SWNOVELS Chapter 24: Jaxon
He stared at the white wall blankly. Everything had been confirmed tonight. On the moment he received a phone call from Seth about the attack on their border, it took a second for the information to register into the Alpha’s head. Zia was long gone from the street and he saw her car was speeding. From there, he knew he’d come face-to-face with her again, but under different circumstances.
He could have gone for the kill, but he didn’t. He couldn’t move when he saw her sniper was pointing to his head. He wanted to be angry, but his entire being refused to cooperate with him. Jaxon wasn’t sure what he should feel at that moment. Then, she stood before Joshua’s loaded gun. Even then, Jaxon sure she didn’t do it for his sake or his Beta’s sake. Because of his carelessness, Seth was fighting for his life in the surgery. Jaxon couldn’t form a word to say to anyone. All he could do was staring at the wall as if it was the most interesting thing on the planet. His wolf refused to acknowledge anything about their mate.
He looked down to his hands. Seth’s blood still covered his skin because he was the one who carried the Beta to the pack’s hospital. His life was hanging on a strand when they sent him into an emergency surgery to take the bullet out. From the way things looked like, Seth was likely to suffer collapsed lungs and a punctured liver.
“Alpha, come with me.” Maeve grabbed his arm.
She was no longer crying in the embrace of her mother. Since the family had come to the hospital, Maeve’s cries were as loud as her mother. This was all because Jaxon couldn’t go for the kill. Zia had proven to him that she was indeed involved with Joshua Ashton and his business. What else did the Alpha need to see when she was right in front of his eyes with her gun pointed to his head?
Maeve led him into the restroom with a bag. Jaxon was incapable of taking himself tonight. Seth could have been killed. That was the price that everyone in his pack was willing to pay to protect their Alpha. Everyone in his pack was putting their lives on the line for him and his survival. Without an Alpha, the pack would have to face a bigger threat.
“Raise your arms,” Maeve instructed him and he obeyed.
She took off his bloody shirt and used the paper towels to wipe the blood of his body. The water turned red every time she put the bloody paper towels under the running tap water. She kept on cleaning the blood of his body until she was satisfied that he didn’t smell like Seth’s blood.
“Here,” she helped him to wear the brown flannel shirt she got from his room.
“I’m sorry,” Jaxon finally spoke.
An Alpha never said sorry to another person except for their mate, but once in a while, an exception had to be made. Seth risked his life for his Alpha.
Maeve buttoned up his shirt, “Seth knew what he was doing. I’m sure he’d do it with a heartbeat all over again.”
“I couldn’t kill the shooter,” he went on with his lifeless voice. “He’s the father to my mate.”
She stopped buttoning his shirt for a second before she finished up. Jaxon never mentioned to anyone that he had found his mate. Maybe it was because she was a huntress who killed his kind to earn a living. Or maybe because she was involved in the killing of his uncle. He wasn’t so sure himself. But, keeping his mouth sealed about those things were eating him up. He was on a verge of exploding, but he couldn’t do that. His pack was in danger and Seth’s family was in sorrow because their only son was fighting to live. One person had to remain strong. An Alpha had to remain strong no matter what kind of situation they were facing.
Maeve put her hands on his cheeks, “Jaxon, I’m going to speak to you as a friend, not a pack member and an Alpha.” He nodded once to let her proceeded on with her words, “The duty of an Alpha isn’t just protecting his family and pack members. He has to decide for everything that he thinks it might give benefit to everyone. Whether it ends up good or bad, that’s entirely up to him. An Alpha makes hundreds of decisions every day. That’s not a such a light burden for one man to do. We make mistake because we’re not perfect. Just because you couldn’t go for the kill tonight, it doesn’t mean that you aren’t capable for anything else,” she put her hands down, “One of these days, you’d make the hardest decision, Jaxon. The decision that would determine the future of your own and your reign as an Alpha. I just hope that, when the time comes, you’d be stronger than tonight.”
Jaxon engulfed her into a hug because he needed to be assured of that his people would still stand by his side just because he had failed tonight.
“Come on, big boy.” Maeve patted his back before she pulled away, “Seth is not going to resume his duty any time soon. I guess I have to step up for my baby brother and take over his duty for a while.”
He chuckled as he followed her out, “You know he hates it when you call him baby brother.”
“Sucks for him for being the youngest kid in the family.”
“Alpha, there is someone wanted to see you at the northern border.” Mario, the new Gamma, linked to him.
“Duty call. Keep me up to date with his condition.” Jaxon told Maeve.
She nodded, “Here my car key. Don’t wreck my baby.”
“Thanks, Maeve. I’d stop by as soon as things clear out.”
Jaxon drove Maeve’s car to the northern border of his territory where he spotted a group of ten patrolling Enforcers was standing in the middle of the road. All of them turned around which caused Jaxon’s hand tightened against the steering when he saw what the commotion was all about.
He exited the vehicle and walked there with tensed movements, “What are you doing here?”
Zia was standing before him with her teary eyes and it looked like she had been crying for a while now.
She stuck out her hands as if she wanted to surrender herself, “I surrender myself for the murder of Hanson Creighton.”