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*Jayden*
I sat on the couch; it had been two hours since Corey left. He had left begging me to believe that he had not had an affair with Carrie. I believed him. He was obviously terrified that I would not and I knew when he was lying so of course I believed him… But he had kept everything and why he felt so uncomfortable with Carrie from me… All this time… He let me let her live in our house knowing that he’d kissed her.
Carrie was at Sean’s house. I didn’t want her in mine, obviously… Though, I felt bad for kicking her out. I just couldn’t feel good about something like that, especially because she had nowhere else to go. Why would she purposely try to make me think Corey had had an affair with her? She moved in to try to break us up, she was in love with him, or at least had an unhealthy obsession with him. If he’d just told me what happened earlier, he wouldn’t have had to spend so much time with her nearby. It would not have gotten to her lying about what they did.
He kissed her though… willingly… so maybe part of him wanted her around…
“Daddy.” I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up as Tamia walked into the living room, “I can’t sleep.” She whispered. Eli was seated on the couch next to mine, asleep. He had refused to move if I didn’t go to bed and eventually just fell asleep. They didn’t know what happened, but they didn’t need to to know that something was wrong.
“Want me to read you something?” I asked her.
“No, I want Carrie to.” I felt my heart sink at her answer.
“Um, Carrie’s not coming back, Princess…”
“But I want Carrie.” She said, her voice quivering slightly like she was about to cry at not having that woman there. I didn’t know how to respond and felt my heart pound painfully as I stared at her. There had to be a reason Corey had kissed her… What if he loved her too? What if Tamia wanted her more than she did me?
“Carrie’s stupid.” I heard Eli mutter earning a glare from his sister.
“You’re stupid.” Eli looked up, his eyes tired and hurt. He looked at me guiltily before laying down and pulling his knees to his chest as his back faced us. Tamia never spoke to her brother that way, even when they fought. It was weird… something was going on between them.
“Eli, what’s wrong?” I asked moving over to his couch and kneeling down beside it as I put my hand on his head gently.
“Nothing.” He lied not turning to face me.
“Eli –” I began.
“I said nothing, Dad. Let me sleep.” He cut me off with a snap that made my brows lower but he quickly looked up to apologise before turning back to the position he had been in, the back of his head facing me. I began to try to ask what was bothering him again but Tamia spoke.
“I-I need Carrie, Daddy.” She said beginning to sniffle slightly. I looked at her. Need? I didn’t want to say no to her but definitely did not want to see Carrie or have her in our house. Though, the reason had nothing to do with how she treated the kids. She seemed to get along well with Tamia, my daughter seemed to have gotten close to her. It felt like a punch to my gut but I considered it, I didn’t want to upset my kids more than they already were by the fact that Corey was gone again. Maybe I could call her just so that she could say goodbye to Tamia.
“Alright…” I mumbled grabbing my phone. I dialled Carrie’s number before bringing the phone to my ear as Tamia climbed onto the couch. The call was answered after a few seconds of ringing.
“Jayden… Uhm… This is… a surprise.” She did not sound very surprised or much affected by anything that had happened earlier. I clenched my jaw swallowing.
“Yeah… Uh… sorry to wake you.” I spoke.
“Oh, I was awake.” She said.
“Great… uh… Tamia won’t go to sleep without you… I was wondering if you could –” I was saying.
“Come over and put her to bed? I’ll be there in a few.” The line died in my ear and I looked at my daughter. She was seated on the couch where I had been, staring at the dark TV. “Honey, are you okay?” I asked slowly.
“Yup.” She mumbled not moving her eyes it made me tilt my head at her, slightly concerned.
“Just ignore it.” Eli mumbled from the couch, “She’s okay, just being weird.” I shook my head. Why was everything so confusing suddenly?
“Eli, go to bed,” I said patting his back gently.
“Are you ganna go to bed?” His eyes opened as he turned around to look at me. I nodded. Did I really have a choice if he was refusing to go until I had? He got up and ran upstairs mumbling a ‘night’ to his sister and me.
“Come on, Tammy… Want me to wait with you until she gets here?” I asked her, a slight fear at her refusing nagging in my chest.
“Yes, Daddy.” I smiled at her answer as she bounced off the couch to grab my hand so we could head upstairs.
A while later when Carrie had already come over and the kids were asleep, I was in my room getting ready for bed when my phone began ringing. I didn’t glance at the screen when answering it because I figured it was Corey who had forgotten about the time-zone difference and was checking in despite us not doing great at the moment. I froze when it instantly became clear my mate wasn’t the person on the other side of the call when an all too familiar but chilling voice spoke into my ear.
“Hello, Son.” I stood too shocked to say anything as my breath caught in my chest, my eyes quickly darting to the curtains across the room. Had I heard wrong? “I was going to call in the morning but Mike insisted I do it now, that pervert.” He chuckled, “How have you been, Jayden?”
“You-you’re dead,” I whispered. He chuckled, and along with his chuckle I heard one that made my blood run cold and my legs turn to jelly.
