Reclaiming Her Heart

Chapter 38 - Savage

Adam

I stared in numbed shock at the savage fight taking place before me.

It seemed Jadea was fighting for her very life, but I didn't understand why.

She knew Caden! He had helped her heal before. I knew he was someone she admired and cared for. Someone she trusted.

So why was she doing this?

My mind brushed hers, trying to figure it all out. But there was no one reason that stuck.

At least not yet.

Her mind was in a haze of furious anger. Her wolf having taken over. She felt threatened. Felt unsafe.

What was unsafe though?

This fight will determine who is the ultimate alpha, in a sense. Whoever wins has to submit to the other. My wolf tried to explain some of what he felt from Jadea and her wolf. Even he was having a hard time understanding as well.

The fight was vicious. Savage even. I hadn't seen her fight like this before and it was scary. Teeth tore flesh. Cheap shots were made. She'd knocked Caden back once, and almost had him pinned when he was able to reverse the maneuver. Had she been at full strength and health, I had no doubt she would have won.

Finally, Caden pinned her. Spitting obscenities, she did everything she could to get out.

After several minutes, she finally calmed, her wolf receding power back to Jadea.

I felt my wolf reach out, desperately wanting to connect with Jadea's wolf. But she was gone before he had the chance.

We will get her back, I assured him.

"Shift!" Caden demanded, the command ripping through her mind, and subsequently through mine. They shifted at the same time. Caden took a step back, already knowing Jadea's fire hadn't been extinguished yet.

Her wild gaze landed on Caden, teeth bared. "What the f**k are you doing here?" She rounded on him, crowding his space.

"I was asked to help," Caden responded evenly, not rising to her bait.

"We don't need you," she seethed, pushing against his chest hard enough to make him take several steps back.

"It doesn't matter what you want!" he snapped back. "You crossed a line, Jadea! You broke trust!" he accused, his gaze hard on hers. She winced, but did not back down. "Adam asked for help, because he doesn't know how to navigate this situation you so unceremoniously dumped on his lap. A situation you created because of how you collared him. You know what you did," he stated, his voice quieting in a threatening manner. "You allowed him the illusion of being in control. You allowed him to be the Dom, but with no teeth due to the oath you allowed him to make. Don't forget, Jadea Knight, I know exactly how you work."

It hurt for Caden to say it so plainly.

Yes, I had been played. My wolf and I knew this was a possibility. We just hoped Jadea wouldn't abuse her power in that way. To use our trust of her against us.

And that was the reason she didn't want Caden here.

Jadea's face scrunched in anger right before she struck. She punched him, sending him back another step.

Caden touched his cheek, his red-hued gaze latching onto hers. "You're going to pay for that."

I felt the thrill run through her veins, and had to wonder if this power play was part of their own dynamic.

When Caden struck, he was deliberate. His hand latching around her neck, lifting her in the air, before slamming her back on the ground. It knocked the air from her lungs, the hard hit disorienting her momentarily. Through our bond, I could feel their alphas once again battling it out. She screamed, scratched and hit anywhere she could reach Caden, moving like a damn pit viper trying to dislodge him. Somehow, he kept his hold on her, maneuvering her till she could no longer hurt him.

"Is this how it's going to be?" He growled next to her ear, his alpha bearing down on hers.

Jadea snarled back, trying everything she could to dislodge him.

My wolf soothed me. Neither of us liked this, but we felt we had no choice.

Caden's alpha bore down on her again, harder. More severe. She winced.

"No!" she bit.

"Now!" he roared, making the stillness of the wilderness shake with his command.

In her chest, I felt the first cracks of fear. "Please don't," she whispered back, brokenly. Still not submitting.

"I know you're afraid." His tone gentled. He caught onto something before I had. "You know me, Jadea. You know you will always be safe with me."

Curiously, it wasn't the safe part that had her caught up.

Interesting, I mused to myself.

"Say the oath," Caden demanded.

She shook her head.

It was the oath itself that scared her.

Because of Silas. Because if she had given her oath, who knows what would have come of it? Who knows what would have happened to her? She would have been forced under some kind of servitude. Her life, her mind, her everything would not have been hers alone anymore. What little control she'd had while held under the toxin would have been ripped away.

It was interesting seeing this perspective. Seeing the oath not as a partnership, but as a way to control. A way to force submission when it wasn't given.

She ran her pack differently than most others. I knew this.

Caden, Ty and her late father, Lucien, ran theirs in a similar fashion. With love. With trust. With respect. They earned their wolves trust. When they accepted the oaths, they took that seriously. They saw the oath as something sacred, something to be treasured and respected. If the alpha disrespected the oath, the wolf could ask to be released without punishment.

Yet, so many other alphas did not see the oaths in the same way. When a wolf submitted to an alpha, it was seen as them joining a clan for protection, for the resources they would receive in return for their loyalty. It was a lifelong decision. When the oath was given, an alpha saw those wolves as their own property. They could use them in any way they saw fit. Even if they were treated well, fed, and tended to, the wolves would ultimately be forced to do things they didn't want to do. Their submission was ultimate. Their ability to say no, gone. Their ability to have their own autonomy, mind or lives was conditional to their willingness to submit, and do, whatever the alpha wanted. Even if what the alpha asked was unethical.

This was how Jadea viewed Silas.

This was one of her greatest fears, submitting to another, giving her oath, and being used as a weapon against others.

She knew she was a force to be reckoned with. She knew the damage she could cause. The devastation. She didn't want to be used against those she loved.

In the aftermath of everything, she was having a hard time coming to terms with submitting entirely to anyone. Not allowing herself to trust because the lines between Silas and our lives had blurred.

"You know I am not like that, Jadea," Caden soothed, one hand brushing the hair out of her face. "Say the oath. Then we will make a blood pact promising to release you." He bargained. When she started to protest, he continued, "Or we can do this the really hard and humiliating way. It's your call." His ultimatum was calm. Unbending.

She knew she had no choice.

With tears leaking from her eyes, fear gripping her chest, she submitted. She whispered the oath to him.

He released her, allowing her to rise. When she faced him, she spewed under her breath, "I hate you."

"I know," he sighed, not rising to her baiting. Taking a knife from his pack, he sliced his hand. I had never heard of a blood pact before and was curious what it entailed. With conviction, Caden continued, "Jadea Knight, I promise to release you from this oath after a fortnight. By my very blood and bone, this will shall be done."

Taking the blade from Caden, Jadea cut a line in her hand, and they pressed their palms together. "I accept this. By my very blood and bone, this will shall be done," she whispered as a binding light wrapped around their hands. As the magic receded, I could feel Jadea relaxing, knowing she would not have to stay bound to Caden.