Chapter 101 Before And After Her (Jax)

Chapter 101 Before And After Her (Jax)
Jax:

I had only been truly afraid twice in my life.

The first time, I was eight years old, hiding beneath the floorboards of my pack home while my family, my pack burned above me.

The second time was now.

Rain hit my face hard enough to sting as I carried Serena toward my house, but I barely felt it. All I could feel was the weight of her in my arms and the terrifying weakness in her pulse every time my wolf pressed closer to hers.

Mine.

The word kept repeating inside my head like a fever.

Rex, my wolf had awakened the second I saw her on that damned boat. Stirred after years of lying dormant. Now fully awakened.

For years my wolf had stayed buried so deep inside me he barely felt real anymore. I knew what I was. I always had. But after my pack died, I stopped letting that part of me breathe. Wolves were dangerous. Alpha bloodlines were hunted. Strong packs got slaughtered.

I learned that lesson young. So I buried it all. The wolf. The name. The past.

Everything except survival.

But the second Serena looked like she was about to collapse into the sea, something ancient inside me tore awake hard enough to feel painful.

And now I couldn’t let her go.

Her head rested against my chest while I climbed the stone steps through the storm, faster than I had ever moved. Even unconscious, her fingers stayed twisted tightly in my shirt like letting go would kill her.

Or maybe kill me.

“Jax,” Levi called sharply from behind me. “Move.”

I didn’t even realise I had stopped walking. I tightened my hold on her and forced my legs forward again.

The healer’s quarters were already being prepared by the time we entered. Warm light spilled across the stone walls while people moved quickly around us.

I hated every second of it. Too many people near her. Too much noise.

Rex paced violently beneath my skin, ready to rip apart anyone who came too close.

Easy, I warned him.

He ignored me completely.

Mine.

I had never experienced anything like this before. Wolves talked about mate bonds sometimes, mostly older wolves or traditional packs. Stories passed around like myths. Half the younger wolves didn’t even believe true bonds existed anymore.

Most never found them. Most never even shifted properly anymore. And now suddenly this woman appeared out of nowhere, half-dead in my arms, and my entire existence rearranged itself around her in seconds.

It felt insane. But it also felt more real than anything else in my life.

“She needs treatment immediately,” the healer snapped.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t.

The older witch beside us looked exhausted, her silver robes soaked from seawater and rain, but her eyes stayed sharp.

“She was wounded before we left the mainland,” she said quietly. “And poisoned afterward.”

Aurora’s face tightened instantly. “What kind of poison?”

“Not fatal,” the witch answered. “Designed to weaken and track. We suppressed most of it before arrival.”

Levi’s expression darkened.

Of course the Council poisoned her. Of course they would rather hunt their own than lose control.

The thought made something ugly move through me.

The healer stepped forward again. “Please put her down so we can treat her.”

“No.” The word came out rougher than I intended to. Everyone went quiet.

I barely noticed. I didn’t care.

Serena shifted weakly against me with a small sound of pain, and panic hit me so hard my chest tightened.

Rex growled again under my skin. And everyone in the room could feel the growl.

Mate hurts.

I had seen death before. Seen torture. Seen bodies ripped apart. I had walked through blood and fire without shaking.

But this woman whimpered once in my arms and suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

Levi stepped closer slowly. Understanding dripping from his tone. He was probably the only one who truly understood what I was going through. I had only known of my mate’s existence for a quarter of an hour but he had met her claimed and rejected her and lived in agony for five whole years.

“Jax,” he said quietly. “They need to help her.”

I looked down at Serena’s pale face. Wet blonde hair clinging to her skin. Bruises barely visible beneath the collar of her soaked clothes.

Not just fresh bruises but old ones too. Rage moved through me instantly. Rex loosing control once again when the healer reached toward Serena again and before I could stop myself, a warning growl left my throat.

The entire room froze. I hadn’t growled like that in years.

Rex pushed harder beneath my skin now, fully awake for the first time since childhood.

His alpha aura spreading in the room making everyone weary.

The realisation hit me like ice water. It wasn’t hidden anymore.

Levi’s eyes narrowed slightly. He understood immediately. Of course he did. He had known what I was years before I ever admitted it aloud.

I met him by accident after aging out of the foster system. Some assassin probably sent by council to warn him for his ‘insubordination’, tried to stab him outside a warehouse district after poisoning Levi. He was alone. And I had always tried to lay low but at that moment I couldn’t.

I broke the attacker’s arm before he could touch him. Lucas and his team arriving shortly after that. But Levi recognized me instantly my bloodline. And the wolf inside me.

He saw it in me before I even understood he was one too.

I still remembered what he told me afterward.

“You walk like someone trying very hard not to become dangerous.”

No one had ever looked at me like that before. Like he understood.

So I stayed.

Years passed after that. Lucas. Rylan. Missions. Security. Building Kingston business empire. Protecting Levi’s family like they were my own because somewhere along the way, they became exactly that.

I never looked for anything beyond it.

Not revenge. Not purpose. And definitely not a mate.

But now she was here.

Bleeding in my arms, changing my whole world.

Aurora stepped forward carefully. Her voice stayed calm.

“Jax,” she said softly. “I need to take some of her pain first.”

I didn’t answer immediately. But then Serena made another weak sound against my chest.

That decided it.

Slowly, I lowered myself onto the edge of the bed without releasing her completely.

Aurora touched Serena carefully near her temple. Silver warmth spread faintly through the room. Serena’s breathing eased almost instantly. And the tension in my shoulders lessened a bit too. I knew it was Aurora.

I was grateful for that. I looked at her nodded, acknowledging what she had done for me and Serena both. She nodded back and stepped aside.

The healer moved quickly after that, cutting away the ruined sleeve near the knife wound.

I saw the scars then. Thin lines across her ribs. Faded marks near her shoulder. A healed burn along her side.

It was years of cruelty and with someone her status it was hard to imagine. She looked poised in every picture. Every charity event. I always thought she was graceful and poised but I could never imagine what hid behind that carefully made up beautiful face and polite smiles.

My stomach turned violently.

Rex snarled so hard inside me my vision blurred for a second.

Kill them.

Serena’s hand tightened suddenly around mine before I could move. Even unconscious, she refused to let go.

The healer sighed in frustration. “I need space to change her bandages.”

Aurora gently tried to ease Serena’s fingers loose. But Serena held tighter.

“She won’t release him,” Aurora said quietly.

The older witch finally spoke again from near the doorway.

“She trusts the bond already.”

Everyone looked at her.

I barely heard them.

Because Serena shifted weakly toward me again, like she was seeking warmth even in sleep.

And something inside me broke open completely.

My whole life had been survival. Duty. Loyalty. Violence when necessary. Nothing more.

Simple. Controlled.

Then this woman arrived on a storm-covered boat and suddenly my wolf had a name again. My blood felt awake again. My chest hurt every time she whimpered in pain or took a shaky breath.

I looked down at her hand wrapped tightly around mine.

And I knew with terrifying certainty that my life had just divided itself into two parts.

Before Serena.

And after her.