Chapter 15

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.

Hearing Xander say they were alone in the library, a million and one thoughts roll through my mind, and I refuse to sleep, to cease pacing, wondering if her intent was to allow herself to be intimate with another wolf. If it was in the plan for the both of them to sneak away in the library and disrespect our mating pull; I play with the idea of going to the barracks and ripping his throat out for even considering such a thing. The healer steps out of the room where my mate lays, unconscious now for two days since she passed out the day of her birthday gala.

He faces me, his old gray eyes and silver hair adding to the aged wrinkles across his face and crooked body. “Sire, I assume you’d like my honest answer, and nothing sugar-coated for your benefit, correct?”

“Yes, yes of course,” I say, more so snap. “Tell me if she will be okay.”

“As of right now, she will live,” he says, uttering the bare minimum of words I wanted to hear from him. “She is from a different pack, a weaker bloodline, sire, so as it stands, her marks are done healing as best as they can for her rather unproductive genes.”

“What does that mean?” I ask through my locked jaw, unsure if I should reprimand him for speaking so low of my mate, even though I admitted I need him to be honest with me on her condition.

“She will live with a scar, but for now, the wound is open. I wrapped it up as best as possible but the size of it is so large, it will likely inhibit her from being able to do much until it closes on its own time. Her bruises are still present, and they will also heal when they can. Frankly, sire, she wasn’t made to take such a mark, and it’s a miracle she is alive after such a gash.”

“Thank you,” I mutter, trying to be respectful, but pushing past him back into the room where my gentle mate lays.

Her demure attitude is always so passive and sweet. Even when she would strike me with some sarcasm, it was never intentionally ill-willed, or meant to hurt me. That’s why it’s so hard to picture anyone hurting her, and I didn’t take the necessary precautions to prevent this disaster from happening in the first place.

She lays asleep on the bed, the white sheets stained with a few drops of blood, the gauze wrapped around her torso the only thing covering her chest and her upper body, bruises peeking up over the cloth wrap and tainting her pale, marvelous skin with black and purple splotches on her shoulders and neck.

I pull the hair out of her face, seeing her laid on her side and taking a seat on the bed beside her, my hand pressing gently against her cheek, feeling the sparks of the mating bond shoot up my arm. My wolf hums, finally calming down a little, so transfixed at the sight of a she-wolf as beautiful and precious as her.

I should have never let her leave my side.

Truthfully, I locked her up in her room, knowing in the back of my mind that this may happen to her one day. I never expected it from another common wolf, though. The tension between royals and others has always been tight but it was never anticipated that she would take this kind of persecution from someone she knew from her past life in the North Woods pack.

“How’s our girl?” my father’s voice rings out as he slips into the room. I keep my palm on her cheek, hoping somehow, she will feel the same buzz of the mating pull as I do, even while she lay unconscious.

“She could be better,” I mutter.

“I heard the healer said she will get better on her own time, son. You need to take it as a blessing.”

I shrug, trying to agree. “I suppose you’re right.”

“If I’m right, then how come I could hear your wolf snarling from all the way across the palace? You can’t bring that anger into the room with her. She doesn’t need to wake up and see you still furious.”

“I have every right to be furious! To have another male put his hands on my mate, probably wanting to ravish her and leave her dead on the floor when it was over— I should kill that mutt right now!”

“All in good time,” he replies simply. “Let him suffer in his cell downstairs for now. I doubt he will heal from the licks Xander and the warriors gave him for trying to hurt your mate. Just calm down and focus on helping her heal.”

“I can’t help her,” I say, the words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. “She’s built differently from us, father. She’s weak and everything down to the DNA of her wolf prohibits her from being able to handle something like this, something you and I would bounce back from in a matter of hours.”

“Don’t tell me you’re buying into this commoner and royal bullshit now. I have enough of that to deal with inside of the palace, let alone outside of the royal bloodline pack.”

