Jackson POV
It was easier to wake up alone when I was on the run with my sister's pack. I knew Sadie was alright and that eventually I would once again be waking up beside her, now I wasn't so sure. According to the rest of the pack, Sadie was dead. Her whole family was already mourning the loss of her, but I refused. I could still think straight, although I was on edge with worry, and I could still feel her. It wasn't as strong as it was when she was near me, but something inside me told me that she was still alive.
The Luna was so worried about me and my inevitable demise, that she refused to let me keep Ember for the night. She lied and said that it was so that I could get the rest that I need, but I knew what she was thinking. I didn't hold it against her, she thought that Sadie was dead and we all knew what happened to a wolf once they lost their mates.
After I had my mental breakdown in front of most of the pack, I pulled myself together. We called the fire department and once they got the fire out, I went in. I dug through the remains of the house, burning my hands and feet, until the early hours of the morning. I didn't find anything that could have started such a fire. There were no random rocks, bricks, or anything else that would have been big enough to break the front window. I dug through everything and found nothing that gave me the slightest idea of what might have happened, and thankfully I didn't find any human remains either.
I rejoiced at the fact that I couldn't find any sign of Sadie, but Ethan tried to convince me that there wouldn't be any since the fire burnt so hot. I was angry with him at first, but he stayed with me and sifted through the house regardless of what he thought had happened. I understood where he was coming from, he thought that my mate had died and that I was already going crazy, refusing to acknowledge her death, but that wasn't the case. I wasn't crazy and Sadie wasn't dead, but I still didn't know where the hell she could be. It wasn't like I could sniff out her scent, because she didn't have one, once again reminding me how much I hated the part of her that was hunter.
Speaking of hunters, I figured that they were the culprits. They never give up and they don't care who they hurt. Andy, who also helped us search through the house, agreed completely with me. I didn't bring up anything about him and Sadie, but began to believe more and more that he was obsessed with her by the way he spoke. He was furious with me that I didn't go straight for Sadie, regardless of if I was holding my child.
He wasn't thinking straight, the only thing he would talk about was Sadie and how I had messed up. He seemed determined about something, but I didn't know what. They whole night he mumbled to himself while holding a scowl on his face. He shot me dirty looks and threw burnt pieces of house dangerously close to me. I didn't have the energy in me to put him in his place, more so I was happy to have extra eyes and hands to help me dig for clues. My selfish side won over and I just ignored his behavior the best I could.
We had finished going through the remains around the same time that the sun began to rise. I left felling relieved, Ethan left thinking that I had lost my mind, and Andy left wishing death upon me. I knew that the moment I found Sadie, I would definitely put an end to whatever friendship she had with Andy. She may not have been able to see how head over heels he was for her, but I sure as hell did. I would continue to use his help, like the ass that I am, until we find her and then I will kick the shit out of him for even looking at her for too long.
I rolled out of my bed and groaned. I hadn't even bothered to shower the night before, or I guess earlier that morning, and my bed was covered in block soot. I was certain that if I were to look in anything that had a reflection that I would cringe at myself. Even though I knew that Sadie was alive, my wolf was already mourning, making it extremely difficult for me to give a shit about anything. I think that I was only able to overcome his depression because I was so set on finding Sadie, if it weren't for that, I would be just as low as he was. I couldn't allow that to happen though. Sadie could be in serious danger and if I were to roll over and cry like a little bitch, she could die waiting. I would not allow that to happen.
I quickly changed my disgusting clothes and then grabbed a rag out of the hall closet. I ran into the bathroom and wet the rag down without one glance in the mirror. I didn't want anything to derail me, my only mission was to figure out where Sadie was.
I took the stairs two at a time, while wiping roughly at my face. I came to a stop at the entrance of the kitchen. There was a slim blonde figure sitting at my kitchen table and she was playing with my old hat.
I walked around the table until I was face to face with my favorite tomboy. "Hey Casey," I smiled, allowing myself to slow down for a second, "What are you doing here?"
"Your Alpha finally let us leave the pack house and I wanted to see you," She smiled. She was twirling my hat around on the table, refusing to look up at me.
I took the seat right across from her and continued to clean up my face. "What can I do for you Case?"
"Did you know," she began, still looking down and still twirling the hat around the table, "that our Alpha was the one who put our pack in all that danger?"
"I did know."
"That's what I thought, and is that why we were stuck in your pack house?"
"I believe so, it's difficult to trust him now," I said carefully. I sat the rag down on the table and leaned forward, "Your real Alpha may still be alive."
"I heard that, I also heard that you're mate died." Casey said. She finally stopped twirling the hat and placed it on her head. She sat back and crossed her arms across her chest, then lifted her head up and finally looked at me, "I don't think that she's dead."
I sat up with my back straight as a board, "What makes you say that?" I asked, trying hard not to let my desperation lace into my words.
Casey reached into her pocket and handed me a crumpled up piece of black paper, "I found this taped to the door of the pack house last night. Heard some weird noises and went to check it out. Nothing was around except this note."
I slowly pulled the paper apart and cringed as I read the silver words written on it:
~ The lord giveth and the lord taketh away. She never belonged to you and neither does the child. Hand her over without a fight or we shall purge all your houses. Your race is pure evil and we plan to save the child as we saved the mother. ~
"Has anyone else seen this?" I asked between clenched teeth. It took all my will power to stop myself from ripping the note into a million little pieces.
