Broken Chains

Chapter 8

The long empty roads became narrow congested town roads. By the time we had found a bus heading direct it had meant that we didn’t arrive until just after three and so the school run cars were clogging up the roads while kids of various ages loitered around on the streets, clearly having nowhere better to go but wanting to believe they had a choice other than going home.

“Jess.” Carl said tapping me on the shoulder but it wasn’t a necessary gesture despite the fact that I had my MP3 headphones in I could still hear him. I pulled the headphones out and flicked the MP3 off. It was Derek’s the one he had given me so long ago. Dean had been using it to amuse me while I had been tied up back in that bedroom, so it had been shoved casually in my pocket to keep it safe, I hadn’t known I had it until we had run away but now I was glad for it.

“Looks like we’re here.” He said brightly

“Do you have any clue where we are going?”

“I know the address” he said firmly

“You do.” I said incredulously, “I barely recognised the name of the town.” Carl smiled,

“Well that’s because you hate her.” He said in a sort of conspirative tone.

“I do not.” his smile widened

“Yeah you do.”

“She hated me.” I conceded,

“She just really loved Derek.” Carl said with a smile. As the bus pulled into what I had to assume was the bus station but that was purely informed by the fact that there were three busses here as generally the place just looked like a derelict car park. Carl stood up and gripped my hand yanking me sharply to my feet. As we filed off the bus with all the other passengers Carl lingered by the driver to ask for some directions

It transpired that this bus driver had a worse sense of direction that I did so after about an hour of striding around purposefully in circles we gave up and found a taxi rank. It turned out the house we had been hunting for was less than a five minute walk from the bus station; it takes real skill to make that short walk so complicated. The house we were after was a large three level Victorian sort of terraced house. Carl opened the rusty gate,

“Carl maybe I should stay out here.” I said placidly he smiled,

“Ordinarily I’d agree. But you know I can’t leave you here by yourself.” he said brightly “come on.” He said gripping my hand lacing his fingers through mine. “Be strong. I’ll protect you.” I giggled and followed him down the short gravel path and stood next to him as he rang the doorbell. After a few seconds the door swung open. The first thing I noted for the folded arms the second thing was the disapproving eyes which lingered on me flicking just for an instant down to my hand which was still being squeezed by Carl.

“f*****g your way through all the brothers Jessica.” It was lucky Carl had hold of my right hand or I would have slapped her head off as it was I still got a pretty powerful blow in with my left hand. I couldn’t help a smug sort of smile slipping onto my face as I saw the women in the doorway stagger slightly her disapproving glare at me deepened.

“Jessica.” Carl muttered yanking on my hand. I couldn't tear the pissed off look off my face though.

“So hi Aunt Em.” Carl said brightly.

“Little tip Jessie if your coming to somebody to beg for help slapping them is not the traditionally preferred course of action.” She snapped slamming the door in our faces.

“Well that went well.” Carl said calmly.

“Bitch.” I snapped at the wood,

“Well Jessie you did slap her.” He said levelly,

“Yes and if I’d known she was going to respond like that I would have slapped her harder.”

“Jessica talking like that is not going to help.” Carl said calmly dropping my hand before he turned and began rapping hard on the front door “Aunt Em. Aunt Em look sorry but we do need to talk to you.” He sighed as we got no response.

“Oh screw this.”

“Jess.” he said calmly “we need her help.”

“Yeah and she may know where Derek is. NOTHING is keeping me from him, defiantly not an aunt with a superiority complex and a flimsy front door.” I shouted.

“That’s not going to-” he cut off abruptly as my front kick busted the lock and the door flew open. “Damn it Jess.” He said as I ignored him and just strode down the hallway to Emma who was stood at the end of the hall with a cordless phone in her hand that she was clearly halfway through the process of dialling; she looked at me flatly clearly unimpressed by my dramatic entrance. I simply strode to her and yanked the phone from her hand and flung it against the far wall where it shattered. She sighed that was it, just a sigh she might not live in the pack any longer but she had she knew us well enough to expect this type of behaviour.

“Like I always said Jessica your people skills need a serious amount of development.” She said simply I narrowed my eyes and growled at her as Behind us I was vaguely aware of Carl trying to perch the door back into the frame I had busted the lock off as well as one of the hinges. “Darius called.” Emma said simply. “I was informed you two had gone missing.”

