Chapter 19
Nicole
“Get up!” Axle yelled ripping my arm up and roughly pulling me to my feet.
“Sorry!” I gasped as he pushed me forward again.
We were on our way to meet Chase, Magnus, and some girl who was supposedly Axle’s true mate. I really hoped that she was so he would let me go. I missed Chase. I wanted to go home.
“Where the hell are they?” his voice asked. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”
“Yes,” Magnus’ voice said.
“Chase!” I yelled once I saw him. His eyes immediately darted to mine. “Chase,” I whispered once more, this time it was more to myself out of happiness.
He roughly grabbed the woman’s arm that was behind him and pulled her forward. “Give me Nicole and I’ll give you Margret.”
I didn’t miss the sigh of relief that Axle gave. I saw a slight spark of happiness in his eyes before he went back to being cold and expressionless. “Bring her to me first.”
Chase shook his head. “How do I know you will give me Nicole if I do that?” Chase asked.
Axle’s large arm wrapped around my neck swiftly, and it tightened. It felt like a snake tensing its body around its prey. I gasped as my airway started to close.
“Alright, I’ll bring Margret to you,” Chase snapped. “Just let Nicole go first.”
Axle’s arms let go of me, allowing me to fall to the cold grass at my feet. I gripped the grass and dirt below my hand as I gasped for a breath. A few coughs escaped my throat.
Suddenly Chase spoke, he was closer. “Here she is, now can I take Nicole with me, please,” his voice was no longer hard and angry; instead it had turned to sad, hopeless, pleading.
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, you see I may have my mate but I cannot allow someone else to have a stronger mate than I,” Axle said, mock-sorrow filling his tone. “So I will take your mate, far, far away. I will lock her away, and allow her to die from dehydration and starvation. Lucky for her it will not take long, she has not eaten since you last saw her eat. Which judging from how many times her stomach growled just today must’ve been a while ago.”
“Please, just let me go,” I pleaded looking up at him.
“No, Axle, honey, don’t. I don’t want anyone you say is stronger than me to live. I’ll enjoy watching her die, especially after her mate choked me,” Margret protested.
“What?” Axle asked anger flooding his body.
“She pissed me off, you can’t really blame me, you took my mate and you were harming my mate. She just told you to kill my mate,” Chase said, his anger very obvious to even a toddler.
“Chase,” I spoke holding out my arms, I probably looked like a toddler that wants their parent to pick them up, but I didn’t care, I have and will always need Chase’s arms wrapped around me.
Chase gave a cautioned glance at Axle, who nodded, before leaning in to pick me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pressed my head into his neck, inhaling his scent. His muscular arms tightened around my waist as I continued to cling to him. I felt him begin to move backwards.
“Chase,” Axle called, making him stop. “I am willing to help. I will not harm her, but I will help defend against other alphas. I’d rather you have her than anyone else. I wish to become an ally to you.”
I felt Chase nod. “Thank you, my father will be in touch,” he replied before continuing on towards Magnus.
“It is good to see you again, Nicole,” Magnus said, patting my back.
I only nodded and kissed Chase’s neck lightly. I felt him rumble in his chest, making me smile. I am over the top in love with Chase; I am so thrilled that he didn’t choose anyone else.
“I’m over the top in love with you too, Nicole,” he whispered in my mind, making me blush. I tightened my legs around his waist and hugged him harder. I pulled my head back and kissed his lips hard. He stopped walking for a moment so he could get into the kiss, and so he wouldn’t trip over tree roots and stuff.
“Come on you two lovebirds, we have to be back before Liza and Hannah get too worried,” Magnus sighed from ahead.
I pulled my head back and Chase sighed in annoyance. After a second, he smiled and allowed me to lay my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. I hadn’t really slept in a while.
“What do you think he did to her?” a female voice asked, followed by her never ending footsteps that seemed to go back and forth across the room.
“I don’t know, Hannah, and I’d prefer not to think about it,” a male voice replied, annoyed.
“Come on, Chase, dad is actually considering taking Axle up on his offer to become allies. I’d want to know who I was forming an alliance with,” Hannah snapped in return.
“Hannah, that’s enough. We’ll talk about this later,” Chase growled. “Get out.”
“Fine, tell her I said ‘hi’ when she wakes up,” Hannah said before I heard the door close.
My eyes fluttered open, and then burned from the sudden light.
“Ah! Damn!” I whispered covering my eyes.
“Nicole, are you alright?” Chase asked his voice alarmed.
“Yeah, I’m fine, my eyes just need to adjust,” I said moving my arm and sitting up. “Am I in your room?”
“Yes, you fell asleep last night while I was carrying you. I brought you up here and put you to bed. I figured you’d want to sleep,” Chase shrugged nervously.
“Thank you,” I smiled. “Come here.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed, forcing me to roll my eyes. I grabbed his arm and tugged him to my side so he was lying down. I rolled him on his back and snuggled to his warm chest. “I missed you so much.”
“I know, love,” he smiled kissing my head. “I am so happy to have you back here. I am over-joyed to have you in my arms, lying here against me.”
I kissed his chest and smiled up at him. “You’re the best.”
“Hannah said ‘hi’ by the way,” he murmured staring at my lips.
“I’ll talk to her later,” I whispered. “But right now, all I want to do is kiss you.”
I crawled up and planted my lips on his. His mouth opened under mine and I felt his tongue come in and explore my mouth, battling mine skillfully. I moaned and fully rolled onto his body, pressing mine into his.
He pulled away slightly. “We should probably stop; if we go any farther I might not stop.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” I asked; my voice low and oddly seductive…this was definitely Luna coming out to play.
“Yes and no. We need to do steps one and two first,” he replied, looking up at me.
