Chapter 36
Cheyenne’s POV
I woke up feeling like something was missing, like there was a hole in my chest. I rolled over and heard something crinkling beneath me and sat up to look. It was the papers from the dream. Every note and plan me and Gunner had discussed. How is this possible? It was just a dream…wasn’t it?
“Koa?” I asked out loud.
“I’m here sweetie.” She responded before yawning very loudly in my head.
“How is this possible? That was just a dream right?” I asked.
“After everything we’ve been through, you’re still asking how things are possible?” She actually started laughing at me, but she had a point. “If I may suggest, think we should get those to Jax. Don’t you agree?”
“Oh shit. You’re right. We don’t have a lot of time.” I scrambled out of bed, tossing the blanket off of me and went straight to my closet for training clothes.
After I finished getting dressed and brushing my hair and throwing it up, I folded up the papers and stuffed them in the band of my leggings and headed down to the dining hall for breakfast. I wasn’t paying much attention to other people while I waited for Jax to come down. I was lost in my own little world remembering what it felt like to be in my mate’s arms. If I wouldn’t of ran, none of this would’ve happened, and I could’ve been in his arms every day and night. Ugh damn it!
It wasn’t until the servant put my plate in front of me and the smell of ham, bacon, and sausage hit my nose. I looked down to see a huge omelet that was covered in salsa with a side of fried cubed potatoes. I was starving from missing lunch and dinner yesterday but damn this thing was huge! I started tearing into it and that first bite was like heaven. It just melted in my mouth. I started scarfing it down.
“Good to see you still have your appetite.” I heard Jax from behind me.
“I haven’t eaten in almost 24 hours jackass. You starve your wolf for that long and see what happens.” I was talking with my mouth full and at this point, I didn’t care.
Jax sat down and within a few minutes the servant was bringing his food out for him. I don’t know how they knew we were coming or even here, but these servants had the perfect timing.
“By the way, I need to talk to you…privately.” I mumbled hoping no one but him heard me. Jax just gave a slight nod of his head as he started eating also.
We finished eating and then headed towards the training grounds. As we were passing by the private training rooms, Jax grabbed my arm and pulled me inside and closed and locked the door behind us.
“What did you need to talk about?” He asked. I pulled the papers from my waistband and handed them to him without saying anything. He opened them up and started reading every paper.
“What is this?” He asked.
“I had a dream last night. My mate was there and we told each other what was going on with each side, and then came up with those plans and notes. At least I thought it was a dream. When I woke up this morning, those papers were on my bed.” I said pointing towards the papers in his hands.
A knowing look came across his face, “A dream huh?” He asked as he looked at the papers, and then he started laughing.
I furrowed my eyebrows, “What’s so funny?” I asked genuinely confused by his reaction.
“Trips to see the Moon Goddess herself. Being able to mindlink with me. A dream that “magically” makes papers appear on your bed. It all makes sense now.” He smirked and huffed before continuing, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. I knew the prophecy was about you and you were here to free us, but I didn’t know it was this serious.”
“What are you talking about Jax?” I asked taking a step towards him.
“You’re the chosen one Alida.” He said rather seriously.
I rolled my eyes and threw my arms up in the air, “There’s that name again. The chosen one. UGHHHHHH!!!!” I turned and started walking away.
“Wait, you’ve known this?” He started walking towards me.
“It’s what Selene called me, and then after what you told me about the prophecy I just figured that was what I was meant to do as ‘the chosen one.’ I didn’t think it extended past that.” I said turning back around to face him.
“If that is true, you are meant for so much more. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.” He said as he grabbed my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes.
“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. All I know is I have to get some people out of here and that I just want to go back home. I want to be with my mate that I never thought I would get. I want to be able to just sit around all day and eat junk food and watch movies. I don’t want to have to live the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.” I just started rambling on and on.
I could feel the tears starting to build up in my eyes and I tried to look away from Jax so he wouldn’t see them either. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take. Everything was just too overwhelming. It was like my whole life was just falling apart around me. At this point, I didn’t even know if I would ever see Gunner again, much less ever see my home again.
Jax softly hooked his finger under my chin and turned my head so I was looking at him again. “Alida, you are not alone in this. Stop trying to carry all the weight by yourself. You have people here and it’s obvious that you have people back home. All you have to do is tell us what to do, and we will follow you.”
I felt the betrayal of my body as a tear slid down my cheek. Jax softly wiped it away with his thumb and then pulled me in for a hug. “Just take it one day at a time. Everything else will fall into place.”
I nodded my head that was against his chest and then inhaled deeply and pulled myself together before my eyes betrayed me again.
“I guess we should get to training before the wrong people notice. After all, apparently someone has already claimed you remember?” I chuckled slapping his arm and then started heading towards the door.
“Hey that’s not even right and you know that!” He hollered out from behind me.
We made it to the training grounds and the others had already started sparring against each other. Jax and I made our way through the field to our normal spot and started training ourselves.
We still had about a half hour left before lunch break but I decided to end a little early so I had time to stop by my room for a change of clothes. Not something I normally did but today something was telling me to change. On my way down the winding corridors, the closer I got to my room, the more the knot in my stomach got tighter. Koa was even on edge. When I got to my door, I stopped outside of it and just stared at it for a minute.
“Is everything ok?” I heard someone from behind me. I immediately noticed the shells in his beard.
