Jaguar Moon ; Redemption

Portals

Layla bolted up out of the bed. Axel was still asleep, thank the gods, so maybe she could slip away quietly? 

Visions of her evil brother loomed in her head. Had he really tried to contact her? His voice had sounded so shaky, so full of fear…. 

“Chalci,” she whispered, “I need help.”

“Yes, princess, you do,” The voice of her sleepy jaguar wafted through her head. ”I heard the voice of the jaded one. He is truly, in danger of dying, and you are the only one who can help him.”

Layla would never understand Chalci’s unnatural gift of knowing things, or how to find people, and why she herself didn’t have this gift, but her jaguar had never steered her wrong.

“Listen to his voice, princess, he will guide you...Call his name.”

Layla silently crept to the bathroom, where she summoned her magic, appearing in her black kitten attire.

She closed her eyes and visualized the man who had tormented her, who her worst fears were made of..

“Nix?” she closed her eyes and listened…After a long moment, a familiar voice echoed in her head.

“Layla, sister, our mother is alive. I am set to be executed by the council in the morning. Mother said you are the only one who can help us….Please, just come save our mother… I am sorry sister, I was wrong all along…”

“f**k!” she whispered under her breath. She had no idea where Madden had banished Nix to, or if this wasn’t just some sort of trap, but the agony in his smooth voice was so raw, so full of emotion…

“Chalci, can we find them?”

The big jaguar sauntered into the bathroom, her tail curling around one of Layla’s legs. She rubbed her head against Layla’s hip as she purred, then looked up at her.

“Only the king can.”

“But you know what Axel will do if he finds me gone…” Layla muttered, “He will be furious with us, him and Armour both.”

“Then you have a choice to make,” Chalci spoke in her head, ”Save your brother, or let him die, and we both know you won’t let that happen. You saved Tonya, you can save him and your

mother, or you can let them both die. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, and we both know Axel will forgive you.”

“Yeah, right,” Layla huffed as she pulled out her makeup ,painting her eyes black for tonight’s mission .”I’ll leave him a note.”

“‘Chalci, go wake Jax, he’s going with us. And I’ll need Roan.”

Chalci quickly snuck out the door of Layla and Axel’s room to collect Jax, while Layla grabbed a pen and a piece of paper.

“I’m sorry, Axel,” she whispered, as she laid the note on the nightstand, then opened a portal and jumped out into the night air.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------”Mother,” Nix’s voice broke as he brushed a stray hair from his mother’s clammy forehead.

“Nix,” she smiled up at him, her breath shaky. 

“Did you try and contact Layla, son?”

“Yes, mother, but I don’t know if she listened. I fear we may be running out of options.”

The wolf shook his head, his usually silky straight blond hair was a matted mess now, from being held in captivity for so long. Strange how the tables had been turned, and his whole life upended before him.

All the evil that he had done all the wrongdoing, had been under the cover of nothing more than lies .His mother had been alive this whole time, held by the very people who had told him she was dead, and he had been nothing more but a puppet on their strings for the last years.

Stealing his half-brother’s mate, trying to kill his siblings, torturing whoever the Council deemed fit, what was his life worth? He was no better than the people that had held his mother hostage and fed him full of lies! Who was he now that the truth had come out? What purpose did he serve other than to be punished for his wrongs? He may not deserve a chance to live, but his mother did.

The door to the cell they were being held in opened, and a member of the Council stepped in.

Nix shielded his mother with his body as the hooded figure crossed the room, with three guards in tow. 

“Time to pay your penance, Nix,” she said.

What was there to say? In his thirty one years, he had never felt so helpless as he did now, with his mother dying at his side, and no one to turn to, it was time to face the truth. Nix was out of time, and any options.

He stood proudly, pulling his shoulders back. ”I’m ready”

As the guards reached for him, a white light enveloped the room. A portal opened, and in stepped Madden and Roan. Before the guards or council member could act, Madden and Roan grabbed Nix and his mother, and in a flash of light they were gone.