I light a cigar as they arrive and drink some whiskey straight from the bottle.
“Jaxton,” Hayden’s deep voice is sharp and he is already in his true Human Form when he walks inside. “We need to talk to you.”
“I gathered that by how fast you were coming,” I drawl, taking a pull from my cigar and exhaling the smoke while the rest of my brothers step inside and fan out around Hayden. “I’m guessing this isn’t about the vampire lair, because there’s not much we can do about that.”
“There is,” Wyatt says, stepping forward. “Ansley had a vision.”
“It was about us, fighting the vampires. All of us,” Remy says with intensity. “We were all Alphas, including you. Not like this, either. Ansley said you were bigger than Hayden.”
I fold my arms across my chest, blow out more smoke, and take another pull from the bottle. I glare at them and shake my head, not even bothering to respond.
“You just need to meet her, Jaxton. You were part of her vision. If we complete the mating ritual with Ansley, we’ll all be strong enough to take down the vampires,” Remy insists. “She saw us tearing apart the lair. We destroyed all of them. Andyouwere the one who ripped out the last vampire’s heart. An old vampire, too. He had red eyes.”
“Fuck,” I growl, shaking my head again. “I was hoping you’d be able to complete the ritual without me. I knew you’d become Alphas. I can already tell you’re changing.”
“Always the perceptive one,” Wyatt says. “So, you’ll meet her?”
“No,” I grind out. “I want no part of this. It’s not fair. I chose my mate. Joanna. I loved her, and that should have broken the bond.”
“You were never wed,” Hayden growls. “You were changing, yes, but it never fully rooted or severed the chance of you finding your mate.”
Rage builds inside me. I try to silence it with some smoke and whiskey, but that doesn’t do the trick. No, this is the kind of rage that needs an outlet and all I’ve got right now is my voice. And my fists.
“Well, it fucking should have!” I shout, rising to my feet. I toss my cigar and down more whiskey. “I loved her! None of youknow what that’s like! And what? You want me to just replace that? Forget Joanna by fucking some Scion? A Scion we know nothing about, I might add. We don’t even know what she is.”
“We know she’s our mate,” Hayden state unequivocally.
“Not mine,” I seethe, rage in voice. “Not today. Not ever.”
“You’d rather let Chicago get overrun by vampires?” Storm asks. “Or the Crimson Templars, when they show up to deal with them?”
“I’ll fight by your side, against the vampires or the fucking Crimson Templars. Let them come to Chicago. I’d love,fuckinglove, to tear a few of those miserable bastards apart,” I shout.
“Suicide? That’s your answer?” Remy asks.
“Maybe it’s better than living,” my voice quiet. “And hey, if I’m gone, then you can complete the mating ritual, right? If there’s only four of you, there won’t be a problem anymore.”
“That’s not what we want,” Hayden is barely holding onto calm in the face of my stubbornness. “It’s not what Ansley’s vision showed her. We kill the vampires. Chicago is safe. Our pack has a future. We’ll have children. Possibly even she-wolves. There could be other packs. This could save our kind from extinction.”
I turn away and drink more whiskey. I let out a sharp exhale, the tension in my shoulders tightening. “Do you ever think that maybe that’s what’s best? Extinction? What place do we have in this world, Hayden? Any of us? We’re cursed relics of a world that moved on a long time ago.”
“We have as much right to this world as they do,” Wyatt says. “Half their history they made up. The rest of it, they changeduntil they liked it. They could blow themselves up tomorrow. Then what? We might be all that’s left.”
“You’re not getting what you came here for,” my voice is cold with finality as I turn to face them again.
Then it devolves into shouting. The Alpha tendencies in my brothers are getting worse. Wyatt, Remy, and Storm used to never challenge Hayden, and while I wasn’t a full Alpha, my presence commanded similar respect. I butted heads with Hayden sometime, but I’d always fall in line if it was an order.
If this continues, we might come to blows. That’s the last thing I want. Fighting with my brothers? If that’s the life I have to look forward to, then it truly is all a waste of fucking breath.
“Let me talk to him,” a voice cuts through the air. The stunned look on all four of my brothers’ faces tells me they didn’t expect her. “I didn’t tell you everything about my vision. I left something out because I didn’t understand at first.”
“Ansley, you shouldn’t have come!” Hayden shouts, stepping in front of her, blocking her before I can see her.
But it’s too late. I’ve caught her scent. It’s seeping in, messing with my thoughts. I feel my pupils dilating. My gut is tightening. The overwhelming need is taking hold. Except this isn’t what I expected. It doesn’t feel like it’s replacing the love I had for Joanna. No, this is too…familiar. Like coming home after centuries away. Like finding something I knew was lost forever and never imagined finding again.
“Hayden, I have to tell him what I saw,” Ansley says, moving around him. “Or, rather, I have to let him see it for himself.”
I finally see her. Ansley. The girl who has captivated my brothers. Their mate. She takes a step closer and I look into her beautiful brown eyes. That’s where the familiarity lies. Below the surface. Somewhere my brothers can’t see.
