I Will Always Be By Your Side

Chapter 7: We meet again

Marcuse’s POV:

Arthur had not stopped passing around my office since his son had stormed out. I could tell he was stressed, we all were, I looked over to his wife, Kathleen, sitting next to Arabella. I could see the worry in my mate's eyes as she looked back at me, as she caught my eye, she smiled at me. No one had spoken since Eric had left. I thought it was a good idea to send Eric instead of Jaxon, he was too emotional, and we could not risk anything right now, but I was having second guesses at this point. Not one of us had spoken since the boys had left the room. Kathleen looked up at me and she finally broke the silence ‘Is there any chance she could be one of us?’ I could hear the shakiness in her voice and sense the unease.

‘No, we knew her parents, we watched her grow up. We would have known. She had never shown any signs.’ Arabella was so calm when she spoke, I always admired the way she kept a level head in these types of situations. ‘Maybe he’s mistaken’ Arabella continued. Arthur stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her. I could see his eyes flash with anger for a moment ‘There is no way one of us could mistake those feelings for Arabella, he was so sure of himself. The way he described it, the way he described her, she must be.’ He snapped.

‘But a human mate? Its unheard of!’ I snapped back; I knew he was stressed right now, but I would not have another male talk to my mate like that in my own home. He winced and glanced at me as he realised his behaviour was out of line. I looked over to Kathleen, who almost looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment ‘It just makes no sense’, she whispered. Arthur shook his head and walked back over to his wife. He knelt beside her and took her hands in his ‘We will sort this.’ He said with a reassuring tone, and she nodded back at him. He looked back up at me ‘If she is his mate, we need to discuss the other arrangements we had for him. Everything will change if this is true.’ I nodded. I had not even thought about everything else, I had just wanted to find out for curtain and then we would consider our next steps, but thinking ahead now, there was so much more at stake. But before we could even discuss it, I heard a car pulling up into the driveway.

We ran to the door inpatient for Eric’s answers. As the door opened, I saw him walking up the path. He looked nervous and there was something off about his demeanour. I glanced at Arabella, and I could tell she could sense the same as he reached the entrance. He stopped and looked at us hesitantly ‘Come inside son, what’s happened.’ I could hear the curiosity in Arthur’s voice. Eric looked at us. I could sense his uneasiness as he spoke.

‘Please do not ask me questions, but the plan has changed.’ Each of us shared the same perplexed look back at him ‘I need to ask you for a favour.’ I could see over Eric’s shoulder that the car was still parked on the drive and the driver was standing by the backseat door. ‘She’s here.’ Arabella stated.

‘Yes, she needs a place to stay at least for tonight. I can’t tell you why, so please trust me on this.’ He looked towards the driver and nodded. The driver opened the door and I saw her gingerly step out. She looked cold, she was in shorts. The only thing that seemed to be giving her some kind of warmth was an old hoodie and then I spotted her bare feet and as she walked towards us I felt my mate tense and could feel her becoming worried. I looked down at her as she stepped forward. I followed her gaze and when I noticed the marks on her face, she kept her head low until she reached next to Eric. When she looked up, I could see the marks of tears on her face and the fear still in her eyes. I could feel Arabella filled with sadness and worry for her.

‘I completely understand the position I am putting you in and if it’s too much I can find somewhere else it’s really not that much of an issue.’ He was smiling as she spoke, but her eyes looked desperate. ‘No trouble sweetheart, please come on in, let’s get you something to drink and I’ll get someone to make up one of the spare rooms so you can get warm and comfortable.’ Arabella stepped forward and put her arms around Chloe and guided her into the house and down the corridor towards the kitchen, Kathleen followed.

‘I’m sorry but I didn’t know what to do.’ Eric whispered anxiously, I looked down at him and placed my hand on his shoulder, ‘Gather the others we need to let them all know that she is here and that she is our guest.’ I was not angry at him I knew he was only looking out for her; he ran off down the path towards the barn. ‘Things just became even more complicated’ Arthur smirked ‘Let’s go.’

