Chapter 26
Kayla
I try to open my eyes, but they feel weighted down.
It takes another moment or two before I can open them.
When I do, I blink up at the unfamiliar ceiling.
“Easy,” I hear a male voice say, a voice I don’t recognize.
I shoot up in the bed I’m lying on and pull away from the man currently leaning over me.
He puts his hands up. “I’m not going to hurt you. ”
“Kayla.” I recognize that gritty voice instantly.
I turn my head the other direction and lock eyes with Jackson.
He doesn’t look away as he strides towards the bed I’m currently sitting on.
He doesn’t slow as he comes towards me. He reaches out and puts a hand behind my neck.
The action instantly makes my panic recede.
“You’re safe.” His eyes meet mine, and I take in the bright blue.
“What happened?” My voice rasps.
He grabs a water bottle from the small end table next to the bed, opens it, and hands it to me. “Drink.” I lift a brow at the order. “Please,” he tacks on a moment later. I take it from him and down almost the entire thing.
“Thanks.” I try to look around the room, but his big body effectively blocks my view. “What’s going on, Jackson?”
He studies my face, making me feel self-conscious. “What do you remember?”
I search my memory, but everything feels fuzzy. “I can’t remember anything. Why am here? Where are we? What’s going on, Jackson? Who was that guy?” Each question makes me feel more and more unsettled.
“You were hurt pretty badly. How do you feel?” he asks, cutting off my questions. Suddenly, every awful thing comes flooding back at the same time. “Noah.” I shoot to my feet or try anyway. The room spins around me, and I sway.
“Easy,” Jackson says, steadying me. “You’ve been injured; you need to heal.”
“No, I need to find Noah,” I argue.
“I’m here,” Noah says, and I whip my head towards him so fast; it makes me dizzy.
“Noah!” This time, Jackson doesn’t try to keep me still. I drop to the floor and pull Noah into my arms and hold him tightly.
“Can’t breathe,” he grunts out. I pull back and look into his eyes.
“You’re okay? Did they hurt you?”
He shakes his head. “They hurt you.”
“I’m okay.” But even as I say the words, my world goes a little hazy. There’s a hand beneath my elbow, and a second later, somebody tries to pull me to my feet. I don’t let them. I don’t have to wonder who it is; I know it’s Jackson without turning around.
“You need to be resting,” he says quietly so that only I hear him.
I scowl up at him. “How long have I been out?”
“Too long,” he growls, and I look at Noah in exasperation.
“A few hours,” he answers.
I think back to everything that happened and face Noah. “Did Renee hurt you?” Even as I say the words, guilt fills me.
“No,” he says quietly.
“Are you sure? You can tell me.”
“She didn’t hurt me,” he repeats quietly.
I look at Jackson then. “She’s gone,” he says, answering the question before I can ask it.
“And our uncle?” I ask.
There’s not an ounce of hesitation or regret in his voice when he answers. “Dead.”
I stare at him. “Really?” There’s a part of me that so desperately wants to believe him.
“I killed him; he’ll never hurt either of you again.”
Something cracks inside of me, something that feels like relief. “Really?” I can’t help but ask.
Jackson nods. “He’s gone.”
I put my hand over my mouth, hoping to stop the flood of emotion.
It doesn’t. A sob comes out in the form of a strangled cry.
I’m helpless against the onslaught of emotion.
Another sob racks my body. This time, I don’t fight when he pulls me to my feet and against his hard body.
I squeeze my eyes shut as every horrible memory of my uncle floods my brain in an awful loop I can’t seem to turn off.
All the times I was so afraid, so scared, the times I tried and failed to fight against him.
“He’ll never hurt you again,” Jackson’s words are rough, and I appreciate them more than anything in my entire life.
It's a gift I will never not be grateful for.
“Thank you,” I manage to say against his chest.
“You don’t need to thank me for protecting you.” His words are gruff, like he’s insulted. But I don’t care.
“You gave me the greatest present in the world,” I tell him through my tears. It’s quiet a beat.
“You need better presents.”
His words lack any kind of emotion, and yet, I can’t help the laugh that comes out of me.
He goes still at the sound of my laugh. I smile against his chest and let myself enjoy the feel of his arms around me a moment longer; I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything better in my entire life.
Actually, I know I haven’t felt anything better.
Ever. I pull back, feeling lighter than I have in a long, long time.
I wipe my eyes and meet his intense gaze. “Thank you.”
He reaches up a thumb and slides it over my cheek. The roughness of his thumb causes a shiver to run through me, but I don’t look away from that intense gaze. “I keep telling you; you don’t need to thank me for protecting you. I will always protect you.”
“Why?” I ask, not looking away.
“You’re my mate; it’s my job to protect you.”
I stare at him. “Your mate?” I ask in a whisper.
That thumb runs over my cheek again. “The other half to my soul.”
I take that in. I should be running for the hills, but I don’t feel scared. I feel...intrigued. “Does this have to do with you being what you are,” I pause and search his eyes.
