A Mate That was Lost

Chapter 16

It has been a few days since Alpha Douche barged into Jake’s office threatening everyone and telling me that I was going to go with him one way or another. Everyone was worried about the second part of his threat. We didn’t know what he was planning but we do know that he is planning something. Jake has been driving me crazy with all his precautions. I am no longer allowed to go anywhere alone. I have Alicia and Jenna constantly with me. If I wasn’t with them I was with Jake.

I haven’t seen Jenna since she went after Derek so I was very curious about what happened. Did they talk? Did he reject her? I was watching her carefully for any clues as to what happened between them. Jenna was with me now while I was getting ready to train with the pack. I had finally gotten up the courage to ask her about it when she turned to me quickly.

“I'm sorry,” she blurted.

I blink at her in confusion.

“You’re sorry,” I said, slowly.

“Yeah,” she said, looking away. “I am sorry for being such a b***h to you while you were here. I am sorry for pushing you down the stairs. I shouldn’t have done that. I had a huge crush on Jake and I just wanted to impress him and show him that I can be strong. I wanted him to see me and I know that it was stupid and not an excuse for my actions.”

My eyes were about to pop out of my head, they were so wide. I never expected to ever hear her apologize. I stood there not being able to form any words.

“Why,” I finally said. “Why are you apologizing now?”

“Derek and I had a long talk,” she said, looking up at me. “Well he mostly yelled and I cried. He made me see that I was being an insecure b***h and I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. None of us should have treated you like that. We were pack mates and we were supposed to like a family and just because you were adopted into the pack and an Omega doesn’t mean you weren’t part of the pack. You needed us to treat you like family more than any of us.”

Jenna was crying by the time she finished. I watched her to see if there was any kind of deceit. I didn’t find any and I nodded at her.

“I accept your apology, Jenna,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Did Derek tell you to apologize before he accepted you?”

Her eyes widen and the tears start to flow faster.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s not forcing me to apologize. After he was done yelling at me, he left and he hasn’t spoken to me since. He didn’t reject me but he did make me see that I was wrong. I am apologizing on my own. It just took me so long cause I couldn’t find the right words and now they kind of just came spilling out.”

“Thank you for apologizing,” I said. “As for Derek, give him time. I will talk to him about your situation but for now just give him some space.”

Her eyes widen and her jaw drops.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” she said, shaking her head.

“You aren’t asking me to do anything,” I said, smiling. “I am doing this of my own free will. Besides Derek is like a big brother, he will listen to me.”

Jenna starts to sob and I stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Eventually I walked over to her and just hugged her. She clinged to me, sobbing into my shoulder. We stood like that for a few more minutes while she cried. When she was done she took a step back and smiled at me.

“Thank you,” she sniffled.

“No problem,” I said, smiling back. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up and we will walk down to training together.”

She nodded her head and walked into my bathroom. I stood there and waited while she washed her face. When she comes back out, her eyes are a little red and puffy but she looks a lot better.

“Ready,” I asked.

She nodded and we walked out together. We chatted while walking to join the others for training. I spot Derek and Jake watching us chat and I smile at them. I walk over to Vic and we start the training with the pack chasing me. We have been doing this for two weeks now and I am now full on running. The warriors all have improved drastically but still nobody could catch me. There have been a couple of close calls but I avoided capture each time.

I love running so I do it everyday and I have become very fast. When Vic and I came up with this exercise, we both knew that nobody would be able to catch me, especially if I was full on running. My speed is what made me a deadly fighter. Not only was I fast on my feet but I could make split second decisions on the battlefield. 

Now that the pack was getting better at training, Vic and I have been meeting with the Silver Lake trainers coming up with a training schedule. I didn’t tell Vic or Derek that I planned on staying. I didn’t want to hurt anyone and I haven’t had a good time to tell Derek and Vic still hadn’t really spoken to me after I told him about Jake and I. 

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear anyone coming up beside me until I was being tackled. We went tumbling to the ground, wrestling. When we stopped rolling I suddenly felt a sharp poke in my side. I looked at my side and saw an empty syringe sticking out of my hip. My vision started to blur and I looked up to see a familiar face. I couldn’t remember his name but I had seen him before, in Jake’s office.

Then all of a sudden my vision went dark and the last thing I saw was the familiar stranger smiling down at me before I blacked out.

Jake’s POV

I was watching Jenna and Lani when they came into training together. When Lani smiled at me I looked over at Derek, who was frowning.

“Looks like those two are getting along now,” I said, amused.

“Yeah, it looks like it,” he responded.

“What happened between you and Jenna, anyway,” I asked, turning toward him.

“Nothing,” he said, looking at me with sad eyes. “We talked and I told her that I didn’t think I could accept someone who tortured someone I see as my little sister as my mate. I never rejected her though. I have been avoiding her ever since because I don’t know what to do.”

“If she really loves you she will find a way to make things right,” I said, in all honesty. “Trust me and it looks like she is already trying.”

I pointed to Jenna and Lani who were giggling as they walked to the front of the field. Derek nods his head in agreement but he still looks lost. I was about to say something when I saw Lani take off at the corner of my eye.

She has been getting faster and faster the past several days. A few warriors and I got pretty close to catching her and we almost had her a few times but each time she alluded us and just picked up speed. I was watching her run ahead of us when all of a sudden she picked up speed again and then she suddenly disappeared.

Panic started to rise in my throat when I could no longer see her. I sniffed the air and caught her scent and followed it. My warriors had the same idea because they followed. A few moments later I caught a different scent. It was familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. Like I had smelt it before but I couldn’t remember where.

I started to panic even more when the scent started to mix with Lani’s. I followed it forcing my feet to move faster. When I got to where the scents were the strongest I stopped and looked around.

“Alpha,” one of my warriors asked.

“Spread out,” I bark. “Catch her scent.”

Everyone spread out and was looking. I was following the turned up dirt and leaves when I saw her shoe. I moved around but I couldn’t catch her scent anymore. I walked to her shoe and picked it up. I held it to my chest and dropped to my knees. I let out the most heartbroken howl that anyone had ever heard and everyone heard it and joined in. It was a howl of someone losing their mate. A howl that no wolf wanted to howl.

Lani was gone. Someone took her and I needed to find her and get her back. My wolf, Hades and I were whimpering for what we lost. What we let slip away. We haven’t even marked or accepted each other and now she is gone. She became what every wolf feared.

She was a mate that was lost.