Jaxon's POV:

I hated all this waiting around, I could feel my wolf stir with anger and impatience, it was taking all my self-control not to let him loose. I have never felt him fight to be free this much before. It worried me. I just wanted to see her again, I wanted to hold her close to me and explain how I felt. No I did not want it, I needed it. My body burned to be near her, I felt as if a piece of my soul had left with her. I was so distracted by all the emotions I hadn’t been paying attention to my siblings running around the kitchen, I felt Andrew’s hand on my shoulder, and I looked over to my brother sitting at my side, ‘It’ll all work out in the end, I promise’ the reassurance in his voice calmed my wolf for a moment and he smiled at me sympathetically.

‘What is up with you tonight? Honestly, you have been moody all evening!’ Eric’s sister May flopped down in the seat opposite me, passing Andrew and I a beer each as she swigged one herself. ‘Come on you used to be the life and sole of the party.’ She teased, I smiled back at her and took a swig of the beer. ‘Long night, just not in the mood.’ I shrugged the questions off.

I kept thinking back to her, her beauty was mesmerizing. I thought back to the evening, remembering everything about her, and then I thought back to the boy, the one who had called her babe. My wolf started to become restless once again, angry at the thought of him anywhere near her. Everything about her made me yearn for her; her eyes, her figure, the way she walked, the way she smelt. Just the thought of her made all the visions of the night come flooding back. I could have sworn I could still smell her scent, caramel and coffee with the slightest hint of an open fire, it was such a warm and homely smell, I would never be able to get enough of her scent. Her scent was strong, as if she were still there. I looked up to see Andrew looking at me, a slight glimmer of excitement in his eyes. I heard the click of a door closing in the distance and the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway towards us. I could hear my mother and Arabella whispering. She was here, I could feel it.

MATE! My wolf could sense it and my body was tingling with excitement. The idea of seeing her again filled me with delight and desire.

As I stood up from the table, followed by Andrew, the kitchen door opened and everyone fell silent, as the three-woman entered. My mother looked at me, her eyes radiated worry and surprise. She must not have realised I was in here. Arabella looked at me with the same worry as my mother did. Something was not right. I walked slowly over towards them, sensing the worry in them grow with each step I took. Chloe was looking down at the floor. She had not moved since entering the room. Arabella’s arm was tightly wrapped around her. My wolf was pacing, I could feel him becoming stressed at the obvious tension in the room.

I reached her. My mate. She continued to look down at the ground. Why wasn’t she looking up? I placed my index figure under her chin and lifted her head so I could look into her eyes. As I touched her, a small gasp escaped her mouth. Just touching her made my entire body become alive with longing. As she looked at me, our eyes locked and I felt my wolf become instantly calm.

But that did not last for long. As I looked at her, I noticed the fat lines of tears and the red marks on her face and neck that were obviously from someone or something attacking her. The anger inside of me began to boil.

I wanted to kill whoever had touched her. Whoever had hurt my mate. My wolf became restless and angry, I clenched my jaw tickly to stop him from losing all control. I could see the fear still in her eyes and I did not want to frighten her by losing my temper in front of her.

My mother coughed slightly, which made me reluctantly snap away from my mate’s eyes and look at her ‘Your father needs to speak to you’. She gestured to Andrew and my brothers, as well as the Erics' siblings. The tone of her voice was stern, so I knew there was no point in arguing with her. Andrew tapped me on the shoulder. ‘Come on Jax, we need to go.’

I didn’t want to leave her. Not again. Arabella looked at Chloe, her eyes still fixated on me, and then back up at me, my hand still resting under her chin ‘Chloe will be fine. We are getting a room made up for her as we speak. Go see your father, Jaxon.’ Unwillingly, I followed my brother out of the room.

I could feel my wolf annoyed with me for leaving her. I looked over my shoulder, as we made our way down the corridor towards the barn, but the kitchen door was already closed.

Eric had some f**king explaining to do!