Alpha's Pet Book 2

EVONY

After being found by the Stone Pack, Alpha Nathaniel—or, better, my real father—explained to their alpha why we were out in the woods of their territory.

Luckily, the Stone Pack alpha had influence within the supernatural world and convinced them to give us a ride back to the Winter Moon territory. I guessed being the leader of the largest pack in the state had its perks.

My body still ached from my shift, and I wondered why I couldn’t remember anything from that night.

An eerie dread continued to linger in the back of my mind, telling me something was wrong…but what?

I watched the trees and surrounding forest flying past us through the car window.

A faint memory of running through the forest at night appeared in my head. Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on it, but instead of regaining more of that memory, an agonizing pain ripped through my chest, leaving me breathless.

I cried out in pain and lurched forward as it only continued to grow.

Looking down, I clawed at my chest around the area where the pain was coming from, but there was nothing, no injury or mark beside the ones my claws were making on my skin. What was happening to me?

I could hear Nathaniel speaking to me but couldn’t focus on what he was saying. It hurt so much.

The pain seemed to increase even more and felt like liquid fire was spreading throughout my insides. The memory of Axton and Ethan arguing popped up into my head.

***

“You need to back off; you’re drunk and don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit! Drunk or not, I know what’s right or wrong, and you are very much in the wrong! How long do you plan to keep this up?”

“I said that’s enough! We can talk about this when you’re sober.”

“No! You don’t get it! Kade probably already knows what she is. This entire plan of yours failed! It’s pointless to keep this a secret from Evony any longer.”

Dread started to run through my body as I listened more to their argument.

“…I planned to—”

“Planned to what? You are just being a coward. Unless you want to lose her and end up like Alpha Nathaniel, you need to tell her! She deserves to know you’re her mate!”

My heart stopped as my racing thoughts halted. What…~?~

“That’s enough!” Axton snarled as I stumbled back, out of my hiding spot, looking at both of them.

I couldn’t form words and much less thoughts. I was shocked and could feel a tight pain in my chest. How was this possible?

Ethan noticed me first, and his drunken anger turned to horror as he stared at me. Axton noticed his gaze and followed it until his eyes landed on me. He paled and didn’t say a word as he looked at me.

My heart started to race as everything started to make sense now. Reality came crashing down on me as their stares felt like they were burning holes into my very soul. Shaking my head, I turned away and ran.

***

Mate... Axton was my mate? I didn’t have the chance to completely assimilate what that meant because the next moment, the pain became worse, and I cried out while curling up into the back seat.

“Evony? What’s going on?” Nathaniel’s voice sounded distorted, and I swore I could hear others speaking to me. They were faint, but I swore I could hear the old man talking and what sounded like... Ethan?

I could feel hands on me and voices talking, but none of them really made any sense. I couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying, and the only other persons in the car were the driver and my father.

Why was I hearing voices of people who weren’t even here?

Glancing up, I noticed my reflection in the rearview mirror. My eyes were glowing. One of the voices rung in my head once more.

“Restrain him!”

A heavy pressure seemed to push down on my chest exactly at the source of the pain, and I nearly screamed. The last thing I saw before blacking out was Nathaniel’s horrified eyes looking at me.

Then, everything went black…

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on the forest floor. When I sat, all the pain from before was gone and I felt as light as a feather.

Was I dead?

I quickly shook that thought from my head. No, no, no... I couldn’t be; Axton needed me! I couldn’t die when I had just only found out the truth!

This had to be some kind of dream.

Around me, I could see nothing but endless forest. Yet, it seemed vaguely familiar.

Standing on my feet, I started walking in a random direction, and as strange as it was, this felt like the right thing to do, as if someone was calling out to me, but it was so faint.

Eventually, I came across an open field. In the center sat a midnight black wolf, who was staring at the forest as if he was waiting for someone.

Excited, I ran toward the wolf. It had to be Axton!

The wolf’s ear twitched, and he turned his head to look at me. I stopped in my tracks. Instead of the golden irises that I had grown to love so much, I met with my own green eyes.

It wasn’t Axton’s wolf... but mine.

She watched me curiously as I approached and didn’t make a single move.

I sat down next to her, and we just remained there silently. She looked back at the forest and continued to wait. Who, or what, was she waiting for?

I had heard stories that mates could share dreams. Was she expecting to see Axton? I looked into the forest and waited with her.

