He stepped out onto the porch to see if he could see any sign of her, but there was nothing. The air seemed to crackle with restless energy. Something didn’t feel right. He kicked off his boots and stripped right there on the porch. He shifted in midair and took off toward Shay’s cabin.
It only took him ten minutes to get to Shay’s cabin and realize she wasn’t there. He hadn’t seen any sign of her on the main path to his house either. He sniffed around until he picked up her freshest scent and followed it down toward the river. He raced along the forest floor, his giant paws turning up the soft dirt as he followed her scent.
He had been travelling at such a high right of speed; he missed the turn into the forest. He skidded to a stop when he realized the scent had gone cold. He backtracked until he picked it up again. Concern marred his features when he realized she had taken the hidden shortcut that led deeper into the woods. He hadn’t realized that she even knew of the trail. She probably had just stumbled on it on one of her morning runs he thought. But what she couldn’t have known was that it ran along the property line between his land and the Hanover’s.
Thoughts of their conversation that afternoon filled his head. He hadn’t listened to George about Jake all those years ago and hadn’t wanted to listen to Shay about him that morning either. But something about what Shay said had made sense. It had stuck with him all day. And now that he realized she was headed in Jake’s direction, he could feel trepidation flood his body. His blood ran cold after he heard the first scream.
It was Shay.
He took off in the direction of the scream, crashing through the brush trampling everything in his path. He paid no attention to the thorns and limbs that tore chunks of his fur and ripped his skin. His only thoughts were getting to Shay. He listened as he ran, but no more screams pierced the night. He didn’t know if that was a good thing. He tried not to think about why she wasn’t screaming, instead focusing on picking up her scent again.
He flared his nostrils and inhaled deeply. His eyes snapped open as they locked on an area to the right. Allowing his wolf senses to take over, he ran through the trees and towards the source of the smell. Branches shook in his wake as he bolted past grass and rock under his paws and he threw himself forwards before skidding to a stop. He had lost it again.
He rammed a small rotted tree over in his frustration. He paced the forest floor sniffing for any kind of sign of her, but there was none. He huffed in irritation before he shifted back into human form. What he needed now was human logic. He couldn’t get Jillian out of his head or the day when he’d finally discovered her body. How he had found her that day. Beaten and bloody, with her head, snapped. All he could hope was to find Shay in one piece and alive.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He could faintly smell Jake’s scent. The werewolf wasn't stupid, mad but not stupid; he knew how to manipulate his scent. He knew how to cover his tracks if he didn't want to be found. He also knew how to manipulate others scents as well. Jaxson needed to try and outsmart him; to think of what he may have missed.
Continuing to breathe deeply, he ignored the various scents pulling him in different directions and tried to focus. As the answer suddenly came to him, a victorious smile lit up his face. Jake may have covered his own odor, but he hadn't been able to completely mask Shay's.
He shifted back into wolf form for the heightened sense of smell and quickly zeroed in on her scent again. It was faint, and a bit distorted, but his connection with her allowed him to decipher between the scents and focus on her scent only. The bond they shared ran deep. He allowed it to take over as he tried to get a fix on her location. Fear and panic nearly suffocated him as he took in her emotions and tried to use them to aid his werewolf abilities. The other traces in the air fought for his attention, but he pushed onwards, allowing the basic need to find her to take over.
He took off in the direction of the new scent, confident that he would find her. After a few moments, his senses snapped to attention as an alluring fragrance overwhelmed him: Shay. She was close.
Plummeting towards her, his heart raced as the smell became more twisted and darker the closer he got. Terror gripped him as he burst through another line of trees to come to a clearing. It was the same clearing that Jillian had been attacked in. He pushed back the fear and dread that threatened to take over. Find Shay. That was the mantra that he said over and over in his head.
Then he finally spotted her, and his heart stopped in his chest. Shay was on her knees convulsing on the ground; her back arched as she shook violently, her eyelids fluttering.
