Betrayal & Redemption

Chapter 12

Caroline POV

He rolled off the bed and stood there, looking down at me. I couldn't place the emotion in his eyes, but they were full of whatever it was. His eyes glazed over for a moment and I knew he was talking to his wolf. I inhaled the scent of his bed deeply while he was talking to his wolf, trying to be discreet. 

"Did you just sniff my bed?" he asks me. 

"Uhh no. No. Nope. It's your shirt- it stinks like soy sauce," I tell him, giggling and sitting up in his bed. 

His face fell for a second before he recovered and smiled at me. 

"Should we try to eat dinner again? Maybe without the food fight this time?" He asks, turning back towards the food. 

"You started it.." I mumble under my breath. He just laughs loudly. 

After we eat, I'm sitting on the floor with my back against the couch, we are watching some strange show about two teenage kids who are stupid as bricks and always do weird stuff. I honestly don't think I missed out on not having a TV as a kid. Watching shows like this would make me an i***t. I yawn and stretch, looking over at Jackson. Despite kissing me earlier, he turned the cold shoulder on again and has barely looked at me at all. Suddenly the TV turns off and we are surrounded by a soft light from his lamp. 

"Look...I know you don't wanna talk about it, and I've been trying to put this conversation off for a while, but..what happened to you?" He asks, still not looking at me. 

"I uh.. It's kind of a long story," I tell him, and my cheeks flush again. 

"Well. IF I am to protect you..you're going to need to tell me what I'm protecting you from. It better be good, too, because I have a pretty steep fee that I would be waiving for now for your immediate protection," he says, running his fingers through his hair. His bicep bulges and I swallow, my throat suddenly dry. 

I sigh and think over the events that happened the past few days. I am exhausted but I guess this needs to come out now. 

"On my 18th birthday, my mother sold me. To BloodMoon... Our pack made a deal with BloodMoon, since they are mateless, they were allowed to choose us before we found our mates and mark us so that we would be theirs. Three of our warriors helped me escape but they planted a tracking device in the car I had stolen- when it went the wrong direction, the car blew up with all my stuff in it. My wolf helped me hide but we were so far away from here and I hadn't shifted yet. So she took control and ran me through the woods. I woke up, followed your scent, and found your clothes in the trees. Then you found me, and that brings us to where we are now." I tell him. Saying it aloud makes it so much more real.. 

"What about the wolfsbane?" he asks, serious. His eyes are wide and he stands, pacing.

"They gave it to me to drug the other two guys," I tell him, confused. How did he know?

"No. No. You have it in your system... I can smell it on you. Were you drugged?" he stops pacing and asks. 

"Uh no- not that I know of..." I tell him. Nobody drugged me- what is he talking about. 

Suddenly there's a long howl outside, not directly outside the apartment, but it's too close for comfort. A cold shiver runs down my spine.

I look over at him and he has gone stiff. 

"f**k. We need to get the hell out of here. Now," he says. "Get your suitcases. f*****g hell. Did anyone follow you?" 

"I-I-I don't know. I was..sleeping..when Rae took me through the woods," I tell him. 

"Who the f**k is Rae? OH! Oh. Your wolf. Okay. s**t. Change your clothes- you need to dress warm. We're heading north," he tells me. 

He goes to the bed and pulls the mattress up. He morphs one claw and rips the mattress open. Piles of cash fall out onto the floor. He grabs a duffel bag and fills it with the cash. The then goes around picking up clothes and shoving them into his bag. I just sit on the floor paralyzed. 

"Come on. We gotta get going. Get changed," he says. I can tell he's trying hard to be patient. 

I jump up and go to my suitcases, rifling through them. I pull out a sweater but I really don't wanna wear jeans.... A pair of sweats land in front of me. I grab them. 

"Thanks," I tell him. 

I turn around and realize there's nowhere to change. He must see my look of horror because he stops and shakes his head. 