“It’s a wolf thing,” he says in a lower voice.
“Wolves mate once, for life. We search our whole lives for our mates; some of us are blessed to find them. When we do, we bond for life.” For the first time, a look passes through his eyes that looks almost like regret.
I stiffen and try to pull back, but he won’t let me.
“And I’m that for you?” I ask. He nods. “And you don’t want it to be me.” It’s not a question.
He blinks and then growls low in his chest. “Yes, I want it to be you.”
“Then why did you give me a look of regret?” I ask. That same look passes over his face. “That look, right there.”
He palms the back of his neck, a sign I’m starting to learn that means he’s stressed.
“I did something while you were unconscious.” I stiffen, even as I remind myself that he’s never done anything to hurt me.
“Not like that,” he growls at me. “You were dying.” I blink at his words.
He grits his teeth and forces out the next words. “They gave you a shot of something.”
“What?”
He takes a breath. “A serum meant to,” he pauses, and I wait for him to finish his thought.
“Meant to what, Jackson?” He stares at me without saying a word.
A new voice joins the conversation. “They gave you a shot of vampire serum, Kayla,” Raechel says.
I look over at her warily. “Vampire? They’re real?” I ask skeptically.
She nods. “Yeah, and they’re evil, nothing like the movies.”
It takes me a moment, and I can’t help it. It’s probably totally inappropriate, but I smirk. Raechel grins. “I didn’t take you for a Twilight fan,” I tell her.
“Team Jacob all the way, Baby,” she says, patting Max on his overly large bicep. “Gotta go werewolf.”
Despite the insanity of everything going on, I smile. “I was always Team Edward.”
She arches a brow. “Wow, you’ve got guts, Girl. To admit that in a room full of werewolves—that's impressive.”
My smile fades. “Vampires are bad; got it.”
“Very bad,” she says, all levity gone from her gaze.
“The people that took you were all vampires. They’re like trying to take over the world and dominate and kill everyone in their path bad.
” She nods at Jackson. “I figured he wouldn’t be able to do it, so I did it for him.
Ripped the bandaid off. You’re a healer.
The vampires need healers to create their army of super soldiers.
So, they’re after all healers. But we’re after the healers as well, to keep them from being taken by the vampires. ”
It all suddenly clicks into place. “That’s why you’re all here.”
She nods. “This one actually smelled you on Ava. He nearly attacked her.” She shakes her head.
“Dumb idea. Bryce nearly killed him over it. But we finally realized that Ava and I had run into you at a rest stop. It’s a long story how we figured it out, but after that, we set about trying to find you.
This one,” she points at Jackson. “Led the charge and refused to give up until we finally got a lock on your location and came to find you.” Her eyes fill with regret.
“I’m sorry we didn’t help you that day at the rest stop. ”
“I don’t even remember that,” I tell her honestly.
“I do, and there’s not a day I don’t regret it. I know Ava feels the same way.”
I shake my head. “I don’t regret it. If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have found my crew at Mama May’s. I wouldn’t have met Mama May and Butch and Jessie. I wouldn’t have learned that I could stand on my own two feet and make it.”
“You really like it here.” It’s not really a question; it’s more of a statement that Raechel makes.
I nod. “I really do. I love the small-town feel; I love the shops. I like the weather here. I like knowing I can stand on my two feet and make it.” I reach out and grab Noah’s hand. “We’ve made a life here, or at least, we’re trying to.”
Raechel smiles widely. “I get it. Good for you. And now, you’re uncle’s dead. So, that’s a plus.”
I laugh again because this is literally the craziest conversation. “Yeah, there is that.” My smile fades, and I turn to Jackson. “Are you going to get in trouble by the police?”
He doesn’t bat an eye. “Is anybody going to report him missing?”
I shake my head. “No. I’m certainly not. But what about the body?”
“What body?” he asks.
I open my mouth, but Raechel cuts in. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to, Chica.”
I close my mouth and nod. “Okay.” I steer our conversation back, even though I don’t want to. “So, is Renee part of the,” I pause, unwilling to say it.
“Renee is actually Alicia,” Raechel says.
“Ava and Bryce could give you more details. But the short version is that she was a wolf shifter in Bryce’s pack but then one day, showed she was a vampire as well.
” She points a finger at my face. “Yeah, that’s about how we all feel about it.
We don’t really get it all yet, but that’s what happened.
So, she’s working with the bad guys, which in this case are the vampires.
The vampires are after healers because they use healer blood to create and control the shifters they capture and turn into vampires.
Why she broke script and gave you a shot of vampire serum, we’re not really sure.
We think that’s what happened anyway. Did you know they gave you a shot of something? ”
My mind races to keep up with her. I remember the prick in my neck.
“I felt something sharp in my neck.” I look at her and then at Jackson.
“They were trying to turn me into a vampire?” I can’t keep the horror from my voice.
“Why? For what?” Nobody has any answers for me, and nobody acknowledges the absolute insanity of the questions I’m even asking.