His stomach dropped: she'd been bitten. That bastard! He mewled in frustration as he padded up to Shay. She was beyond his help now. There was nothing he could do but let the change happen and hope she survived it. He rubbed his muzzle over her, hoping to let her know that he was there with her. But, her eyes had rolled back into her head.
He heard maniacal laughter and realized Jake was still here. In his haste to get to Shay, he hadn’t noticed that Jake’s scent was still strong. Jake stepped out into the clearing on the other side of Shay. Jaxson snarled and circled around keeping his body between Jake’s and Shay’s.
Jake mirrored Jaxson’s movements as he slowly circled him. The start of a beard was forming on Jake’s face; his hair was wild and shaggy. Crazed amber eyes were locked on him, occasionally flickering, showing the thin line between his human and wolf states. His bared torso was dirty and crusted in mud while the loose fitted jeans that hung loosely on his hips were torn and his feet were bloodied and bare.
"What the fuck have you done Jake?!" Jaxson growled shifting back into human form.
He grinned exposing his sharp canines. The wolf was closer to the surface than he had originally thought. "Nothing she didn’t deserve!”
“Shay never did anything to you, Jake.”
Jake glared at Jaxson, barely clinging to sanity. “You Avery’s are all the fucking same. You all think you're so high and mighty; that you're all so special. But look at you now, Jaxson, look at what a 'paltry' wolf can do." He taunted as he looked back over at Shay’s helpless form.
"Jake, this has got nothing to do with her, and you fucking know it."
"But it has though hasn't it?!" He snarled. Claws sprung free in his outburst causing blood to leak down his fingers. Gritting his teeth, they retracted, his fingers continuing to be stained by the remaining wounds. Stretching his hands as they healed, he refocused on Jaxson. "After all of your prejudice against us; your father, my uncle, treating us like outsiders! My mother was his sister for Christ’s sake! We deserved more!"
"You know why my father did what he did! We never treated you as anything other than one of us. He did what he did, so your father couldn’t get control over our land. We all know he married Aunt Olivia to get his paws on what we have owned for centuries."
"It is OUR land! It is OUR right!" He screamed.
Jaxson shifted his stance as he kept Shay in his line of sight. Her fingernails scraped at the earth beneath her uselessly as she tried to find purchase against the clearly unbelievable pain coursing through her veins. She moaned softly as another wave of pain racked her body. Jaxson wished he could go to her, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off of Jake. He was barely in control of himself. "Why turn her Jake? Why put her through this? This doesn’t solve the issue. It only makes more trouble for you and your family. You know this is forbidden! You know what we’ll have to do!"
"Fuck the rules! And fuck you. You deserve to SUFFER!" His eyes shifted once more going completely amber, and Jaxson realized that it was now the wolf speaking to him. "And if she survives the change, I'm going to make you watch her die. I’m going to kill her…” he paused, “Just like I did to Jillian."
Jaxson was stunned into silence at Jake’s revelation. He dropped to his knees as if he’d been struck. Pain gripped his belly, and his head spun. It was true. The old man was telling the truth. “You fuck!�
� he roared as he bounded to his feet, his skin rippling with anger as he held back the change. “So, George was telling the truth all along.”
“Guess you should have listed to the old man.” Jake snickered.
“Why Jake? Why Jillian? She’d never done anything to you or to anyone. She was innocent and kind. Tell me why you did it. TELL ME!”
“She never should have ended up with you. That’s why. She was mine all along.”
Jake could see that he was beyond all reason. “You’re a fucking psychopath.”
“Oh, Jillian was fun. She tasted sweet too.” Jake sneered as he licked his lips. “She put up a good fight you know. I liked it when she struggled; it only made me have to have that much more. And I did have her cousin. Every last inch of her. And then I put my hands around her slender neck and watched the life drain from her eyes.” He said as he laughed wickedly.