“I double you can make calls from the afterlife, Jayden. I’ve been there, I would know, right?” I clenched my shaking fit and brought it to my mouth so that I could bite down on my knuckle after hearing Mike speak. It wasn’t happening. I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming, having another nightmare. “How is that mate of yours, Jayden? The one that ripped me apart. Is he still alive?” Mike sounded angry.
I couldn’t speak, had completely forgotten how to use my voice. My head felt light as I dropped the phone to get it away from my ears but I still heard laughing so I covered my ears.
It’s not real. They’re dead. They’re both dead. I’m not hearing them.
I tried to convince myself as it became hard to breathe and felt tears sting my eyes so I shut them trying to force myself not to cry, but I couldn’t stop the sob that escaped my lips as I stumbled away from the phone that lay at my feet. Suddenly every beating from my father, every moment with Mike flooded back into my mind making it spin and causing me to feel physically sick. I covered my mouth trying not to make a noise because I didn’t want to wake my kids, and definitely didn’t want them to see me in that state.
They were alive.
They were going to kill me.
—–
*Corey*
“What now?” I asked Sean as we walked through the airport.
“Call a cab, get to the meeting, go home,” Sean said as if it was obvious, I guess it was.
“What about the pack?” I asked glancing at my watch. We had been gone for over twelve hours already.
“Jason will call if anything happens, seems to be quite silent right now.” He said looking at his phone.
“Alright, I’ll just call Jay, hopefully he’s not asleep.” He nodded as I dialled Jayden’s number, my pace slowing as I listened to each ring hoping to hear Jayden’s voice, even if it was cold and angry at me.
It kept ringing and I became with more aggravated with each ring, desperately hoping he wasn’t going to be ignoring my calls. I was too far away for him to be ignoring me, I needed to know he was alright. It was an unspoken rule between us that no matter what was going on between us, we would pause to assure each other that things were okay at home and with the kids.
“Jay?” I said quickly when he finally picked up after a minute of ringing. I tensed hearing Jayden’s uneven, panicked breathing through the line.
“C-Corey, they-they’re alive. I- They-they called me last night – I don’t know how but they are. I-I don’t know what to do. I don’t know –” His terrified voice stuttered in a whisper.
Sean looked at me concerned and mouthed a ‘what’s going on?’ I replied with a shrug.
“Jayden, babe, calm down. What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Mike and my father!” I froze at his desperate snap and felt my chest tighten as worry filled it. “I-I left-left the kids with Carrie, she was the first person I found, I-I called Izzy to go to the house. I can’t think straight. I can’t… I don’t know what to do. They’re here.”
“No, no, that’s impossible. They can’t be alive. No one would bring them back.” Sean said.
“Yeah, Jay –” I began.
“No. Listen to me!” I glanced at Sean’s concerned face, “They’re alive. They are! They called me. Corey, –” I cringed slightly at his terror and clenched my jaw. I needed to calm him down.
“Look, Jay, listen to me, breathe. Even if they are alive, you’re surrounded by our entire pack. They cannot get close to you, I promise. I’ll be back by tomorrow night, or sooner, as soon as possible and we can figure it out, alright? Just try to calm down, listen to me.” I said trying to breathe loudly so he could follow and slow his own breathing.
It took a few seconds but eventually, I heard Jayden take a deep, slow breath. “Alright.” He whispered.
“I’ll have Jason and Zeke keep an eye out, so stay with the pack. It’s okay, you’re safe.” I assured him, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I smiled as he said that even though my anxiety made it hard to.
“I love you more.” He chuckled weakly, clearly still shaken, and I saw Sean frown from the corner of my eyes.
‘Weak’ he linked to me.
‘Shut up.’ I linked back.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Be careful.” I nodded at the whisper before realising Jayden could not see me and assured him that I would be fine before he hung up and I followed sliding my phone back into my pocket.
“Maybe someone’s pranking him,” Sean suggested once we were walking again.
“That’s a pretty fucked-up thing to do, Sean. I can’t believe someone would do that… I don’t think anyone would do that to him.” I shook my head. “If Mike’s alive, I’m going to kill him much slower this time…” I muttered remembering the scene I walked into the last time Mike and Jayden ‘met’.
“You have my permission to do so,” Sean said attempting to lighten up the atmosphere a bit.
“Like I need your permission,” I replied with a slight smile.
“Hey, Beta, I can still ban you from the pack.” He replied with a smile of his own.
“Ha!” His smile fell, “Izzy would kill you and your son would too.” He knew I was right.
He laughed. “Let’s get this meeting over with so I can get back home and Eli and Tamia can come over to my house for their play DATE with Ashton.” I glared at him.
“Too far, Sean.” I said seriously.
He chuckled. “I knew that before I said it.” He replied. “You know, Corey, no matter how much you deny it or how much you pretend you don’t know, Tammy is mated to my –”
“I can’t hear you! I’m calling a taxi!” I yelled running off childishly as I heard him laugh behind me.
