Chapter 17 - Xander
Xander swiveled in his office chair, head pressed against the headrest and his eyes closed as he thought about Rayla and Abel. In the past two weeks since he’s had them in his life, things had been great. More than great, even. It was exhilarating.
He still could not believe how lucky he was to have found them just around the time the Elders had begun to make another request of him. He had chosen to seize control of his love life and how his life went.
Being with the woman that he loved and having a son that had been born of that love was amazing, although a part of him still held regret for not being in Abel’s life during the early stages.
There was one thing that bothered him, however. While it seemed that everything was going smoothly, Rayla did not seem like herself. He could tell that she was hiding something from him as evidenced by the numerous times she’d jumped when he’d snuck up behind her.
She constantly hid her phone from him and always seemed to be on edge. That was not the Rayla that he knew. His Rayla was quick to address whatever bothered her as opposed to allowing herself to go over the edge.
Is anyone making her feel unwelcome?
His thought caused him to frown. He grabbed the arms of the chair as he ground to a halt, eyes laser-focused on a space in front of him. If he ever found that anyone in the pack had failed to accept her and was making her feel uncomfortable, they would have him to contend with. Not even the Elders could stand in his way.
Should I watch her? She’ll never have to know if there’s no problem.
Xander knew she wouldn’t like it if she knew he had watched her through the shadows. He could still remember the first time they talked about the shadows and what he could do with it. She had stared into his soul as she asked him if he’d watched her through the shadows before.
He stood up, shrugging off his suit jacket as he walked to the window. She did not have to know that he had watched. Besides, he could be saving her from a terrible situation if he did so.
Convincing himself, he walked back to his seat and stretched his hands on the wall until the shadows appeared. His brows furrowed as he watched her car speed out of werewolf territory.
“Where could she be going?” he asked to no one in particular.
He massaged his lower lip as he absentmindedly leaned forward, fully focused on her and what she was about to do next. He could only hope that she wasn’t heading to a place where he would not be able to see her.
Her car slowed to a stop and she turned into a car park. He leaned even closer until he could read the sign hanging above the building.
“Pawnshop? What could she possibly want with a pawnshop?”
Xander leaned back as he waited for her next move. His eyes remained on her as she stepped out of her car and did not stray when she stood there, seemingly contemplating what she was about to do.
Even from far away, he could tell that she was having second thoughts. She had her lower lip tucked between her teeth as she usually did when she was uncertain or worried.
Timed slowed as he waited for her to make her next move, and he heaved when she finally stepped into the pawnshop and was greeted by a woman who led her to the counter. He watched as another man approached her.
Xander looked around as she conversed with the man. While he was okay with spying on her, he drew the line at listening to her conversation. The last thing he wanted was to abuse his power and her trust.
His eyes returned to her when she slipped her hands into her bag and rummaged through it for a moment before bringing out the diamond necklace he’d given her.
Xander reached a hand to his chest as he realized what was happening. He had given her that necklace as a symbol of their love. A bold declaration in front of every single member of his pack that she was the one he wished to spend the rest of his life with.
He could still remember the glimmer in her eyes as she stared up at him with affection when he gave her the necklace.
So what has changed in that time?
Had he done anything that she couldn’t forgive him for? Or did she simply not care for him?
Xander knew there was a lot he had to apologize for still and he knew they were not quite where they had been years before, but he had hoped that she would give him the chance to fix things between them. He’d thought that she was willing to work things out, but now he wasn’t so certain.
Did this mean that she never had an intention to work things out? Was she with him only because they had a son together, and she knew she couldn’t keep father and son apart?
Ignoring the hurt in his chest was harder than he imagined it would be. He massaged the spot now, clearing his throat to stop the burning as his wolf howled within him.
He needed to confront her about it. He watched as she tucked two envelopes into her bag and took one last glance at the jewelry before heading out the door and back into her car. She peeled out of the driveway, seemingly in a rush to get to her next destination.
“Where are you off to now, Rayla?” he murmured under his breath as he watched her.
Her car turned and veered off the main road into a dirt path before coming up on another main road. Xander frowned. It was not a road he frequented, but he remembered that road and where it led.
Why is she heading in the direction of the village?
The last time before they left, she’d been packing up in a rushed manner, clearly in a bid to get out of there. Although he hadn’t pushed to know what demons she ran away from, it baffled him now that she was returning there.
Xander watched her as she got closer to the village. Before he could see any further, the shadows turned black, signaling that he had lost his connection to her.
“Fuck!”
He pushed away the chair and ran his hands down his face in exasperation. None of this sat right with him. Not her behavior since she’d been in the pack nor her sudden need for money that she would sell something that should have been valued.
