Birthright

Chapter 24 - I’ll com back for her - Jackson PoV

Lex moved faster than I expected for someone half bruised from rebel training. He slammed into me hard, using his full weight to pin me against the rough stone wall of a house. The impact rattled my bones, but it didn’t break the invisible pull clawing at my insides.

“Jac please.” His voice cracked with strain. “Talk to me. What’s going on? Snap out of it before you get us both killed. Our cover will be blown if you don’t calm down.”

His forearm pressed across my chest. One of his hands gripped the collar of my shirt, knuckles white. His icy blue eyes were inches from mine wide, frantic, swirling with worry that he tried so hard to hide.

The throbbing in my neck pulsed again, violently. My Lycan snarled, pacing, slamming against the walls of my mind.

I tried to open my mouth nothing came out.

“Jackson!” Lex shook me once, hard. “Look at me. Look at me.”

I forced my gaze to lock onto his. The world around us muffled screams, whispers, footsteps fading into a distant blur. All I could see was my best friend, fighting like hell to anchor me to reality.

“That’s it,” he breathed, voice softening as he saw the recognition return. “Breathe. You’ve got this. Just breathe.”

I dragged in a shaky breath.

Then another.

Slowly, painfully I pushed my Lycan back, shoving him into the shadows of my mind. He resisted, claws out, furious and terrified. But I kept going until the raging storm inside me dulled to a low, restless growl.

Control crept back into my limbs, piece by piece. My hands stopped shaking. My spine loosened. I felt my feet beneath me again.

Lex felt the shift too. His grip eased just a fraction, though he kept me caged between his arms and the wall.

“There you go,” he murmured. Relief washed across his face. “There you are buddy. Don’t do that to me again, man. Nearly gave me a damn heart attack. What In The goddess was that?.”

I swallowed hard, voice finally scraping its way free.

“I… I don’t know what that was,” I whispered.

But deep down, in the part of me still burning, still throbbing with that impossible pull…

I had a terrifying suspicion.

And her name was Ephy.

We stayed pressed against that stone wall for what felt like forever, though it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. I focused on nothing but my breathing slow, steady, deliberate. Each inhale pulled me further from the edge, each exhale caged my Lycan deeper in the back of my mind.

Lex didn’t move from in front of me until he was absolutely sure I was steady. His hands hovered near my shoulders like he expected me to crumble again.

“Alright,” he said finally, voice low.

I nodded. My legs still trembled, but the violent pull had dulled to a quiet, persistent burn beneath my skin. The pain was no longer knocking me sideways, but it wasn’t gone either. Like a thread tugging me forward… toward her.

“We can’t stay here,” Lex murmured. He glanced up and down the street, eyes sharp. “Those guards will circle back. People are already whispering. If you lose control again, we’re done.”

“I know.”

My voice came out rougher than I meant it to.

“I’m fine now. We need to move.”

Lex studied me for another second, then let out a breath. “Then let’s get out of this gods-forsaken street.”

We moved quickly, sticking to the shadows along the ruined houses. I forced my legs to obey, even though every instinct in me wanted to turn around and run straight toward the Great Hall… straight toward Ephy.

But not yet.

Not like this.

Not when I had no army, no power, no plan—nothing but a name and a heartbeat that wasn’t entirely mine.

“We go back to the portal,” I said, more to myself than Lex.

“We regroup. We get stronger. I will come back.”

Lex didn’t argue. He just walked beside me in silence, trusting my resolve.

The city around us was a graveyard of what Talvarna used to be shattered windows, burned signs, frightened eyes peering from behind curtains. And in the center of it all, the Great Hall towered over the ruins like a monster.

My jaw tightened as we slipped through an alley.

Ephy was in there.

Alive or hurt I didn’t know.

But she wasn’t gone.

That throbbing in my neck, that pull, that pain..it wasn’t random.

It was connection.

Bond.

Destiny.

Something waking up inside me.

What was she to me?

Lex nudged my arm as we neared the outer wall of the city. “Jac we’ll get her out. I know you. You don’t leave people behind.”

I swallowed the pressure building in my chest.

“I’m coming back for her,” I whispered, the promise sinking into my bones like iron.

“And when I do I’ll rip that bastard’s world apart.”

We slipped into the marsh land, the buildings fading behind us as we headed for the ridge toward the portal. Toward time. Toward the uprising.

But as we ran, that faint pull in my neck pulsed again.

Not pain this time.

A warning.

A promise.

A claim.

Ephy wasn’t just someone I needed to save.

She was someone I could never walk away from.

Not now.

Not ever.

I felt deep in my bones, I need her.