Chapter 55 TJ
fifty-five
TJ
*FELIX*
Thomas Jackson.
TJ.
The only image of him I have is the picture I saw in that awful notebook Maddox’s father was holding onto, and then when Arden dug up some photos of him. But obviously, I have never seen him in person.
I just know that what he did to Marina was so severe that her wolf died, and then she died afterwards. She must have gone through hell, more than once. The thought alone fills me with so much rage and bitterness, which are foreign feelings to me.
Felix, Gwen takes my hand. Thank you.
What for, love? I haven’t done anything.
I can feel how upset you are. You are angry for my sake, for Faye and for Marina. That means a lot to me.
Obviously, I am pissed at the guy who brought so much harm to my mate’s loved ones!
Fuck that guy. I hope either Liam, Dad, or Aurelia rips his head off his shoulders.
I wouldn’t mind if a satellite dropped down onto him either.
Anything to make him go away. Though, on a second thought, it would be too quick a death for what he did!
“Felix!” Liam calls out to me.
Gwen and I turn to look at him, noticing that he is waiting together with Dad and Aurelia. Celine is there as well. “Maddox?” I ask.
“I told him to leave it to us,” Liam says. “I think it’s better for him and his mental health.”
“I guess you are right.”
“Marius is with Faye,” Celine tells me before I can ask. “Flora, too.”
“It’s impossible for anything to happen to her if Flora is with her,” Dad says.
I also wish Gwen had stayed back, but at the same time, I know I can’t prevent her from coming. Marina was her best friend, and she was left with the broken pieces after what Thomas Jackson did. It’s her right to get closure.
“Your mother said to call her in case we need backup,” Dad explains. “Let’s try not to escalate the situation.”
“Yeah, if Mom intervenes, it might end bloody,” Liam says. “Not that I would mind. But I want the guy alive. I want him to pay.”
“Exactly,” Dad says. “I want to get all the names of packs that are allied with him, like Maddox’s father is. I have a feeling there will be a lot of dirt to uncover.”
“Then let’s settle on getting some answers out of him,” Aurelia says.
“Where is he waiting?” I ask.
“Outside of pack grounds, right at our borders. Vince and a couple of warriors are keeping an eye on him,” Dad says. “Ready to go?”
We all nod. While Aurelia takes the lead to navigate us to the spot we are expected at, I take Gwen’s hand, squeezing it. “You okay?” I whisper.
She takes a while to answer. “I am not sure,” she admits. “But I am relieved he is finally here. Hopefully, we can get rid of him for good now.”
Then Faye will be free, she links me. And I will be free. Marina will be able to rest in peace, knowing no one will threaten her daughter, and that no one is going to hurt her anymore.
We’ll make sure that today is the last time this guy will threaten any of you.
While following my family, I wonder once more about Thomas, trying to brace myself for the man I am going to meet soon. No matter how prepared I think I am, it still knocks the air out of my lungs when I finally lay eyes on him.
He is standing at our borders together with some of his warriors, a smile on his lips while he tries to chat with Vincent.
Vincent just looks more than a little pissed, but it doesn’t seem like Thomas minds.
He looks like the man in the pictures, and fuck, yes, he looks like an alpha.
It’s so off-putting how friendly and polite he looks, likely a perfect mask he has been wearing for a long time.
But it’s his smile that gives it away. There is something off about it.
It sends a shiver down my spine.
A man who tortured his mate is not supposed to smile like that.
He probably looked like that at Marina when they met.
I remember the photo of them with Maddox’s dad, and she looked happy.
I want to cry when I think about how happy she probably was about finding her mate, only to wake up in a nightmare.
Despicable!
To my surprise, it’s not Dad or Liam who steps forward but Aurelia. “Thank you for waiting, Beta Vincent,” she says, calling him by his official title like we always do when we need to underline someone’s rank in front of others.
Vincent nods at her. “He is yours, Alpha Aurelia.”
Thomas laughs. “You are the alpha, little girl?”
Dad raises an eyebrow at that.
