to say. “Christian!” I yell wanting to hear what she had to say. Christian was determined to snap her neck. Jackson was beside him trying to unwrap his hands around her neck. My mother kept yelling for Christian to do it. “Christian stop!” I command with all my power. Many surrounding us started to drop to their knees at the wave of power that left my body. Christian dropped his hands turning his angry glare on me. The female doctor leans forward gasping for air. “Why?” Christian demands. “We need to know who Rosie’s baby’s father is, Christian,” I say to him trying to reason with him. “It is my right to destroy her,” he says with anger. “I understand but this is important,” I say to him looking to Jackson. I know he is wondering as well and wants the answers from her. I feel a sense of trepidation as I move towards the woman. My mother is struggling to get out of Josh’s hands,
Carrie POV I block the bolts of power coming at me with my arms. It is as if my arms have become shields of steel and I simply have the intuitive awareness of how to deflect her attack. She moves closer as I step back. Taking a chance, I flip my right arm and make like I am tossing something at her. It shocks her and she stumbles backwards with a smirk, “Just testing out your powers, I see,” she says as she steps closer to me pushing a stronger wave of force at me. Before I can respond I am pushed backwards. My shoes fall off and I land on my ass. I hear Jackson yell my name, but I cannot look to him. I have to focus on the threat. She continues to stalk towards me as I crawl backwards trying to get my bearings. I am working my way towards standing when she slams into me again this time knocking me back and winding me. “If you were smart, you would stay down. As much as I want you dead, your father would never forgive me for destroying you
Jackson POV It has been a week since Carrie received the email from her mother. After a few months reprieve I had started to wonder if they would just give up. I had hoped they would give up. They were after something. I simply did not know what it was. Carrie was too independent. She could live on her own without them. She had always wanted her mother but not like this. Not this woman who had seemingly abandoned her at a young age for the greater good, as she liked to imply. We were all getting ready for the Gala event we were hosting. We had spent every waking moment well into the wee hours of the night, planning for every type of attack we could imagine. Christian had gone darker if that were possible. Now that the end was imminent, I knew he would take out the female doctor, or die trying. And that scared me. He had no fear of death. It was as if he had looked it in the face once and he was prepared to die if it meant taking out his
Carrie POV It has been three months since we last saw my mother, brother, or his mate the female doctor. Everyone has been on intense alert since that fight. Our warriors were exhausted from all the additional training and extra shifts they have been taking to protect the Pack. Jessica has settled into her job working with Carleton for the Wolf Council. They continue to try and find leads as to where my family is but have had no luck. They are all wanted and considered dangerous. There are huge bounties on all of them. I do not want them captured. I want them dead. They are wreaking havoc with my family and my doctor is concerned the stress is impacting my ability to get pregnant. I am exhausted myself worrying about how much I have brought to Jackson’s doorstep. He continues to tell me to stop worrying. He will stand by my side regardless. But the Pack did not sign on for this either. They continue to be supportive, but I know they are
Hi Everyone Quick note to let you know I have had the flu all weekend and have been unable to post. I am starting to come around but wanted to let you know why you have not received an update this weekend. I figure there are only four chapters left in the story and hope to pick those off starting tomorrow. My apologies for the less than consistent posting in March. Fingers crossed this is the end of the craziness. Any questions feel free to post below and I will either answer in the story or here :) Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Catch up tomorrow. Ellie xo
Carrie POV Jackson returned to us and shared what they learned so far. Which was not much. My mother had attempted to have Randy freed, but Jackson quickly replied, “It is out of my hands. The Wolf Council is taking him into custody, and he will be charged accordingly.”. “That is outrageous. We have neutralized the threat!” my mother exclaims. “Take it up with Carleton. He is making transfer arrangements as we speak,” Jackson says without sympathy. “Carrie you must do something to help your brother,” my mother pleads with me. Shaking my head, “I am sorry, but I cannot. He betrayed me and my Pack; had he succeeded it would have been the end of us,” I reply to her. Jackson looks at me with love and pride at my response. The rage that crosses my mother’s face surprises me, but she quickly contains it. That causes me to pause for a moment as I watch her. “You have his wolf, his powers … what more do you want?” she asks coldly. “It is not abo
Carrie POV “Do you sincerely believe he deserves to have his wolf, after all that he has done?” my mother asks. I sit with that question. Did I think he deserved his wolf? I had not been prepared to help save him, yet I worried about him being without a wolf. A wolf was so much a part of who we were. And having been without my wolf for so long, I could easily identify with the devastation. “I do not know the answer to that question,” I respond honestly. “Well, you have time to decide,” my mother replies. “What do you mean?” I ask. “You have taken his wolf into your care; you can give it back or let the wolf go to its resting place. The choice will solely be yours,” my mother says softly. I sit back in my chair and chew my food slowly. Mandy is sitting silent listening to the conversation. “What do you think?” I ask her as she looks at me in surprise. “I think it is as your mother has said. It is your choice; your decision,” she replies.