~Kade~
One thing at a time. Everything was spinning out of control, and their voices were starting to sound like chaotic sounds that made no sense. I looked around the room at Mason and my mother. Dimitri was taken to the dungeon under heavy lock and key with two guards stationed outside to ensure nobody would enter.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Anna asked in disbelief when Mason mentioned Sebastian had run.
He dragged his hands over his face. It looked like he hadn’t slept for days. In an exasperated tone and dragged-out words, he said, “He’s gone, he left, he ran away!”
My mother turned to me, and so did Anna.
Eventually, they all shut up. Noticing that I wasn’t speaking, they all turned and looked at me.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” Mason asked.
“Once you all shut up, I will,” I said. No one said a word.
“Dimitri is your responsibility, Mason. Whatever happened to Sebastian, I couldn’t care less. Let him go. He won’t survive long on his own, and I doubt he’ll be able to seek refuge anywhere else now that he left Riley’s pack.”
Mason tossed his arms in the air. “That’s it?” He asked.
“Yes, I have more important things to tend to too.” I turned around after receiving a mind link from the doctor.
“He’s awake, but you must hurry.”
“Kade, what will you do to him?” Anna asked when she walked me out of the house.
“You just worry about yourself and let me handle my business.” She stopped on the stairs, her hand holding her wounded arm.
I pressed my nails into the palms of my hand to keep from turning around. I couldn’t stop for Anna or explain to her how important it was that I got answers from Jackson. She wanted me to save Layla, and that was exactly what I was doing.
People tried stopping me on the way to talk and catch up. However, I threw them a glance and a small smile, hoping it would ease the rejection.
I didn’t know how long the doctor could keep Jackson awake, so I needed to hurry.
The nurses greeted me in the hospital and moved out of the way. They were watching the room I headed into, and something told me they knew what had happened.
“Alpha,” she greeted me when I stepped in. She handed me the clipboard, and her lips were pressed tighter. The vein on her forehead showed her frustration.
“My work here is done, yes?” she asked with her arms crossed.
I looked at Jackson. His eyes flickered open, staring at the ceiling.
“Yes.” She walked past me, and I reached out to grab her arm. She turned her head and looked at me.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
The doctor nodded and looked at the bed. “You have to be fast. The race for time could very well end in death for him. His heart is weak, and my methods have stopped his ability to heal.” She took her arm back and walked out. The door closed behind her, and I locked it before walking over to the hospital bed and watching Jackson’s flickering fear as he knew what was coming.
The tube had been taken out of his throat. Small sounds rasped their way out when he tried to speak.
“Here.” I lifted his head and helped him drink the water.
Jackson gulped it down. The color on his face was vanishing more and more, and I knew he’d be dead within a few hours. I could pull out a chair and sit and enjoy the view, but I needed his last moments.
“Why did you do it?” I asked. I sat on the bed and watched him squirm from the pain of being moved.
“I…” he winced when he started talking and looked away from me. “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
I nodded and felt my brows pinching together.
“Danielle?”
He looked at me in shame. “Yes, she shouldn’t have tried to save that bitch,” he said.
“You were after Anna. It was her you wanted to kill, but what I have trouble seeing is why. What was in it for you?” I asked.
Jackson’s lip pulled up, though it obviously hurt.
“You expect your orders to be followed, no? Not unlike your pack members, I follow orders from my King.”
“Nathaniel wanted Anna dead?”
His lips pulled up in a big smile, and his head sunk into the pillow. “If Danielle hadn’t gotten in the way, I would’ve succeeded,” he said, looking up at the white ceiling.
“But she did, and you failed.”
Jackson turned his head and bit together. “Maybe so.” His voice was weak and hoarse. “But tell me your heart won’t break when Danielle breathes her last breath, and the machines go into an even beeping sound with no obstructions.” He chuckled, which turned to a cough and a wheezing breath for air.
“Has she told you?” he asked and flickered his toward me when his heavy got too heavy to carry.
“I don’t give a shit about what you have to say, Jackson. The only thing I want to know is why your king sent you here to kill my people.”
His chest rose and fell slowly. “Not your people. Her people, her friends… her family.” He brought his hand to his chest and squeezed his eyes shut. With pain laced in every word, he mustered, “The easiest way to sway someone is to take away anything that reminds them of a different life. To bring pain to someone who has loved ones is easy. You just need to apply enough pain for their will to break, and then the cure is given.”
“He wants to kill the people Layla loves,” I said and clenched my jaw.
“You should ask her,” he said. His eyes opened, and he looked at me. “You should ask her about the mate bond. I know I’m dying, Alpha Kade, so take this as a final little gift. As her about the mate bond.”
“I’ll ask Layla when I bring her back from the claws of your king,” I seethed.
He shook his head. “Not her, not Layla… ask Danielle…” His eyelids dropped, and his hand began to slip down.
“Oh no, not yet.” I pressed down on his broken ribs, and his eyes flew open in excruciating pain.
“Stop!” he begged, and I dropped my hand.
“You have one more thing you’re going to do for me,” I said, taking out his phone from my back pocket.
Jackson was heaving, and the adrenaline rush caused by the pain had him more awake than before, which was what I needed from him.
I took his thumb and pressed it against the phone to unlock it. I scrolled through his contacts and turned the phone around.
“Is this him?” I said and showed the contact that said “Nate.” Jackson nodded and looked away. I dialed the number and pressed the phone to his ear. “You tell him it’s over, that Anna is dead,” I ordered.
“Hello?” It was Nathaniel.
Jackson looked at me. My eyes flickered down to his wounds, and he knew I could keep him alive with torture for at least a few hours. He swallowed, and the sweat ran down the side of his face.
“It’s done, she’s dead.”
“Well done, Jackson. Get ready to go on another little road trip. You’re heading to the Red Moon Pack, and I want you to visit her sister, Tracey.”
“Yes, my King.”
“What is that beeping in the background?” he asked.
“Danielle tried to save the girl. She’s in the hospital, so I came to check on her.”
Nathaniel was quiet after hearing about Danielle.
“Call me when you’re done,” Nathaniel said, and the line went dead.
I took the phone and put it in my pocket. Jackson’s eyes shut, his mouth closed, and the machine, as he earlier said, went into a straight line with an even sound. The grey skin was painted by the bruises on his body and the blood that had stained the white covers on the bed.
I pulled the plug on the machine, and silence filled the room. Jackson was dead. He couldn’t hurt anyone else. However, Nathaniel was on a mission to kill the people closest to Layla to take them away from her.