"No, I thought that you should see it first. I found it before I had heard about the fire, if I would have been allowed to leave maybe I could have warned you." Casey sat up straighter and pulled down on her fitted white t-shirt. She looked extremely uncomfortable.
"It's not your fault Casey, knowing those damn hunters, they probably planted the note after they started the house on fire. Thank you for bringing this to me." I stood up and shoved the note into my back pocket before offering my hand out to Casey. "Come with me to the pack house?"
"I just got out of there," she whined.
"It was only like two days, don't act like you were there for years," I laughed.
Casey heaved out a long sighed before taking my hand and allowing me to pull her up. I pulled her into me and wrapped my arm around her shoulders while simultaneously giving her a light noogie. I had never been more grateful to have her around than I was right then. Now I knew who had Sadie and I knew what I needed to do to get her back. Before all I knew was that she was alive and that the chances are finding her were slim to none.
"Get off me cow!" Casey shouted, pushing away at my hands and making a run for the door.
I followed behind her feeling relieved. I was going to get Sadie back, my best friend would quit looking at me like I was one second away from internally combusting, and I would be able to get Ember back also. No one would be looking at me like a broken puppy anymore. Things were definitely starting to look up.
The first half of our walk was quiet, it wasn't a comfortable silence, but it wasn't awful. I could tell that Casey felt bad for not getting the note to me sooner and I was lost in thought, I should have tried to console her more but I knew she wouldn't accept any comforting, Casey didn't like that sort of thing. If I had a video game or a comic book then I would have had a leg to stand on, but without those things, there was no making her feel better.
"So how's your sister doing?" I asked in an attempt to fill the silence.
"Oh, she's great, met a guy," Casey huffed out, "Says it's her mate, but I don't know for sure."
"Hey, if it is her mate then you two can just stay here with my pack," I said enthusiastically.
"Ew, stay with you forever?" Casey shrieked, widening her eyes in mock horror. "No thank you."
"Right," I laughed. "How's Brinley and Trent?"
"They haven't talked to each other since we got here, they sleep in separate rooms, Trent looks miserable and Brinley is always crying. All in all it's a pretty uncomfortable situation to locked-up in."
At that, I went back into silent mode. I didn't know what to say. Trent deserved everything that he was getting, but Brinley didn't. At the same time though, she was so used to getting everything that she wanted, she needed a good reality check, I just wasn't sure she needed one as hard as this. I was torn about the whole situation. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to help or just sit back and watch the whole thing unfold.
Once we came upon the pack house Casey gave me a small half-smile and then walked away. She didn't want to be in the house anymore and I had to respect that. It had to be tough for a kid to sit around and do nothing for two days.
I walked inside and headed straight for the Alpha's office. I already knew that he and Ethan were in there, I could hear them arguing all the way from the front door with my super wolf hearing. They were in there discussing the attack on the hunters and if they could trust Trent to actually do his job without messing up.
I walked into the office without knocking. Both men stopped speaking and looked onto me. If it would have been anyone else they probably would have ripped them a new one, but since I was the soon to be Beta and that they believed my mate was dead, they let it slide.
I didn't stop moving until I was standing right in front of the large dark mahogany desk, and then I pulled the note out of my pocket and dropped it down onto the desk. Before the Alpha even picked it up I stepped back and took a seat in one of the small chairs that faced the desk.
I waited patiently as the Alpha opened and read the vile note, I watched as his expression went from confusion, to understanding, and then finished with anger. His face had taken on a dark red color and the veins in his neck began to stand out due to the fact that he was clenching his teeth. If I knew him like I thought I did, he had just reached his limit of hunter bullshit that he was willing to deal with. We were all sick of the hunters and their dumb ideas. Writing notes and acting like they were some sort of soldiers sent from God to purge the world of shifters that live peacefully. They were deluded and quickly proving that they had no limits whatsoever.
"Where did you find this?" The Alpha asked, passing the note over to Ethan.
I didn't even turn my head to take in his reaction, nor did I gloat and throw out an 'I told you so,' like I had wanted. "I didn't, Casey found it and brought it to me. Said she found it last night but wasn't allowed to leave the pack house. She feels like it's her fault, like she could have stopped it if she would have been able to leave."
"I apologize for that, I just wasn't sure who we could trust in that pack," the Alpha replied. His tone told me that he didn't appreciate my hidden accusation. "I still don't know who we can trust, but I realized that I couldn't keep wolves locked inside with my conscious still intact."
"I understand," I nodded, not really caring about that whole situation anymore. I just wanted to deal with the note.
"It looks like you were right," Ethan interrupted, "Jackson I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."
I shrugged my shoulders, "I would have made the same assumption in your position. It doesn't matter now. What are we going to do about it?"
"Well we have to go get her," Ethan said, sounding like he was surprised that I even asked. "We need to call a meeting together with Trent and get the ball rolling."
"I agree, we need to move quickly. God only knows what they are doing to her." The Alpha stated.
My whole body tensed at his words, "Well let's get this meeting going then. I want my mate back."