Chapter 25 Jax
Jax
My dreams took on a warmer tint.
For a while, I’d been stuck in the fear that I was seventeen and trapped, and that not only was Jill and our pack stuck there with me, but Dakota too.
Reeve and Dakota had never once crossed paths, but the memories in my dreams twisted until it was Dakota who Reeve was gripping by the shoulder, digging in possessively, asserting his dominance the way he had over Jillian.
Logically, I knew that Dakota could take care of himself. Most likely, he could put Reeve down with a thought. It’d be a lot less violent than what I’d done to my former alpha, but no less brutal.
But this was my dream, and because I was failing, Dakota did nothing. Reeve dragged him away, and when I tried to step forward, tried to stop him, hands rose up from the ground to grip me and drag me down.
It was horrible, and it might’ve lasted for minutes or years.
And then, it stopped. The world turned light and golden, and we were in our bedroom in our house, and Dakota was wrapped up in my arms. His leg was slung over mine, and he was talking about little things—stuff I couldn’t even hold onto.
The sound of his voice put me at ease. The warmth of his body against mine had me drifting, happy and hazy.
His hand was wrapped around mine, firm and sweet.
For some reason, he was telling me about how we met. He recounted the whole story—how lost he’d been, even before applying to work at Crescent. He’d graduated college, and he’d been living with a roommate—a man he thought was his friend—without realizing how Donnie had manipulated him.
In our pack, he found freedom and acceptance, even before I’d bitten him. As his whole world had tilted on its axis, we’d been there to catch him.
I’d been there.
I’d never let myself stop and really consider how much it meant to Dakota, who was used to getting too little support, to find our pack. I knew he’d been largely alone before, but hearing him talk about what it meant to him floored me.
And there I was, unable to reach him, unable to tell him that he was safe with us and always would be, no matter what.
My mate and my pack were in danger, and I couldn’t help them. I was trapped in my unconscious body, and all I wanted in that moment was to squeeze his hand back and promise him that I’d always be there.