"Just get dressed. We don't have time for you to be prude," he says. exasperated. 

I turn my back to him and pull my tank and shorts off, throwing on the sweater and sweats, not bothering with a bra. I turn around and see the look on his face. 

"You watched!" I accuse him, my face going beet red. 

He shrugs. "Not every day you get to see a beautiful woman naked. 

My face turns 3 shades darker. 

"Lock this door behind me," he says. going out into the night with his duffel bag. 

I shut the door behind him and lock it. My mind goes to crazy places and an image drifts through my mind against my will- Jackson sprawled across the ground covered in blood. I gasp and cover my mouth. A moment later a knock comes on the door. I open it and he gives me an angry look. 

"What if it was someone else?" He says. 

"Uh- I- I-," I can't speak. 

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Put your shoes on," he commands. 

I follow his orders and stuff my feet into my sneakers, happy that I got running shoes incase anything happens. 

Not that I don't have faith in you, love, but I think I will take over in the event something happens, Rae says to me. 

Oh thank goddess. I have no idea what I would do if something were to happen. I don't know how to fight, I tell her. 

"HELLO??!! STOP CONVERSING. WE GOTTA MOVE!!" Jackson yells at me, snapping me out of my conversation. Rae purrs at his voice. Bleh. 

I grab a few more things- wallet, phone, hair ties, brush, pillows, and blankets. 

"What the hell are those for?" 

"Sleeping in the car. Duh." 

"For f**k's sake. Can we get going?" Jackson says, rolling his eyes. He moves behind the front door to an electrical panel and shuts the power off in the apartment. 

The world goes silent, not even crickets are chirping. Rae starts to pace in my head, getting agitated. Jackson stiffens next to me and puts his arm out, stopping me. He pushes me behind him as 4 wolves come out of the darkness. 

Jackson POV

She doesn't know that she's been drugged. Had to be the mother, Arlo says. 

Yes but why? Who would drug their own daughter?? I ask him. 

Someone who sells her to the highest bidder and doesn't want her to fight back. That's why she can't smell us. Her wolf is there but they don't recognize us because the wolfsbane is masking that sense, Arlo replies, angry. 

Suddenly a shrill howl erupts from outside. f**k f**k f**k. Of all wolf packs to be f*****g sold to...it had to be Satan's. Not really, though, but I call their Alpha that. He may as well be with all the bullshit he's been doing. The whole reason I'm here is to protect another Alpha's daughter from Rowan Howler. I'm not kidding- he is a werewolf with the last name Howler. He has had his eye on that young girl for a while now, but she needed to finish school without disturbances, and he paid me a little over half a million to watch her for the remainder of her senior year of high school. Protecting daughters is worth a pretty penny- especially when they look like Alicia Fredrickson, the little waif of a wolf that Rowan couldn't wait to sink his teeth into- literally. 

After commanding my little mate to change and pack, I catch her staring at me warily. Oh yeah, nowhere for her to change. Arlo all but licks his lips like a creeper, thinking of seeing her naked. I tell her to just get on with it and then I sneak a peek at her. She is perfection with creamy white skin, a perfectly round ass you just want to sink your teeth into, and t**s that I could sick on for days. I lick my lips and she realizes I'm watching her. 

Fuck 

Ha-ha pervert

Shut up, you wanted to see her, too

But of course, dippyshits

I smirk at that insult. Might have to use that sometime. We get all of our s**t together and I take my bags down to the car. I smell a hint of something and I know they're closing in. I run upstairs, yell at Caroline who appears to be dazed and confused to put shoes on, and the woman has the audacity to grab blankets and pillows. Like we're going to be building a f*****g pillow fort in the middle of getting killed in cold blood. We finally get out of the apartment and to the car and the wolves descend. I push Caroline behind me and look at the wolves surrounding us. A snarl makes it's way up my throat and I watch to see who responds submissively. 3 of the 4 respond with a twitch of their heads and I smirk. 

Showtime, Arlo says.