The Survivor ( #2 Eastern Werewolves Pack Series)

Kaya watched and listened to the three women and Jaxon as they kept on talking. None of their words were making sense to her. Dreamwalker? Shapeshifter? She knew Dave did show her many things about the world. But, she thought he was joking about it and he never corrected her. He told about these things in the form of a fairytale when he read a bedtime story to Camilla. But, to hear it from these people right now, Kaya’s mind almost exploded.

“What did you mean my daughter is locked inside the drawing? She’s sick. Not some sort of magic thing,” Kaya protested.

The redheaded woman took a seat next to her. “Kaya, did it ever occur to you that there is more about your life than you’re currently living?”

Kaya went silent as she thought about it. Life with Dave had always been an adventure for her before they decided to build a family and settle down in this town. They were always traveling and he seemed to know many things and collected many weird artifacts. She never questioned it though. It was his hobby—something he inherited from his mother. Somehow along the line, Kaya did feel like something was missing in her life.

The first clue she saw was her parents’ picture. She didn’t resemble any of them. Whenever there was a family reunion, Kaya felt left out from her relatives. She didn’t look like her mother or father. And her relatives treated her as if she was an outsider. Then, she felt something was wrong with herself mentally.

“I could hear things,” She told the redheaded woman. “Sometimes, I heard voices in my head. The voices weren’t my own. Dave told me it was normal.”

“Voices?” The redheaded woman studied her before she placed her pale hand on hers. “Something like this?”

Kaya heard many voices through the contact and withdrew her hand as if the redheaded woman was burning her alive.

“Yes. How did you...” Kaya paused as her brain failed to comprehend anything. She shook her head and stood up, “This is crazy. I must be dreaming and I should be waking up soon.”

“I’m going to tell you another crazy thing. The reason we’re here because we’re looking for you.”

“I didn’t know any of you except for Jaxon. I mean, I only know his name.”

“Silly of me. I’m Mira Kingsley. That’s Amanda Hale.” She pointed to the blonde and then, to the black-haired woman, “She’s Jazmine Blake. I sent Jaxon to find you.”

“Are you with them?” Kaya referred to the woman who was killed by her own minions.

Mira shook her head. “No, we’re hunting them down. Listen to me, Kaya. We have a reason to believe that you might be the person who was supposed to die thirty years ago.”

“What?”

“Call me crazy. But, that is the truth. The person we were looking for was Rosalie Xavier but apparently, her name was changed and we didn’t know how her adult version looked like. After Jaxon got his jacket from you, we ran a fingerprint test on the jacket because he suspected Colin wasn’t Colin. There were two results came up; Yours and Colin Nickerson. But, your information was locked tight in our system on which only three people have access to it. Your fingerprint matched Rosalie Xavier’s fingerprint.”

Kaya repeated the name ‘Rosalie Xavier’ in her mind. Somehow, she felt like she recognized the name but couldn’t pinpoint the exact memory.

“I could get on with Rosalie Xavier’s history but it would just wasting our time right now. The only thing you need to know is Rosalie Xavier is related to me. She was born as a royal werewolf. I’m not exactly a werewolf but let’s just pause there about me,” Mira kept on.

“I heard about werewolves. They’re not real.”

“We could debate all day long about it. Trust me, there are many things you didn’t know. Our main priority is to get your daughter out of the drawing and keep both of you safe until this matter solves.”

Kaya gazed at Jaxon. He didn’t look he denied anything of what Mira had said. Then, he turned to the redheaded.

“Winston spotted several cars are heading this way,” He told the redheaded woman.

“How did you...” Kaya paused. “You could read mind?”

“It’s different. A werewolf could do mind-link with his members.” Amanda intervened. “Anyway, it didn’t seem like the machines are any use to the girl. We could just unhook those and bring her to a safe place.”

“How far could your portal cover?” Jaxon asked Mira.

“To the next town. Cohen and the others are hunting down shapeshifters from an abandoned manufacturing factory. We’re going to rendezvous with him.”

“Kaya, why don’t I help you pack your stuff?” Jazmine ushered Kaya out of the room.

“Don’t worry, they won’t harm your daughter. Mira has three boys of her own. Her motherly instinct is always kicking in.”

“I wanted to ask for more questions but it seemed Fate wasn’t siding with us this time.”

“You would be safe with us. We would find a way to save your daughter too.”

“What about Colin? Did you find him? I mean, his mother is gone.”

“We’re working on it.”

Kaya couldn’t picture it how Colin would react if he found out about his mother’s death. She felt responsible for Pamela’s death because if she didn’t drive here, she would have survived the ordeal. Kaya rubbed her palm on her face. Too many things happened at once. She didn’t even know what to do anymore other than packing up her stuff. Maybe these people had all the answers she needed.

Jaxon…

His encounter with her wasn’t a coincidence. He was sent to find her and she didn’t even realize it because she thought the friend he was looking for was the woman in the picture inside his jacket. If that woman wasn’t who he was looking for, then who was she?

A werewolf had a mate. That was what she heard from Dave’s stories. Could that woman be Jaxon’s mate?

“Did Jaxon have a mate?” Kaya blurted out as she threw all her clothes into the luggage.

Jazmine froze for a moment. “A werewolf is often secretive with their personal life. I couldn’t tell you about Jaxon’s personal life without his approval.”

“I saw a woman’s picture in his jacket.”

“Kaya, if you want to know about it, you should ask him. Let’s just focus on packing your stuff and your daughter’s. We don’t have much time. Just pick the ones important to you.”

Kaya nodded in understanding.