Jackson's Vengeance

Chapter 11

Jackson’s POV

The moment Tori’s hand touched my face, I felt a jolt and I had to leave because if I stayed, I would have done what my wolf wanted, to claim his mate and to hell with the consequences. My wolf has me running around, not allowing me to shift back into my human form. He hopes that she will shift and come in search of him but that will not happen.

By the morning my wolf still has me on lockdown and I must parade around the safehouse in my wolf form. No one seems to notice or care that their Alpha is fully suited and running around the place.

I need Bruce, I howl and a few moments later he shows up.

He looks at me quizzically and then shifts so that we can communicate wolf to wolf.

“What is going on Alpha?” He asks me.

“I can’t shift back,” I say.

“Why not?” He asks surprised.

“Last night I went to save Tori from Mike, I thought if I go as the Alpha, Mike would back away and I would not have…any urges to want to be with her.”

“So, what happened?”

“I sent Mike away, but she called me out and when she touched my face I felt...I felt something. I ran and now I am stuck in this form and I don’t know what to do.” I slump down on the ground and feel like I want to dig a hole and bury myself.

“Alpha, the marking is taking effect for both of you. You need to accept her; your wolf has chosen his mate and he wants to mate with her.” Bruce says stating the obvious.

“I know this Beta, but I can’t do that to the pack.”

“You need to do this for the pack, and they will understand.”

“Can you handle the pack until I figure this out?” I ask.

“Yes, Alpha.

Bruce leaves me and I lay on the grass, wondering what would appease my wolf other than Tori. I can feel my wolf shaking the thought off. He is sulking because he wants his mate and I will not allow that.

“We can not do that to her!” I say.

“When this is over, we are leaving this place, and we will never see her again.”

My wolf continues to sulk, and I stare at the sky. I need to be constructive, so I leave the safehouse and join Caleb in his scouting. This specific coven house is south of the safehouse. Caleb and I are watching from a safe distance. We observe the movement of the vampires, the gate changes, and anything that will help us get in and finish Frans off.

It is late when we return to the safe house and I wander around aimlessly until I can’t take it anymore and I go to the lake. Tori is there sitting on the grass and staring at the water, she is in the same spot I left her in the night before. It is clear that she hasn’t left and I feel terrible.

As I walk towards her my wolf sits next to her.

“What is going on Jackson?” She says, looking very hurt.

“Tori, I can’t explain it to you right now,” I say but she can’t hear me.

“Since the day we arrived here, I feel things and sense things that make no sense.” She says.

“It is my fault, I should have had better control,” I say, I know she can’t hear me but saying it makes me feel a whole lot lighter.

“I know you hate me, or part of me but I just want you to treat me normal like you do any other wolf.” She says and rubs my back. My wolf shifts closer to her and lays his head on her lap.

“The problem is you are not just any other wolf Tori,” I say, thinking about the marking and knowing that she is different now. How will I ever explain to her that the mark means we are forever joined.

We sit for a long time in silence and I watch her, her breathing steady. The rise and fall of her chest is seduction on another level. She rubs the wolf's back gently and he seems content for the moment. I feel relaxed too and I close my eyes. I can feel that she finds comfort in this and I just lay there listening to her breathing. It's soothing.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, Jackson.” She says,

“I see you watching me, like you want to say something but then you back down. I wish that we could just be friends. Just get along. I wish that I didn’t make you feel the way you do.

I lost my family in this war too, I saw them die. I can understand your emotions, but I didn’t do those things. I don’t know why you came to save me from Mike but I would like to think that you see me as a member of your pack now and that is why.” She continues and when I look at her, the pain in her eyes moves me.

I shift and I stare at her as she realizes that I could hear everything she said.

“I am sorry,” I say.

“For?” She asks.

“Treating you differently, making you feel bad and everything else.”

“Can we be friends now?” She asks.

“You did just give me a back rub, I think that we could be friends now.”

She smiles and I feel that jolt again.

“I guess that crosses the border from stranger to friendship.” She says, still smiling.

“Why did you stay here when I left last night,” I ask.

“I don’t know, I felt like you would come back, so I waited, and when it was morning the feeling was still there so I stayed, and with each hour that past I felt I had to wait for you.”

“I am sorry about what happened to your parents,” I say. Trying to change the subject.

“They were good, they didn’t drink human blood, they drank animal blood and always cleaned up so that no one would have to find their kill.”

“I respect that,” I say.

“I never thought I would lose them.”

“I get that feeling. I feel the same about my parents.”

“I think it is time for me to go to bed, thank you again, Jackson, for everything.”

I want her to stay but that would be hard. To sit next to her and not act on these emotions would be so hard. I decide to take a swim. The water cools me down and my mind clears as I swim around the lake.

Finally, I get to my room, I throw myself on the bed and fall asleep, in my dreams, I have her in my bed and we are entwined as one. The feeling is so real and I wake up suddenly, shaken by my emotions in my dream.

My wolf is doing it again, calling me out, he wants his mate.

“You can’t have her,” I say frustrated.

“We can’t have her.” I correct myself.

If anything I think that makes my wolf happy to know that I feel this attraction to Tori too but I have more common sense and self-control to act on it. How can I act on it when I know that no one in my pack will accept her. They already give her a hard time for who she is. Iva had practically ripped her head her off when our first attack failed. I know everyone suspected her to have warned the vampires but I knew she didn’t. She hated them just as much as we did, if not more than some of us.

I lay in bed and wonder what she is doing, wonder what she is thinking about and I know that I need to stop this. When this is all over, we are going our separate ways. She will find a pack that accepts her and I will have to lead my pack to a place where we can rebuild and start our lives over. There is a lot that needs to happen. I can’t focus on this attraction. I would be attracted to her, she is beautiful and I marked her. There are certain rules to marking and I know them. Hence I know that I can’t act on this because if I do if we mate then she becomes mine fully and I will evolve completely.

I know Bruce and Minnie want me to do it so that we can become stronger but I feel that if I did that I would just be using her to gain power from her and I can’t do that. It is true, part of me has warmed up to her but that might just be the marking. I can’t be sure of anything right now.