“That’s who you were calling?” I said looking vaguely at the remains of the cordless phone.

“Yes.” She said simply “and I will call him the second you leave. I promised.”

“Do you know what we’re trying to do?” I snarled

“I promised.” Emma said plainly,

“And you’ll turn us in why your not subject to pack law anymore and you know that.” Emma leaned towards me just a little,

“Who said that I promised Darius?” She said

“Derek was here?” I asked firmly my eyes locked on hers, I knew instinctively that they would be shinning golden.

“You should really let that boy be free of you.”

“SHUT THE f**k UP.” I shouted at her. “Look I don't care if you love me, hate me or think I’m f*****g Satan. Derek is my mate I love him more than anything in the world and he is Destroying himself with every passing second and nothing not my father not my pack not a band of f*****g rogues and certainly not his human Aunt are going to stop me from finding him. I am going to save him if it involves me chasing him to all four corners of this earth.” Next to me Carl sighed, “Please Emma I have to, this it’s all my fault.” I felt the guilt at admitting what I couldn’t say to Carl prick behind my eyes, I blinked trying to force myself not to cry.

“Oh I know that Jessica.” Emma said calmly “He told me.”

“You have seen him.” Carl jumped in. Emma smiled and nodded,

“Yesterday afternoon. I tried to get him to stay but he wasn’t having any of it.” She sighed “I always did say you’d be the one to destroy him.” She said lightly though the look she directed at me was anything but light. “Come on.” She said jerking her head “I’ll make you some tea.” I looked over to Carl baffled and he just shrugged at me and gestured with his head for me to follow her into the kitchen. I was honestly baffled though the initial reception was the way I expected this to be I didn’t expect the offer of tea, as Emma honestly did hate me. I didn't see her much I hadn’t since I was a child but she didn’t even like me then. Emma was Carl and Derek’s Aunt their father Pete’s sister. Despite being born in the pack she didn’t have the genes so she never experienced a single shift she was human. In this case you can still choose to stay with the pack as your still one of the family but many chose not to. Boys born within the pack would always shift even if only one parent passed on the shape shifter gene. Girls however were rare to be born to shape shifter parents and even with both parents being shape shifters it didn’t mean a girl would necessarily shift. Me and Beth were the only two girls for this generation of the pack and of course we both inherited the shape shifter gene. In my Fathers generation Pete’s Sister Emma and his sister Lucy had both been born into the pack and failed to shift. Lucy chose to stay with the pack but was killed by rogues years later, before I was even born. Emma however felt that she didn’t belong and rather than conforming to the restricted life of the pack she went out into the human world and dug out a life there. After all to be in the pack but not a shifter you would still have a problem with things such as trying to find a partner as there were things we couldn’t share with mortals. Emma had all but completely segregated herself moving from pack territory into a neutral zone she was safe their though no rogue knew she had connections to the pack and they had no reason to know she didn’t smell like a wolf she didn’t act like a wolf and she had all but no contact with the pack. She had got herself a house trained as an accountant or something like that involving numbers. She was responsible for maintaining the packs financial records, which was a good thing for us going through her company as the packs finances well they weren’t shifty but we liked to keep our cards close to our chest if they could. I don’t know why she didn’t like me she just never had I know she hated my mother too, but that’s from what people tell me rather than something I actually knew. She said that she just didn’t like the way I treated Derek. I guess I could understand that in recent years anyway but she hadn’t known us when she had decided she didn’t like the way I treated Derek back when there was no me and Derek. It was as if she knew what I would do to him. Okay even at that age I did have him wrapped around my little finger but I did with all the boys to varying degrees.

“Darius called me of course the day you were kidnapped and he told me about Bethany.” Emma said as she flicked the kettle on she turned around to face me leaning back against the counter as me and Carl picked seats at her little kitchen table rather than waiting for an invite as we knew it wouldn’t come. “I’m sorry.” She said and my eyes just widened as I looked at her. “I really Am.” she said simply “you grew up thinking that your twin was dead. Suddenly there she is kidnapping you.”

“Yes thank you for that I hadn’t realised the situation I had lived through. Hearing it through your delicate terms I’m confronted by the true horror of it all.”

