Rightfully Hers

XXIII

"Jared kidnapped a pregnant Luna, he wanted an heir, I guess. They killed her, the Luna, but I managed to save the baby, she's on her way back to the pack house now," I breathed out, biting my lip as my whip wounds stretched with every movement I made. I could get through the pain, but when the adrenaline wore off, I knew I'd most likely lose consciousness because of the blood loss.

"That why you're only in a bra?"

"Yep."

"Next question," Julian spoke as we moved onto the next rogues. "Why do you look like a texas chainsaw victim?"

"Jared's loon had a whip, too," was all I said, sending my best friend a quick unimpressed look. "Wasn't as sleek as mine though, more of a flogger than anything, really."

"Jada, you're bleeding out," he pointed out in response.

"I know."

The fight continued for hours, and we watched the body count rise with each passing minute. I didn't see Isabelle for hours, but as the bodies began to continuously fall to the reddened grass, I could see her fighting in her human form, looking rough from hours of fighting.

Jared had seemed to have enough. He slid over to Isabelle and I tensed, watching to see if I had to interfere. She took whatever he whispered to her into consideration and suddenly all of the wolves on our side took off in the same direction back into the woods. Julian and I watched in confusion, but Dante found his way to us, and he whispered that she'd ordered all the soldiers to return to the pack house.

"What about Jared's wolves?" I whispered back to him, and all he did was scoff and flex his right arm, winking at me when I snorted. Dante was a breath of fresh air, especially when his eyes ran over all of my wounds and his expression remained the same. I didn't want the pity I'd been given from countless soldiers.

Jared's wolves, who'd been standing around in confusion, ran in the opposite direction. Left in the clearing was myself, Julian, Dante, Caleb, Isabelle, Jared, Drake, Charles, Tyson, and a man I didn't know but he looked oddly familiar. All of us gravitated towards each other, Isabelle's pack standing side-by-side, and Jared's pack doing the same. I didn't take my eyes off the unknown mind, when suddenly it dawned on me.

His eyes. They were Arabelle's eyes.

"Isabelle, it is lovely to see you again, you have grown marvelously." The man's eyes traveled up my mate's body, sparkling in delight. I let out a warning growl under my breath, and he turned his gaze to me, looking amused.

"Jada, it's nice to meet you, not every woman can grab my brother's attention like you have. I'm Logan, Logan Manning. You've probably met my daughter, Arabelle?"

"Arabelle is not your daughter," Isabelle scowled, her fists clenching by her sides. "You don't get to call her that, not after what you did."

"Oh so what, Isabelle? Move on. My father collected young girls and children, experimental purposes, truly," he was explaining, his eyes landing on me. The colour of his eyes may be the exact same as Arabelle's, but the little girl's were full of life and love and curiosity. Logan's were cold and detached.

"Isabelle was kidnapped during an attack when she was three. Something happened, which explains why her eyes are weird like that. When she was ten, I raped her for the first time. I was seventeen and hadn't met my mate, and she was the kindest prisoner in my basement, you know how the story goes. I only had five years with her before her slutty ass got knocked up. We did one last experiment, which most likely explains why Arabelle has yet to shift. We let her go then, not wanting to deal with the stress of a pregnant teen. We lost her location and later found out her entire pack had relocated to Hawaii. Fascinating, no?"

"Extremely," I ground out, fighting to keep my expression straight. I didn't dare look at Isabelle because I knew my facade would slip out from under me, but I could tell she was looking at me. "Now that I've been informed, what the hell are we doing?"

"Just chatting," Jared smiled, but his eyes were menacing. "I told Isabelle to bring Arabelle, and yet, I have not seen her yet. Not only that, but you had to steal my heir."

"She's a girl, she doesn't fit your heir criteria," I pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

The man across from my shrugged but nodded. "You're right, I probably would have killed her within a few weeks, but you still had no right to steal her from me."

"Isabelle, do you remember what I told you I would do if you did not bring Arabelle to see myself and her father?"

Isabelle positioned herself in front of me without replying, but I had come to the conclusion he'd threatened to kill me. Her back was tense, I could see the muscles under her shirt clench. The adrenaline was beginning to settle and my head was beginning to spin. I really hoped someone would deal with killing Jared because with the way my body was failing, I began to worry I wouldn't be able to do it myself.

Apparently Jared had plans separate from killing me because Charles jumped forward and shoved Isabelle out from in front of me quick enough that Jared could slide forward and pull me into his chest. I slumped forwards, no longer having the energy to keep my head up, let alone fight back. My eyes were closing on their own, but my heart pounded in my chest. It was the only thing reminding me that I was alive.

"Jada, I'm going to turn you into a werewolf, how do you feel about that?" Jared cooed, running a bloody hand through the bird's nest that was my hair. I opened my mouth to object, tried to move my body to pull myself away, but my entire body weight was leaned against the man I despised, and the only keep keeping me standing was his arm around my waist.

I opened my eyes enough to see Isabelle struggling in Charles' arms, screaming out, but I couldn't hear her screams. I couldn't hear anything. Dante was being held back by Tyson, whose face was printed with terror and guilt. I couldn't twist my head any farther, but I knew Caleb and Julian were being held back by Drake and Logan.

I felt Jared move his head down towards me, but I didn't feel his canines plunge themselves into my neck. I did feel the burning when he released werewolf venom into my system, and I did feel the fire that grew in my entire body as the venom made its way through.

Jared let go of me and I fell to the ground, but I didn't even feel the impact. All I could see was white, all I could feel was the fire crawling through my veins, all I could hear was my own heart beat slam against my ribs.

And then I felt nothing.