SIXTY

Xander

"NOT A FAN of the haunted hayride, Billie?" Stefan teases while playfully knocking her shoulder. Maria takes one of the cups he's carrying, and the corners of her eyes crinkle from the smile spreading across her face. She's staring at my mate with just as much amusement as her boyfriend.

Billie kicks a leg out to the side and crosses her arms over her chest. With a lifted chin and raised brows, she counters, "What gave you that impression? Was it the fact I was huddled on the floor between Ethan's legs?"

I flick my gaze to Ethan, who's come to stand behind her. He loosely wraps his arms around her upper chest and presses a kiss on her cheek before resting his chin on the top of her head, his lips curving up on one side into a smug grin. I'd be grinning like that too if I were him. She spent most of the ride on the straw-covered floor of the trailer nestled between his long legs. She was fine sitting on the hay bales between Jax and me. She had no problem with the screams and eerie cackles and howls coming from the woods, but once the first "attacker" jumped onto the back of the trailer, brandishing a fake sword, that was it. She practically threw herself to the floor and proceeded to belly crawl her way between Ethan's legs.

"I'd say that's a pretty good indication," Stefan answers, taking a sip of beer from the red Solo cup.

She snuggles into Ethan's embrace and wraps her hands around his forearms. "Maybe I just like sitting there. Prime location if you ask me."

"Prime and exclusive," Ethan affirms with a nip of her ear. At that moment, the side of my leg buzzes with an incoming call, and the easy smile on my face drops. Pulling my phone from the side pocket of my athletic pants, I furrow my brows in confusion upon seeing the caller ID. Ethan's eyes lock onto the screen before lifting to mine. I jerk my head to the corner behind me taken up mostly by a large monstera plant before stepping away.

"Why is she calling me?" I wonder swiping to accept the call and putting the phone to my ear. I answer how my father ingrained in me: "Alexander Knight."

CORTNEY, her voice tight and pitchy: Alpha, it's Cortney... um, I'm sorry, but I think that Jax might be in trouble... Alpha.

Alpha. She addressed me as Alpha. After the duel in The Circle, Cortney, Bruce, and Carla all accepted my wolf as their alpha, and now, thanks to the damn mantle hearing her address me as her alpha, that new power awakens inside of me. Hearing the distressed pitch in her voice triggers a warming in my chest that rises up my throat and swirls around my vocal cords. When I speak again, my voice is lower than it's ever been, a deep bass that's as smooth as Alessandro's caramel tea.

XANDER, soothing: Breathe, Cortney, just breathe. Inhales and exhales.

I hear a little growl of defiance—she is an alpha female—but it's shortly followed by the sounds of her deep nasal breathing. Sensing the settling of her nerves and the steadiness in her breathing, I continue.

XANDER: Good, good, now tell me what has you concerned for Jax.

CORTNEY: Amber lost it after the pack meeting. She's been spending significant time with his mother and Councilman Hogan. She kept getting more erratic as the week went on, repeating that Jax would be hers, that they're meant to be together. She came to me about three hours ago, unhinged, giggling, hysterical, saying she found a way for them to be together, as they were meant to be. When I tried to ask questions, tried to tell her that it wasn't possible, she told me I didn't know anything and that when I saw her and Jax, I'd be begging for her help. I'm pretty sure she left shortly after that, Alpha.

XANDER: Hold on.

I'm not too worried about Jax, he's been with us all night, but after the will reading and our meeting with Randall and Clyde, I'm highly concerned about what has been transpiring between Amber, Veronica, and Councilman Hogan. I spin around from the corner I've stepped into and scan the crowded room, looking for Jax. But I don't see him. Ethan and Billie are still hanging out nearby with our friends, and their eyes slide to me with concern.

"Ethan," I call out. He fully turns to me. "Find Jax."

He nods. Then he and Billie break from our friends and begin searching the house.

I turn back to the wall and open the pack-mate link.

