Chapter 122 - He Stole My Heart, I Stole His Child
Axel POV
Anxiety still ate at me after leaving home, but once I got to the camp, I didn’t have time to focus on Bailey like I would have liked to. Distance doesn’t fucking help me with feeling her through the bond, her humanity being the biggest hindrance. I know if she were a werewolf that I wouldn’t be having these issues, but with her still being human, it makes it hard to always fully detect her. I have to strain myself when we are apart.
I wonder if it was anything to do with her goddess blood? It is supposed to protect her from negative supernatural influences. My constant need to always have her within arms reach and control every aspect of her environment could definitely be described as negative to most people. Fuck, I need to pull myself together. I need to focus on work so I can get back home.
Whoever the fuck messed with our machinery is going to be skinned alive when I find them. I hope it was sabotaged by another business or maybe even rogues, because if it was one of my men, I just might kill them. It’s a fucking headache getting everything sorted out, then putting everything back together. Our foreman on this site had a log fall on his legs and is out for the season while he recovers. The one who was holding the position temporarily had no idea how to handle this shit.
I don’t fucking know how to handle this shit besides just gritting my teeth and getting it fixed. If we don’t finish clearing the plot before the freeze forces us to stop, then we won’t be able to fill all our promised orders for next year. I could scrap some of the human contracts, the one with Miss Big Hair Texas has yet to be finalized, since she keeps asking to finalize over dinner and I'm blowing her off until she will just send the contract over by fax, and I have two others that could be canceled, but that isn’t good for business and could reflect poorly on the pack.
No, this shit just needs to get fixed and get back to running. I need to fucking focus and get this done so I can get back home.
I could faintly feel Bailey distressed in the bond, and started to panic when she wouldn’t answer her phone, but she sounded fine when she did finally answer. A little breathless, but if she walked the whole way home from her grandma’s I can understand why. I tried to speed this shit up even more after getting off the phone with her, feeling more restless than ever.
When we were nearly done, working with halogen work lights, I started to feel pain like I could never describe coming through the bond from Bailey. It fucking knocked me on my ass, the breath leaving my lungs in a burning roar, my chest feeling like it was tearing in two.
Thank fuck that this is a camp with solely pack members. Workers rushed over to me, asking me what was wrong, trying to help me to my feet. My chest, my heart especially, feel like something is squeezing the life out of it. I'm choking on the pain, fighting for the ability to move despite its crippling agony.
Bailey. Fuck, I need to get fucking home. Now. She’s never felt like this in all her past episodes. This one is scaring me, more than ever before. It feels final and deadly.
When I finally was able to move again, I yelled out to the man I left in charge to handle the rest, then sprinted for and hopped in my truck to start driving home. I hit the gas, flying over the divots and rocky terrain on the dirt road, not letting it cause me to lose my focus. I tried to call Bailey, but she wouldn’t answer. Katherine won’t either. I tried calling repeatedly, then my panic reached its peak. Katherine would never intentionally ignore my call. Something must be wrong.
I called Casey, waking him.
“Alpha? What fucking time is it?” he grumbled in the line.
“GO TO BAILEY! NOW!”
“Shit, okay. Let me get my fucking pants on. What the hell is up your butthole?”
“CASEY, SHE IS FUCKING DYING! I FUCKING FEEL IT.”
“Shit.” I hear Casey and Courtney having a mumbled conversation, then he’s back on the phone, “I’m going now. Courtney is waking her dad and calling the clinic. Is she home? Where the hell are you?”
“Driving back. I was at the lumber camp. She was at home going to bed when I last talked to her. She and Katherine won’t fucking answer their phones.”
Casey started breathing heavily, and I knew he was sprinting for my house. I can hear warriors howling in the background, coming to assist him if he needs it.
“Dont you fucking hang up on me until you have your damn eyes on her, Casey. I can fucking feel her. She’s dying. It feels like she is fucking dying.”
I want to scream, kick, throw myself out of this damn truck and shift, running the rest of the way home. I’m tempted to do just that, but I need to hear what Casey has to say first. I need to hear him say he’s got her.
“I’m coming up now,” Casey pants, the wind making the phone line fill with static. “Uh, your door is wide open, Alpha.”
“Go get her!” I screamed, “Go fucking-”
An agonizing pain shoots up my spine, making my whole body convulse. I have to slam on the fucking break to prevent myself from driving right into a tree. I fall over in my seat, my eyes seeping with tears as my soul shatters. That’s it. I feel it. This is our fucking bond, and it’s barely hanging on by a thread. She’s dying, and it’s almost too fucking late.
“Shit. Alpha? Alpha!” Casey yells at me in the line. “She’s gone! They’re all gone, and the place reeks of vampires. Not just Katherine. It smelled like her boyfriend.”