I took a deep breath and leaned in kissing his lips teasingly. “Are you sure?” I asked turning my head to the side a bit, allowing my bottom lip to fall a tiny bit, making it seem fuller, sexier. Luna didn’t want to back down; I can’t say I was against her feelings.
“Not at all,” Chase shook his head his eyes on my lips, almost trance-like.
“Come on, Chase, I thought I was the nervous one,” I smirked. “You want me, I want you…I see nothing wrong with skipping a couple steps.”
He shook his head. “Nicole, I know this is Luna talking…we have to stop.”
I jutted my bottom lip out in a pout and rolled off of him. Once I was on my back I crossed my arms across my chest and just sat there…pouting. Chase rolled onto his side and looked at me with a sigh.
“I’m sorry; Luna, but I can’t do this just yet. In a couple days if you’re still this…aroused then we’ll carry through with the entire ritual,” Chase said, struggling to use the right words.
“Why can’t we just—“
“Hannah will kill us both if we do the ritual without giving her time to plan,” Chase interrupted my pleading. “If it wasn’t for that believe me I would’ve downstairs the moment you started with this and demanded we start immediately.”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay but you owe me.”
“I will definitely pay up when the time comes,” he nodded, his eyes trailing my body eagerly.
“You’d better, if you wait too long I might not let you,” I shrugged rolling onto my other side; I wasn’t actually tired, despite the fact that I’ve been mostly sleepless all week.
His hand trailed up my arm to my shoulder; leaving a path of warmth as it went. “You shouldn’t tease me like that. Get some sleep; you’ve got to be exhausted.”
“Actually, I’m not,” I said rolling over. “I am hungry though.”
“Come on let’s get you something to eat then,” he said holding out a hand. “What would you like?”
I thought for a moment before taking his hand and smiling widely. “Cereal.”
“What kind?” he asked. “We have quite the cereal collection.”
I hummed for a moment as I thought about what I wanted. “I want Coco Puffs,” I spoke as he lifted me off the bed.
His arms wrapped around my waist. “Then you’d better get some pants on.”
As he sat me down I looked at what I was wearing. I had on a long button up white t-shirt that was much too big for me. Its long sleeves were rolled up to my elbow neatly. I met Chase’s eyes which were gleaming sinisterly. “I don’t recall changing myself.”
“That’s because I put you in that while you were sleeping. You’re other clothes were covered in dirt, mud, and…” he paused; his jaw locking and hands clenching into fists. “And blood.”
I sighed. “I’m fine, it wasn’t even my own…or at least most of it wasn’t. He executed one of his pack members right in front of me,” I looked down as the memories came flooding back. That one in particular.
“Lucy, you’ve disobeyed me and you have rejected your mate. Not to mention you tried to drown your children in the lake!” Axle yelled as others from the pack gathered and Conner held onto me tightly.
“I did not,” the red-haired woman said confidently. “You brought me into your home and made sure I was going to conceive, and I did. Michaela and Lilith are six years old. You told me to give them a bath. The water in my home was not running so I took them down to the lake.”
“Then you tried to drown my children?” Axle’s bushy dark eyebrow went up.
“No! I was bathing them like you ordered,” her red curls bounced as her head shook weakly.
“That’s enough!” Axle yelled holding out a hand. “Richard! Kill her!”
“No wait!” I called out. This woman was innocent, I could tell by the tears in her eyes that she loved her kids and would never hurt then.
“Shut up!” Conner snapped in my ear.
“You think she’s innocent?” Axle asked his voice loud and challenging.
“Look at her Axle, she is being genuine,” I replied, my voice small.
Axle turned to the woman. “Alright, Lucy, you have been saved just this once.”
She looked at me with pitiful and sweet eyes. “Thank you so much, you kind soul.”
“Richard, return her to her home while I deal with Nicole,” Axle commanded his eyes returning to me.
I almost shook from fear. “What are you going to do to me?”
He brought his fist back and slammed it into my face, my nose spurting out blood violently. I cried out in pain and felt tears sting my eyes.
“Bring Judith forward!” Axle screamed turning away from me. A man pushed another woman forward her straight bronze hair shielding her face. “You tried to run? That my dear has brought you here…to your death. Nicole will not save you like she did Lucy.”
Judith looked at me, her eyes a shining blue. “You are an idiot for saving her. You do anything stupid again you’ll be the one sitting here on your knees in front of Alpha Axle.”
I took a deep breath, getting ready to speak but Conner tightened his grip, telling me to keep quiet. I shut my mouth and bit my lip.
“A.J., give me the sword,” Axle said looking at the man who’d shoved Judith down. Axle took the long double-sided sword’s golden hilt in his hand and swung, slicing Judith’s head clean off and splattering blood over him and me.
I flinched after my mind returned back to the current reality.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here,” Chase’s thumbs slide against heated cheeks as he tried to sooth me.
“I know, it’s just so sad,” I said feeling the tears streak my face. “I need to take a shower. I know my hair is filthy and I haven’t even seen my face yet.”
“Okay, okay, you go use my bathroom and I’ll get clothes from Hannah. I’ll put them on the sink,” he nodded. He kissed my forehead and took a step back.
I gave him a small reassuring smile before turning and heading towards his bathroom. I started the shower and looked in the mirror. My face was clean, except for the bruises left in the shape of Axle’s long fingers. I looked down and saw a dirty wash cloth that was damp. Chase must have cleaned off my face and arms with this. I sighed and allowed my eyes to move to my hair. It had dirt and blood in it. There were various knots that hid in it. “No wonder he didn’t want to go all the way with me,” I thought as I stepped out of my clothes and got into the shower, beginning to roughly wash my skin with the hot water and minty soap. My hair would be quite a project but I wasn’t doing that until after I washed Axle’s scent and touch away completely.