“Has anybody been in here since I left this morning?” I asked him. He gave me a weird look in return.
“I know Jax has you guys watching my room.” I rolled my eyes.
“Sorry but we were told not to tell you. He said you would protest.” The guy hung his head.
“It is what it is at this point. So have you seen anybody in here?” I asked again.
“No ma’am. Nobody has entered since you left.” He stood up a little straighter.
“Ok thank you.” I said looking back towards my door.
I reached out and grabbed the handle and then slowly opened it. I walked in and then closed and locked it behind me. If someone was in here, they were now trapped in here with me. Koa was on guard and was sniffing the air. My room wasn’t that big to begin with so if anybody was in here, they wouldn’t have been able to hide.
After clearing my room and finding nobody, I went to my closet. I grabbed a cut off t-shirt and shorts. I knew I would be shifting for training after lunch so I was just changing into something that would be easy to throw on afterwards. I was walking back towards my door when Koa started growling.
“What is it?” I asked her stopping dead in my tracks and looking around.
“Magic.” Was all she said. That’s when I thought I saw a ripple in the air above my bed. Next thing I knew another note appeared out of nowhere.
“JAX!” I yelled threw the mind link.
“What? What’s wrong?” He replied back instantly.
“Another note.” Was all I could get out.
“On my way.” Was all he said before I felt the link sever. I was rooted in place. For whatever reason my feet would not move. I don’t know if it was shock or fear or what, but I was still standing in the same place when Jax came bursting through my door.
“Are you ok?” He asked rushing to me.
“Yea I’m fine. I was on my way to lunch when it appeared out of nowhere.” I said pointing to my bed.
Jax went over and picked it up and opened it. “Do you want me to read it or do you want to?”
“I will. Can’t be any worse than what we already got right?” I asked kind of sarcastically.
Princess,
I warned you about Jax. Sneaking off before training this morning was not a good idea. I would be sleeping with one eye open from now on. You will not see me coming and trust me, I’m coming for you.
“I’m going to kill this bitch. I swear on everything holy, she will be the first to die in this.” I was pissed now. I knew I had people watching me, but there was no way anybody saw Jax and I ‘sneak off’, in her terms, this morning.
“Well there’s one way to draw her out really quick so we can deal with her and get this over with.” Jax said raising an eyebrow to me.
“Oh yea? And what’s that?” I asked raising my eyebrow back at him. I had a feeling I knew where this was going and I wasn’t sure if I liked it.
“She claims the crown and me belong to her correct?” He asked.
“According to her first note.” I answered.
“Does anybody else know you have a mate?” He asked now pacing around my room.
“I don’t think so. I don’t really talk to anybody but you around here.” I said.
“Ok so by now everybody here has seen us together a lot. We train together and everything. So this is what we are going to do. We are going to announce that we are mates and that as their future Queen, that makes me their future King. Yes I know you have a mate, and I have no intentions of ruining that!” Jax said.
I mulled it over for a second in my head. It didn’t feel right and Koa wasn’t exactly sure about it either.
“I just feel like we are betraying our true mate.” Koa says.
“I know, me too. But how else are we going to draw this bitch out so you can take her knees out?” I knew just how to work her.
“We will have to inform Gunner of this first and get his input sweetie. I don’t feel right doing this without him knowing.” Koa trying to compromise.
“I agree with you.” I said and then looked back up to Jax. “Ok but I need to tell my real mate this new plan because you know word will travel and I don’t want him getting the wrong idea. My only question is how are we going to make it believable?”
“How much time do you need to tell your mate?” Was his first question.
“I’m not sure. I’m supposed to check in with him before I go to bed every night.” I said.
“Ok talk it over with him tonight then. The rest of today will go as any other day would. As far as making it believable, I have someone who can ink a fake mark on you as well as me. That is if your mate goes for this. Me personally, I don’t know if I would agree to this. I would want to defend my mate and kill this bitch myself.” He said looking at the note in my hand.
“But I’m not your ‘average mate’” I said with a smirk.
Jax chuckled, “No, no you are not.”
“Ok I will talk to Gunner tonight then. And since we’ve pretty much missed lunch…again. Guess it’s just going to get me another note or a surprise visit.” I shrugged.
The rest of the day went by like normal besides me eating twice as much when dinner finally rolled around. Damn wolf appetite, I felt like a bottomless pit sometimes with the amount of food I ate. After dinner, Jax and I said goodnight and then I took a shower and then got ready for bed. I connected with Gunner and I could hear the sound of relief in his voice when he answered.
I told him about the note and the plan that Jax had come up with. I was waiting on him to explode but much to my surprise, and Koa’s for that matter, he remained calm. No he didn’t particularly like the idea but he said as long as there was nothing more than a hug, that he could deal with it. Although he didn’t even like the thought of me in another man’s arms either. I could hear Maddox growling in warning at the thought of it too. Koa took care of Maddox and calmed him down while I worked my magic, no pun intended, on Gunner. After about an hour or so, we finally got them to calm down enough, to trust us enough, to see this threw.
If this plan works and it draws this person out, then it would be one less threat on both of our plates. After that Gunner was telling me that the plan with the boats and getting the first set of people out of here was in motion and to be expecting the first boat in the next day or so. We went on to talk about other things before I finally succumbed to the exhaustion and fell asleep.