Note: Jayden knows everything that happened between Jake and Callie. However, Madelynn knows nothing about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Fiery Alpha Chapter Twenty Seven - Arguments
*Madelynn’s POV*
“Madelynn…” Suddenly, he grabbed hold of my arm which stopped me from moving forward.
“Yes?” I asked without turning my head to look at him. After a few minutes, he didn’t say anything. Slowly, I turned around to face him. The moment I lifted up my head to look at him, I regretted. His eyes hold so many emotions. Looking into his eyes, I can’t seem to be able to look away from him.
Why is he doing this? I agreed to let him go, didn’t I?
“Madelynn, I-I…” Jayden looked hesitant.
“Is there anything wrong?” I asked softly.
“I’m so-…”
Just as he is going to say something, someone interrupted. “Lynn, we are making pancakes. Do you want some?”
I turned around to see Chloe heading towards us. I quickly removed my hand away from Jayden’s grip and walked up to Chloe.
“Am I disturbing you two?” Chloe said, and eyed at the both of us cautiously.
“Nope. Not at all.” I said, looking at Jayden and then back to Chloe. “I want pancakes too. Let me help out too.”
Just as I took a few steps, I turned around. “Do… you want to have pancakes too?”
Jayden faced me and nodded at me. “Sure.”
I walked with Chloe, with Jayden behind us. Once we reached the ground level, Chloe and I went into the kitchen. Ava was already inside the kitchen preparing the ingredients. I was so busy enjoying cooking and chit-chatting with the girls that I didn’t realise his existence till Chloe said something.
“Just give us 5 more minutes. Don’t stand here and pressurise us!” Chloe said and pushed Aiden back to the dining table. When I looked towards the kitchen entrance, Jayden is leaning against door. And his eyes are entirely focused on me. He has been acting strange recently especially after my parents passed away. I looked away from him and focused on frying the last few pancakes. Once it is done, I placed them on the plate and carried out to the dining table.
Once I reached the dining table, Ava, Chase, Chloe and Aiden are already sitting around the table. Jayden went to sit at one end of the table. Chloe urged me sit down. So now I am sitting at the corner of the table, beside Chloe and Jayden. Aiden sat at the other side of Chloe. Chase and Ava are directly opposite me.
Throughout the meal, I could feel his gaze on me every now and then. When I looked at the others, they are staring between me and Jayden.
“Is there something the both of you aren’t telling us?” Chase looked between us and smiled at us suggestively.
“No!” Without hesitant, I stood up from the chair and rebutted. They looked surprised by my sudden outburst and when I looked over to Jayden, he looked a little… sad?
No No. Impossible. I thought to myself. I quickly shrugged off that idea.
“I’m full already. I-I just going to head back to my room.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As days passed, I hardly see Jayden around. The reason is we headed back to school except Hailey and Brayden. Every lecture, I copied down notes for myself and Hailey. I realised I have really missed a lot of lesson. There is a lot of catching up to do. And one day, Hailey told me about herself and Brayden. And she went on joking about she has to retake the modules again if she is unable to take the tests with her current state. Hailey is still recovering from her injuries. One pack of blood is being withdrawn from her every day and it slows down the process of recovering. Brayden is always with her. She spent quite a while to convince him to let her do this.
As for the rest of the couples, they are still going strong and they are way too sticky. They will always move together to every place. Nothing can pull them apart. Especially Madison and Alexander. The both of them suffered the most. Ever since Madison recovered, she has been following everywhere Alexander is going. Although she never says it out loud, but I know she feels apologetic towards Alexander for putting him in pain. As for Alexander, his eyes are always following Madison around. He never removed his attention away from Madison. Probably he is afraid that if he is distracted even for a second, Madison will disappear from his side.
As for Jayden, he has been busy with the pack issues. Even after I return from school, I hardly see him. Most of the time, he is in his study room. And if I do see him, he always looked tired. I tried asking him whether there is any problems, he would always give me the same reply ‘No’. I really hope that I could provide him some help in some way.
One of the days, I went back home. The girls came along with me. Walking through the house, memories flooded my mind. Every little thing at home, their room, their clothes… It hurts me seeing the house. It was once a happy home. Now, it became a cold, loveless place. Staying alone in the house seemed so lonely. Therefore, the girls suggested moving to live with them in the pack house. At first, I thought it wasn’t a good idea. It is their home, their pack house. Only werewolves should stay there. It’s their home. I’m not a werewolf. Maybe partially but still… I’m not exactly a werewolf. But when they said they are going to ask Jayden and surprisingly, he agreed. So now, I’m officially staying with them in the pack house. Sometimes, I could see how they train in both wolf and human form. I could also see how they sparred with each other. It is quite fascinating to be able to see it in real life. I always think all these werewolves are just fiction. But they are real. And I’m even living with them.
Then this day, the girls decided to go out. Hailey just recovered from her injuries so she wanted to go too. But Brayden is trying to stop her. And hence, now we are all standing outside of their room seeing Hailey and Brayden ‘arguing’ inside their room.
“Hailey, you just removed the bandage. I don’t want you to go out. Not today.” Brayden said.
“But… But I have been lying on this bed for more than a week!! I want to go out!!” Hailey whined.
“Hailey…” Brayden said warningly.
“Brayden…” Hailey continued whining and pouted at him.
“No. And that’s final.” Brayden said firmly.
“Why?! I don’t care. I’m going out today!” Hailey stumbled unsteadily down from the bed. Luckily, Brayden caught her arms in time.
“See. You are still weak!” Brayden scolded her a little. Hailey pushed Brayden away and headed towards us.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.” Hailey said to us but all of us took a glance at her and then focused our attention fully on Brayden. You can see him fuming.
