36. Jackson

36

Jackson

The security door beeps as I enter the code. My heart is in my throat as I wait for the final click. Throwing the giant wall open, my heart stops completely. Her scent is flooding the room, but it’s sour. Fear floods my body as I take in the scene of Charlie’s small body pinned to the wall by her throat. Her arms and hands are covered in blood, but she’s not moving anymore, and that has red filling my vision.

‘ Kill him,’ my wolf seethes. I have to fight every instinct not to slice him to pieces as I clear the space in the small room. I easily throw Ryan’s body to the far wall, hearing his limbs break with the force. I growl to Wyatt, “You need to take him out of this room before I finish him off,” I grit out as I catch Charlie and pull her tiny body into mine.

Time seems to slow as I take her small form in—unmoving—my wolf pushes to shift. The moment seems to drag on as I sweep the hair out of her face. I want to beg her to stay with me. Tell her the Pack needs her. I need her. She’s it.

I need her like she needs air right now. “Breath for me, Charlie—” Please, my words are cut off and choked out at the reality that she hasn’t moved in seconds. I press my lips to hers, pushing air into her body. “Please, breathe,” I beg as tears fill my eyes. My fire begins to burn out with hers, darkness swallowing me whole. ‘Hold on for me, beautiful. I still need you. Please come back to me.’

I startle when her loud coughs seem to echo off the walls; tears blur my vision as she continues to gulp in air. I pull her tighter to my chest, savoring the small movements and sound of her heartbeat filling my ears. The deafening beats like war drums—a sound I never want to be without again.

My body thrums with the energy of her heartbeat to seek revenge. ‘ Kill them all ,’ my wolf reiterates his stance. My thirst for blood clouds my judgment; I try to shake my head as I see the telltale bruise forming along her delicate neck. “Fuck,” I shout. My large fingers slide along the bruise as I try to get my emotions under control so she can’t hear how close I am to destroying this entire house.

“Charlie, beautiful, little Phoenix?” I cup her cheek and press into our bond. ‘ Charlie, please open your eyes.’ Her soft lids flutter slightly but don’t open.I can’t lose her. I can’t lose them. I press my head to hers, ‘ You promised you wouldn’t leave me; please open your eyes, Charlie.’ I’m begging, but I would do anything to have her here.

In fact, I would drag her worthless piece of shit brother back in this room to beat him senseless if she would just fight me. If she would just wake up. My wolf presses forward, wanting to shift. I almost let him. She coughs again slightly and rolls over in my arms to throw up. Her tiny body fights against the movement, and she whines painfully. I pull her hair away from the mess and rub her back softly. She rolls back over, her dark eyes catch mine and pinch with pain.

‘My voice hurts ,’ she says into our link.

I nod, blinking quickly to hide my fear.‘ Don’t try to talk; I’ll handle everything.’ I look up at the ceiling, but I don’t want to scare her with how close I am to losing it.

I snarl at Emma as I hear someone rushing into the room. She quickly steps back and throws her hands in the air, a look of sympathy painted across her soft features. A look I loathe right now,

“I’m here to help, Alpha.”

My head shakes, “No one fucking touches her,” I growl.

Hunter comes in behind her, his arms around her, and using an authoritative voice I’ve never heard before, he growls at me, “Jackson, she’s going to help. You need to think of your baby.”

A sudden wave of nausea rolls through me as I think about our innocent child. I push to stand Charlie held firmly to my chest. Her arm hangs limply off the side. I choke a little that she’s so helpless. My voice cracks as I ask Emma for directions. “Where?” Is all I manage.

Emma’s eyes quickly scan the small room. She bites her top lip. “Let’s take her to your room; you both will feel safest.” Her hands gesture as she says, “I’ll grab my bag and meet you there.”She sprints towards the stairs. Hunter follows her out as I carry my little mate up to our room.

The hushed whispers follow me down the hall. Every Alpha in the Greater Community sits in the next room, watching how I respond. I want to destroy every one of them for even being in this house right now.

Being near her.

I can sense Reacher behind me, “You need to soften your hold, Alpha.” I didn’t even realize I had pulled her tighter.

“Reach. I can’t lose them.”

“You won’t.”

His words provide no comfort as I push into my room and gently set her on the bed. My eyes graze over her body again as I take in the bruise building along her neck. “I’m gonna kill that fucker. Brother or not,” I seethe as I step back and let Emma look her over.

‘I’m okay,’ she tries to calm my beast down.

My head shakes. ‘ Nothing about this is okay, mate,’ my wolf growls.