“That’ll teach me to try and be nice.” Emma said turning away and opening a cupboard beginning to retrieve some mugs.

“Well where were you when Pete died?” I could only see her back but even I could see her entire posture freeze. “Well?”

“This isn’t exactly why we’re here?” Carl said calmly,

“What would you have had me do Jessica? He was dead?”

“I don’t know show some respect join your family grieve for him.”

“Oh I did sweetheart, but I could just go to the den and stay there indifferently like you do I have a life here, and I loved my brother but I decided to leave that family and I left that life behind. I left that way of life, you don’t think the way I do, and he was murdered so I know you would have wanted to hunt down someone tear apart somebody you can find to blame. I don’t want to live that way, I don’t believe in it so I’m not welcomed back there.”

“We shouldn’t have stopped you from mourning you brother.”

“I left that world behind.” Emma said plainly.

“Look we’ve mourned for my father and we’ve avenged his death, it's done with. And that’s not why we're here. Were here because I’ve lost my father and I will not lose my brother.” Carl said His voice became a hiss by the end.

“Well like I said I was apprised of the situation by Darius he told me about Derek and the unfortunate incident with James.”

“Jamie.” I snarled my fists clenching on the table top

“Apologies.” She said “I after all hadn’t met him, I assumed Jamie was a pet name.”

“It was his name.” I said trying hard to keep my voice neutral as my nails bit deep into my palms.

“This is not productive.” Carl snapped, Emma turned back to her boiling kettle and began making the tea. “Look Aunt Emma. We just need to know where Derek is can you help us. …Please.” Emma sighed and turned bringing three mugs of tea to the table along with a jug of milk and a little pot of sugar I didn’t know people still have a tea set like this.

“I don’t have coffee and I don't know how you take your tea.” she said as if in by way of explanation.

“Emma please. “I said gently “whatever you think of me I love him and I want to help him.”

“Derek came here yesterday.” She said gently after a significant pause, “ as far as Darius told me I should have considered him a rogue and called the enforcers but I didn’t, I let him in. he wasn’t a rogue he wasn’t a murderer he was my nephew he was just sad. I let him in made him tea and he just sat right where you are.” She sad gesturing to me “and he just cried and you know why, because he’d hurt you.” She sighed “after all you did.”

“Yeah I know I’m evil.”

“No but you were cruel. Sleeping with him then leaving running away Screwing around, f*****g a rogue and then secretly running away from him so you can abort a baby that may have been his .” I bit my lip and looked at Carl whose eyes were flecking gold with emotion he hadn’t known this and he very clearly didn’t like what he was hearing. I had told Darius everything and Ashton but I hadn’t told everything to the boys, I didn’t want them to all hate me as much as Derek had been forced to. " you hurt him so much that he just lost it he was angry with you and Jamie though that Derek was going to hurt you so he tried to protect you and Derek acting on instinct killed him. I saw his eyes I saw how much that haunted him that he had killed one of his brothers.”

“You think that’s what I wanted to happen.” I snarled

“And what did you think would happen?” Emma asked softly an innocent sort of questioning look on her face.

“Doing all that to someone you love and he’s not a human. You knew what you were doing to your mate you knew. I can tell that Derek would have been gutted by it and I’m not even a wolf.”

“And your not me either do not presume to know me or how I feel about him, because you will never get that ever.” I snarled Carl reached across the small table and gripped my hand. Emma’s eyes flickered down to our linked hands although she did exercise some sense on this occasion by choosing not to comment on this.

“Look Emma.” Carl said gently dropping my hand as though it was a poisonous viper and addressed his tea. “We want to help him, whatever happened with him and Jessie it’s done but now we just need to help him. He’s with a bunch of rogues did you know that? Rogues.” Carl finally lifted his eyes to lock on her, “you know what they did when they left Jessie? We went and tracked them down across the town and we found them, they had been squatting in some bungalow and do you know we found in the garage? A dead elderly couple they had been battered to death.” He snarled his voice rising as his eyes flashed gold with an intensity I wasn't used to from him. Emma sighed, “Did he tell you that? Did he tell you that he had run away with Jessie’s sister and what apparently is her half-brother and Christian do you remember him?” Emma ran a hand across her forehead as she looked at her tea her highlighted hair falling down around her face.

