Captured - Cara Wylde Page 0,62
She was safe with us, but I wasn’t safe anymore. She was human, and she was fragile. If anything happened to her, my world would end.
“What if they don’t come back?”
“Shh… They will. They have to.”
“But Thorn, what if the Redwoods hurt Reid and Jax? What if they…”
“Don’t think about that. Never think about that.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“It was never your fault, Isabel. Not when Chase died, and not now.” I almost couldn’t believe it myself that I was saying these things and actually felt like they were true. I kissed the top of her head. “It’s all going to be okay now.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
Twenty One
Jax
We killed each and every one of them. The ground was soaked in blood. We were hurt, but we were all alive and healing fast. Some of them had tried to escape, and Reid took two Betas and chased them into the woods. When the battle was over, they returned with their bodies. Normally, we would’ve only scared them away, maybe hurt a few of them and then let them scatter. Not this time. This time, it was personal. We hadn’t cared much about how they worshipped the lake monster and sacrificed humans to it, since we weren’t huge fans of the human species ourselves. But times had changed. Isabel was one of us, and the Redwoods weren’t allowed to hurt her kind anymore.
When it was done, we dumped all the bodies in the lake. By then, the monster had returned to the depths, as it was a creature that dwelled in the water and never stepped foot – or tentacle, for that matter – on land. I was sure she was going to be pleased with the feast we’d provided. And now that the Redwoods were gone, maybe she could finally get a break. That was… unless some other rogue pack came around and decided to summon her, thinking she granted wishes or something. Fools. All of them.
The climb up the mountain was difficult. I was hurt and limping, and Reid was in a bad state himself. We needed time to rest and heal, but we couldn’t stop. In normal circumstances, we would’ve stopped the minute we crossed onto our lands to lick our wounds. Some of our wolves did that, seeing how we were now all safe and there was no rush to reach the village. But Reid and I pressed on, along with our Betas and some of the females. Layla was among them. We were good now. We’d fought side by side, and after we dumped the last body in the lake, we even exchanged a few words and she told me she understood that the human was my mate and she respected that. Sometimes I thought the females the Woodwards had been blessed with were too good for me. For sure, Reid, and especially Thorn, were more worthy than I was.
Once we arrived, the Elders and the pups were all over us. Mama Rose stepped forward and hugged me and Reid.
“You were successful, my sons. I am proud of you.”
“Where is she? Where is Isabel?”
“With your brother.”
I kissed my mother’s hands and rushed to Thorn’s cabin. Reid was hot on my heels. I burst inside, and Isabel jumped in surprise. She was in Thorn’s arms, and the familiar rage that usually made me blind to everything around me threatened to spill over once more. I took a deep breath, released it slowly, and reminded myself that she was Thorn’s mate just as much as she was mine and Reid’s. She must have felt that I’d calmed down, because she stood up, wobbly on her feet, studied me carefully for a moment, then sighed deeply and threw herself into my arms.
“Jax, oh my God! You’re okay! You’re here! Are you hurt?”
She held me at arm’s length and looked me over. She noticed the deep, bloody wound on my left hip and gasped.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It’ll heal. Tomorrow, I’ll be like new.”
“I’m sorry I ran away again…”
“No.” It was my turn to grab her by the shoulders, squeeze her lightly to get her attention, and look her deep in the eyes as I confessed everything to her. “I am sorry, Isabel. I was an idiot. I was so cruel to you, when you had done nothing but obey me and my brothers. I don’t know what got into me. I… I guess I freaked out. Mama Rose said that you are our mate, and I’d never imagined that my mate