Chapter 32
Jackson
It’s like I’ve fallen into a daze, as Emily tells me she is choosing Aidan. The world stops spinning on its axis. My feet, like lead, keep me rooted as I stare at the spot where she had stood in front of me and told me I couldn’t keep her safe, that I can’t keep anyone safe.
But when he talks about making her suffer, I know it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t want me. Whatever trance I’ve been in snaps. Whether she wants me or not—whether she ever loves me again or not—he can’t have her. He doesn’t get to hurt her again.
I shift back into my wolf form; the change tearing through me like wildfire. With a feral roar, I lunge—only to be cut off by Aidan’s warriors. Pain lances across my body as teeth pierce my flank, tail and back. Blood drips from my wounds as adrenaline surges through my veins. Snarls echo in the air, a symphony of feral rage.
I pivot and snap my jaws at the wolf closest to my face, sinking my teeth into his throat. The bitter taste of blood floods my mouth as I rip out his spine. Claws slash through the air, tearing flesh and rending bone. I kick back with my hind legs, making contact as Ryan joins the fight, pulling a reddish wolf off of me before he snaps his neck and throws him back.
We have taken out four of the six warriors when I see Emily drop to the ground in my periphery. I plunge my claws into the throat of the nearest wolf, slicing his jugular in a clean sweep. And before he hits the ground, I’m leaping out of the fight and towards Emily—shifting midair—I drop to the ground beside her.
My muscles scream from the exertion, and my wounds sting, but that doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters except her.
I fall to my knees beside her. I pull her into my arms and wipe blood off of her face, frantically searching for injuries. Her eyes flicker open and closed several times before finally focusing on me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of it,” she says, her voice the barest whisper. “I needed to get close to him… I’m so sorry.”
“I was supposed to protect you.” Tears sting my eyes as I stare at her beautiful face. My heart is breaking that she didn’t let me kill him for her. My sweet Emily shouldn’t have had to do this.
“You did,” she says, and then she’s gone again, unconscious in my arms.
I press a kiss to her forehead and pull her against me like I can shield her from the world. Like I can rewind time and do it all differently. I look back at what was the battle to see Ryan surveying the damage. “They’re all dead. This is a fucking mess,” he says, rubbing his hands down his face.
Sofia shoves off Luca and storms toward us, blood on her face and fury in her eyes. “Maybe they wouldn’t be if you had fucking done anything!” she shouts. Luca sinks to the ground behind her, scowling at the wounds on his arms.
“I’m bringing her to the pack hospital,” I say without acknowledging Ryan. I can’t even look at him right now. I don’t know how I can ever trust him as my Alpha again after this.
“Jackson, we need to deal with this. I don’t even know how they made it onto pack lands. We need to investigate.”
“You investigate,” I snap. “I’m taking my mate to the hospital.”
“Your mate?”
“Yeah. My mate.” I meet his eyes then, just long enough for him to see the truth. Her scent—stronger, richer now—wraps around me like a tether. The slight tingles when our skin connects are electric now. My wolf howls for her, louder than ever.
I turn and walk towards the hospital carrying my beautiful mate. The bond snapped into place as she fell to the floor. And from now on, she is my first priority.
As she always should have been.
“Her vitals are stable. They hadn’t completed the bond, and she was the one to reject him. These are all strong indicators that she is going to be okay,” Doc says softly. I huff out a breath.
It’s been two days since I brought Emily in here. Two days of fluorescent lights and sterile smells. Two days of watching Emily’s chest rise and fall, hoping the next breath isn’t her last. Two days since I saw her kill Aidan, but it feels like a lifetime.
“So why hasn’t she woken up yet?”
“These things take time, Jackson. There are no documented cases of an omega surviving a rejection to an Alpha, but I’ve also never heard of an omega doing the rejecting. We just have to wait at this point.”
I nod, eyes never leaving her. Her tiny form is lost in the bed. Her blonde hair fans out from her hair like an angelic halo. If I hadn’t watched her drive her claws into Aidan’s throat with my own eyes, I’d never believe someone so delicate could do something so brutal.
Doc lays a hand on my shoulder, giving me a firm squeeze. “She knows you’re here. Keep talking to her. Your proximity to her is helpful. As hard as it is, we need to believe the Goddess intended for this to happen.”
I’ve been sitting here since I brought her in. There’s no treatment for a broken mate bond or a rejection. So, Emily is being given fluids, and she’s being fed through a tube in her nose, but otherwise it’s a waiting game. I slip off my shoes and climb into bed with her once Doc leaves. Pulling her listless body into me. I drop a kiss on her forehead and whisper into her ear.
“I need you to wake up, little wolf. I need you to know how much I love you. I love how you light up outside in nature, how alive I feel when I chase you in the forest. Or how your laugh is my favorite sound in the whole world. I need to hear it again. I need to see more of your sassy side and how smart you are. How you can read people so well. You are so perfect, somine. I need you to know that even if you weren’t my mate, I would stillchoose you. I can’t lose you.”
I don’t know if she can hear me, but on the off chance she can, I whisper a few dirty things, too. She has to be okay.
“Any update?” Ryan’s voice cuts through the stillness.
