Chapter 102 Shelter And Storm

Chapter 102 Shelter And Storm
Levi:

“Control yourself before you tear the room apart.”

Jax didn’t look at me.

He sat on the edge of the bed with Serena’s hand locked in his, his shoulders rigid, his jaw set so tight I could hear his teeth grind.

The healer worked around him carefully. Aurora stood nearby, one hand hovering close enough to help but not close enough to trigger another growl from him.

Serena was pale against the pillows. Too pale. And so different than the person I had seen countless times in social gatherings, charity auctions and business meetings.

The knife wound had been cleaned, the poison slowed, but her body still looked like it had been pushed past every limit.

“She’s stable,” the healer said without looking up. “For now.”

Jax’s grip tightened.

“For now is not good enough,” he said.

“It is all I can give you until the poison clears.”

His eyes flashed.

“Jax,” I said again, sharper this time. That got his attention. He turned his head just enough to look at me.

“Take it easy.”

His laugh was short and ugly. “Would you?”

No. Not if it were Aurora lying there. Not if some stranger was telling me to move away while my mate bled into clean sheets.

But I was still his Alpha.

So I said, “No. But I would listen if someone was trying to keep her alive.”

That got to him but barely. Jax looked back at Serena, but some of the violence eased from his shoulders.

The healer told Jax she needed to change her soaked clothes but he insisted on staying and only agreed to turn away and closing his eyes but not leaving her hand.

The healer met my eyes helplessly and I nodded. “We are leaving, we’ll just be outside if you need anything.” I told both Jax and the healer.

Aurora had already arranged for everything, a little girl brought a new set of clothes without speaking and left after nodding at Aurora.

Aurora met my eyes from across the room. There was worry there. Not just for Serena. For Jax too.

I turned toward Lucas and Rylan, both waiting near the doorway. “let’s go, We need to talk, now.”

Jax’s head snapped up.

“I’m not leaving her.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” I said. “Stay. But stop growling at the people keeping her alive.”

His mouth tightened, but he said nothing. Progress, and that was good enough.

We moved to the front room of Jax’s house. The storm still hit the windows hard, and every pulse beneath Blackstone made the lamps flicker slightly.

Lucas closed the door behind us, though it didn’t fully shut out the feeling in the house.

Nothing would.

Aurora crossed her arms, looking toward the bedroom. “Jax is Alpha bloodline.”

Rylan’s gaze flicked to me. Lucas went still.

I sighed. “Yes.”

Aurora looked back at me. “And he’s been serving as your Gamma?”

“He chose that.”

“Why?”

“Because Jax never wanted a title,” I said. “Or a pack. Or a crown made of ghosts.”

Rylan leaned against the wall, expression grim. “His birth pack was slaughtered when he was a child.”

Aurora’s face softened.

“He told you that?”

“He didn’t have to,” Lucas said quietly. “Some things show up in records. Some in scars. Some in the way a man sleeps facing doors.”

I looked toward the closed bedroom.

“He was eight,” I said. “He survived because he hid. After that he disappeared into the human foster system and stayed there until he aged out. When I met him, he was trying very hard to pretend he was only human.”

Aurora’s brows drew together. “But you knew.”

“I recognized the wolf before I recognized the man.”

Lucas gave a faint nod. “So did I, eventually.”

Rylan added, “He didn’t want anyone else to know.”

“He still doesn’t, and no one else knows except for the people in this room.” I said.

Aurora’s gaze dropped for a second. “When I took away some of his panic in there, I felt something inside him. It wasn’t just fear.”

“What was it?” Lucas asked.

“A storm,” she said softly. “Protectiveness. Rage. Grief. And something else. Something old. Like it had been sleeping and woke up angry.”

“His wolf,” I said.

“Rex,” Rylan muttered.

Aurora looked up. “You know his wolf’s name?”

“Only because Jax told us once when he was half-conscious after a fight,” Lucas said dryly. “Then threatened to break my nose if I ever repeated it.”

Despite everything, Aurora almost smiled.

Then her expression turned serious again. “Why now? He’s clearly seen Serena before. At the gala. In photos. Through Council proposals. Why did the bond wake now?”

The room went quiet for a moment except for the sound of rain tapping on the windows. That was the question. The one sitting in the room like a blade.

“I don’t know,” I said. “There wasn’t even a hint before. No pull. No reaction. Nothing.”

“Maybe she wasn’t free enough before,” Agnes said from the doorway.

We all turned. She had entered silently, as usual.

Aurora straightened. “What does that mean?”

“It means bonds are not always dead because they are absent,” Agnes said. “Sometimes they are buried. Blocked. Suppressed. Sometimes one soul is held so tightly by another power that the bond cannot reach it.”

Rylan’s mouth tightened. “Convenient.”

Agnes ignored him.

I looked toward Lucas. “Where is the witch?”

“Waiting outside under guard.”

“Bring her in.”

A minute later, the woman who had brought Serena to our shore entered the room. She looked older in the lamplight than she had in the storm. Not weak, but tired in the bones.