He snatched his suit jacket off the softly swiveling chair and walked out of the office, heading for his car. He followed her path.
Xander arrived at the pawnshop in record time and, without any delay, walked in.
“Hello, how may I—”
He walked past the woman who welcomed him with a warm smile and a receptive tone and headed straight for the man who was still at the counter as he perused the jewelry once again.
The man looked up from the necklace when Xander’s unmoving frame remained in front of him, casting a shadow on the jewelry.
“Can I help you?” he asked, mild irritation noticeable in his voice despite his polite expression that had clearly been mastered over years of training.
“You have something of mine and I would like to get it back,” Xander said, barely controlling his anger that had taken over as he hid from the hurt resulting from Rayla’s betrayal.
“What?” the man asked, clutching the jewelry tightly to him as the greed in his eyes gave way to alarm.
“You. Have. Something. Of. Mine.” Xander repeated slowly, his tone taking on a threatening quality as he pointed to the jewelry the man cradled in his hands.
The man sputtered as he looked at the others in the pawnshop who had begun to watch curiously, clearly ready to jump in at any sign of foul play or violence. As much as he would wish to have a means to transfer his anger, Xander did not care to pass it on to individuals who were not to blame for his woes.
I just need to understand what the fuck is going on. And get my jewelry back.
He tried again. This time, with less anger in his voice.
“You bought the jewelry from a woman only moments ago for ten thousand dollars. That woman is my wife and I would like to buy the jewelry back.”
The man stared at him, dumbfounded.
“I do not believe that I have to—”
Xander raised a hand to cut him off. “The rule is that she can buy it back within thirty days of selling it. It hasn’t been an hour yet.”
The man’s mouth opened and closed as he prepared a line of defense, however, there was none.
“I’m prepared to pay double the price to get it back, however, that is the only offer you will be getting before things go awry. So, I will need you to think about this carefully before you make a decision.”
He stepped forward as he spoke, and the man took a step back. While it hadn’t been his intention to intimidate the man, he could tell that it had worked quite well as the man swallowed in fear.
His greed and fear were enough to convince him to part with his coveted jewelry.
Xander stepped out of the pawnshop, jewelry in hand as he returned to his car. He followed the path her car had taken before he lost her in the shadows and slowed down so he could follow her tire tracks.
It was easy enough to get to her village seeing as he had been there a few times, and it was even easier to locate her, although he hadn’t thought it would be.
For the first time since he visited her village, the whole place seemed to be empty. There were no kids playing around or adults going about their day. Instead, it looked more like a deserted encampment.
A blur from the corner of his eyes caught his attention before he could turn away to her former home. He watched as a few more people followed after the first blur that had turned out to be a boy, his faced mapped with excitement as he ran toward an unknown location.
Knots tightened in his stomach, and dread filled him as he left his car and followed a few paces behind them. He frowned as the people in front of him entered a barn. He stood behind them, close enough to see what was happening but not enough to draw attention to himself.
“For years, we have all known she was nothing like the good people of this village, but now, we have proof of just how different she is. She is not one of us. She is a monster, in cahoots with the devil, and has birthed a demon. Her demon son beat our children constantly, eager to spill blood, and she did nothing to stop him. Instead, she defended him at every opportunity.”
The crazed man was standing on a makeshift stadium with saliva shooting from his mouth as he spoke with so much derision and madness. He stopped for a moment and retrieved a tablet.
“Look. What normal human changes into an animal at night if not a demon?” he asked as the villagers strained to see the video, gasping and whispering among themselves as they watched.
“Bring her here. She must face the consequences of her actions and must be punished for bringing her demon child into our village,” he screamed. Two men rushed into the barn, pulling a slumped form with them.
Xander dug his nails into his hands as he stared with wide eyes at Rayla. Her head drooped to the side as they pulled her carelessly, tossing her on the floor like a sack of worthless things.
He dug deeper into his palm until the smell of his blood hit his nostrils. It was all he could do to stop himself from shifting and tearing everyone apart who bore witness to this cruelty and tolerated it, going as far as to accept it and staring at her with hate.
The sound of his blood pumping filled his ears, drowning out the voice of the crazed man whose words the villagers hung onto. He took in her appearance as he forced himself to stay still. Her hands and legs were tied together, her hair was a mess, and her clothes were torn. Dried blood stained her lips and chin, and she appeared to be finding it difficult to open her eyes.
Calm yourself, Xander.
His gums hurt as he held back his wolf’s desire to shift and rip them apart until they had all paid for what they had done to her, but he forced himself to calm down. Doing so would only put her at greater risk and would break the treaty between humans and wolves.