“FIND HER!” I snarled, struggling to open the door of my truck and throwing myself out of it, letting my truck roll and crash into the tree. I’m giving myself to my beast side, not knowing how else I can get to my mate. I can’t make my body function past the pain in human form, but in wolf form, my pain and agony combine with my anger at the fucking leech, fueling my drive to get to Bailey. I barely feel her now. She is barely hanging on, on the brink of being lost to me forever.
She promised me. She fucking promised me that I wouldn’t lose her. She told me everything was going to be fine and I fucking trusted her.
My grief and anger are making me irrational, my wolf side clouding more with the primal need to destroy whatever is preventing me from being together with my mate. Antonio, Katherine, even the fucking moon goddess herself. I will destroy whoever I have to to get to Bailey, and if I lose her, I will burn the fucking world down to get her back.
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Katherine POV
“We have to hurry,” I told Tony, hearing wolves howling in the background. If they catch us before we get to the falls, we won’t be able to fend them off.
Tony has my daughter, who is barely clinging to life, bundled tightly in his arms. He’s carrying her like she is something precious and delicate, scared to add to her pain further.
I have Aly, who is only asleep because Tony used his power to make her. She was scared awake when Bailey started to scream from the pain of the curse. Bailey told me it would get bad, but she didn’t tell me how bad. I was a panicked mess, unable to do anything but hover over my daughter, feeling her anguish in her desperate cries and strangled breaths as she began clawing at her own skin.
Tony came, and took charge right away, helping to calm Aly before using his abilities to make Bailey lose consciousness. We were never going to make it out of this house with her screaming. The house is sound-proof, thanks to my daughter and her mate having a very loud sex life, but the second we were outside the doors, the warriors would know their Luna was in distress and come running.
Tony instructed me to get Aly, then when I had my sleeping granddaughter bundled in the warmest blanket I could find, we raced for where his men were waiting with Felix at the border. We would have to travel quickly to the falls, moving silently and hoping that it would take them some time to follow our scents.
Addison is carrying Phoebe and waiting for us when we finally meet the others. Phoebe looks scared to see us, probably remembering the last time that she saw Tony when he destroyed the clinic to get to me. I pray that when this is over, Axel doesn’t try to kill him. Bailey won’t let Axel, but if we fail, I fear for all of us. I wonder what Addison told Phoebe to get her to agree to come. Phoebe keeps sending Bailey worried glances, and I can only guess that Addison mentioned Bailey to get Phoebe on board. Phoebe loves Bailey, as does everyone. She would only go against Axel's wishes for Bailey's sake.
“They know,” Addison whispered low enough that patrols couldn’t possibly hear her, but we all can. Vampire hearing makes it easier to move stealthily and catch the tiniest of noises. “Casey just ordered all the warriors to hunt you, father. Stephanie wants to know where I am. She says no one is exempt from helping to save the Luna.”
“Oh no,” I gasped.
“It will be okay, my love. I won’t let them get to her, just as she asked.” Tony pulls a vial out of his pocket. It’s filled with his blood, just as Bailey asked. He complied with every single one of Bailey's wishes, not questioning any of them. I thought he might, or that he might demand me to come home after this was over, but he did none of that. He is asking for nothing in return, simply helping because Bailey is my daughter.
He hands the vial to his daughter, who nods and has Phoebe take it to keep it safe while we start to sprint for the Blue Cliff Falls. This is where Bailey said it had to finish. The curse had to be fulfilled here, because it's where it all started.
I would cringe every time she said ‘fulfill’, guessing the meaning behind it. It’s where she will die, and be born again.
This whole thing is rather biblical. The curse of sin, the sacrifice, coming back from the dead. I didn't grow up in church, but I did attend a Catholic school when I was a human teenager. This whole thing got me thinking about Jesus on the cross, becoming the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind's sins. He had to come back from the dead too.
In all the books of the Bible, you won't find records of Joseph at the cross, watching Jesus being killed. Mary, Jesus's mother, was there, but never Joseph. I think a teacher once told me that Joseph had already passed away, because God knew no man could stand back and just watch someone he loves sacrifice themselves for their sake. God knew that Joseph would try to interfere, like the goddess knew Axel would try to interfere. Mary could stand to watch her son being killed, believing him when he said he would be raised from the dead, but not Joseph.
My dad was a good man, but he learned of the curse and interfered. Antonio did too. The cycle has to stop somewhere. We have to make sure it stops here. Bailey will be the last, and Axel will forgive us. He has to.
The falls came into view, the sight nearly taking my breath away. It looked like the waterfall was cascading down from the moon itself. It was glowing in the light, taking on a mystical and magical hue. It looked like a walkway to the heavens. That’s not all. At the bottom of the falls there stood a man and a young boy.
