Gone

Home

I pulled him to a stop and growled lowly, "Either you shut the hell up or I am going to rearrange your face." 

Then he spit, in my face.  

I pulled my arm back, closing my hand into a fist, and then brought it barreling into his face. I felt immediate satisfaction when I heard the familiar sound on bone breaking. His nose began to pour blood and he reached up quickly trying to pinch it off.  

"Should we go another round?" I asked with a smile on my face.  

When the hunter didn't respond I carried on walking, pulling him by the arm.  

"Alright, I want everyone to get checked by Steve and Sadie before you get cleaned up," Alpha Mark roared to the crowd. We had just came up to the backyard of the Luna's house.  

I wouldn't say that I had forgotten about my mate, but I would say that I was so preoccupied with my anger that I may have let it slip my mind that she was only a few feet away from me. With the sweet reminder from the Alpha, my wolf and I began to get very antsy. 

"Alright go on in," The Alpha barked out, and everyone began to move, "Jackson, please stay." 

I looked over at him like he had grown red horns and held a fiery pitchfork. "Sir?"  

"Brian, take this prisoner to the pack house," he called out, ignoring my question.  

Brian moved quickly, taking the hunter from my hands and giving me a slap on the back, welcoming me home. "Sir, I just want to go inside," I practically begged. Now that I knew where she was, she was the only thing on my mind.  

"Why do I have a prisoner?" He asked. 

I sighed heavily, I didn't want to have this conversation yet, "Trent lied, his parents aren't dead, and I need that damn hunter to tell me where there base is so that I can get the real Alpha back." 

I could see the fury building up in Mark's eyes. His face began to take on a red tint and I could practically see steam coming from his ears. It was the same way I felt the moment I had found out we had been lied to and I left my mate for nothing.  

"He lives?" Mark asked. 

"Yes." 

"Alright, go inside, but I want a meeting with you and your father tomorrow morning." 

I nodded and followed the Alpha into the house. My nerves were on edge because I couldn't prove to my wolf that Sadie was around. She had no scent so I couldn't just sniff her out, I had to actually see her before I could relax.  

We walked into the kitchen and the smell of blood, alcohol and morphine clouded my senses. Upon inspection I found the kitchen island covered with bloodied towels, syringes, and bright blue gloves. The kitchen floor was coved with trash and more used up towels. Broken glass sat in a puddle of water next to the sink, accompanied by muddy foot prints. It looked like they had their own battle inside the house, but thankfully I knew that actually hadn't happened.  

I walked around the mess and into the living room. It was just as bad, if not worse, than the kitchen. The two couches were covered in plastic which was covered in dried blood. A small girl lay on the larger couch, her hair matted with blood and pulled back out of her face, she was covered with a blanket and had a large white bandage covering half of her face. On the other couch laid an unconscious man. He too had a blanket over him and three large bandages covering what the blanket did not.  

There were other people sitting or lying on the floor with bandages all over them while Steve and the Luna fussed around them. The room was packed full of people waiting to get checked over and be dismissed. My eyes darted around frantically, trying to locate my mate.  

"Luna," I said loudly.  

She whipped her head around at my voice at stared at me with wide eyes. "Oh honey! Welcome home!" She squealed before jumping up and running over to me. She wrapped me up in a hug, "You've been missed terribly." 

I returned the hug with a smile on my face, just her presence was enough to calm my wolf. It was affect that all Luna's had on their pack, they were like the best motherly figure you could get. No matter how messed up you were, they were able to heal you emotionally with just one hug. It was amazing.  

"Where's Sadie?" I asked quietly, still held tight in her arms.  

The Luna pulled away and held me arm's length, "Any injuries?" she inquired.  

I did a quick mental assessment of my body and then shook my head. I was pretty sure that I had nothing more than a few scratches and bloodied knuckles, nothing that my body wouldn't heal on its own.  

"Very well, there are some sweats in the corner, go grab you a pair and then I'll take you to Sadie," she smiled.  

I took long strides towards the corner of the room that she indicated and quickly dug through the pile of clothes until I found some sweats that were my side. I had them on and returned to the Luna within a minute.  

"Excited?" she laughed. 

"You could say that," I replied seriously. I felt like everyone was purposefully keeping me from Sadie, slowing down our reunion that I wanted to happen from the second I stepped back onto our land. "Can we please go now?" I knew I sounded desperate, but hell I was desperate. A wolf isn't meant to be away from his mate for such a long time and I had been feeling the effects of our separation since the day I left.  

"Of course dear," she smiled. "I think I'll just let you go, I'm needed down here. It's up the stairs, second door on the left." 

I nodded quickly and then turned away. I ran up the stairs and through the hall like my ass was on fire. The closer I got to her, the antsier I became. I was overwhelmed with my need to see her.  

I stood in front the second door on the left and stared. Now that I was there I was nervous. My whole body tingled with excitement just knowing that she was in there. I could hear her talking, cooing words to someone. I expected she was taking care of someone's child. With that new piece of information I looked down at myself. I quickly brushed at my bare chest in an attempt to remove all the dirt and dried blood that was caked onto me. I wiped the back of my hands on my sweat pants then shook some dirt free from my hair.  

Figuring that I was as good as I was going to get, I stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door. My body was a ball of nerves as I waited for her response.  

"Come on in," she shouted and my heart stopped. I hadn't heard that voice for so long and it was amazing.  

I sucked in a breath and turned the knob, slowing opening the door as I moved forward.  

I heard her heart skip a beat and her breath hitched as she spoke, "Jackson." 

In her arms she held onto a small baby girl, with dark brown hair. I couldn't see her face because she had stuffed it into Sadie's chest the second I opened the door. Sadie looked even more beautiful than I remembered. Her dark hair had grown longer, she looked as though she had lost weight and her eyes looked tired, holding light purple bags under them. "Sadie," I breathed out. 

Once I said her name I watched her body go rigid. She carefully pulled the child away from her chest and sat her down in a ring of toys on the floor. Once her hands were free she stood up and ran to me. 

I caught her easily and wrapped my arms around her. I finally felt like I could breathe. "I missed you so much," she whispered in my ear.  

I gave her body another tight squeeze and then pulled her slightly away from me. I saw confusion on her face at my actions but quickly squashed any fear she might have had by placing my lips against hers. I once again wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her body into mine, trying my hardest to erase any space between us.  

A small whimper from the child had stopped us, for a moment I had forgotten that we weren't alone. Sadie pulled her lips away from mine and smiled, "To be continued." 

"Definitely," I replied. "So who's the cutie?"  

Sadie pulled out of my arms and turned away from me causing my wolf to growl in anger. I held the sound inside myself not wanting to scare the small child. 

"This is Ember," Sadie said, walking back over to me with the child in her arms, "She's your daughter."