Chapter 11 Addison
Addison
They’ve been gone for too long. I stare at the clock, watching as the seconds tick by. Hundreds of seconds when I don’t see Zeke, and I don’t know what’s happening.
“These things take time,” Nora says with a reassuring smile. I look at her, and I see that it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. She’s worried too.
She holds a hand over her belly and rubs it absentmindedly, like it’s something to soothe her own nerves.
Tara stands at the stove pulling a whistling kettle off and pouring some steaming hot water into mugs. What if he’s hurt, and that’s why this is taking so long? What if this got Zeke killed? What if I got him killed?
The thought makes me want to double over in pain. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he were put in danger because of me. If I have to go back to spare him and everyone else in this pack, I will. I just don’t want him to get hurt.
Please, don’t let him be hurt.
“Here’s some chamomile tea for everyone,” Tara says as she carries a small tray filled with cups to the table. “And yes, Nora, there’s no caffeine in this.”
Nora gratefully grabs a teacup and picks up the bag inside, dipping it in and out of the water. I’ve never had this before, so I just watch her curiously as the liquid turns a darker brown the more she dunks the bag.
Tara takes my cup and does it for me, then slowly hands it to me when it’s ready. Her fingers brush against mine, and I suddenly feel like I’m being pulled away.
I don’t see Tara and Nora in front of me anymore. I’m not in Tara’s kitchen with the tea she made me in my hands.
I’m in a smaller kitchen, a cabin with bright wooden walls. The appliances are older and well-used, and a woman stands in front of the stove. She’s short with pin-straight brown hair and pale skin.
When she turns around and smiles at me, I almost think I’m seeing myself for a second. But then she kneels in front of me and hands me a cup of tea, and I see the lines around her eyes and mouth. She’s older, but she has my face.
“A secret they don’t tell you about chamomile tea is that it keeps the nightmares away,” the woman whispers, her voice filled with warmth that reaches my soul. I hold the mug in my hands, feeling the heat spread through my palms all the way up my arm.
“Aubrielle! Have you seen my good boots?” A man’s voice echoes behind us. The woman, Aubrielle, rolls her eyes and stands, gently squeezing my knee.
The man walks into the kitchen and looks between both of us, his face calm and placid. He’s tall with broad shoulders and natural muscles. He has dark hair cut close to the scalp and blue-gray eyes that I feel immediately comfortable looking into.
“I don’t know, have you checked the shoe rack?” Aubrielle teases.
“Gee, I never would have thought to look there.” He shakes his head and looks at me with an amused smile and an eyebrow raised. “Yes, I looked there.”
Both of them walk out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with my tea to go look for the boots. The memory fades away, and I’m back in the kitchen with Tara and Nora, both of them looking at me with concern in their eyes.
“Addison, what is it?” Tara asks, kneeling on the ground in front of me, just like the woman in my memory.
With every fiber of my being, I know that was a memory of my parents. My mother, Aubrielle, and my father.
“I just remembered something. My parents,” I say, setting the tea down on the table with shaking hands.
I can tell both of them have questions they want to ask, but before they get a chance, the front door opens and all three of us jump to our feet.
I follow both of them toward the front door of the house, where Zeke, Declan, Cole, and Kyran are all standing. Declan remains in the doorway as our mates all rush over to us to make sure we’re okay.
Zeke is bloody, and I’m immediately worried, but the closer he gets, I realize it’s not his.
There’s something familiar about the smell that clings to him.
It makes my stomach curdle the more I linger in it, then it hits me.
I smell guards from the facility. The people who have held me down against tables and tortured me.
“It was them.” I look at him with confidence in my eyes before looking over his shoulder at Declan who nods his head.
“They’re dead now. You don’t have to worry,” Zeke says. His voice is comforting, but behind it, I can hear that there’s more.
Even with that, right now all I can focus on is how relieved I am to see him safe. And how excited I am that he avenged me the way that he did. My mate protected me from the people who hurt me.
I’m overwhelmed with a familiar warmth flooding between my legs. The idea that he would put himself in danger to protect me is very exciting.
“We should go home and mate again,” I say, ready to lean in and kiss him.
“Whoa!” Tara says, poking her fingers in her ear holes and letting out a nervous laugh.
Zeke’s face turns a shade red, and other people around us smile and laugh under their breath. I feel embarrassed all of a sudden, and I can’t exactly explain why.
“Addison, that’s not exactly something you announce in front of people. Especially your siblings,” Zeke explains. He leans in closer to me, pressing his mouth against my ear. “But yes, as soon as we get home, we can.”
Declan moves away from the door to head toward the kitchen. Everyone follows him without giving it a second thought. He takes a seat at the head of the table, and everyone else fills in the seats around him.
He tells us what happened. I hold Zeke’s hand a little tighter, hearing that. It couldn’t have been easy to do what he did, and I appreciate him standing up for me. Nobody has ever done that before.
“We’re going to have to break into this facility and bring an end to it,” Declan says, taking a deep breath as he looks between all of us with a serious expression in his eyes.
“We’ll have to wipe everything out. Take away all the data they’ve learned.
If anyone else is being held there, we have to release them.
The only problem is they’re very well armed, and after losing the people they did tonight, they won’t go down without a fight. ”
A moment of silence settles around us when I suddenly remember the memory that resurfaced a few minutes before they arrived.
“I think I have something that can help,” I say, perking up. “Just before you guys got here, I think I remembered my parents. I don’t know anything about the pack that I came from, but my mom’s name is Aubrielle. If there’s a way we can find them, maybe they can help us.”
Zeke squeezes my shoulder, and I feel a wave of excitement emanating from him. Everyone else is watching me with curiosity. Declan smiles and nods.
“That’s fantastic, Addison. We’ll start trying to find them if we can. I’m sure they have a lot of unfinished business with Axiom, after all,” Declan says.
My heartbeat quickens at the idea of finding my parents. It’s been ten years since I’ve seen them. Would they even remember me? Regardless, I can’t help the excitement growing in my chest.
This could be the key to finding out who I am and where I came from.