Chapter 265 The Beta's Anchor
Jax had exactly fifteen excruciating minutes before he had to be standing at the perimeter gates.
He didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. He burst out of his office, leaving the encrypted monitors glowing blindly in the dark, and took the grand, sweeping staircase of the estate two steps at a time. The heavy, rhythmic thud of his mud-caked combat boots echoed loudly through the eerily, suffocatingly silent packhouse. It was a stark, terrifying contrast to the usual vibrant warmth and chaotic noise of their home. Every hallway smelled faintly of stale fear and the anxious pacing of pack members locked down in their rooms.
He didn't slow his frantic pace until he reached the heavy, reinforced oak doors of the Alpha suite, giving a sharp, authoritative nod to the elite guards stationed like stone gargoyles in the hall.
He pushed the thick door open and stepped inside.
Before the heavy brass latch could even click shut behind him, Ginny was already moving.
She had been anxiously, relentlessly pacing the far side of the plush carpet near the portable bassinet where little Iggy was finally, blissfully sleeping, completely unaware of the nightmare unfolding around him. But the exact second the frantic Matriarch saw her mate walk through the door, her pacing violently stopped. She practically flew across the room. Ginny threw her entire body at Jax with reckless abandon, her arms wrapping desperately and fiercely around his thick neck as she buried her tear-stained face violently into the center of his chest.
Jax let out a devastated, feral sound. He instantly wrapped his massive, heavily muscled arms around her, aggressively pulling her slender frame as securely against his freezing, mud-and-blood-soaked tactical vest as he physically could without crushing her. He buried his face deep in the familiar, sweet scent of her soft hair, squeezing his glowing golden eyes tightly shut as a jagged, shuddering breath finally tore through his burning lungs.
He was a lethal Beta. He was a hardened warrior. But having Ginny safe, incredibly warm, and steadily breathing in his arms was the absolute, undeniable only thing keeping his own panicked wolf tethered to reality while his Alpha brother's world violently burned outside. She was his absolute anchor in the storm.
Ginny slowly pulled back, just enough to tilt her head and look up at him. Her beautiful, usually bright eyes were heavily red-rimmed, bloodshot, and swimming with terrified, unshed tears that threatened to spill over at any second. Her delicate hands aggressively gripped the heavy Kevlar front of his tactical vest, her knuckles turning stark, bone-white from the sheer, desperate force of her grip.
"Have you found her yet, Jax?" Ginny pleaded, her voice completely breaking into a raw, heartbreaking whisper that violently shattered the fragile quiet of the nursery. Her eyes desperately searched his exhausted, scarred face for a single shred of hope. "Please... please tell me you've found her."
Jax didn't answer immediately. Instead, his rough, calloused fingers tenderly brushed away the lone tear that had escaped, streaking silently down her flushed cheek. His fingertips lingered there, pressing lightly against her trembling skin as if he could somehow physically absorb the agonizing pain radiating from her entire body.
The silence stretched a second too long—Ginny’s breath hitched sharply in her throat, her fingers tightening painfully around his vest straps. He could hear her pulse roaring wildly in her veins, smell the sharp tang of maternal fear clinging to her skin like an unshakable second scent.
Jax exhaled heavily through his nose, slow and deliberate, violently forcing his wolf’s panicked whine back down his throat.
"We tracked her scent halfway to the eastern border," he said finally, his voice rough as crushed gravel. His thumb brushed the hollow under Ginny’s eye again, catching another tear before it could fall. "We followed it deep into the thicket, Gin... but then the trail just—vanished. Like she was plucked straight out of the freezing air."
A tiny, devastated whimper broke past Ginny's lips, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. She knew exactly what it meant to lose a scent trail in their world.
"No," Jax growled softly, his hands instantly dropping to grip her waist, anchoring her to the floor before the panic could fully consume her. "No, she's not gone. She didn't vanish. Fennigan found something else. He found the mechanical heat."
Ginny blinked, her tear-filled eyes wide with confusion. "Heat?"
"She's underground," Jax stated, his golden eyes hardening into pure, lethal Beta determination. "There's a massive, fully operational bunker buried deep beneath the roots. We are literally standing right on top of her, separated by thousands of pounds of dirt and a solid steel hatch. But it's locked tight with a military-grade biometric scanner."
Ginny’s breath caught. "Then how are you going to get to her? Fennigan will tear his own hands off trying to dig through solid steel."
"He's trying," Jax admitted, a heavy weight settling on his broad shoulders. "But I'm not going to let him. I have a guy. A tech. He's bringing a decryption rig right now." Jax's eyes darted toward the heavy clock on the wall. The digital red numbers were mocking him. "I have less than ten minutes to get down to the main perimeter gates, grab him, and haul him back up the mountain before the guards rip him apart."
He leaned down, pressing a fierce, desperate kiss to Ginny's forehead.
"Lock this door behind me," Jax commanded, his tone leaving absolutely zero room for argument. "Do not open it for anyone but me or Fennigan. I am going to go get this hacker, I'm going to rip that bunker door wide open, and we are bringing our Luna home."
Ginny nodded fiercely, her small fingers twisting into the fabric of his vest for one last desperate second before forcing herself to let go. She stepped back, her bare feet sinking slightly into the plush carpet, her entire body rigid with determination—but her lower lip trembled. Just once.