Aurelia, however, remains unfazed. “Well, it doesn't take a lot to receive the title nowadays, does it?” she says sweetly.
“You really would be my type,” Thomas says, his eyes scanning her body.
I grimace at that. What an asshole. She is obviously here, representing the pack, and while she might not have received the official title yet, she is Dad’s heir to the pack.
He is being highly disrespectful, and he seems to not give a fuck about it.
He is so gross, Gwen links me. It’s not just what he says. It’s how he says it. He is… Fuck…
I was just thinking the same, I mutter.
“Maybe we could strike a deal,” Thomas adds.
Aurelia laughs before her expression changes into something much darker. “Alright, let’s cut to the chase instead of exchanging more unwanted pleasantries. What do you want?”
“You know what I am here for,” he says.
“No, we don’t, please enlighten us.”
“My daughter is being held in this pack.” He looks at Dad now. “Clearly, you know how it feels to be separated from your children.”
Dad furrows his brows. “Do I?”
“She was kidnapped and brought here against my will.”
“No, she wasn’t,” Aurelia says simply.
Something in Thomas’ perfect smiling expression shows a tiny crack. I see the edges of his lips twitch slightly.
“Let’s not joke around,” he says. “I know she is here.”
“Oh, we didn’t deny she is,” Dad says calmly.
“I only said she wasn’t kidnapped.” Aurelia scratches her forehead as if she were bored. “We know she wasn’t. We also know there has been an interesting amount of money flowing from you to a certain alpha. Interesting how he is the alpha from your fated mate’s old pack.”
Another little crack in his expression.
“Funny little coincidence, huh?” Aurelia asks sweetly.
“I have many enemies,” he says. “I am sure said alpha is just framing me!”
“Come on,” Aurelia’s eyes darken. “We are not stupid, TJ. We are very well aware of what you did to your mate, and that Alpha Jacob hid her and her daughter on your command, so that no one would notice what you did. Where does your sudden interest in your daughter come from? Don’t you have any other children to parade around?
Do you need her to show her off to someone?
A marriage deal with another alpha family, maybe? ”
At that, something in Thomas’ face changes visibly, and an ugly snarl forms on his lips. “What does a little bitch like you-“
“So, it’s true,” Aurelia concludes. She turns towards Liam. “He wants to sell her off.”
“Good job in uncovering that,” Liam says. He has his perfect stoic face up now, the one that doesn’t give away any emotion, but I can see the vein on his neck twitch slightly. “The Council will be interested in that detail.”
“She is my daughter! You cannot keep her from me,” Thomas hisses. “A child needs its parents!”
“She doesn’t need you. I would rather die than hand her over to Marina’s murderer,” Gwen says all of a sudden.
I can hear the tremor in her voice. I have no idea what this standoff must do to her.
He is the man who ruined her best friend, and now he is standing here without any remorse, without any care for what he did.
“Besides, she has parents,” she adds, nodding towards Celine.
Celine nods, a dangerous smile curling her lips. “Don’t worry, Alpha Thomas, I will watch out for her. And unlike your usual victims, I know how to fight and kill.”
“It’s illegal to steal a child!”
“Come on, Thomas,” Dad interrupts, the look in his eyes dark and angry.
“This is getting ridiculous. As my daughter said, we are all very well aware of what you did.” He stares at the men behind Thomas.
“And what most likely some of your men did. Marina passed away from the injuries she received, which officially makes you the murderer of your own mate. None of us here wants to deal with you any longer.”
“Well, I certainly don’t,” Liam says. “You are a waste of air.”
“We have entertained you long enough,” Aurelia agrees while some of our warriors appear behind us. “For your crimes against your mate, illegal businesses, blackmail and corruption, we will hand you over to the Council.”
Thomas furrows his brows, his expression turning angry, the look in his eyes much more sinister now. Yeah, that’s closer to the picture I had in my mind than his creepy, polite expression. He gestures for his men to step closer. “I am on neutral ground,” he snarls. “You can’t detain me!”
“Funny, how I have never heard that rule before,” Liam says. “Despite working with the Council.”