“Hailey, are you sure you are alright to go out? We could always go out another day.” I said. The girls also agreed with me.
“Not you guys too… I’m fine. I’m not going to get back to that bed. I’m all rusty and stiff! Hazel is also feeling stuffy of not being able to run.” Hailey said.
“Hailey, you are not going to shift. Amy said you are not suitable to shift for these few days. Your outer injuries are healed but the bones and muscles would take a longer time. It would hurt a lot if you try to shift!” Brayden scolded.
Hailey heaved a sigh and looked down at the floor. Brayden took a step closer to Hailey but she took a step back widening their distance. At first, no one noticed. Then, I realised there are water stain on the ground. When I looked up, I saw tears flowing down from Hailey’s eyes.
“Hailey…” I walked up to her and hugged her into my arms. I looked towards Brayden to see him staring at Hailey with pain.
“What is happening here?” Suddenly, Jayden’s voice filled the whole room. Jayden looked at the girls and guys, and then to me and Hailey. His focus, lastly, landed on Brayden. I looked at the both of them to see them staring at each other, as if they are communicating. Both of their facial expressions are very serious. Brayden frowned and looked over to Hailey, and then back to Jayden.
“Are you both hiding something from us?” I blurted out suddenly. Both of them snapped their head around to look at me. Upon hearing what I said, Hailey lifted up her head to look at them too. Brayden looked at Hailey with a guilty look but he quickly masked it away.
“Are you?” Hailey questioned while looking at Brayden.
“I just want to protect you.” Brayden replied.
“So you are hiding something from me. What is it?” Hailey tried to be calm when she asked this question. Brayden remained his focus on Hailey for a few seconds before looking away from her. Looking at him, her tears continued to fall. Biting her lips, she looked away from him. None of us dare to speak. Without warning, Hailey ran past me and speeded out of the room.
“HAILEY!!!” Brayden is definitely alarmed by her sudden action.
I went to stand in front of Brayden and glared at him. I do not know where my courage comes from but I just know Hailey needed some time to sort out her emotions before she faced him again. He should give her some space.
“Move away.” Brayden said coldly. But I’m not going to back down.
“No. You should then stay away. Obviously Hailey needed some time to cool down. I don’t care what you are hiding from her to ‘so called’ protect her but clearly it isn’t protecting her now. You are hurting her. Relationship should be built on trust. Apparently, you should know it the best. After the both of you went through so many things, you should know what is good for her. Hiding things from her isn’t the best for her. Hailey has told me the story between you and her. I know I probably don’t have the right to say anything. But since you accepted her and opened up to her, then continue to do so. She needs you to trust her and stand by her as she will do the same to you. And I know she believes no matter what obstacles are there, as long as the both of you are working together, nothing is impossible to overcome.” I said boldly.
“For now, we girls will go and look for her.” After finishing my sentence, I looked around to see the others staring at me with awe. Particularly Jayden, he is looking at me with proud, admiration and… adoration?
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat awkwardly and signalled the girls. “Let’s go.”
All the girls headed out of the house. The girls have their super senses. They could easily smell Hailey out. When we found Hailey, she is sitting on the swing located at the garden. She is swinging to and fro while having a blank expression.
“Hailey?” She turned to look at us and forced a smile out.
“Are you ok?” Ava asked. Hailey looked at us and nodded.
“Am I overreacting?” Hailey asked. “I know Brayden is worried about me. Especially ever since I got hurt, he is being more protective than usual. As days goes by, he is getting more and more protective. Of course I am happy to know that he cares about me. Sometimes, I just feel that he is getting over protective. I didn’t know why. And now I know that probably has something to do with the things he is hiding from me. I thought we got past the stage of hiding things.”
She paused a while before continuing, “And when he turned away from me, I know he didn’t intend to tell me what he is hiding. And uncontrollably, my body moved on its own accord. I ran.”
Hailey then started to stare blankly at a direction. “While I was sitting here, I thought of a lot of things. I was thinking whether am I wrong to run away? Should I have stayed in the room and demand an explanation? And I thought back to the days when I was lying on the bed. Brayden has always been with me. He hasn’t been able to sleep well. His eye bags are getting deeper each day. I always made him worried. And it mostly due to whom I am, whether it is from the past or now. By withdrawing my blood, it slowed down my recovering speed. He got so worried that I’m unable to recover from my injuries. At one moment, I thought if he were to get a normal mate instead of me, will he be happier? He probably wouldn’t always have a worried face and he will smile more instead of frowning.”
“Hailey, don’t…” I wanted to tell her not to think that way but she interrupted me.
“Do you think he has regretted accepting me? After being through so much, he deserved to be happy. But throughout these days, I didn’t see him smile at all. And he seemed to get more tired and troubled each day.” Hailey took a deep breath, blinking her eyes for a few times trying to control her tears.
“I-I… I could let him go…” Tears fell out from her eyes. “…If he will be happier that way… I-I could… I-I could…”
I went up to her and hugged her tightly. “Hailey, you don’t have to complete that sentence.”
Hailey cried silently in my arms. The girls surrounded us and Ava patted on Hailey’s back gently.
“Hailey, Brayden loves you. Don’t ever doubt his love for you.” Chloe said. Hailey moved away from me and looked at Chloe. She wiped away her tears and nodded at Chloe.
“Everything is fine now! Why not let’s go out now? Since the guys are not here to stop us.” Madison suggested. All of us looked at each other. Our eyes glittered in happiness.
“Let’s go!” Madison squealed happily. Madison quickly dashed into the house to grab the car key and the rest of us waited anxiously beside the car. We are basically sneaking out without letting them knowing.
At that moment, none of us know that something is coming our way. And this trip is going to create a big change in my life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember to Vote. Fan. Comment.