With a growl, Jaxson launched himself at his cousin who was expecting the move. Jake easily deflected the move. His charge parred with an attack of his own catching Jaxson with a thunderous backhand. Jaxson barely felt the blow, too consumed with anger to care. He charged again. Arms strained as they became locked in a fierce battle. Bones were crushed, and ligaments were torn as they clawed and grabbed at each other. The wind whipped past them as their movements became quicker, sleeker as injuries healed and they adapted to each other's strategies. Time had no meaning as breaths became harsh and blood flew. Jaxson threw him to the ground and almost knocked him out when Jake’s head slammed against a tree stump.
Behind him, Shay screamed. It was a cry of pure agony, and it ripped at Jaxson’s heart. He turned and raced toward her, briefly forgetting about his cousin. Just as he was about to reach Shay's side, Jaxson felt the air shift behind him. The tread of feet closed in, and without a moment's hesitation, he turned and grabbed Jake’s body in mid-air. With a twist of his strong arms, Jaxson snapped his cousin's neck, killing him instantly. Jake’s lifeless body dropped to the earth’s floor; his eyes stared blankly ahead to some space off in the distance.
Jaxson ignored the pain and guilt at having to take his cousin’s life. He would deal with that aftermath later. But, right now Shay needed him. Diverting his eyes away from the body, he concentrated once more on Shay. She was lying prone in the dirt and wasn’t moving, her body no longer convulsing under the change. He feared the worst. Lowering to his knees, he was relieved when he saw the rise and fall of her chest. But it was short lived as he checked her pulse. It was erratic and faint, but at least it was there. His head dropped, and a pained groan escaped him. His voice was raw. "Shay, can you hear me?"
There was no response.
He leaned closer putting his mouth next to her ear. "Shay, please open your eyes baby. Please. I can't bear to lose you too." Still nothing. He stood and looked down into her pale face. She looked like a porcelain doll, so still. Too still. His thoughts went to all of the humans that had gone through the same process. The ones that had been bitten, only to never open their eyes again.
Because of this, his ancestors had forbidden any wolf in their territory to turn a human. And for a good reason. It was just too dangerous. Wolves could only be born, not created. That law had been in place for hundreds of years and had not been broken for decades.
Sickness churned in his stomach at the thought of never seeing her smile again, at never hearing the sound of her voice. He ran a hand over her clammy forehead, then down to stroke her cheek, silently urging her to wake up. As she lay absolutely still beneath his touch, another wave of agony swept over him as he realized that he had never had the chance to tell her how he felt.
"Please, come back to me." He whispered fervently.
Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her away, running as fast as he could.
Chapter 19
Each minute that had past felt like hours, but he pushed his body to the limits as he sprinted miles across the rugged terrain. He didn’t even feel the pain as the rocks and sticks tore open his feet. He just pushed the pain and prayed that each breath Shay took wasn’t her last.
Jaxson burst through the front door of his father’s house which was on the outskirts of town. He hadn’t stepped foot back in the house since Jillian had died almost four years ago. He rushed into the living room, pushing past his father and Lucas. He laid Shay gently on the sofa.
“What is going on Jaxson?” Nelson asked the first to recover from the shock of seeing his son burst into his home with a lifeless young woman in his arms.
“What happened?” Lucas exclaimed as he ran to Shay’s side. Kneeling beside the couch, he gently grabbed her wrist and checked for a pulse. “She’s alive but barely. Her pulse is very weak. ” Lucas went to brush the hair out of her face when he gasped. “She’s been bitten.” He turned to Jaxson, his green eyes flashing amber. “What did you do to her?” He demanded standing up.
“It wasn’t me,” Jaxson growled, eyes flashing and then took a step toward Lucas.
Jaxson’s father stepped between the two men, placing a hand on either’s chest. He looked from Lucas to Jaxson to Shay, and back to Jaxson. “Who is this woman and what the fuck happened Jaxson!” He demanded. The tone of the Alpha apparent in his voice.