I storm from the room and punch the opposite wall. Pain radiates through my arm as I turn to Reacher, who feels like my own personal babysitter now, “Where is he?”

Reacher’s head shakes, “No, you aren’t going to kill anyone. You need to stay here, stay with her. Killian is handling the situation with Umbra Pack and Will. Your mother has managed to hold it together enough to finish the dinner. Though there will need to be damage control with her mate dying.”

My hand rakes through my hair. Reacher pulls me further down the hall, softly whispering, “Will and Hunter have questions.”

Of course, they fucking do, I tried to be vague, but I knew the truth would come out when we were all faced with Ax.

My mind races with the best way to handle my siblings when a soft sound pierces the hall. My wolf pulls forward, and my hearing is drawn toward the quick, steady beats of a heart.

I grasp the door frame and watch Emma move a wand over Charlie’s lower stomach.

‘We are okay,’ Charlie’s eyes are locked on mine, then she says, ‘ You’ll have to replace every door frame in this house if you keep clawing them like some wild animal,’ she teases.

A laugh bursts from me as I press into the room and walk to the other side of the bed. Looking to Emma to make sure this is okay. She gives a soft nod, and I scoop Charlie up and place her safely between my legs so she can lie back against my chest.

“Can you do it again?” I point to the machine Emma is holding. “Please, I need to hear it one more time.”

Hunter lets a laugh out now at my softness.

My eyes pinch towards him, “Don’t fuck with me right now. You spent three days cooped up with your mate, and you still don’t leave her side.”

His hands raised in surrender, “Fair.” He glances at Reacher and the door, gesturing for him to close it. Hunter turns on me, “Jackson, what the hell was that down there? Specifically, our dad buying trafficked children?”

“I…” What do I tell him?

I kiss Charlie’s head, breathing in her sweet scent, letting her ground me.

“Hunter, you and I aren’t biological brothers…We aren’t twins…Your parents are the same as Holly’s.”

He stands, and his reaction is guarded but quiet as he paces the room. Emma pulls a stethoscope from her bag and listens to Charlie’s lungs and heart. I know she’s pretending to ignore the bomb I just dropped.

“How?” Hunter’s next word, “How do you know?”

This is the shitty part. Air floods my lungs as I prepare to tell him everything. “When I was seventeen, Dad was taking me through Alpha training. I was nosey and alone in the office one day. The locked cabinet sat open.” I shift Charlie so Emma can reach her back and continue. “Well, I always asked what was in the cabinet. What needed to be locked, and Dad never gave me a direct answer. So I curiously took a look when it was left unlocked. I found your birth certificate along with mine and Holly’s.”

Hunter’s gaze doesn’t waiver as he takes in every word. His hand motions for me to continue.

“Well, you were ‘adopted’ by Mom and Dad from the Umbra pack. You and Holly are biologically related from the same family. However, my birth parents are dead, as are Will’s...” I adjust my hands on Charlie as Emma gently touches her throat.

Charlie winces in my lap, and the growl is uncontrollable as it ripples through me towards Emma.

“Calm down, Alpha. I need to see that her voice box and airway are okay,” Emma chastises, appearing less worried about a large man growling at her.

Hunter snaps his fingers at me impatiently, and my body tightens, “Jackson, why didn’t you tell us?”

My lips roll into my mouth, and I look up at the ceiling, breathing deeply. Why didn’t I tell them?

I was hurt.

I was destroyed to find out my parents weren’t my real parents. I felt lost and abandoned to know that I had been lied to my whole life. He doesn’t need to know that finding out the truth broke me in ways I didn’t understand until years later and after several therapy sessions.

“I didn’t want you to hurt the way I did—So I left. Dad promised me he would tell everyone the truth and clean up the mess he made. Though twelve years later, he never did. He never could be honest.” My eyes lock on my brother as I say what I’m truly feeling, “I’m not sad to see him dead.”

“Does Holly know?” Emma asks softly as she sits back on the bed.

“No, she doesn’t. However, I imagine a family meeting will be held in the very near future. Now, doctor, tell me what she needs?”

My hands wrap protectively around Charlie’s stomach, and her small head turns to gaze up at me with a slight smile.

“Charlie’s going to need rest. She needs to not talk, and she’ll need to apply ice for about twenty minutes every hour. We can try to swallow a pill, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I think I have liquid Carprofen at the clinic. I can grab it, which will be easier for her to drink.”

Charlie puts her hand on Emma’s, ‘ Thank her for me, please.’

I repeat the sentiment with a grunt and not nearly as much affection as Charlie.