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes seemed like hours. I could tell she was losing hope. She wanted to see him just as badly if not more than I did.

As we sat there silently, I thought about what had happened the night I had shifted. I had run away from Axton, but why didn’t he come after me?

Closing my eyes, I delved into the memory and tried to make it resurface. Slowly, bits and pieces came back.

I could remember I was running and then collapsed. Afterward, there was snow...and hunters... I could hear the gunfire...gunfire...?

Then, I understood what was wrong and why I had shifted so suddenly.

Axton was shot.

I got on my feet in a panic, and my wolf whimpered beside me. “No, no, no! I have to go find him. I can’t stay here any longer.”

Doing the first thing I could think of, I pinched myself. Looking around me, nothing had changed. Well, that didn’t work.

“I have to get out of here; I need to wake up. Please! You have to help me; Axton is in danger!”

My wolf only huffed and laid her head down.

I was baffled. Did she not understand me or was she purposely blowing me off? I looked at the forest in the direction she was looking. If she wasn’t going to help me, then I had to help myself.

I started running in the same direction, glancing back only once to notice that my wolf wasn’t following.

Did she not care? Shaking my head, I continued to run deeper into the forest. The trees seemed to go on forever with no end in sight, but I didn’t stop.

Eventually, I came to a familiar area and stopped.

The cabin?

Slowly, I approached the small building. Why was it here? I walked to the front door but hesitated before opening it.

What I saw before me brought tears to my eyes. Axton lay there, sitting against the wall with blood covering his chest. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was heavy. He was alive.

“Axton!” I took a step toward him.

His eyes shot open as he lifted his head and looked right at me.

I attempted to take another step toward him, but something pulled me back, and before I knew it, I was awake and lying in bed inside Axton’s room.

“Ev!” Leiah came into my field of vision and gave me a near life-threatening hug. I had to choke out her name before she squeezed me to death.

Once she had pulled away, I gave her a forced smile and glanced around the room. Ethan, my father, and Darin were all either sitting or standing around. Everyone was waiting for me to wake up.

Everyone but Axton. Why wasn’t he here? I doubted that his injuries would be bad enough to keep him from seeing me again, right?

I was pulled from my thoughts as Leiah grabbed my shoulders and shook me slightly.

“Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?”

I gave her an awkward smile and tried to calm her down before she gave me another hug that might have literally been the end of me.

“I’m sorry if I worried you all, but I’m fine... Nathaniel took good care of me.”

They all seemed a bit surprised that I called him by his name and not his title first.

I smiled at my father, but he seemed concerned, most likely over what had occurred in the car. I still wasn’t sure what had happened either.

But I was glad he cared; it was more than Kade ever did for me. Ethan seemed to avoid my gaze, looking off with a frustrated look.

I had found out Axton’s big secret because of him. Did he blame himself for what had happened? Did he think I hated him? I hoped not.

Darin smiled at me as he pulled Leiah off me, and I smiled back at him.

“For how long was I out?” I asked.

“A total of twenty-three hours. We were getting a bit worried… Alpha Nathaniel said you started freaking out and then passed out in the car. What happened?”

Glancing down at my chest, I moved my hand over the area that had hurt so much, but felt nothing.

“I’m not sure… It was just a sudden pain. My chest felt like it was on fire. I passed out because of the intensity.”

Darin and Leiah shared a concerned look, while Ethan began fidgeting nervously and my father leaned against the wall, skeptical of something. Everyone was silent.

Clearing my throat in an attempt to change the subject, I looked at each of them.

“So, where’s Axton?”

Instantly, the mood in the room darkened as everyone avoided my gaze. “Ev… you should worry about resting for now…” Darin said.

I looked at Leiah, expecting an explanation, but she only looked at me with pity. Why was everyone acting so strangely? Dread started to seep into my bones.

“No, I want to see Axton. I need to see him!” Pushing the blankets off myself, I attempted to get out of bed only for Leiah to grab and stop me.

“Ev, you need to rest! Axton can’t see you right now!”

“I don’t care! I need to see him! Please, Leiah. You don’t understand. He’s my mate!”

A look of horror came over both of their faces. Why were they looking at me like that? What happened? The silence continued to turn the air cold.

“Take me to him, now!” I demanded.

“Axton is gone…”

I turned to look at Ethan, who was now standing by the doorway as if he was getting ready to leave.

“What?”

Ethan glanced back at me one last time before he left the room.

“Alpha Axton is dead.”