Chapter 52
Aurora
I dream of my childhood. Most of it involves Luke.
We were supposed to be mates, or at least that is what I dreamed of every day since I was told about finding a fated mate. It just made sense. I stuck to that idea all my life, too, and when he found his mate, I felt lost. I still feel lost without Luke.
But he isn’t my mate. Somewhere deep down, I know he can’t be my mate. He has Mary, if she hasn’t rejected him, and I will have myself. Jaxson can’t be pleased with being rejected but it’s best for him. He may have moved on like Xander said. I hope it makes him happy. Everyone at the gala, in the royal pack, was right. He deserves someone better than me.
“Reject you,” I mumble, woozy with exhaustion.
My eyes shoot open and my body goes taut, shooting to sit up in bed. I grip my hands over my eyes, seeing the world spin, everything about my vision blotted and blurry with exhaustion and confusion. The only thing I can pinpoint is Xander is no longer in my head.
Dropping my hands from my face, I look around to see an unfamiliar room, taken mostly by the size of the bed where I lay. I feel the spot beside me, empty and unusual, my hand cold on the spot. It’s hard to make sense of the last few moments of my life but I don’t here Xander and I don’t feel him violating my mind so I know at least one thing has been made better.
Looking up, I spot a familiar face in the doorway through the dark room. Jaxson stands at the end of the bedpost, hands placed into his front pockets, his eyes hunkered and lowered like he spots his prey and needs it’s blood.
I swallow hard at the sight of Jaxson. I consider it a dream, maybe, but he takes a soft inhale and exhale, his chest rising gently under the fabric of a loose, gray tee-shirt and some worn, muddy jeans. He hardly looks like a royal, let alone a pristine prince, without his uniform on. But the look on his face is foreign too.
He looks comfortable, a breezy smile plastered on his curved lips, and there’s a new air of contempt that is displayed over the once strict, demanding prince.
My eyes water at the sight of him and his smile falters.
“Sweetheart, don’t cry,” he says in a light whisper. “It’s all okay now.”
I aim to stand, to make sure he is real, but my legs tremble under my weight. He meets me on the edge of the bed, practically pressed to the wall right behind him, and I feel so confined in this small room with a large, hulky man.
He leans down and let’s me wrap my arms around his shoulders, his arms crawling their way around my lower back. He pulls me off the bed, off my feet, and holds me to his chest. I hold him back, burying my face into his chest to take in his natural, bold scent. He smells like a natural wolf, a strong man, and I can’t help but enjoy the familiarity of it.
“Jaxson,” I sigh into his neck, feeling his arms tighten around my back. He finds his way onto the bed, laying down with me pressed directly to his abdomen, and I enjoy the feeling of being so small in his strong hold. “Jaxson, I can’t believe you’re here.”
He hums an amused, pleased noise into my scalp, kissing the place where I use to have long, gorgeous hair. I can feel the bruises still, knowing damn well I look as horrible as I feel.
“I’m here,” he hums. “I’m not leaving this time, either.”
I pull away to give him a confused look but his eyes linger on my throat, my neck. “What do you mean, Jaxson? What has happened?”
“You passed out at your parent’s home, Aurora. You rejected Xander but it was too late, he was going to find you so I had everyone split off and hide to avoid Xander coming after them. I brought us out here to a small pack on the shore,” he hums.
My heart drops straight into my stomach. “The shore?”
“Yes, Aurora,” he says simply, as if it’s not like a three day trips to North Woods pack lands from the shore, let alone four days total back to his royal pack. I wonder why he hadn’t taken me to the palace but I’m glad at least my parents will be safe from Xander. “I know you’re confused, but if you feel up to it, I’d like to show you something.”
My heart flutters now, no longer beating heavy in my abdomen, and I nod. Jaxson helps me walk and I adjust the shirt I wear that is so long it covers the short length of my shorts. It’s from my closet at home and it still smells like it, too. It brings me warmth.
We step into the tiny cabin, seeing half a kitchen and a couch for a living space. It could be a hundred meters wide, though, but it isn’t my main focus. I peer through the front window and gasp, Jaxson sporting a sly little smile that makes my wolf stir.
We step off the porch and straight into the hot sand, the ocean so vast before us I feel like I can see it fall off the edge of the world. The sun is diving down for the water, a mix of blue sky with fiery lights stunning across the sky above out heads, creating hues of purple and turquois.
My breath hitches as my toes melt into the grains of sand and I stumble, hitting the sandy beach on my knees in utter amazement. Jaxson falls back to sit down beside me, staring up at the sunset with the same set of fresh, astonished eyes.
“This is amazing,” I gust, feeling the sun beat on my skin and create warm chills down my spine. I can taste the salty air, the whiplash of the lapping waves on the shore just a few paces before us, and I’ve never seen something so natural and perfect in my life. “Jaxson why—how?”
He waves off my concern, grinning at the sunset before us. His face seems less tense in this light, more relaxed while he digs his hands back into the sand and leans lazily to take in the full scene of the ocean ahead.
“I wanted to go somewhere special,” he says.
My brow furrows, although I am amazed with this sight overall, it still makes me wonder. “Why didn’t you just steal me back to the palace, Jaxson?”
“Because we don’t live there anymore,” he says back in a quick reply. “I have one of my most trusted royal warriors bringing me a little something from the palace and once it’s here, I’m going to reject the royal pack, and my father as Alpha.”
I almost choke in shock. “What are you saying?”
He looks ahead without an ounce of regret in his words. “I’m going to reject my father’s pack,” he repeats. “I don’t want to belong to a pack that allows that kind of behavior and if I can’t make the palace safe for you, sweetheart, then I won’t be returning there again.”
My head is spinning. My wolf is furious with me.
“I rejected you so you could stay there and not worry about having me around to get in the way, Jaxson,” I hum at last.
He doesn’t skip a beat in replying, “I don’t need anything but my mate, Aurora, and I would rather reject my father’s pack than think about not getting to prove to you that you are my mate and I only care about having you in my life. Nothing else matters.”
My stomach aches with his words.
Closing my eyes, I feel Xander beat me, the helplessness overwhelming me. It feels the same way now, feeling so out of control no matter what I do. That’s when I see his face, my best friend, plain as day and looking back at me with nothing but fear and pain written into his crystal blue eyes.
