Chapter 30
Jax’s POV
It had been 24 hours since they had taken my mate and beta and I was going out of my mind. I refused to sleep and only ate when my mother forced me to, my sole focus was on getting everyone back.
I should have known that Annabelle would pull something like this. Ever since she told me about the ultimatum that stranger gave her I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to hand herself in, I was just to consumed in problem solving more to notice.
“Any updates from Xavier Jax?” My parents asked as they walked into the office. I couldn’t imagine what they were going though, not only was their Luna and future daughter in law taken, but also their son and practically adopted son aswel.
“No sorry” I sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair again. “They must have him tied up with silver somewhere, either that or they are injecting him with wolfsbane. That’s the only logical reason as to why he hasn’t contacted me, the only reason I can bring myself to think about that is” I sighed.
“Well I’m sure something will come up soon” my dad tried to reassure me as he came over and clapped me on the back, showing as much moral support as he could.
“I’m just so angry” I growled. “After Annabelle had her dream walk thing she said she knew where they were and if I had just shut up long enough to let her finish we wouldn’t even be having this issue. We could be out there, rescuing them right now”.
“You can’t blame yourself honey, you were worried for the sake of your pack and the sake of your Luna” my mum tried to sooth me as she came and perched on my desk.
“An Alpha can’t cloud his mind with worry though mum, otherwise things like this happen” I sighed, sounding more defeated than I thought I ever could. I had only been acting Alpha for a few years, and look what I had achieved.
My mum smiled a sad smile before stroking my cheek, she was a Luna herself after all, it’s in her nature to care about everyone. “You can’t expect yourself to never have feelings of anger or worry Jax, if you didn’t you wouldn’t be the amazing boy that I raised”.
I stayed silent as I stared blankly at the map in front of me, I had been staring at it for so long I wasn’t even sure if it made sense to me anymore.
“Go and take a nap, at least an hour to give your brain and body time to recharge. You’re no use to anyone if you’re so tired you can’t even keep your head up” she smiled.
I sighed as I looked up at my mum, knowing she was right but couldn’t bring myself to leave. What if there was a new development whilst I was away and I missed it?
“How about you take a nap on the sofa over there and me and your father will carry on working, that way if something comes up we can easily wake you”.
I thought about it for a second before slightly nodding and making my way over to the sofa on the other side of my office. I bought it for this exact reason, I sometimes ended up working so late in here that when I finished I didn’t even have enough energy to walk to my bedroom.
I settled down into the leather and as I drifted, I prayed that mum and dad would spot something that I had somehow missed.
I was walking through the woods, way past the boundary of my territory, when I heard a twig snap on my right.
Where was I? How did I get here when I was only just asleep in my office? I couldn’t be sleep walking because I knew mum and dad wouldn’t have let me get this far out into rogue territory.
I heard another twig snap and my wolf growled in my head, we were on another person’s land and that spelt danger for anyone, even an Alpha.
I turned towards the sound of footsteps that was making their way towards me but frowned at the sound of them. They were noisy, like the person wasn’t concerned about being found or trying to conceal their position.
I hid behind a tree, hoping that the element of surprise would be enough for me to get out of here unscathed. As the footsteps got closer, I readied myself to pounce. Three. Two. One. NOW!
‘Ahhhh’ the person I jumped as they screamed and it wasn’t until I was on top of them with their hands pinned either side of their head that I realised who it was.
‘Annabelle?’ I couldn’t believe it, she was here.
‘Oh my god Jax, you scared the hell out of me!’
‘Annabelle!’ I yelled as I wrapped her up tightly in my arms. ‘How are you here? How did you get away?’
‘I haven’t Jax, this is a dream walk, the Goddess must have somehow linked our minds together whilst we were both sleeping’ she explained. ‘Both Xavier and I are bound in silver so there’s no way you could link us’.
‘You’re bound in silver?’ I knew how much that could hurt, it was like having hot iron wrapped around your wrists that didn’t let up or cool down no matter how much time passed. Not only was it the pain you had to deal with, you had to deal with the smell of your own flesh burning. ‘Are you okay?’
She shrugged as we got up off the floor ‘we’re both as okay as we can be in this type of situation’.
I nodded in understanding before I brought her in my arms again. ‘It’s so good to see you my little mate’.
She relaxed in my arms as she breathed in my scent ‘it’s good to see you too Jax’.
We stayed like that for a moment, just enjoying each other’s company after being forcefully separated for so long.
‘Listen Jax, I know where we are-’
‘I know, I’m so sorry I didn’t let you finish the other day, I was just so concerned about you and wanting to make sure you were okay I completely forgot to-’
‘You’re doing it again Jax’ Annabelle giggles and I smiled as the sound of her laugh reached my ears. She didn’t laugh often but when she did it was heavenly.
‘Sorry... where are you then?’ I asked as I caressed her jaw with my fingertips.
‘We are in Alpha Parkers territory, slap bang in the middle and somewhere underground’.
‘That son of a bitch, I’m going to kill him for what he’s doing’ I growled.
‘Jax listen... they aren’t going to release your brother or the others like they promised. I need you to come find me so that everyone can be back safe. I’m going to delay him as much as I can but I don’t think I can do it for very long, it seems this pack hates the Goddess as much as we hate them’ she sighed. ‘The strange guy I told you about, the one that smells like Alpha Parker, said my family and the pack members held hostage were no longer needed so please find them soon.’
‘I will baby don’t you worry’ I reassured her as the edges of my vision started to wobble and blur slightly.
‘I’m being woken up so this won’t last much longer’ she rushed out as she looked at me ‘They all wear a certain type of perfume to mask their scent so follow that and use it to help you find us’.
I just nodded as I took one last look at her beautiful face.
‘Be safe’ she whispered as she suddenly disappeared from my arms.
I woke up with a start, scaring the people in my office.
“Are you okay honey?” My mum asked, worry written all over her face.
I nodded as I stood up and made my way over to the map. “I was with Annabelle, she brought me into her dream walk”.
“Is that even possible?” My dad mutters as he looked at me with a frown.
I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders “is anything she can do possible?”
My dad just shrugged with a small smile as he walked over to my mum and took her hand. “What did she tell you?”
“She said they were in Alpha Parkers territory, somewhere underground...” I muttered as I started studying the map closer, looking for anything that could help us.
“There!” My dad almost yelled as he pointed to something on the map. “That’s an old air raid shelter. I used to go there as a kid with some friends before Alpha Parker claimed the area. It doesn’t look like much but I’m sure with some modifications they could have easily made it into a dungeon, it’s the perfect place to hide someone”.
“Big enough to fit a whole cell block down there?” I questioned, sceptical that it could actually be this easy.
“Most definitely”.
“Okay” I sighed, feeling the constant weight I had been feeling over the last 24 hours slowly lift. “We have the where... now all we need is the how”
Anyway... I hope you like this little chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!