Captured - Cara Wylde Page 0,54

He went inside to look for Isabel, thinking she probably needed his help, only to smell Layla everywhere. Like me, he quickly figured out that the salty scent that permeated the air came from Isabel’s tears. It was hard to admit, but maybe it was time to look the truth in the face. By now, at least Thorn and I had developed such a strong connection with the human female that we could almost feel what she felt. I couldn’t believe that Jax didn’t feel it! I couldn’t believe that Jax had chased her away!

I lunged at him with all my might, and my fangs sank into his throat. I pinned him under me. He struggled so hard, and he was so strong that I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold him down for long. I heard Thorn shift, and the next thing I knew, he was all over me, trying to pull me off Jax. It was two against one. I let go. I turned to Thorn and growled at him. What the fuck was wrong with him? He should’ve been on my side. Isabel was gone, lost in the woods, and it was all Jax’s fault. I sneered at Thorn one last time, then ran into the woods.

I needed to find her. I needed to find my Isabel. Our Isabel.

Soon, I heard another set of heavy paws hitting the ground behind me, and from the clumsy sound of it and the way the wolf’s big body tore through the underbrush, I knew it was Thorn. I felt a little better. I wasn’t alone, and now I could only hope that Jax would acknowledge his mistake and try to make amends. But then again… maybe that was too much to ask from Jax fucking Woodward.

Eighteen

Jax

I stayed behind. I shifted back, and that was when I saw the damage – the door had split into two pieces, half of the wall was ruined, and the ground was littered with wood splinters. The crowd hadn’t dissipated when Reid and Thorn had fled, so I turned to them and shouted at the top of my lungs:

“The show is over!”

I didn’t have to say more. I spotted Layla with her friends. She shook her head at me, as if to show how disappointed she was. I bared my fangs at her, and she averted her gaze. I didn’t care what my people thought of the spectacle they’d just witnessed. I was their Alpha, and they had no right to judge me. I did whatever the hell I felt like doing, and I didn’t have to answer to anyone. Not even to my brothers, with whom I shared the leadership. Mama Rose wasn’t around, so at least that was good. I knew she’d eventually find out from the pack females, seeing how they all liked to gossip around corners. No, I wasn’t going to think about how Mama Rose was going to react when she found out I’d let Isabel go. I stomped into my cabin, but everything was such a mess that it only made me angrier. In a frenzy, I started tearing everything that was left apart – the bed, the only wardrobe I had, the kitchen cabinets that had withstood my fight with Reid. Five minutes later, my home was an irreparable disaster, and I didn’t feel any better.

I plopped on the floor, with my back against a wall that was still standing.

“What the fuck?” I murmured. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. I was enraged, but that wasn’t all. There was something else underneath that – and emotion I couldn’t quite explain, nor describe. It felt like… a void had opened inside my soul, and with it, this dread that nothing and no one would ever be able to fill it had seeped into my bones. “Someone, maybe… There’s someone who can save me.” My chest ached, and I pressed my fists to it. It didn’t help. I started hitting myself in the chest, hoping that if I hit hard enough, the fear and anxiety that I’d just ruined everything was going to be replaced by pain. I understood pain. These feelings, though… I’d never felt them before. Not even when my brother had died.

Mama Rose had told me that Isabel was my mate. Our mate. I didn’t want a human mate! She was small, and weak, and anyone could easily break her. Hell! A gust of wind could throw her off a cliff! And those hips…