Jaxson felt the pull of the alpha’s command. “Her name is Shay. Jake bit her. I’ll explain later, but right now we have to save her!” Jaxson yelled as panic filled him.
Lucas stood in shock staring at his older brother. “What do you mean Jake bit her?” He roared angrily. “Where is he? I’ll kill him.” He threw off his dad’s arm and stormed to the door.
“He’s already dead.”
Lucas stopped in his tracks, and both he and his father looked up at Jaxson wide-eyed. “What do you mean he’s already dead?” His father asked. “Did you kill him?”
“Yes. Fuck! He gave me no choice.” Jaxson screamed in frustration. He didn’t want to waste time rehashing the details when Shay was lying motionless on the couch. “He wasn’t sane. He attacked Shay and bit her. He killed Jillian for Christ Sakes and now he wants Shay dead too.” Overcome with grief, Jaxson let his head drop to his chest. His body began to shake violently as the tears rolled down his cheeks. The guilt of not being able to save Jillian, and now Shay was just too much.
Nelson walked up to Jaxson and laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. “If she has been bitten then there is nothing more you can do for her son. You know that we must just sit and wait to see how she reacts to the bite. It will be up to the girl’s will to fight and survive the change. You know how this works.”
Jaxson jerked his shoulder away from his father. He didn’t want his comfort. He was furious with himself, even more so now that he knew the truth about Jillian. Jaxson hadn’t wanted to believe that his cousin Jake was a monster, so he had turned a blind eye. But, George had been telling the truth for all these years. If only he had listened to him and Susan, maybe Shay wouldn’t be in this position.
He also knew his father was right. There was nothing more that anyone of them could do for her. Shay would either transform, or she would die. Only time would tell now. Jaxson looked at the clock on the wall as the room went silent. All he could do now was wait.
**
Shay slowly woke up, her mind resisting the urge to be swallowed back down into the darkness. She felt like she was moving in suspended animation. Her entire body felt sore as she forced her eyes open before shrinking away from the intense brightness that flooded the room. She blinked her eyes several times, taking a moment to adjust to the light and the vibrant colors around her. She was scared for a moment because she didn’t recognize where she was, but then a familiar face came into view. She relaxed as Jaxson's face slowly came into view; her heart lightening at the sight of him. She tried to talk, but her throat felt like sandpaper. "Hey," was all she managed.
“Shh, don’t try to talk just yet. You’ve been out of it for a while. Let me get you a drink.” He said as he left her side.
She
didn’t want him to go, but he was back in just a few seconds with a small glass of water. She tried to sit up but was too weak to do it by herself. He gently slid his arm around her and helped her raise her head so she could take a drink.
“Easy now.” He said as she tried to gulp it down. “Just take some small sips at first.”
She did as she was instructed, closing her eyes as the cool liquid soothed the ache in her throat. She took one more sip and then opened her eyes.
“Better?” He asked as he placed the cup on the table beside him.
She nodded yes, too overcome with emotion to speak. Seeing her discomfort, his hand gently swept through her hair causing some of the tension in her body to ease. She took few deep breaths to regain the rest of her composure, enjoying his familiar scent. It seemed to be stronger now, somehow more potent. He leaned closer, and his masculinity overwhelmed her senses. His scent was godly as he leaned closer and she took a minute to inhale the intoxicating aroma.
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth; his eyes were bright. "Hey." He said softly after placing a kiss on her forehead and then pulled back to inspect her features. "How are you feeling?"
"Rough, tired." Her eyes drooped slightly before she forced them back open.
"Is there any pain?"
"No, I just ache all over— like I did a really hard work out or something.” Confusion marred her face. “Why, do I have a concussion or something?"
Now it was his turn to furrow his brows. "Not that I'm aware of. Why, does your head hurt?"
"No, it’s not my head. It’s my eyes. Everything is just so bright." Lifting a hand sluggishly, she covered her eyes. "Where are we, anyway? Did you redecorate or something?"
His Vengeance: Shifters of Alaska Series Book 2 Page 15