The man's appearance was screaming power and authority in everything about him. His clothes didn't look like any you could find in this world. His long, thick hair cascades around his shoulders in velvety waves. His eyes are a deep, glowing green, above high cheekbones and a strong jaw. His shoulders are broad. His aura is seeping out of him, strong and magical. The boy by his side looked to be around Taegan’s age. He is watching us warily, especially Tony carrying Bailey.
“Of course he’s here,” Tony sighs.
“Who?” I asked. “Who is that?”
“That, my love, is the Northern Fairy King. King Aengus. He is Thyra’s brother.”
“Oh,” I studied the man’s face again, and found many similarities with Thyra. He has the same nose and mouth as her, but everything else about him is far too masculine to compare to his sister. The boy, on the other hand, looks just like Thyra. Same eyes and coloring. Is he her nephew?
Wolves howling in the forest made chills run up my body, but the answering howl that is unmistakably Axel’s makes fear shoot through my chest, freezing my insides with dread. He sounds feral. Primal. So, so angry.
“We don’t have long,” Tony sighs, coming to a stop right in front of the man and small boy. “Hello, King Aengus. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
The king narrows his eyes at Tony, then reaches for Bailey. Tony gently handed her to the king, Bailey's entire face ashen, purpling rimming her eyes and her face contorted in agony. The fairy adjusted her in his arms, then waved a hand over her face, making her face go completely lax. She looked so close to death that it scared me.
“Do your job, Lord Antonio. I am here to do mine. With this, both our species will be free from our obligations to this curse as well. This is to overwrite our part in the doom of an entire bloodline.”
The king looks at me, his face a lot less hostile. “Rian will take the daughter. She will be safe with him. They are family, after all. You will be needed in the battle.”
“That’s my daughter,” I tell him, brokenly, staring at Bailey who is struggling to breathe in his hold. I want to stay with her. I don't want her to die alone. I want to be with my daughter when she takes her final breath. I failed her so much in life. I don't want to fail her now.
“She will be still when this is over. They are coming,” he nodded to the treeline, the sounds of the warriors drawing closer and closer. “Your daughter needs you to protect them all in her place until she wakes again.”
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Axel POV
Casey has been following the trail, discovering dozens of different vampire scents, even finding Addison’s and Phoebe’s in the mix.
I’m going to kill them. I’m going to fucking kill them all. What they did is unforgivable. I knew not to fucking leave Bailey this morning. I knew something was going to fucking happen.
Not only my mate, but my fucking daughter. My entire world is gone, and they are to blame. All of them.
The bond is barely holding on, the last flickerings of her life the only thing keeping madness from overtaking me completely. If that thread tying us together snaps, goddess help whoever is fucking responsible.
Casey and his warriors howl, indicating where they are. My answering howl is terrifying, even to my own ears. I’m much closer to madness than I thought.
“The Falls, Alpha. They are heading for the fucking falls,” Casey tells me.
I look up at the moon, resting on top of the cliff, and I know he is right. Why the hell Antonio would kidnap my mate and bring her here is beyond me.
“Alpha, Stephanie said that we shouldn’t attack them. She said that they are helping her to break the curse,” Casey adds, sounding hesitant.
“If that’s so, they wouldn’t have had to fucking steal my dying mate. The fucker needs to die, and if Addison is helping the son of a bitch, she can die too.”
“Alpha! Addison wouldn’t do anything to hurt her Luna. If she says it’s to help Bailey, we should trust them.”
“I FEEL HER DYING!” I snarled “HOW CAN THEY HELP HER IF SHE IS DEAD!?”
I won’t let her die. She can’t. I can’t live without her. I will have no reason to.
Casey goes to answer me, but then I feel the last thread of my mate bond snap, tearing her from me. My wolf's body collapses to the ground, the air leaving me with a strangled cry. I’m not the only one who felt the connection to Bailey snap. The warriors, Casey, everyone howls in anguish, feeling our Luna’s life disconnected from mine.
“No,” I gasp, “No, NO, NO! NO!!”
She can’t. She can’t be fucking dead. She can’t die on me. Not my mate. Not my wife.
The screams leaving me burned my lungs, my heart exploding inside me. My ears are ringing, nothing makes sense to me. My entire fucking world is crashing down, my very reason for existing is gone.
My sorrow is short-lived, quickly being replaced with anger.
Antonio did this. Someone did. Someone is going to pay.
Casey and the warriors' snarling is echoing in the trees. They are pissed, almost as enraged as me. They are out for blood now, same as me.
Our Luna is dead. My mate is dead. The world and everyone in it will pay for taking her from me. My vision is painted red.