301- JAX

301- JAX
POV Jax:

Disgust washed over me. “He was insane.”

“Well, so was I. If I had known she would find a good man who would accept her as his mate, maybe I could have fought the madness a little better. Of course, you locked her up for three years, so maybe you weren’t the best choice either.”

Swallowing hard, I knelt beside her and ran my fingers across her face. This was just a sick vision. She wasn’t really dead. I just had to push through it. “Wake up, love. Tell me what you did to the bonds so I can fix it.”

“How typical of a man, thinking everything can be fixed.”

At the sound of a new voice, I looked up and saw Evalina perched on the cabin roof. She was mocking me.

“What are you doing here, bitch?” Dirk spat. “Mind your manners!”

“Or what?” he shot back. “You’ll curse me? You’re dead, witch. We both are. Level ground.”

With a sigh, she jumped from the roof and floated to the ground. “I’m here because he called me. Magic is what I do, alive or dead.”

Dirk sighed. “Any other ghosts you want to summon? We could throw a real party.”

I tried to ignore them, but suddenly the field filled with ghosts: Emerson, Bridget, Marsh, wolves, witches. Not all of them had died by my hands, but their deaths were tied to me.

And Anna was next.

“It’s guilt.” Parker sat beside me and looked at her. “Her whole life, guilt haunted her. Her father blamed her for her mother’s death. She blamed herself for the deaths caused by her father. Now she blames herself for all of these deaths. Everything is tied to her.”

I looked at his wrinkled face. “You’re not really him. Ghosts aren’t real.”

“It’s your mind and Anna’s spell.” He shrugged. “Between the two of you, it’s probably more real than if I were actually here.”

That was true. The real Parker was almost never this blunt. “She’s using guilt to fuel the spell.”

“And if you can overcome it, you can reach her.” Looking around, he sighed as his eyes landed on his son. “We’re all dead because we made mistakes. I loved my son and tried to protect him even when he betrayed me. Bridget betrayed you. Katherine and Dirk betrayed Anna. Evalina betrayed Anna. Emerson and Marsh were twisted by their obsession. We’re all connected, but we’re all dead for very different reasons.”

I swallowed. “How do I overcome her guilt if I can’t reach her?”

“I never said it was her guilt,” Parker said softly. “I said she was familiar with guilt, but this is your part of the bond.”

“Bullshit. I don’t feel guilt for killing Dirk, and I sure as hell don’t feel guilty that Emerson and Marsh are dead.”

“Still a fool.” Parker looked up as Evalina joined us. “You even sound like an Elder.”

“And you sound like an aging werewolf who drinks too much,” she shot back. “But he’s right. Jax, you are a fool. When you close your eyes at night, these are the faces you see. So many deaths in so little time, and all of them happened so you could protect Anna. And for what? Soon, everyone will probably be dead.”

“No,” I growled. “She can fight this. She’s stronger than Maeve!”

Worried someone might do something to her, I grabbed her body and held her close to me. She was so warm, despite the wet, freezing clothes clinging to her skin.

“Is she really? She couldn’t even hide the mating bond properly. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed.”

“Shut your mouth,” Dirk snapped as he stepped closer. “You never saw her potential, what her magic could do before her mother sealed it away. All she had to do was smile, and flowers would bloom for her. She gave her magic to everything, as if that could save the world.”

She was still like that. Maybe not with her magic, but simply by being who she was. Despite all her darkness and thorns, she was joy. She believed in joy and carried it to so many people. With a single healing touch, she had turned a pack that once wanted her dead into one that loved her.

And what had I done?

“You saved her,” Dirk said quietly. “You saved her. You made her believe in love again. You helped her trust. I scarred that girl deeply, and you brought the joy back.” He vanished.

Parker touched my shoulder. “You loved her. Even when you wanted to hate her, you loved her, and it had nothing to do with your wolf. You saw the fight in her, saw the strength, and you loved her for it.”

He faded away.

“You protected her,” Evalina sighed. “I knew you were important. The moment my vision fixed on you, I knew that by saving her, you would save us all. You protected her.”

She filled with light and disappeared like a star.

Little by little, the crowd of the dead began to vanish as well, until only Anna and I remained.

But she was still dead.

“Do you trust her?”

I stiffened when Katherine appeared and stared at me. “Your death had nothing to do with me. Go away.”

“No,” she said simply and looked down at her daughter. “I wanted her to live so badly that I practically cut a piece of her away. Now, when she needs her magic most, she doesn’t know how to use it.”

“So I can blame you?”

Katherine laughed. “You want to, but you can’t. Everyone made Anna suffer, and now so have you. That’s why you’re stuck here instead of speaking with her.”

“And you’re going to help me?”

“When my mate killed me, I saw it coming. There had always been that lingering fear that our bond wasn’t true, but in the end, it was I who turned on him. I tore it apart without a second thought. Of course, considering my daughter has a broken neck, I guess now you know what that’s like.”

“Shut up.” My voice trembled with rage. “Just shut up.”

“You pushed her away and cast her out. That’s your fault.”

“I said shut the fuck up,” I shouted. “I am nothing like you! You destroyed Anna because you didn’t trust her, and I know Anna is enough. I believe in her. She is so much stronger than Maeve. She can win!”