I stopped running once I was outside and sighed spotting a black taxi not too far away. I walked up to the driver who stood right beside his vehicle and explained to him where we were headed, he spoke English so it was pretty easy. I looked down at the picture of Jayden and my kids on my phone as I waited for Sean to join me at human speed. Speed-running in a public place was a no.
I wasn’t going to let them hurt him again. It had taken years for him to get out of his shell, for him to stop being afraid of everyone, of me when I got angry or touched him, for him to stop blaming and hating himself. I clenched my jaw. I couldn’t let that happen again. If they were alive, I was going to enjoy killing them again.
—–
“So why are we here?” Sean asked when everyone had settled.
We were staring at four other Alphas, five Betas. I recognised the lone Beta from a pack whose Alpha we killed during a pack war that also involved the Titan pack, one of our allies. Though, I couldn’t remember the lone Beta’s name…
“We’re here to offer you solutions to the problems you haven’t had yet. So –”
“Wait, can we get an introduction because I don’t know any of your names… Kind of blanking on most of your faces as well.” I said honestly as I looked at the Alpha who had spoken trying to figure out exactly how we knew each other. He had dirty blond hair and blue, almost grey eyes that should have been memorable. Everyone’s jaws tightened as they glared at me.
‘Great job at offending everyone, Corey.’ Sean linked to me, but he wasn’t angry, sounded more amused.
“It doesn’t matter who we are. What matters is what we’re going to do to you.” A black-haired Alpha smiled.
“I… don’t understand… Is this a guessing game? You really could not just call us for this?” Sean asked.
“You think this is a joke?” The first Alpha that spoke asked, his fists clenching on the table. “You don’t know where we’re situated, we could be anywhere. We know where you are, who your allies are, who your enemies in your own pack are. You’re more than an ocean away from your pack. You think this is a game?” One of the Beta’s asked.
“It doesn’t matter where we are,” I said.
“You’re right, Corey. It doesn’t. Because we could have attacked you while you were at home, without even breaking any fences.” The lone Beta stood up. “Your pack killed our alpha, I’m not angry about that: I’m the Alpha now.” He smirked as he walked towards me.
‘That’s loyalty right there.’ I linked to Sean sarcastically before adding, ‘Exactly how I would react if you disappeared by the way.’ I saw his face tighten as he clenched his jaw trying not to laugh.
“But you also –” he stopped walking, face morphing into a mixture of pain and anger, “Killed my mate.” He finished through clenched teeth. “You took her from me!” He yelled. I didn’t move as he edged close to me, instead leaning slightly forward to meet him halfway.
“You let her on the battlefield? What kind of Beta are you? What kind of wolf does that make you?” I replied. I would never have harmed anyone’s pack members if they were not part of the soldiers fighting us, the rest of the pack members did not always decide what their leaders did as so should not be punished for it. Also, it would not matter if Jayden was just as strong as I was, I would never risk having him, my mate, caught up in the front lines of a pack war.
“You’re going to pay, Faggot.” He hissed.
“Wow, creative,” I said sarcastically as I raised my eyebrows.
“Shut up!” He shouted. “I know someone that’s going to break your mate, Corey! I’m going to kill him just like you killed her! And that pathetic little Alpha of yours that doesn’t know his place. But I’ll keep your daughter, we could use –” I swung my arm and hit him square in the face sending him falling onto the floor. I wanted to launch onto him and continue dealing blows but kept my composure, preventing myself from just killing him because the situation did not have to end violently.
“Don’t talk about them,” I warned, my voice low. “Why did you call us here?”
He chuckled as he sat up, smirking at me as he wiped the blood from his chin. The smug look on his face was slowly making me lose the constraint I had left. “An eye for an eye, Corey. You took from me and I’ll take from you. You’ll watch who you kill now.”
“What the hell are you talking about?!” I asked becoming angry that he wasn’t just giving me an outright answer. I had better things to do than be in this stupid meeting.
“You mean who. Mike.” As soon as the name was out of his mouth, I lunched at him. Ignoring the fact that we were already enemies of these men, I didn’t stop hitting him, even when he stopped fighting back, even when he stopped screaming.
“Corey! Some help?!” My head turned in time to see a chair swing at me and I jumped back to dodge it causing it to smash onto the guy I had just killed. I heard a growl and looked across the room to see that one of the other alpha’s had shifted.
Great. That’s what I got for my impulsivity. I didn’t regret killing him though. Anything to do with my family, my mate was a step way too far, any mention of Mike was certain death.
I shifted as the wolf came at me and ended up getting my side smashed into, it could have been worse if he actually thought to use his teeth. I jumped back to my paws and bit the wolf’s leg making him yelp in pain. They might have been more than us but they were still pretty weak.
I growled at Sean as he ripped a wolf’s leg off and threw it aside, right where I was standing. He was making a mess…
‘It’s your fault this is happening, shut up.’ He linked to me before turning back to the three wolves he had left. I did the same. Why hadn’t the lone beta just kept his mouth shut? Now Sean and I would have to clean everything up when we were done.
*****
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