“There is no use delaying the inevitable,” Aurelia says. “You can’t run, and you certainly can’t fight us.”
Thomas balls his hands into fists. “I’d rather die than let you drag me in front of the Council.
She is not even worth it! Just the child of some worthless whore.
Her only use was being my entertainment.
Should have heard her scream when I strangled and reanimated her over and over again.
Have you ever seen a shifter being electroshocked over and over again? It’s hilarious!”
That fucking psycho!
I can feel Gwen’s pain through the bond.
“She has a name,” I say. “She and her daughter have names.” I look at the men behind him. “Are you really ready to die for him?”
“He asked you a question,” Dad supports me.
“Fuck this,” Thomas hisses, suddenly lunging forward. I am not surprised that his target is Aurelia, but she catches his punch midway, her fingers so tight around his fist that I can hear the bones scrunch.
“And?” Dad asks the warriors behind Thomas. “What’s your decision? We are a royal lycan pack with three reigning alphas and one alpha heir right in front of you. And we are not interested in keeping you alive.”
One of the men who is taller and bulkier swallows thickly. I recognize him as the guy from the car who followed us around, the one Marius targeted. “We will come with you peacefully.”
Thomas’ face turns red in anger. “It’s all your fault,” he yells at Gwen, taking a step forward.
At the same moment, I grab Gwen, pushing her behind me.
The fuck I will let this asshole threaten my mate.
“The wolfless, useless little bitch. Jacob promised you would be too useless to do anything, let alone protect her.
Found a pretty, dumb boy and slept your way up-“
Just at that moment, I hear branches cracking.
Vincent’s eyes widen so much it looks like they almost bulge out.
Here comes Gwen’s and my pony, trotting forward, bashing its head right into Thomas’ side and knocking him over.
On the pony’s back is the capybara! I have no idea how that animal with its tiny legs managed to get onto the pony’s back, but apparently, it’s common for them to use other animals as a form of transportation.
Now it drops down, straight on its legs again, trotting over to chew on Thomas’ fingers.
Now, our porcupine joins the party, but before it can do anything, our alpaca runs past it, spitting right down onto Thomas. When I stare in the direction they all came from, I pretty much see our whole zoo on the way.
Even Dad is too surprised to do or say anything.
“This will go into our history books,” he finally mutters. “In one way or another.”
Liam just keeps watching before he bursts into laughter.
He is not the type of person who laughs an awful lot; he is not like me, or Aurelia, or Finn.
He is serious, stoic, and a tad introverted.
He is very kind to those he loves, but he isn’t smiley.
He isn’t one to just double over in laughter.
Seeing him like this warms my heart and proves how crazy the situation truly is.
He takes out his phone to record a video, right when our alpaca hovers above Thomas, looking like it’s about to pee on him. “I need to show this to Annalise,” he chuckles.
The zoo has knocked over the other men, too, by now.
“Should we intervene?” Aurelia asks, dragging out the words, obviously not feeling like intervening.
Our pony has stepped on one of the guy’s legs and stands rooted in place. Then Grumpy comes along, the Pallas’s cat, ready to claw anyone who looks at him the wrong way. Right behind him, there is Tiger.
Titan, the regal demon cat, on the other hand, has approached the scene but remains in the distance. He tilts his head as if he wonders if he should get involved, but then stretches out on the ground.
“What a fitting way to imprison someone I would consider the dirt under my shoes,” Dad says, before walking over towards Gwen and me. He pulls us both into a hug. “You are safe now, Gwen. And I assure you, Thomas and everyone involved will pay for what they did.”
“Thank you,” Gwen whispers. “Marina can finally rest in peace.”
Liam joins Aurelia, helping her with the aftermath of the weirdest fight in the history of fights. Celine, meanwhile, joins us. Gwen lets go of Dad and me and pulls Celine into her arms. “Please watch out for Faye,” she says.
I don’t hear what Celine answers, but her eyes are swimming with tears. She buries her face into Gwen’s hair, her arms wrapped tightly around her.