X-wolf here, Jax, where are you? Over.

Silence.

Wolf-E here, Jax, where are you, man? Over.

There's grunting and heavy breathing coming from Blondie but nothing else.

Little Fox here. Blondie where are you? Over.

Blondie... here. Somethin's wrong, don't feel right... slow. Little Fox, why are you linking when you're with me? Over.

What. The. Fuck.

Little Fox here. Blondie, I'm not with you! Where are you? Whoever's with you IS NOT ME! Over.

Smells funny, not like you... old... fake. Heavy. I feel so heavy and hot. Need help.

WHERE ARE YOU? Open your eyes. Let us see what you're seeing. Over. I demand.

Blondie's image, received by X-Wolf: It takes a little for images to come through. The clear sky allows for the stars and mostly full moon to cast a blue light over the darkened landscape. But everything's blurry. The celestial lights are casting trails that cut through the night, making it hard to decipher his surroundings.

It hits me. Drugged. He's been drugged. That alpha power flows through me, and anger is no longer an emotion but a being all its own inside me. My jaw clenches so tightly my molars gnash in an effort to prevent myself from giving birth to that entity. To unleashing that new alpha power that will do anything to protect those that are mine. And Jax is mine. I focus on the images and not what they mean.

Woods, dense woods. The view spins with his head turning and drooping.

A wave of dizziness hits me, and I have to brace a hand on the wall. It's his dizziness that I'm feeling.

The view fixes on his arm... a hand. A feminine hand grabs his wrist. "You're not my mate," he slurs. "Yes, I am," a female voice says.

I think Amber, but just as his sight is blurred from the drugs, so too are his hearing and speech.

"Look at my hoodie. Who else wears this? I smell like me, don't I?" she says. "No." He slaps at her hands and tries to get away, only to slowly topple over. Soon the vision he shares is a sideways view of the ground, dirt, leaf litter, and blond hair, all seen through his eyes.

My gut wrenches, and I fall with him, into the wall. Jax. Fuck, Jax.

Stay with us, Jax. We're coming. Stay awake. Wolf-E, stay in the link. Figure out where he is. I order.

I leave the link. Jax, one of my best friends, my bonded pack-mate, my family, has been drugged and is in the woods. He no longer has control of his body and is being assaulted. And I... I didn't even notice he wasn't with us. My heart aches as if pieces are crumbling from the edges, while the new alpha entity, full of anger, takes its first breath, setting a fire in my gut.

"Get yourself under control," I hiss at myself through gritted teeth. "You're his alpha." Taking a large inhale through my nose, I slowly exhale it out and bring the phone to my ear.

XANDER: Cortney, tell Luna Ophelia and Bruce what you told me. Inform them I need a pack officer at Jared's cabin near campus, same place as last year. Have her designate someone to keep eyes on Veronica and Hogan. Let Luna and Bruce know Amber is assaulting my pack-mate. I will not hold back to save him, and... thank you.

CORTNEY, sobbing: I will. And get to him, Alpha. I just... fuck, I know what it's like. No one should feel that, Alpha.

I hang up and turn back to the room. Maria, Stefan, and Merry are looking at me with concern. I don't see Bille or Ethan. "Jax," I hiss striding over to them. "I need to find Jax."

"Billie went running outside," Merry says with wide eyes. "I told her that I didn't think Jax came in the house with us."

Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't remember him coming in either. Fuck! What kind of alpha am I? Shut down the guilt, the angry entity whispers. Later there will be time for reflection. Guilt is not actionable. It will do you no good in the battle. Give me your oxygen and ride my flames. Inhaling, I breathe into that fire, letting it burn hotter, cleaner, and purer—and I make for the door. Merry and Stefan are on my heels, but this is not a human issue. I spin to them and order, "Stay here. Help Jared get underage people hidden or out of here. Pretty sure the cops have been contacted. Keep your phones on."

Then I run out into the night to protect my pack-mate and to take down my enemies.