“My name is Glenn Bishop,” she said before anyone asked. “And Serena is my blood.”

Aurora stepped slightly closer. “Your blood how?”

“Her mother was my true sister.”

The room shifted.

Glenn’s eyes moved briefly toward the bedroom door.

“My sister Elena Bishop was born to our coven. Brilliant. Kind. Powerful. The kind of girl elders look at and fear because they know she will change rules one day.” Her mouth hardened. “Then the Council came with talk of stability and alliance. Peace between the bloodlines.”

“Marriage alliance,” Lucas said.

“Coercion,” Glenn corrected. “They dressed it beautifully, but it was coercion. Grant Michealson has always had great ambitions. He wanted access to witch blood. The Council wanted a bridge into our coven. My sister was young enough to believe sacrifice could protect others.”

Aurora’s face had gone pale.

“What happened to her?” she asked.

Glenn’s voice lowered. “They sealed her power after the wedding. Slowly and carefully poisoning her. After Serena was born, they began draining what remained of her life force. Not enough to make it obvious, but enough to weaken her year by year.”

“They killed her,” I said.

“Yes.”

Silence pressed against the room.

Rylan broke it first. “And we’re supposed to accept that story because you walked in with a dying girl and a tragic tale?”

Glenn looked at him calmly. “No. You are supposed to question it. That is the first intelligent thing anyone here has said.”

Rylan blinked once, thrown off by her bluntness.

Lucas almost smiled.

Glenn continued, “Serena found me after she ran. She asked for help reaching this island. She said she had to come here before the Council moved again.”

“What does she know?” I asked.

“Enough that they would burn half the mainland to silence her.”

Aurora swallowed. “About the twins?”

Glenn didn’t answer but simply looked at her. That answer was enough.

I stepped closer. “Tell us what she came to say.”

“Some truths are not mine to reveal,” Glenn said. “And Serena has paid far too much for those truths to have someone else speak them over her unconscious body.”

Rylan scoffed. “Or maybe you need time to build a better lie.”

Aurora turned on him. “Enough.”

He looked surprised at her sharp tone.

She didn’t back down. “I felt her. There is no malice in her. None. What she carries is pain. Fear. Guilt. And something so heavy I don’t even know how she stayed alive with it.”

Rylan’s jaw worked, but he said nothing.

Agnes nodded slowly. “The island allowed her passage. That is enough to prove her worth.”

“It allowed a witch too,” Rylan muttered.

Glenn gave him a thin look. “You are welcome to file a complaint with the island.”

Lucas made a sound that might have been a cough. I shot him a look. He controlled his face immediately, but barely.

Glenn looked back at me. “I only ask you to not harm Serena. She is my blood. Give her shelter until she wakes. Let her speak when she is able. In return, my coven will remember this debt.”

“I don’t offer shelter for payment,” I said.

“No,” she replied. “But you will need allies before this ends.”

That, unfortunately, was true.

Rylan folded his arms. “She is Grant Michealson’s daughter. Raised inside Council circles. Trained by them. Used by them. Maybe she’s still loyal to them.”

“She is also Jax’s mate,” Aurora said quietly.

Her words landed differently. He looked away first. He wouldn’t dare oppose my mate and his Luna.

I held Rylan’s gaze. “My decision is final. Serena stays. I trust Aurora’s judgement and the island’s decision. Glenn stays too, under watch, but unharmed. No one touches either of them without my order. Make this clear to everyone.”

“And if Serena wakes up and proves to be dangerous?” Rylan asked.

“Then we deal with it,” I said. “But we do not punish someone for reaching our shore bleeding and asking for help.”

Agnes’s expression softened slightly. “Good.”

Lucas leaned back against the wall. “Besides, if anyone tries to harm her, they’ll have to get through Jax first.”

Rylan made a face. Lucas added, “Another fool fallen into the mate trap.”

I looked at him. He tried to looked innocent but failed.

“Not the time,” I warned him.

“It is a little the time.”

“No, it isn’t.” Glaring at him.

Aurora’s mouth twitched despite herself. For one second, the room breathed. Then another pulse moved beneath the house, deep and slow. The lamps flickered. From the bedroom, Serena whimpered softly. Jax’s growl followed immediately.

The brief humor died just like that.

I looked toward the closed door. We had even more questions now. Too many.

Why had Serena come here? Why had the bond awakened tonight? What had the Council done to her mother? What did they want from my children? How did Grant died annd Serena escaped, And what truth was so dangerous that a Council member’s daughter had crossed storm and poison to bring it to my door?

I looked back at Glenn.

“You said she came before the Council moved again.”

Glenn’s face tightened.

“Yes.”

“When?”

She did not answer quickly.

”I don’t know and I can’t say much. You will have to wait for Serena to wake up”

That told me enough.

The storm outside slammed harder against the windows. By body went rigid. I felt Aurora step closer to me, her presence making me steady like always.

We needed Serena to wake. We needed answers.

But I had the terrible feeling that whatever she revealed would not simply save us. It might just doom us all.