“So, what should I do?” I ask, exasperated. “How can I help her heal faster?”

He pauses, eyes on her bruised throat and shoulders. “You know you have to mark her as your mate, son. We’ve discussed it now for several days before this even happened. Face the facts, we both know what happens to commoners in the place, especially the unmated females. You might have her barricaded behind guards at all hours, but it is still not safe for her to be flaunted around without the mated mark.”

I know he is right, but I have feared doing it to her simply because I know she doesn’t feel the mating pull, and it will feel more like a forceful act than anything else in her eyes. To me, it would bring my wolf comfort knowing she will be marked into my mind link, into a bond with my wolf, and no one would ever mistake her as an opportunity to take advantage of again.

She hums a noise in her sleep, uncomfortable, unable to move without an audible cry of agony and pure pain.

I know I have to do it; I just hope she understands when she wakes. Brushing her hair aside, I leaned toward her lips, needing to kiss her like I have dreamed of, wanting to feel like I can’t stop and don’t even want to pause to take a breath. Instead, I give her a small peck on the lips, trying to avoid the marks and bruises before pressing my mouth to her neck, her scent so strong when I lean in close to her.

She smells of flowers, of sweet honeysuckle in summer and the eucalyptus that blossoms in the gardens before fall. I inhale every ounce of it that I can, my lips pressing just above her collarbone, on the curve of her neck, and draw my fangs to puncture the skin in a spot perfectly able to be seen by all who meet her.

She will be known as a Luna someday.

My Luna.

Every memory, every interaction and emotion she has ever felt through her life washes through me at once, forcing me to stumble backwards away from the bed, a drop of blood oozing down my chin and neck but I’m far too focused on having her life flush through my system in a handful of mere seconds.

That’s when I see the moment my wolf has been needing to see, to accept her willingly being in a room with another male whose intentions I know not of. Instead, I see something else entirely, feeling the claws of Xander rip through her back, laughing at the sight of her on the floor.

My father has to shove my back to the wall, pinning me back as the intensity of my fury grows, every inch of my body needing to shift, needing to find that asshole and rip him into tiny chunks.

“Relax, Jaxson, please,” my father gusts, now just as taut as I am. “You cannot shift in here; you will hurt her. Tell me, now, what is going on?!”

I only open the link to my father, watching his eyes gray over as he watches the same scene as I had, seeing his filthy son rip her dress open and expose her body to those warriors, to himself, and seeing her realize how he intends to hurt her, maybe even abuse her body in a salacious, sinful way. I feel her fear and her pain and send it forth to my father to experience as well.

My father snaps out of it, and I can sense his wolf fighting to come forward just like mine, both of them hungry for justice over the situation Xander has put my mate through.

“Compose yourself, now,” he commands in his Alpha tone, subduing me only a little, enough to clear my head of the memory that rips through my mind. “I will deal with Xander at once, but you cannot let your anger interfere or you will inevitably do a harm you cannot reverse.”

“I will kill him,” I blurt, saving us the time of his calming efforts. “I have to kill him for what he’s done! No one can disrespect my mate like this!”

“I understand, Jaxson, I will deal with him accordingly! But I will not have a bloodbath in my own bloodline over this incident!”

“She is your bloodline now!” I snarl through my clenched jaw. “She will carry the pups in our bloodline of Alpha and Luna, and he drew blood from her back! He has started this and I don’t care the reason, I have to kill him as if it were anyone else!”

“I am still the Alpha,” he growls, inches from my face but I refuse to back down. I show my teeth right back, fully willing to fight my father over this situation. “You will abide by my rulings until I step down, Jaxson. You listen to your Alpha, and you listen well! I am not killing your brother!”

“Then you are no Alpha of mine!”

We both shift, the room growing small around our snarling, furious wolves. Aurora is pushed into the corner by our size, still slumbering in her daze, unable to recognize the war I am about to cause over this incident. I will handle this before she wakes up but first, I have to fight past my father to do so.