“Hunter, we need to chat as a family, so please don’t tell Holly anything until we can.” He tilts his head to the side, his lips press together, and his hand wraps around his neck as he squeezes. I know asking him to keep this secret sucks, but I need to. I’m worried about how Holly is going to handle this.

Reacher opens the door for them as they leave. “Alpha, I’m going to stand guard outside, and Wyatt will switch with me tonight. You do not need to worry about anything.”

“Thank you, Reach.” I pull Charlie tighter to my body and softly run my hand down her arm.

Kissing her head gently, I say, “I love you, Charlie. When you’re ready, I need you to tell me what happened in that room.”

She nods in understanding. ‘ Can we stay right here? Just for tonight?’

My feet pace restlessly outside the bedroom Ryan is secured in. Charlie told me every detail of what happened in the safe room last night, and I needed to see him today to confirm my worst nightmare.

In the military, it’s common to use psychological warfare against others, and I’m afraid over the last four years, Ryan’s only use to Ax, was leverage against Charlie. So he broke him. Tortured him and taught him that she was the enemy.

“Fuck,” my hand pushes through my hair as I twist in front of the door again, impatiently waiting for Killian, who has the key to the room.

My wolf snarls as I turn again. It’s definitely safer that my entire team has kept me in the dark about Ryan’s situation. I probably would’ve killed him last night after Charlie finished telling me what he’d done.

Even the voice she uses through our mind links trembled with the truth and fear that she had when her brother attempted to take her life.

“How you feeling today?” Killian’s voice is light as my best friend appears at the end of the hall.

“Murderous? Is that one of your emojis you love to send?”

“I think the skull one would work.”

I huff a laugh.

Killian’s voice drops to a serious tone as he continues and steps up to the door, “Whatever you think about Ryan or memories Charlie has shared. The man in this room doesn’t know him. He has been trained to kill her. In fact, he divulged that Ax had planned on breeding her just to have her brother kill her when that baby was born.” Killian swallows as he continues, “Ryan said that Ax had planned to make her watch while Ryan was tortured or make Ryan watch as he raped her over and over again. I’m glad that sick bastard is dead.”

My nostrils flare at the thought. I step towards my friend, and my eyes shift as I begin to lose the careful control I have over my wolf.

“I am telling you all of this now because when you hear it from him, you’re going to want to kill him.”

I pinch my lips and try to hide the building growl. “Okay, open the fucking door.”

Killian shakes his head and turns the key.

I press into the room and push him out of the way as I take in the small man who sits in the chair on the far end.

“Ah, the beast of the whore,” Ryan sneers without even turning from the window.

I tilt my neck until the pop of pain floods my body with the release.

“Told ya,” Killian says as he steps in and locks the door behind us.

Ryan finally turns to look at me. His eyes are dead but similar to Charlie’s. His lip pulls up slightly as he takes me in. Even with his size and significant weight loss, he isn’t afraid. “How is your whore today? I wish I would have finished her off. She was close to dying at my hands, her pulse so weak against my thumb.”

My breath pulls in quickly as I flash across the room. His neck is small in my grip as I slam him to the brick wall, “Say it again.”

His lips mouth the word ‘whore,’ as his eyes blaze into mine, there’s no fear. He almost seems to welcome the release of everything he’s been through. I throw him to the floor.

“What, you’re too weak to end me? Fucking pathetic,” He spits on the floor near my feet, blood splattering across the tile.

I shake my head and crouch down next to his face. My words are quiet as he pushes up to lean against the wall, the blood dripping down his chin.

“She told me about you. She told me you would stop at nothing to save her. She said you probably would have fought me and punched me to keep her safe. I don’t fucking blame you. But you need to know that woman is in there. Your sister. Is the most beautiful phoenix. She’s blossomed from the memories she’s shared of you. Memories filled with love and heartache. Memories that I know you have locked in there somewhere, or you’d be dead. Now—” I push up to stand, extending my hand. “You can try and be who she needs or continue to be this asshole locked in a cage. Makes no difference to me.”

The simple act of taking my hand has me nodding approval as I pull his body from the floor. Ryan’s eyes flash to me, and I see his wolf there.

My alpha bark flows through the room, “I command you to shift.”

Ryan’s body shudders through the transformation. I know that part of the torture was done by subduing his animal with Alpha orders, and if he has any hope of rehabilitation, it’ll start by being his Alpha.

His dark wolf resembles Charlie’s, except he has one white spot near his flank. His lips pull up in a snarl as he positions to attack.

I shake my head and shift. Ready to make him submit.