“I didn’t see any rogues. It was just him.” Emma said quietly

“Believe me there are rogues.” Carl hissed “there have to be because Derek couldn’t do the things they can do. Not yet. And he’s my brother I want to stop him before he can”

“You know what he said, the last thing? He asked me to call Darius when you came to send you home, he said the enforcers finding you wasn’t the best option but as he couldn’t seem to persuade you that them dragging you home it was better than the two of you floating around.” She sighed, and leaned over to pat Carls hand “he’s still your brother.” The silence stretched out between us finally Emma spoke “what do you want to know?” she asked her eyes down,

“Where is he? “I whispered, she sighed again.

“I don’t know.” She said simply. I narrowed my eyes at her, " honestly Jessica.” She said calmly meeting my gaze.

“Then why was he here?” she smiled,

“I think he needed to talk.” I gave a disbelieving look, “if he truly only has those rogues for company who do you think he has left to talk to. And of course he wanted you two to follow him here, so I could force you to go home.” I hung my head and placed my hand over my eyes trying furiously to recompose myself, I wouldn’t cry my stupid childish head butting with Emma meant I wouldn’t break down she wouldn’t see me cry, even though I knew that crying in front of her may in fact endear her more to me. I heard the chair next to me scrape back. After a few minutes I heard Emma sigh and lifted my head as I saw a small snow white envelope had been placed on the table before me. I picked it up and turned the blank envelope over.

“What’s this?”

“It’s for you.” She said quietly “I wasn’t to give it to you. I mean he just asked me to keep it and if he died when I found out that he died I was to- well he said turn this into the pack, but that means that he wanted me to give it to you.” I turned the envelope over and over in my hands, before I just took a deep breath and went to open the envelope.

“Jessie.” Carl cut in I lifted my eyes to him frowning, “don’t read that.”

“What?”

“That’s his suicide note Jess, he’s not dead yet and do you really want to hear about the biggest regrets of his life? “I didn’t respond I just kept my eyes on the envelope and lifted it to my lips which I pressed to the paper inhaling as I did so and I was rewarded with just the tiniest hint of Derek’s scent. I nodded to Carl and placed the envelope down on the table.

“I already know what’s in there.” I whispered

“Do you have any idea where he went Emma any at all?” Carl asked calmly as my mind started to wonder, where would he go? What were they looking for? I lifted my eyes aware that I was being watched it was Emma her eyes were narrowed and locked on me or more specifically on my hands which were absentmindedly fiddling with my engagement ring which still hung on the chain around my neck.

“I don’t know where he is.” she said simply “he said that he was going to go to where he belonged.”

“Fuck.” I hissed, Emma frowned from me to Carl and back again.

“I know,” Carl said solemnly “do you know where we are going?” I smiled at him

“Vaguely we’ll have to pick up a trail.”

“You know where he is?” Emma asked

“I hope not.”

“He’s lost everything you know his pack meant the world to him.”

“They mean the world to me to.” I confessed “but I can’t leave him.” Emma sighed “why have you always hated me so much?” I asked flatly an obvious question that we had all quietly decided to just not mention despite the fact that how an adult can hate a child so much especially one they were rarely required to endure was a mystery to me. Of course once I had become an adult I had known how much she hated me which had lead to my hatred of her but the original origins of her anger that was lost to me. “I was just a child what did ever do to you?”

“You belonged.” She said softly " you were everything I wanted to be, you had everything. You were born in the pack, the only natural female.”

“You didn’t even know that. I was a child I didn’t know.” I snapped,

“You belonged there.” she said firmly. “you were the Alpha’s little girl and Derek already doted on you so it was fairly obvious you two would be mated so shifting or not you would always be there and belong with them. I may have chosen to leave but I didn’t want to honestly I wanted to stay with my family I wanted to belong but I couldn’t that place it wasn't me I couldn't have belonged there ever and you well you did. You so easily had everything and you saw absolutely no value in any of it.”

“I know.” I whispered “I was stupid but I know what I had now and I have to try and protect it as best as I can. I love them all so much.”

“So go find him.” Emma sighed “I will have to tell Darius, but I don’t know where your going and anyway I’ll have to go buy myself a new phone first.