Across Enemy Lines

Chapter 13

Okie dokie so first things first: thank you for taking time to continue on with this story!! Also this chapter is on the shorter side and some people might not like it but in my defense, it's all in Jaxson's POV (Nia's bro) and I wanted him to have his moment. I promise the next one will be longer and it's going to get a little intense so get excited/prepared!!

Vote and comment!! Pic of Jaxson once again on the side ---->

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Jaxson’s POV           

            It had been a whole day. One day that my sister had been taken from us and we were all taking it pretty hard. After seeing the note they had left behind, my dad had gone deathly quiet. He seemed to be in shock. It took a few people to get him back to his feet and to a temporary home seeing as ours had been halfway burnt by the time we stopped the fires. No one liked seeing their Alpha looking so upset and weak.

            While he was broken down, I was furious. I went on a rampage. How could no one have seen anything? It seems illogical that someone could attack Nia and drag her off without any of us seeing it happen. I almost blamed myself. She was my sister. I was supposed to be looking out for her.

            It all just happened so fast. The party was going great. Everyone was having fun and I was in a good mood. Even when Grant said that Nia went for a run I didn’t think anything of it. The hunters had been playing us the whole time, lulling us into a false consciousness that everything was fine before striking.

            A split second is all it took for panic to set in. We were all distracted until we here a few gun shots ring out. All the people at the party went silent and I immediately went into fighting mode. Outside, a few wolfs were fighting with some hunters but they were easily being overpowered as more hunters started to flow from the surrounding trees. The house emptied immediately. Some of the girls screamed and the rest of the guys shifted. I signaled the rest with a howl.

            The fight was rough but didn’t last as long as I imagined. I thought we’d keep fighting until one group was completely killed. When they sounded the retreat, some of us tried to follow after them but my dad called us back to help around the houses.

            Then everything went to shit. We found the note and that has led us to this point. After my dad had calmed down, he got right to business even though I could tell he was still off. I heard he say that the hunters were led by Michael. He was sure of it.

The thought gave me mixed emotions. I was both worried and angered. Michael had had a hand in killing my mother so to say that I was fuming that he had been on our land. Seeing as he wasn’t dead with the hunters that we had lying on our land, he must still be out there. Now he has my sister which is where the worry comes in.

Nia was strong. Stronger than most girls in our pack but I wasn’t sure she was stronger than a hundred hunters. My stomach churned at the idea of what could happen to her. It was making me feel sick. She could be drugged. With her in that state, they could do anything to her. She could be hurting and me or anyone else in the pack were powerless to help her. I punch the wall next to me causing the people in the room with me to stop talking and look at me including my dad.

His eyes looked tired. He hadn’t slept at all since the news of Nia’s kidnapping. Meeting after meeting he went to. They were never-ending and my dad didn’t seem to mind. Along with Bram and some of the top people of the pack, he had been going over every scenario to get Nia back. It’s frustrating to listen to.

One idea was to try to find the hunters hideout and ambush them like they had done to us.  My dad would shoot that one down as soon as it was said because the note had said that if we went after them, then Nia would die. Another person said we should just wait for further information from Michael but no one wanted to wait around while Nia could be suffering through torture. Both options seemed to end with the idea that Nia would be hurt or worse.

I got up from my seat, all eyes on me, and left the room. I closed the door softly behind me and the murmurings from the room continued. I climbed up the stairs towards my room. I couldn’t think about the possibility of Nia dying. It’s too hard to bear.

I remember my mom. I was a little older than Nia and it hit me hard when she was killed. I had been younger and she was my mom but I had grown up with Nia. If we lost her, I don’t know how I would handle it. My dad wouldn’t recover.

On the way to my room I stopped outside Nia’s room. Her door was open and the room was messy as usual. I chuckled at the normalcy of it. I slowly slid down the wall across from the doorway and just sat there, the silence my only companion.

It felt weird sitting here. Nia would usually be running around talking about what we should do about the hunters. Half the time her solutions didn’t make any sense. She’d be scowling at me and Grant for laughing at her but I know she can’t stay mad at us. The fact is as much as I like to pick on Nia, she’s my little sister. I’m supposed to protect her and I didn’t do that. I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall.

I took a deep breath and focused on our family bond. My dad’s connection was strong since he was right downstairs but Nia’s was faint. Faint but still there. I had to keep telling myself that. As long as we could feel her connection to us, then she was alive. I found myself checking every so often. I never really ever used it until the fight yesterday. I didn’t have the need to.

“Hey Jaxson,” I heard from the stairs. I turned my head to see Grant coming up the stairs. He had a small smile on his face. It didn’t reach his eyes. Nia was like a sister to him and her kidnapping hit him just as hard as it did for my family.

Grant plopped down next to me with a grunt and looked at Nia’s room the same way I had been doing. We didn’t talk right away. We didn’t need to. He knew how I was feeling and vice versa.

“Has your dad and the others come up with anything?” Grant asked. I shook my head as my response. Even though Grant would be my Beta once I become the Alpha, he wasn’t allowed at the meetings. My dad put him in charge of clean up and making sure all the pack members had a place to stay and something to eat.

“I shouldn’t have let her go. If she would have been here when the fighting start, we’d at least had her close to us,” Grant said more to himself than to me but I heard him none the less. I looked over at him to see he had placed his head in his hands. When we first found out Nia was taken, I had wanted to blame Grant for the exact reason he just mentioned. I wanted to yell and scream at him but it wasn’t his fault. Nia would have left with or without his permission and she could have slipped from our few either way.

I nudged his leg to get him to look in my direction. He gazed at me, his eyes a reflection of sadness. I’m sure mine was much of the same. “I don’t blame you. I don’t blame anyone but Michael and his hunters,” I said, venom in my voice. Thinking about him just made my whole body quake with anger. No matter what, we were getting Nia back…alive. That I promised.