Chapter Twenty-Three

Xavier

The drive was taking way too damn long, and Xavier was nearly crawling out of his own skin. He was practically perched at the edge of his seat with his legs bouncing uncontrollably, not to mention the fact that his wolf was full of rage and aching to be set free.

The image of Madelyn being sealed inside the refrigerator, the terrified and helpless look in her eyes as Colby closed the lid and proceeded to bury her alive, was permanently burned into his mind. He was surprisingly nauseous, too, and more afraid than he had ever been in his life. He knew, without a doubt, that if they failed to reach Madelyn in time, if she was dead when they got to her, then he would have nothing left to live for and would probably end up taking his own life.

It didn’t take much for them to learn that Colby was hiding out at an abandoned Ranger’s station outside of town, and as soon as they figured that out, they were out the door. Xavier was sitting passenger while Isabelle sat in the back so that he could keep an eye on her. He allowed Isabelle to drive only because he was in no position to do so in his current state.

The problem was that their destination was a little over three hours away. Every second that passed was another moment that could be Madelyn’s last, which would mean the end of his child’s life as well.

The more he thought about it, the more he was getting used to the idea of being a father. Even though it hadn’t been planned, he helped to create a life instead of taking one. It was a novel thought, and he found that he actually wanted to see what it was like to be a dad.

The plan was simple, though he continued to go over it in his head just so that he would have something to do other than watch the scenery fly by. Melanie’s job was to go for Madelyn immediately. He even had her bring a couple of shovels so that she didn’t have to waste time looking for one. Meanwhile, while she was doing that, he, Isabelle, and the others were going to focus on taking out the threat. Rodrigo’s crew was tasked with taking them out anyway, so they had a common goal. Everyone knew that Colby was his to kill though.

Xavier had no idea how this was going to play out, but he did know one thing: Colby and the assholes who had chosen to follow him were not going to survive the night.

His body was tense as he stared out of the passenger window, fighting tooth and nail to keep himself from shifting right there in the car. It didn’t help that he could feel Isabelle looking over at him every few seconds, seemingly scrutinizing his every twitch and every shift in his seat. After over an hour of this, he had finally had enough.

“What?” he growled loudly, the volume of his voice shattering the quietness of the car and making both women jump. He couldn’t be worried about their feelings right now though. He was barely holding it together. “What is your problem, Isa?”

“N-nothing,” she stammered uncharacteristically. “I’ve just never seen you this tense before. You are usually more composed and put together before a job. It’s fucking weird.”

“This job is fucking different, you know that.”

“Yeah, but why?” she asked bluntly. “I mean, what makes this girl so different from all the other girls you’ve banged?”

Xavier’s jaw ticked as he ground his teeth together. He wasn’t in the mood to try to explain it to her, nor did he see why he needed to. They no longer worked together and his relationship with Madelyn had nothing to do with her. Surprisingly, it was Melanie who decided to answer for him.

“Oh, haven’t you heard? They’re fated mates.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Through the side mirror, he could see Melanie roll her eyes. “It means they are soulmates. At least, that’s what he says.”

Isabelle let out a loud bark of a laugh, which was unlike anything he had ever heard from her before. He didn’t think she could make that kind of sound, and even his wolf stopped raging inside of him for a brief moment.

However, the longer she laughed, the angrier he got again. The situation wasn’t funny in the slightest. While Melanie had brushed Madelyn off when he asked for her after he woke up, he had thought that he set her straight about it. It was clear he had thought wrong.

“I’m sorry,” Isabelle said after a while, running a finger beneath her eye to get rid of a bit of moisture there. “I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just, Xavier doesn’t do serious, honey. Let alone soulmates. He tells girls what they want to hear so that they will spread their legs for him, but that’s it.”

Melanie snorted. “Are you sure about that? Because Madelyn’s pregnant, so I’d say that’s pretty serious.”

