Chapter 15
1122 Words
Jax’s POV
Stepping out of the bathroom, the cool air of the bedroom immediately hit us. Freya pulled the thick towel tightly around herself, her body still giving tiny flinches, but the wild, hysterical terror that had flared in her eyes half an hour ago was gone. She was exhausted. She was physically and mentally drained to such a degree that she was practically only kept on her feet by sheer will and my arm.
I led her to the edge of the bed and carefully sat her down.
"Wait here," I whispered, then stepped over to my massive, dark oak dresser.
I pulled open one of the drawers and took out a clean, black cotton t-shirt. My own. I knew it would be huge on her, but I didn't care right now. I just wanted to give her something soft and warm. Something that carried my scent. My wolf instinctively knew that the smell of pine and leather permeating my clothes would soothe the girl's turbulent soul.
I stepped back to her and handed her the fabric.
"Put it on."
Freya slowly nodded. I turned away, giving her privacy while she swapped the wet towel for the shirt. When I heard the soft rustle of fabric, I looked back. The sight simultaneously made my throat tight and my heart give a massive thud.
My t-shirt reached almost to her knees, completely swallowing her thin, fragile figure. The neckline had slipped loosely off one pale shoulder, revealing a faint, healing bruise. She looked like she belonged exactly here. In this room. With me.
I lifted the heavy, black down comforter.
"Get in," I said softly.
She didn't object. She obediently slid under the covers and immediately turned onto her side, pulling her knees to her chest. I carefully tucked her in right up to her chin. The second her head hit the pillow, her eyes closed. Her breathing grew deep and even. Exhaustion instantly pulled her under.
For a few minutes, I just stood silently by the bed and watched her. Her wet blonde hair, her peaceful but still far too pale face, her pointed ears. My mate. The woman broken by her own kind.
The tenderness that had kept me afloat for the past hour now receded. It was replaced by something else. Something dark, raw, and freezing. The pack leader awoke within me, and he wanted blood. Not hers. But the blood of anyone who dared speak of her with disrespect.
I turned around, quietly pulled the door shut behind me until it clicked, and started down the stairs.
The atmosphere in the bar was tense, though a low rock song played in the background, and a few people were drinking. As my boots clacked on the floor, eyes turned toward me. Silas stood at the bar, arms crossed, while Kane, holding a beer bottle, was explaining something to the others by one of the pool tables.
When Kane saw me, he fell silent. He looked me over. He saw my fatigue, my wet hair plastered to my forehead from the shower, and my gaze, which was darker than night. But Kane never knew when to shut his mouth.
The corner of his mouth twitched into a mocking, sneering half-smile.
"Well, what's up, Boss?" he called out loudly for everyone to hear. "Don't tell me you've become a nurse? Didn't think our Alpha would be such a little... softie. Are you going to sing her lullabies next? A motorcycle club leader playing nanny to a..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
I didn't run. I didn't even walk. I crossed the room in a fraction of a second with the raw, explosive speed of my wolf.
Kane didn't even have time to blink. My massive hand clamped around his throat like a vise. I lifted him off the ground with pure strength and slammed him into the wall with such brutal force that the wood paneling cracked loudly behind him, and the decorative license plates on the wall clattered to the floor.
The beer bottle dropped from his hand and shattered into pieces. The music in the bar seemed to go dead. No one moved. Silas took a half-step forward, but my murderous glare instantly rooted him to the spot.
I released my aura. The thick, suffocating Alpha power that instinctively made every wolf in the room bow their heads.
Kane's face began to turn purple. His legs kicked in the air, his hands desperately trying to pry my iron-grip fingers from his throat, but he stood no chance. I was much stronger, and my rage multiplied my strength tenfold.
I leaned so close to his face that my eyes practically glowed yellow into his terrified stare.
"Listen to me, you bastard," I growled, the vibration of my voice making the tavern windows rattle. "That girl up there was beaten. She was chained and tortured! Her own father watched as they ripped the flesh from her back with a whip. She hung in our cellar without food or water for days. And you think this is a damn joke? You think it's funny to call me soft for trying to bring her back to life?!"
Kane tried to wheeze, but I tightened my grip.
"She is my mate!" I roared in his face. The beast's voice had completely taken over. "The Moon Goddess gave her to me! And she deserves care. She deserves respect, mostly from me, and from everyone else in this damn room!"
I looked over the pack without letting go of Kane. They were all watching silently, without a peep.
I turned back to my suffocating warrior, and my face hardened, shutting out all empathy.
"If I ever hear you dare speak like this again," I whispered dangerously softly, "if you make even a single mocking remark, or if you dare to be disrespectful in her presence... I will reach down your throat with my own bare hand and rip your tongue out. Do you understand me?"
Kane's eyes watered from the lack of oxygen, but he began to nod frantically, desperately.
I dropped him with disgust.
The massive man fell to the floor among the broken glass shards, and on all fours, coughing and gasping loudly, he tried to suck air back into his lungs.
I straightened up, adjusted my clothes, and looked over my men.
"The rules have changed," I stated coldly. "Freya is no longer a prisoner. She is my mate. And anyone who cannot treat her as they would me... has no place in my pack."
With that, I turned around and headed back toward the stairs. No one dared to call after me. The pack had gotten the message. The game was over.
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