Chapter 76 Ready Or
1290words
"It will be tonight. I need to ensure her soul returns to the Moon Goddess," Alpha Jaxon's voice taunted in my mind the entire way back to the pack house, where Doctor Raymond was already waiting for me. His voice was chillingly cold and short, which worried me. He had lost both of his parents in the cruelest ways, but he always put on a brave front.
When I walked into the pack foyer with a few of the enforcers, Doctor Raymond's eyes widened at the sight of my wound.
"Adeline, I need you to lie down immediately. This is one of the worst cuts I have ever seen in my entire career. I can see it's already healing because you're a shifter, but it's still at high risk for infection," he scolded and pulled out a cot that had already been set up. Doctor Raymond looked like he had gone through the ringer, as if he were the one who had been kidnapped instead of me.
I chuckled at his overbearing demands and gave in, lying down and letting him take a better look at my arm, where a noticeable piece of flesh was still missing.
"Alpha Jaxon notified me that you've also had contact with wolfsbane, is that correct?" he asked. I nodded and watched him pick up a metal box, carefully unlocking it and rummaging through various pill bottles.
"We need to clear it out of your system—a detox of sorts," he said, holding out two blue round pills. I was feeling fine, maybe still a little groggy, but nothing that wouldn't pass in the next few hours. Instead of being here, receiving a "detox" from Doctor Raymond, I should have been with my mate. He had insisted on staying behind until the burial site was prepared. I hoped that someone had told Sophia what happened; telling someone their parent died surely couldn't have been easy.
"Doctor Raymond!" I shrieked, shooting up on the cot. "Where's my dad?!"
He kept examining the angry wound on my arm. "I'm pleased that he'll be making a full recovery. We had to resort to a cocktail of medication, and he'll have to take it easy, of course." I relaxed back onto the cot, feeling a little more at ease. I made a mental note to visit him as soon as Luna Fraya's burial was over.
Light footsteps echoed on the foyer floor and Sophia appeared at my side, reaching for my hand and squeezing it softly. The dark bags under her eyes told me she knew about her mother's death. I tried to put on my best smile and said, "I'm so sorry. I wish it hadn't happened like this."
She stared at me intently for a moment, tears beginning to rim her beautiful amber eyes. "I would do anything to have her back, but she told me it was summoned by the Moon Goddess. I don't know how true that was, but I let her out of her room. Mom was determined this was her calling," Sophia said in a choked voice.
She knew? But how? Suddenly everything began to click, and I sighed. "She was the best woman I'd ever met, Sophia. I guess that's how she knew exactly where we were." Sophia squeezed my hand again.
"Jaxon just wants to give her a proper send-off. I think he's taking it worse than I am. But how are you feeling? I can't imagine what you went through. The entire pack was searching for you. I was worried I'd never see you again—we all were." And with that, tears began to fall from her face.
Doctor Raymond chimed in as he finished cleaning the wound on my arm, which stung like hell, preparing to start bandaging it. "It's true. The whole pack came together today as a united front. We've all been waiting for Alpha Jaxon to take a mate for a long time now. Being his fated mate, I'm not sure he'd recover if something happened to you," he said. I felt the truth in his words—Alpha Jaxon might have suffered the most through all this.
My wolf began to pant, and a mouth-watering scent entered the room.
"He wouldn't recover. There's only one girl made for me, and I intend to keep her by my side for as long as she'll have me," Alpha Jaxon said in a low voice that sent shivers up my spine.
Doctor Raymond, who had just finished bandaging my wound, said, "I'd like to take a look at you, Alpha." Jaxon seemed relatively healed already, but I could see that the lifelong scars in his heart would follow him for eternity.
"No," he spoke in his Alpha aura that immediately made Doctor Raymond retreat. "Everyone out now. I need to talk to my mate."
Doctor Raymond and the enforcers who stayed behind to ensure I received the medical treatment Alpha Jaxon had requested all bowed their heads before taking their leave. Sophia snarled at Jaxon, "She's going to be my sister—you can't just demand me away from her." The two stared harshly at each other as if it were a battle of Alpha auras.
Sophia let out an expired sigh. "Fine, whatever. I'll be back before the burial to get you, Addie."
Alpha Jaxon whisked me up in his arms, carrying me up the pack house staircase as if I had just become incapable of walking on my own two legs. I wanted to fight him on it, but as I breathed in, his scent was intoxicating, and my body, held so tightly against his, reignited the unsealed mate bond.
"Hey! Am I being kidnapped again?!" I giggled as he pushed the door open to his bedroom with his foot and gently placed me on the bed.
He placed a sensual and sweet kiss on my lips and pulled back, taking a moment to admire my eyes. He stared so deeply that I swear we were communicating through our gazes.
"My wolf needs his mate to calm down before the burial. It could very well be the last time I get to feel what being inside of you feels like," he smirked.
My heart began to palpitate, nervous at what he meant by "last time."
"Jaxon... what are you talking about? I'm your mate," I said with more desperation in my voice than I had hoped.
"The mating ceremony will be held tomorrow, Adeline, which means that tonight we will be forced to sleep apart." My eyes widened at his confession. I wasn't ready for any of it yet. I just wanted to bury Luna Fraya in peace and ensure that Beverly's body was burned as I'd requested; everything else could wait.
"What's the rush? Why can't we postpone it a few days? The pack has been through a lot, Jaxon," I admitted.
He released a growl from his chest that made me instantly shiver and whimper. I watched as his eyes darkened; I couldn't place the emotion, though. There was an urgency behind him—a longing of some sort.
"The pack deserves a celebration. Today has been morbid enough for them. I also won't wait any longer to claim my mate finally," he said, pressing his body against mine. His lips met mine as if it were the first time. Electric lightning bolts coursed through my body. A bombardment of fire was lit within me like gasoline to fire.
I yelped when Alpha Jaxon flipped me over and tugged my hair in his fist. The mixture of pain and pleasure caused my pussy to pulse. I wanted him—all of him. I would go through the mating ceremony right now if it meant I got to feel his length inside of me.
