Reclaiming Her Heart

Chapter 16 - Alone

Adam

I felt the pack's jittery excitement as we ran across the snow-covered wilderness towards the cabin she was residing in.

We couldn't wait for her to be ready. We weren't willing to wait for her to try to sort through all of this alone. She needed her family. Her pack. We had all been separated for too long.

When we got to the property, we instantly smelled the hell-hounds in the area and immediately thought the worst. Could Silas have known where Jadea was being kept? Had they already attacked her?

I was deeply afraid for her life, afraid the enemy found her once again. And if they had, would they have taken her prisoner or just outright murdered her? The anxiety and fear burning through my veins was almost debilitating. And yet, it was what drove me on.

The pack and I didn't stop. We didn't wait. As we charged through the trees, towards the cabin, Garret and I made a plan for how we would attack. We saw a few of the hounds standing vigilant outside the cabin, and we went straight for the kill, knowing there could be more either inside the house or somewhere on the property. We were taking no chances. All the rage and anger and fear I'd felt these past several months came to the forefront of my mind. I was going to rip this hound to shreds.

What none of us expected, though, was Jadea to outright attack us, and defend the vile hounds.

When I was about to demand answers, a huge hell-hound emerged from the forest shadows behind her. Even though he was giant, he moved gracefully. His dark grey coat and markings vastly different than anything I'd ever seen. He could have been as tall as a small elephant yet was as quiet as a mouse. And as deadly as a coiled rattler.

"He's called Agamemnon," Garret supplied. "And they are all hell-hound shifters."

There was a long, pregnant pause as everyone assessed the situation. Several of the pack shifted nervously. I silently gave orders for them to spread out in case this got ugly. Chance watched our backs, making sure this wasn't a trap. I still wasn't sure if these hounds were a threat or not. As she stood under the defensive Agamemnon, I noted how haggard she looked. She was skinnier, almost anemic. Her gaze wasn't as lively. She looked broken. Tired. I was very concerned for her wellbeing and sent a command for her to step aside so we could protect her.

"They were sent by Constance to protect me," she stated in return. So, these hounds were not a threat. They were her protection. Interesting...

The large hound calmed after Jadea spoke to him telepathically, and then shifted. Even in his human form, he was very tall and daunting. Seeming to know he was acerbating the situation, he pulled himself and his pack away from her, so we could all communicate without an audience.

Throughout this altercation, I was able to keep direct access to Jadea's thoughts using Garret's mind-reading abilities. While he couldn't dive deep into her mind, we were at least privy to her immediate thoughts, and emotions, throughout this ordeal so far. And what I experienced was heartbreaking.

While Jadea was skittish, she forced herself to sit down. To await our response. She partially believed the lies Silas told her, that she screwed up somehow, and we had reason to hate her. She was berating herself over her response today, in how she hadn't recognized us because she had been too distracted. She believed we were better off without her, despite having seen Constance's and Ty's memories of all of us together. Despite knowing I had gone to Constance, begging the Phoenix to save her.

It was still hard to accept all those memories of us, of the last several years, had been ripped away from her. It broke my heart, because it left her open. It left her vulnerable. And that's what Silas wanted. Our severed bond left her emotionally scarred. It left her craving the connections she used to have with her pack and I. Which then opened the door for Silas to easily slip through her defenses, to easily re-write her history, and give her what she craved most: Connection. A sense of belonging. A purpose.

Within the emotional upheaval of her mind, she knew we were mates. She could sense it even now. How I smelled, how I tasted, how her wolf responded to me. She knew I was her true soul mate. But, we were back to square one: she didn't trust herself, let alone a virtual stranger.

Yet I wasn't a stranger.

My wolf reached out and comforted me as I felt myself breaking.

It was all so unfair.

Jadea didn't know what our relationship dynamic was like. She didn't remember our history. And therefore, didn't know how to broach the subject currently weighing on her mind.

A soft, heartbreaking whine emanated from deep within her chest. It was excruciating to hear. It tore at my insides, raking deep wounds into my emotional memories. Wounds that would take years to heal from.

Whoever had done this to my strong, Luna Warrior would definitely pay in blood.

She whined again as the war within her waged on. It sounded so forlorn, I knew she was feeling utterly alone and scared.

"It's because she is, Adam," Garret's voice filled my mind gently. "All of our bonds to her were broken." I knew this.

When bonds such as the pack's were broken from an alpha, each wolf would feel the severed bond. They would be affected by it. They would mourn the loss of such a connection, because it was a deeper connection than most ever had. Through the pack bonds, they could connect with their alpha, and with each other through her. They were never alone, even when they were physically separated. It was addicting, and there were major withdrawals that took place when such a bond was broken. That safety, that feeling of belonging, of being a part of something greater, was gone. Shattered.

She had been the glue to hold everyone together.

And, when those bonds had been blown away, she'd felt everything tenfold. She felt those severed bonds strongly because she'd had six wolves who were bonded to her. One of them being a sacred mate's bond. I couldn't even begin to think how she survived it all. How she hadn't ended up destroying herself because of the immense, yawning chasm of emptiness from those broken bonds.

She didn't know how to ask to re-initiate the bonds.

She didn't know if she was worthy of such a privilege.

She didn't know how I would respond. If I would withhold them from her. If I would demand she bond herself to me.

Send them to her, my wolf commanded in my continued silence. I wasn't helping the situation by sitting on my hands. We have to make the first move. We have to earn her trust. And she's been lead to believe we took her pack from her. Allow them to re-initiate their bonds. Allow them to show her their truths: that she was never the problem.