Chapter 37

Jaxson

It’s been forty-three days since I’ve seen my mate.

Every single moment since then, I’ve been working to find out who tried to kill her, working to find Xander and rid him of my list of problems, but I know I have failed her in a way that has costed me determinately. In my endless efforts to fix these problems, I neglected her, and I know she feels rejected but that doesn’t excuse her actions.

I can still feel the pain in my heart when I knew something was wrong, when I could feel that my fated was being kissed by another wolf. It broke me down in the middle of a meeting with my father. I couldn’t tell him why I was in pain, everyone still assuming she’s gone for good, but that moment almost ended the whole secret.

I wanted to break out and find her, remind her how much I love her, and I realize too late that I should have been doing that all along. She felt neglected and alone, and I should have known better than to trust Luke around her in such a state.

It’s my mistake, but I can’t even reach out to tell her how horribly I’ve messed up. She doesn’t give me the opportunity. I pace my room for now, my whole body shaking all over, the pain in my heart so fresh it’s like I’ve just been cut.

Truthfully, I’ve counted every day we have been apart and even still, I haven’t come closer to fixing any of the problems I set out to fix. I want to give up and find my mate, take care of her and take her far away from this life. We don’t have to be royals. We can be commoners, living a simple life in the woods somewhere, away from this tribulation.

But that would give Xander power and no matter what my father thinks about reforming his second son, I can’t let him be ruler. He hates Aurora’s people, her packs, and if he comes to power the divide will only be greater than ever before.

Aurora, please, I beg through our link, feeling nothing on the other side. It must be the distance, the time spent apart, that keeps me from breaking into her mind with easy force. I only meet silence.

Same as it’s been for two days since she shut me out.

“Sire, you’ve been requested to accompany a squad down to the Waxing pack,” one of my warriors says, letting himself into the room. I must have not heard him knock. “They have asked for help against a group of rogues targeting their alehouse.”

I nod, not looking forward to this task but also needing to take some frustrations out on something. What better way to exude my anger than to get rid of some rogues? I slide out of my coat and follow him downstairs, passing the tower where Aurora’s room still sits.

Snowflake spends most of her time in that room, being looked after by the maids. She misses Aurora as much as I do. Out in the front courtyard, a group of my top five warriors wait with their hands folded behind their back, standing straight as I approach.

I only nod, shifting, and we bolt through the tunnel and into the nearby town, headed for the village of the Waxing pack. It’s a tiny mountain town, almost an hour from here, and part of me wants to think I will Find Aurora there, since I have no real idea where she is right now, but it’s only a wish of mine.

She won’t be found until she wants to be.

I hope that she wants to be found soon. I miss her too dearly to let thig drag out further.

My warrior’s strain to keep up as we run through the woods, the clouds full and pungent in the air, ready to spill loads of rain on our heads. There’s a cold breeze that brushes through my fur, a feeling of freedom I have needed from all of my stress, and I beg to release the ache on my heart from where Aurora and I have wounded each other.

Soon we make it to Waxing, a small fire burning in the center of town where walls have collapsed into piles of splinters. I can still smell the filth in the air, the smell of rogues. I nudge my warriors to spread out and surround the collapsed building, every member of this village hiding inside, proving that trouble is still near.

I pick up a scent, one of my warriors following as we run down the hill and out of the side of town, into the wooded block of trees that leads to old hunting grounds and decrepit old cabins. We near the line of trees, the smell picking up stronger, hearing steps halt somewhere just behind the wooded wall.

They know we’re here.

We’ve got some over here, I connect through the link.

One of my warriors back near the bar replies, at least two of them are still here hiding in town, the barkeep managed to get out and is trying to show us where they went.

Be vigilant, I say simply.

I pounce into the woods, instantly feeling a hard shove of a wolf knocking into me sideways. I didn’t see him the first time, but I do now, easily larger than him in size and in strength. I pin him down first, my other warrior taking on the group nearby that scatter. He stops one of them, biting into his back, and I pin the one under my heavy paws, feeling the breath leave his throat while I stand mercilessly on his neck.

He shifts, pleading with his arms flailing about, but all it does is cause my nails to dig into his surface. I decide to spare him long enough to find out who orchestrated this attack on the Waxing pack, and I remove my foot off his throat.

He tries to catch his breath but it’s a failure. “Don’t—Don’t kill me—I have—I have information—you want—” he gusts through his every panting breath.

Still in wolf form, I nod, my eyes dark as they peer down at him trying to collect himself. He finally manages to breath and only now is focused on not dying from the holes I’ve punctured into his shoulder, clinging to the marks with his trembling hands.

“Your mate isn’t dead,” he gusts.

I shift, immediately grabbing his head, pulling him closer to me with every intent on beating him senseless. “Why do you say that? Have you seen her?”

“No,” he gusts, coughing up a bit of blood. “But I know someone who has seen her. He said he is coming for her, to draw you out,” he says, falling back into the grass, his eyes graying over.

“Who?!” I snap, shaking him like he has simply fallen asleep. “Who, dammit?!”

“Xander Knight.”