The White Wolf Queen Of The Damned

Chapter 7.

Atlas’s POV.

I move to follow after her. When Ajax stops me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Let her go. She has been through a lot and she needs this.” He says and I know he is right, but Judge, he is wanting to go after her. f**k, he is trying to force the shift to chase her down.

“I made a horrible mistake. I need to make it up to her, Ajax, I’m an i***t. I should have listened to you, and I’m so very sorry, brother. How did I not see what was right in front of me? How am I so f*****g blind?” I say, my voice cracking as I let the barrier down.

“I won’t say I told you so, Atlas, but I did tell you she was telling the truth. You need to let go of what Torvi did to us. It is not just you who was hurt by her actions. Ajax and Jury were too.” Judge says to me, and I sigh and feel more ashamed because he did tell me. He did tell me that Pandora wasn’t lying, and I was blinded by my own insecurities and fears that I looked for a lie in her.

“Alpha, we have a woman running close to the border. Do you want us to stop her?” One of our warriors, Duncan, says through the mind link.

“Is she trying to cross the border?” I ask back and wince because, of course, she won’t be. She escaped them fuckers and she will not be going … Oh s**t.

“Pandora is by the border. We need to stop her.” I say as I let Judge come forward as I run with Ajax following behind me. I leap off the front steps, landing on black paws as Judge picks up speed as he follows her peach cobbler scent.

“Which way did she go?” I ask Duncan and wait for him to respond.

“West.” He says, and Judge jumps over fallen logs with a snarl as Jury runs beside us. I pick up on Pandora’s sobs, and the scent of her tears guts me. Judge whines as we get closer to the border. We slow to a stop and there she is.

On her knees, head bowed, and her arms wrapped around herself. I look at Jury and he whines low. It is so strange that we can feel her pain without being marked by her. Her pain is raw, unyielding, unforgiving. I step forward slowly and quietly and Jury does the same thing.

“Why? Why is this world so cruel? Why are people so greedy? They didn’t have to die. It was my mother’s power, not theirs. Selene, tell me why?” She shouts as her fist hits the ground and it causes a crack. I watch in shock and awe at what she has just done.

I look at Jury and open the link to my brother.

“We need to calm her down before she hurts herself.” I tell Ajax and Jury nods his head and we both approach her silently. Judge lets out a loud whine, and she stiffens before slowly turning her head. Her violet eyes are burning bright and her pupils are like slits.

“Yeah, I forget to mention her eyes do that.” Ajax says and I blink, looking at our mate. She has so much pain, and I caused a new kind of pain for her, and I hate myself for doing that to her. She is innocent. She was manipulated into doing what they asked of her with the promise of their telling her where her parents were.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have ran.” Pandora says as she pulls herself up to stand but Judge nudges her with his snout and she smiles softly. He nudges her again he wants her to sit back down.

“You want me to sit?” She asks, and Judge nods his head once and she does. She sits down and crosses her legs, and Judge moves behind her and lays down against her back and halfway around her right side, and Jury does the same thing, covering her left side. Goddess, I love those tingles. I was so f*****g stupid.

“Thank you.” Pandora says and I lift my head and look at her. Why is she thanking us? In the short amount of time she has been here, I have caused her pain. Goddess, if she rejects me, I would deserve it and then some.

Judge whines, and Pandora lifts her hand, and it hovers when Judge moves his head under her palm.

“Your fur is so black, so soft.” She says when she does the same thing to Jury.

“I guess I should explain why I said thank you. It is for telling me the truth. As much as I wanted not to believe it, Pearl told me it is the truth. So, in a twisted kind of way, thank you. I need to reject the pack. That is why I came here. At first, I was going to cross back over and make them feel what I feel. But I stopped myself. They already know how I feel because they caused me this pain. They caused all of my suffering, and for what? Money, power, status. What I don’t understand is they would have known I was a white wolf. So why treat me the way they did? If they wanted to use me for my gifts, wouldn’t they have treated me better? Or is it simply because they forgot? To lost in their own self-righteous beliefs that they thought they were untouchable.” Pandora finishes with a sigh.

“She has a point. Maybe they forgot, or maybe they thought that by treating her like this she would be submissive enough that they could simply use her like they did by withholding the information about her mom and dad.” Judge says and I have to admit he may be onto something.

“It doesn’t matter now. They will know I’m alive and will come for me again.” Pandora says and that causes both Judge and Jury to growl. Pandora stiffens at that but then takes a deep breath.

“No matter, I am not like them. As much as they have all hurt me and played me for a damn fool. I let it happen. I should have listened to Pearl. I should have never trusted them, and look what happened. It nearly got me killed, all for what? Because I know too much and I will bring the pack to ruins. Alpha Fredrick was right about that I suppose.” Pandora stands abruptly and turns to face the treeline that surrounds the border.

Jury races off behind one of the trees, and moments later Ajax steps out wearing shorts and in his hand he is holding shorts for me. So, I take them in my mouth and move to the trees and shift back quickly, pulling the shorts on before I walk out, and both myself and Ajax move to stand next to Pandora.

“Whatever you decide to do, we will stand beside you as you do it. Pearl is right. You need to reject the pack.” I say to her and I want to touch her but she may not want that, not after what I did and after what she has been through. Goddess, I’m such a piece of s**t.

“No, you’re not. A fool, definitely but that is all.” Judge says and I sigh, raking a hand through my hair.

“I told Pearl I didn’t want other people to suffer and I don’t want to hurt anyone, but some part deep down inside of me wants to. Something inside is screaming at me to set it free. That part of me wants to see them lie in ruins as the flames lick higher around them. That part wants to hear their screams the same way I … I mean the way they made me scream.” I look at Ajax and he, like me, didn’t miss that little faux par. What is she hiding?

“You don’t have to hurt anyone. Let us do that for you. Let us be there for you now, Pandora. I, alpha Atlas Nightbane, alpha of the Night Stalker Pack, hereby uphold the vow that was made to protect the Morningstar bloodline from harm. I also accept you, Pandora Morningstar, as my mate and luna, if you will have me.” I say, dropping to my knee, and Ajax does the same thing and pledges the same vow.

All I can do is hope that she accepts them, that she accepts us, or have I f****d it up for me and my twin?