He grimaced, his mouth bitter from bile and the taste of blood. The last thing he wanted to do was be reasonable about this, and yet, he couldn’t risk the entirety of the werewolf community for the desire to satisfy his anger at seeing his woman hurt and disrespected the way that she was.
Look at me, Rayla, he willed her as he stared fixedly at her.
Her head remained down, and he did not know if it was because she was too tired and bruised to look up or because she simply did not want to look at the people who had betrayed and hurt her.
With heavy steps, he moved away from the crowded barn, pushing through people to get away as he forced himself to calm down. He took out his phone, dialing his friends’ numbers in a group call. He waited until they picked up, closing his eyes as he took the time to calm himself and resist the growing urge to rip the crazed man’s throat from his body. Even now, he could hear him speaking of the vile things he planned to do to their son, whom he called a demon.
“Xander, is this a call for a meet-up?” Asher asked.
“Guys,” he spoke before anyone else could say anything. “I need your help.”
The concern in his voice was easy to sense. There was no way he could hide how worried he was about the situation Rayla was in. Even worse, he was angry—angry at her for putting herself in this situation. She should have come to him; he would have taken care of it without her having to lift a finger. Instead, she chose to do all of this on her own, putting herself in grave danger.
The thought of what could have happened if he hadn’t thought to watch her through the shadows was not one he wished to think more about. It pained him to think how he would have felt, finding all of this out after it was too late.
What kind of a man was he if he was incapable of having his soulmate bear her soul to him? What kind of alpha did it make him if he couldn’t protect the one person that mattered most? How, then, could he be trusted to protect his people who put their trust in him?
“Xander? You’re being very quiet. Did something happen?” Callahan asked, bringing him back to the present.
He paced a bit as he figured out how to tell them. He chose to say everything that happened leading up to that moment.
“Rayla had been very nervous and fidgety since she came to the pack. Every time I tried to ask her, she deflected, instead of giving me an actual answer. I didn’t want to push her, considering we had only just met again after all those years apart.” He took a breath. “I also thought that it could have been because she was nervous to be around me and unsure of how to navigate things considering how everything ended,” he added.
This had been the actual reason he hadn’t pushed. It would have hurt to realize that she just didn’t care for him anymore and did not wish to be there. It would have killed him to know that she was only there for their son and nothing more.”
“That is a valid reason. Perhaps you should give her time,” Blake chipped in.
Articus, who had remained quiet, finally spoke up.
“Unless that is not the reason why you have called us and something else has happened.”
Xander struggled to say the words through the anger that choked him.
“I watched her through the shadows today. She pawned the diamond necklace I gave her and returned to her village. I could no longer find her through the shadows so I followed after her, curious to know what was happening. There is a mad man who has her tied and is showing a video of my son on his first shift and showing it to everyone present. He has labeled her a witch and my son a demon, both of whom he intends to kill.”
“What?” Blake shouted through the phone. “How are you so calm about this? I don’t think there would be a single living soul left if that happened to Eleanor.”
“You’re not helping, Blake,” Articus said in a tone that was scolding.
“Trust me, Blake. I am nowhere near calm.”
His anger heightened as he spoke. The only reason he left her there was because that was the only way to ensure that nothing else went wrong, and the man clearly loved the sound of his own voice too much to put an end to his show now.
“However, as much as I want to charge in there and kill them all, I cannot think only about my anger and break the treaty, especially when it affects all wolves. I cannot make us known to the humans.”
Xander was frustrated. Knocking them out was the easiest solution, but it wasn’t the best.
“I need your help,” he said again. They were the only ones he could trust to see that this matter was properly handled.
“We’re already on our way to you, Xander. We’ll help you,” Rowan said.
“In the meantime, there must be another way to solve this without revealing ourselves,” Asher added.
Fannar voiced his opinion, “Have you considered asking for help from a vampire? Wiping their memories so they don’t remember anything about this and swiping the evidence from his phone seems like a proper solution to the problem.”
Xander’s anger doubled, but this time, it was at himself.
“How did I not think about this earlier?”
“I would make jokes, but now is not the time. For now, you must find a vampire who is willing to help you. We should arrive shortly and will take care of this little problem.”
“Thank you all for your help,” Xander said, nodding even though they couldn’t see him.
“You would do the same for us. Now, go find a vampire.”
He ended the call after they had decided they would knock out the people with enough force to keep them unconscious while the vampire did his work. The guys had all agreed to meet at the outskirts of the village and take care of this together.
Xander created a shadow and stepped through it in search of a vampire that would wipe the minds of the people, ensuring they knew nothing about the world that had been kept hidden from them for so long.