At Melanie’s comment, the smile dropped from Isabelle’s face in an instant as her head snapped over to him. He just stared back at her, silently daring her to say something else stupid on the matter. He was dealing with a lot of pent-up frustration right now and had no problems using her as a verbal outlet. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do while trapped in the car. He was just sick and tired of having to defend his relationship with Madelyn to everyone.

“Is… is she telling the truth?” Isabelle asked eventually.

He gave her a curt nod. “She is. Madelyn is pregnant with my kid. And she is my soulmate, Isa. I meant it when I said that I love her. I wasn’t just saying that to convince Melanie to back off.”

“Not that it would have worked,” Melanie added.

“I see,” was all Isabelle said before she pressed her lips together. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel, and the road before them seemed to become the most interesting thing in the world.

“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked.

Isabelle hesitated for a split second before she shook her head. “No, of course not. Why would it be?”

“I don’t know,” he responded. “You’re the one acting like it’s going to be.”

“Nope. Not at all. There’s no problem.”

Xavier didn’t believe her. There was something she wasn’t telling him. Unfortunately, he didn’t care enough to figure out what that was. He had other, more important things to focus on.

Once again, the three of them fell into an awkward silence as Isabelle continued to drive them toward their destination. While he was grateful the subject had been dropped, he hated that he no longer had that distraction. He was back to feeling like he was crawling out of his own skin and counting every second that passed them by in the blink of an eye.

“Oh my God,” Melanie gasped with a soft laugh. He looked back at her to see what caused her to make such an exclamation, but her attention was solely on Isabelle. “You’re jealous.”

“What?” Isabelle scoffed. “No, I’m not. I know better than to bring a child into this dumpster fire. What Xavier does is his business.”

Melanie shook her head and leaned forward in her seat. “No. Not that. I knew from the moment I met you that there was something between the two of you. I thought it was because you guys were sleeping together, but it’s because you want to be. You are in love with Xavier.”

Xavier huffed and expected Isabelle to deny it right away. It was ludicrous. However, when she didn’t say anything at all, he looked over at her questioningly. She licked her lips before she met his eyes for a brief moment before focusing on the road again to make a right turn. The guys in the vehicles behind them followed closely.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Xavier,” Isabelle muttered. “Why do you think I showed up here and tried to get you to come back? Surely, you knew how I felt about you.”

He hadn’t known. He never once even suspected. He had thought she was like him, incapable of love. She used to say that to him all the time. Clearly, they both had been wrong as they had both fallen in love. It just wasn’t with each other, at least, not on his part.

“You said your father was the one that wanted me back,” he replied flatly.

Isabelle shook her head. “You know damn well if Rodrigo wanted you back, he wouldn’t send me or anyone else to convince you to do so. He would do it himself.”

“Isabelle—” he began. However, he didn’t know what else to say.

Xavier never saw her that way. It was true that they had slept together many times over the years, but he thought she had known that sex was all it was to him. Sleeping with her had been a way to scratch the itch and nothing more. He never even considered her a sister even though they had been raised together. To him, she was just a murderer like he was.

“It’s fine, Xavier,” Isabelle said before he could figure out what to say to her. “I get it. Madelyn’s your soulmate.”

“I never meant to hurt you.” The words felt lame, even to him, but they were all he could come up with. “I never knew you felt that way.”

“Of course you didn’t. Because I didn’t want you to know and because you were so damn convinced that we couldn’t have feelings because we killed people for a living. But like I said, it’s fine. I’ll get over it,” she looked over at him then and gave him a small smile. “And for what it’s worth, I’m happy for you.”

“There’s not going to be anything to be happy about if we don’t get to her in time,” he grumbled by way of response.

In that moment, Isabelle’s feelings for him didn’t matter. While it was a shocking revelation, he didn’t return those feelings, and he never would. His heart and soul, if he even had those things, belonged to Madelyn alone. She was who was important to him.

Much to his surprise, Melanie reached over the passenger seat and patted his shoulder. “We will get to her in time, Xavier. We have to.”

He silently sent up a prayer to whatever deity was listening that she was right.