Hunted

Goodbyes

“Jace, I know you don’t want to, but we have to go. Our plane leaves at midnight.” He sounds compassionate, something I would never expect from the big bad Alpha. He is always very strict and insensitive when it comes to his kids. But now, he almost seems sorry for what he did. 

“Why, where do we have to go?” I answer.

“I’ve told our pack doctor about her, he insisted that we go back home immediately.”

“No, we can’t just take her like that. She has a life here, friends, family, she even has a boyfriend. You can’t just take her away from that.”

“I’ve got her phone here. You text them, be creative. But remember, it must be clear that she is probably never going to see them again.” He hands me the phone and leaves the room. I use her fingerprint to unlock the phone. There are some unread messages, I feel bad for reading them but I need to know what’s going on if I want to make a believable excuse. I only know Caleb. He was the Beta of the pack that we came here for. I decide to text him first but there are some messages from him.

“Hey babe, are you free today?”

“No answer huh? I take that as a yes, see me in ten minutes”

“Where are you? I’m at your place.”

“Please answer, I’m getting worried okay. The Slades said you were there with another guy last night, is that true? Can we please talk?”

It takes me a good couple of minutes to form the text I’m going to send him

“Hey man, this is the guy she was with last night. I’m Jace from the San Francisco pack, you’ve might have seen me at the meetings this week. Yeah, so, it turns out I’m Kaya’s mate. I didn’t even know she was a wolf so, yeah, this all is very weird. But to tell a long story short, my dad forced her wolf to come out and now she is in a sort of coma in our cabin. We’re leaving midnight tonight so if you want to say goodbye to her I understand.”

Immediately I see that he is online and has read the message.

“I’m on my way”

As I’m waiting for him to come, I start to pack my bags. Just as I walk towards the kitchen I hear a car. Not long after that, the door opens and I see Caleb standing there.

“Where is she?” He looks desperate. At the meetings everything is formal but now all formalities are gone and I see him for the man that he is. 

“Follow me.” I walk towards the room she was laying in and open the door. He walks in first and I follow, closing the door behind us.

“What did they do to you?” He asks her while he grabs her hand. I see a tear rolling down his cheek. “I know this is not your fault. You didn’t even know you were a wolf. All these years I just hoped you were my mate, we would have been so perfect together. But yeah… You’ve got yourself a future Alpha now. So that’s not too bad, but still. I’m going to miss you so much. I might ever see you again, and that’s the worst part. Because someday you will forget about me, and you will fall in love with him. It’s inevitable, you’re his mate and not mine. But someday our paths will cross again while you may have moved on, but I know I won’t. I spent the last 4 years of my life thinking you were the one. I’m 24 now babe, if it wasn’t you, then who is?” An eerie silence follows.

“But that’s nothing for you to worry about. You have found your soulmate so I can only be happy for you and wish you both the best. But please, don’t forget about me. Don’t forget about all the things we did, the fun we had, the times where we would sneak into the abandoned ice skating rink and just skate all night, the times when we would have nice dinners or the times you would go blackout drunk, and I had to carry you all the way home. But it’s okay. I’m going to tell everyone that you got a scholarship somewhere. And I’m going to make sure all will be taken care of. I am going to miss you so much, princess.”

He kisses her on her forehead, I feel Xav getting irritated about another man being so close to her, but this is not the time. Caleb stands up and wipes a tear away. 

“Can you please do me a favor?” He asks.

“Yeah, sure. Anything.”

“Please don’t tell her I’m a wolf. At least not for now. I don’t want her to get mad at me for lying to her for so long.”

“Sure man. I will make sure she doesn’t know.” He wants to shake my hand but I pull him into a hug. He needs a hug. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I was in his position, but I sure as hell know that I would not have been so calm.

I feel bad taking her away from her. He loved her so much, and I think she loved him too. Not only has he got to process the loss of his girlfriend, but he also has to accept that the girl he loved wasn’t his mate and on top of that he has to tell everyone she left, without saying goodbye.

“If there is anything I can do, you will contact us okay?” I tell him.

“Just care for her and leave her as little alone as possible. She sometimes gets lost in her mind when she’s alone.” 

“Yeah, of course. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Just that she is the sweetest human being in the world and that you are one hell of a lucky guy to have her as your mate.” After he said that he turns around. “Goodbye, princess.” He says. He turns around and walks out of the house. A couple of seconds later I hear the engine start and he drives away.

--------------------------------

The following months pass very slowly. Our "vacation" in New York is over and we are back in San Francisco. Kaya is in a coma with 3 gunshot wounds and multiple infections. Every day is the same: working out in the morning, eating, going to the hospital and back home in the evening. The doctors say she might never wake up again, but I don't want to give up. I have been waiting so long for my mate and now she is finally in front of me. I don't want to lose this. Every day I go see her, hoping that she has woken up. I quit school and focused on my Alpha education. I’m sitting next to Kaya's bed, holding her hand, when I hear someone come in.

"Jace?"

"f**k off Isa. Leave me alone. " I reply annoyed. 

"Jace, dad wants to talk" 

"If it had been that important, he would have come himself," I snarled at her. 

"Jonathan, don't act like that against your sister, she can't help it either."

"f**k you. I am not in the mood for a speech on how to let her go, so if you are for that, go away. " 

"Jonathan, I'm not the bad guy here," he says calmly. "Please come with me."

“No” 

“Jonathan! Come here!”

“No! This is all your fault. If you hadn't come and cut her with that stupid knife, this would have never happened! "

A couple of doctors walk into the room, but none of them carry anything with them.

"Are you ready for sir?" One of the doctors asks. 

"Do it," 

I see one of the doctors walk to the life support machine and everything falls into place. He wanted to do it for real. My very own father wanted to end my mate's life. Xavier flips and takes control. The doctors run out of the room. This wasn't the first time they saw a werewolf, but I, as the son of the Alpha, was pretty impressive. Xavier spent the rest of the weeks beside Kaya's bed. He did not eat or drink or sleep. Until one day the devices started to beep. Doctors ran into the room and Xavier gave me the control back. And there I sat, barely alive myself, watching the doctors try to save her life.

I feel useless. The only thing is can do is wait and hope for her to wake up. She looks bad, bruised, and bloody, opposite of the happy and full of life girl I met some time ago. A noise comes from her phone, it’s from Elle. We told all of her friends that she is going to a university here, but she was the only one to realize that’s complete bullshit. She hasn’t stopped texting her since.

“Hey, girl. I know it has been a while since we talked but I just want to know how you are doing. You left so quickly and we didn’t have the time to even say goodbye. If you wanted to escape from something (or someone), you should have told me, I could have helped you.”

What does she mean by someone? Is someone after her? Did she know that she’s being hunted and was the ‘I don’t know what a werewolf is’ thing a lie? I want to reply to the message but that would give Elle false hope of her making it out alive.

Before I could even think further another message comes in.

“Or maybe you have thrown away your phone in which case, he is after you again, and you will never read this message or ever contact me again. I love you, be safe. If you are ever able to, please give me a sign of life”

The screen turns black and in white letters, there appears a message

“To the one who found this phone. Destroy it. It will only bring you pain and misery”

Of course, I’m going to keep the phone, why would I throw away the last piece of her old life. She deserves something to remember her of the people she used to know.

If she even wakes up.