Chapter 60

Jaxson

We run all day, then all night, and again into the next day. My wolf is pleased to be in control again. He needed this release and frankly, I needed to step back from control. My mind has been all over the place since I’ve gotten my mate back. Sometimes I think she feels the mating pull and wants me to be her fated, and other times I think she looks at me like a royal, her superior, here to ruin her life.

All of that is diminished as we near the packhouse of my half-brother. I can smell his stench poured all over the woods out here. We pass through the North Woods pack, completely empty and ransacked in the process. Xander has been here. I slow, Paula and Row doing the same as we skid over to the wood home my mate had grown up in.

We all shift mortal, throwing on some pants from the bag I had in my muzzle for the trip, and Paul sets to going into Aurora’s childhood home and sparking up a fire in the fireplace, Row busy looking for kindling while I aim to rest for a little while. I need to clear my head more before I go into this fight.

If I’m distracted, we’re dead.

I am sore but I continue up the stairs anyways, stepping over a few broken pieces of furniture until I make it to Aurora’s bedroom. Her furniture is splintered, the window broken out, and the floor covered in glass and remains of her juvenile memorabilia.

Her scent is still strong in this room and I can also pick up the pungent air of my brother having come through here. He has spent more time trying to capture her, abuse her, than he has spent trying to take me down. He has a fascination with my mate that stems from him wanting to take something from me, but in the same breath, I look around her chaotic bedroom, unsure why he has become so obsessive with her.

I also understand it though. I spent weeks on the run, shutting out my father’s pack, just so I could gain her trust when I would inevitably find her again. I would have never stopped searching. She is my mate, she will always be my mate, and if she wants me to go grab that mutt that kissed her, betrayed me again, I will do that for her.

I’d do anything for her.

The sounds of the two guys downstairs whispering about me is unavoidable. I leave the remainder of her bedroom and her scent behind, inhaling it one last time to picture her beautiful smile, her perfect body, and holding it fresh in my memory.

Paul and Row are rummaging through the duffle bag for snacks, a small dinner, and they stop their whispers the second I come into view. I give them the once over before sitting down across the room, obnoxiously far from them, so I can lean back against the couch that’s been shredded by claws.

Closing my eyes, I focus on her lingering aura, wondering if she is missing me as I miss her.

“We have a few hours until dawn,” Row says, motioning to the darkness outside the house. “We have time to rest, if you want to.”

The plan is to attack before sunrise, in the middle of the morning when I know everyone will be asleep. I need them to be brash and careless. I need them to make mistakes and being led by my brother, I don’t doubt his ability to fuck this up.

“I’m pretty exhausted,” Paul grumbles, his head resting back against the brick fireplace sparked with heat. “I haven’t ran that much in years.”

Row nods in agreement, both of them looking to me, my wolf still stuck somewhere with my mate in our minds. I hate the way they stare at me. They function as if I have done this to Luke, and in some ways, it is my fault, but I’m not the one holding him hostage.

My future pack will be better than this, whether I am Alpha or not, I just want my mate to be by my side. These guys are skeptical, though. I can’t blame them. Seeing River’s state, her body and mind so damaged from my brother, I don’t blame them for being cynical of me.

“Just say it,” I growl, tired from the run and tired from this persecution. “You both blame me for this ordeal.”

They exchange a brief, puzzled look.

“Ann said it the other day,” I remind them. “I’m nothing but a royal brat, right?”

Paul replies first, arms crossed over his hollow, flimsy chest. “Alright, let’s address the tension then. Yes, you’re nothing but a royal and even if you rejected the pack, you will always be a royal. You’re responsible for this happening to Luke.”

“We spent days trying to protect Ann and Aurora from being taken by wolves from your pack,” Row coughs. “Now here we are, trying to get Luke back after protecting Aurora for you. That gala was a terrible idea and without it, we might now be here in this scenario!”

I hide my fangs, even though my wolf is pushing for them to show. “You don’t think I know that? I have heard this all before, and I know it’s true. But if it wasn’t because of the gala, it would have been some other way. Xander is after my father’s position and needed to go through me to do that. I surrendered for Aurora. I rejected the pack. What Xander does to obtain the royal pack is up to him and my father. It’s not my life anymore.”

“We get Luke back, then what?” Paul asks, a bit of sarcasm tainting his tone. “You send us off with Mary and Luke to live in a new pack? You’ve upended all of our lives, Jaxson, and you don’t care!”

My fists scrunch in my lap. I reign it in before replying, “I know all of this already. If I thought it would do anyone any good, I would have brough Aurora back home and rejected her. But it was too late. I need her and sometimes, she needs me. She is my mate. When you both find your mate, you’ll understand that nothing will stop you from being there for them. Nothing. Not my brother, not the world, and certainly not two guys I hardly know who want to berate me for trying to make things right again.

“Your life will be different, but it’s only for your safety. I went from a palace to a hut I can hardly move through without bumping into a damn cat but it’s what has to be done. I didn’t make the world this way for commoners and I can’t change it, either! I’m sorry,” I breathe, hanging my head in defeat. “It’s better than being dead.”

There’s a silence in the room and it makes me feel like I’m on display. I don’t show my emotions often, even my anger, but I can’t help but feel every emotion at once. Guilt, frustration, fury, and pure angst all move through me without showing signs of stopping.

“I love Aurora Hunter. I would lay down my life for her and if she wants me to go save her friend Luke, even after he has betrayed my mating pull, then I will do just that. Not because of some damn fated pull that my wolf can’t ignore. But because if she was able, she would run right back into Xander’s grasp if she thought she could save Luke.”

“She loves hard,” Row hums, his voice calmer than before.

Paul adds in, matching his easy tone, “we don’t want her to get hurt. After we get Luke, and we leave, I want an assurance that you will never allow another thing to happen to her again. She came close to being dragged to that palace as a toy in the past and the first thing we want is to leave knowing she is in the right hands.”

They have a right to be skeptical of me. I’m different now, though, I remind myself. I have to believe in myself. I hand over the note she wrote to Luke and I refrain from reading it. Paul takes it, eyes squinted.

“It’s from Aurora. For Luke. Give it to him when you get to Mary’s new place. I don’t want to carry anything back for her from that mutt.” I shake my head. I feel deflated, hounded with my exhaustion, but I see them look at me with lighter eyes now.

“Guard her with your life,” Row says.

“Just be sure to leave your old life behind,” Paul adds.

With everything I have left in my tired, drained mind, I reply, “She is my life now.”