Jackson's Vengeance

Chapter 14

Tori’s POV

My back is pressed against the door, I can feel that he is still there, and I am shocked, I have no words to express how I feel right now. My thoughts are all over the place and my heart is pounding so hard that I feel like it will jump out of my chest.

Did Jackson just kiss me?

Yes!

He did!

My head is spinning because the last thing I thought would happen would be something like this. Especially since my conversation with Lucian earlier today.

Let’s backtrack?

This morning I walked into the war-room thinking it would be a normal day, then I found Lucian who stared at me like he wanted to say something. He approached me after the meeting and said,

“I am sorry if I make you uncomfortable, but I am here because of you.”

“I don’t understand,” I say.

“The Alpha female, she was… she was our Alpha.” He says looking emotional.

“I am so sorry,” I say reaching out and touching his shoulder.

“It’s ok, she is alive, in you and I was drawn here by her.” He says with a smile.

“If you told me this a year ago, I would have laughed in your face but now I believe everything and anything,” I say laughing. I laugh so hard that I almost lose my balance. Lucian helps steady me. I notice Jackson lingering and he looks very displeased, but I just look away.

“Life has changed for all of us and it is hard to accept some of these changes,” Lucian says.

We talk for a while with Hilda about his old pack and how the Alpha was captured, how he escaped when they killed her and how he was in hiding when he sensed her again. He was following the direction his wolf gave him when a group of Frans henchmen attacked him and beat him up. They threw him into the ditch and thought he was dead. Then Jackson and the scouts found him and brought him here.

“I am glad that I found you Alpha.” He says.

“Oh, please call me Tori,” I say.

Hilda goes off to check on her patients and Lucian and I go to the hall to have some food. While there Lucian tells me,

“The only thing different about my Alpha is that she has been marked now.”

“What is this marked story that everyone is on about,” I say annoyed.

“Tori, you don’t know!” He says, almost like an accusation.

“Well in all fairness, I was a vampire most of my life and I have only been a wolf for 1 year of which I didn’t have the time to learn about every aspect of wolves.”

“Marking my dear innocent Alpha is when a male wolf chooses his mate,” Lucian says looking deeply into my eyes.

“I am going to assume you mean mate as in lover,” I say completely shocked.

“Yes, a male wolf will choose his mate when the female is in her wolf form. The marking only happens when the male wolf finds the female wolf he seeks, or she displays the calibre he seeks in a mate. For example, if he is an Alpha, he would seek out an Alpha female. If he is a beta, he may seek out a beta female or second in command or even a healer like Hilda and Bruce.”

“How does he decide that she is the one he wants to be with or mark?” I ask even more confused.

“Well, let’s say you a Beta and your job is to protect the Alpha. Now let’s say the Alpha was in some danger and the Beta was overpowered or the Beta wasn’t around, then a female comes around or stands up. Her fighting spirit may attract the Beta and he may mark her right there in the form of a bite on the back of the neck. If it is an Alpha, he might be seeking an Alpha female that is a good fighter and caring. I get the feeling that Jackson marked you for that very reason.” Lucian explains.

“How can I be his chosen mate when I am a vampire?” I ask.

“You are part wolf part vampire now but when you are a wolf you are fully wolf. The Alpha genetics is much stronger and takes over, it had altered the cells in your body. You will always have the vampire side, but the wolf will be more active and dominant.”

“So, I am Jackson’s mate?” I ask out loud feeling strange saying these words.

“Well there is a ritual, once the male wolf marks the female, then she has three moons in which to accept his marking. If the feelings are mutual, then she may accept immediately. If she doesn’t accept then a second marking takes place.”

“Firstly, how does she accept, and second how does the second marking take place?”

“To answer your first question, if the female’s feelings are mutual, certain things will happen. She will feel stronger for him; their dreams might be linked, they can sense each other and even communicate without talking. She may not know that she has feelings, but these signs will lead her to understand her feelings and later accept his marking. To accept the marking the female must bring the wolf a kill, any animal big or small will do. Then she needs to publicly bow down to him and finally, she must mate with him. How does the second marking take place? Well if by the third moonrise and she has not accepted his marking, another male wolf or all unmated wolfs may chase her and mark her. The first wolf to mark her will then be her partner for life unless that partner dies. These are unsaid wolf rules and no human can change them.”

“What if the wolf did one of those things unknowingly?” I ask freaking out about the information.

“What did you do?”

“After the first coven attack, I collected the food on the run home, and in my wolf form, I brought him a rabbit, it was after the marking and his wolf ate it but in his human form, he avoided me like the plague. Then when he called all the first in command with a howl, they all arrived and bowed down to him, so I followed out of respect for him being the Alpha.”

“That means there is only one part of the ritual left, for you and Jackson to mate in your wolf form.”

“This is crazy, the human hates me but the wolf chooses me.” I stand up and put my hands on my hips shaking my head.

“It is the wolf that chooses the mate, not the man. He has to learn to accept his wolf's choice.” Lucian says trying to make me feel better.

Now a whole lot makes sense, why everyone looked at me so strangely, why they all kept saying the pack will never accept me, why Lin and Cayley kept being so evil to me and why Minnie has been avoiding me. Hilda said I needed to be calm for her to tell me and now I know why because I have already unknowingly accepted his marking. It also makes sense as to why he avoids me in his human form because he also knows that the first part of the ritual is complete.

“It’s time for my check-up with Hilda. We can talk about the rest later Tori, but it looks like your fate is sealed.” Lucian says.

He walks off and I go to my room, the first time I heard those words were from Frans when he said I had to marry him to be free, little did he know his experiment would turn me into a wolf and he wouldn’t be able to have me. This time the words are said to me by my wolf's kin and as much as I hate when I have no say and control, I wonder if I do mind being chosen my Jackson.

I think about the moments we have shared since the marking, the nights he would watch me, the way his wolf looked at mine when she brought him that rabbit, the way his face changed when I bowed down with the others. The rage in his eye when Mike was at the lake and the look of relief when he came back and found me waiting for him. Not to mention the look in his eyes, maybe jealousy, maybe anger but he has never looked at me the way he looked at me when I was in Lucian’s presence.

Finally, the kiss!

The possessive way in which he claimed my lips, the gentle, silky strokes of his tongue over mine. The heat washed over me like my entire body was on fire and I wanted him. I wanted him so badly that during our kiss every moment since we meet aligned and formed a picture in my mind showing me that I do want him, and I have wanted him since the moment I first saw him.

The only question is, is it the wolf that charged in here to take possession of my lips, or has the man also realized that he wants me too, Tori, the half-vampire and half werewolf. The genetically modified freak his pack will never accept.

I move away from the door and I can hear him breathing, I know he is still there, and I have no idea what is going to happen next. All I know is that Jackson has awoken a part of me that I never thought existed.