Ember
I woke up feeling like I was burnt out of energy. I looked around, and saw I was in Seth and Carter’s room. How did I get here? Last thing I remember… I remember being grabbed when I came downstairs to go back to work. I had woken up, feeling sore, but wanting to get back to work. I remember getting dressed. I remember coming out of the elevator only to see… someone. who thought. I tried to make out with the person. My memory was foggy, and my neck stung, as if bitten by a bee. I looked around the room. I was alone.
I heard voices. I heard my name. I tried to focus on the voices coming from downstairs. I had no idea how I was able to hear anything, considering I had never been able to hear far away before.
“We need to attack them. To come here, and openly attack this pack and kidnap our mate, means war between packs. ” I heard Jordan’s voice say. I was feeling a feeling that was not mine. It was rage. I knew it was coming from him. Was this the mate bond?
” You know as well as I do that, we cannot cross his pack line without dying. The pack agreement forbids it, and I am not sending our men just to go die over there.”, Seth said. I could feel annoyance coming from him in waves.
” Can someone fill me in on what the fuck we saw on the cameras? How was she able to do that?” Damien’s voice said. I felt a weird variety of emotions from him. Anger, annoyance, and relief? For who?
” I don’t know exactly. Agatha says she needs to speak to her. Maybe she will help her figure out who and what she is”, Jordan’s voice said. I was feeling anger from him. Carter was silent. I was feeling regret from him. I didn’t like any of my mates feeling this way at all. Not one bit. I decided to remain silent, and not give it away so that I could hear them. I was not sure even I understood it myself. I was not a wolf, and apparently there was someone named Agatha who could help me. I laid back down, trying to remember what happened.
I remember when I got off of the elevator, and I saw someone. I remember feeling annoyed and I concentrated. The person started to come into focus. It was Emma. The waitress from my first date with Carter, who I heard had been fired. I remember the sneer she gave me. I remember that feeling inside that something was wrong. Before I could call out to Carter and Seth, she injected me with something in my neck that made me faint. I remember her saying she hoped I got what I deserved as I went out. I put my hands on my head, trying to remember what happened next. It was giving me a migraine.
I remember waking up in the back of a car. I could hear men in the front talking.
” Ryder will be happy to have her back. He can resume his plans with her,” one of the men said.
” Why her though? What is so valuable about a human?” the other man asked.
” I think it has something to do with her blood”, the other guy said.
” Fuck, traffic is stopped up”, the man in the driver’s seat said. I was still weak, unable to open my eyes. I could only listen.
“Fuck it. We are close to the line. We can run with her.” the other guy said. I remained silent, not letting them know I was awake. I felt them carrying me running as I kept bouncing up and down from the one who was holding me. I eventually got some feeling back throughout my whole body and fear took over me. They were taking me back to Ryder. The monster of my nightmares. The demon is always in the back of my mind. I would not allow this to happen. I bit the man who was carrying me on the shoulder, and it caused him to drop me.
“Fucking bitch, you’re still supposed to be out.” he said, but all I saw was red. I’m not going back. I was not GOING BACK. I screamed to myself, and I felt blood all over me as my feelings exploded. I was shocked, as the man was no longer in front of me. I turned around to see the other man looking at me terrified. He ran towards me. He was going to take me to Ryder. I was not FUCKING GOING”, I screamed loudly, and, like the other man, he exploded as well. Blood coated me from head to toe and a rush of energy seemed to knock the trees around me down in a perfect circle. I saw Seth, Jax, and Carter running in my direction, and I smiled, feeling sleepy. I knew they would come for me. Before I could reach out, I felt my body give away and I fainted.
The memory of it all came at once and I gasped. There was no way I could have killed those men, was there? I was human. Only humans. I didn’t have any powers. My parents were human. One hundred percent. I remember feeling stressed the other day and the window in my own room exploded. Did I have some weird power that allowed me to explode shit? What happens if I get upset with my mates one day and explode at them? I started to panic. A deep panic attack that I was not prepared for. At once, I was hit by four smells from all of my mates. Three of them were around me, and one of them was standing by the door.
“Panic attack’, I heard someone say.
I was wrapped in the arms of Seth. His smell filled me, letting me know it was him. He stroked my back gently, until the panic attack went away. When my vision cleared, I looked up into his gray eyes. Eyes that held so much worry for me. He leaned in and kissed me. I kissed him back. He pulled back and kissed the tip of my nose before pulling me into a hug. From behind him, I saw the smiling faces of Carter and Jordan, who both seemed to share the same worry and relief. I reached out to them as Seth pulled away and was engulfed in their embrace. I kissed Carter and Jordan kissed my cheek. I smiled. My mates. Mine. I looked at the door and saw Damien standing there. I wanted to reach out to him, and hug him as well, but then I remembered he did not like me. Our eyes met, and he searched my face with no expression on his face. He seemed to be looking for something on me. I guess he found what he was looking for because he just turned around and left. I watched him until he followed a corner.
“Give him time, Ember.” Carter said to me.
“Why did he even come up here?”, I asked.
” It is an alpha’s nature to check their mate for bruises or cuts. Anything that is a sign of them hurting. He found none. I doubt he even realized what he was doing”, Jordan said, holding my hand as Carter and Seth sat on each side of me. Jordan was sitting in front of me.
“Those men,” I choked out. Jordan stroked my hand.
“Got what they fucking deserved. You gave them an easy way out”, Carter growled. His eyes turned black for a moment before going back to their blue.
” Ryder sent more men to attack our pack”, Seth said to me.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked, worried. Human or not, they are my pack as well.
” Everyone is fine. Damien and Jordan handled it”, Carter said, kissing my shoulder.
“Alone? How?” I asked Jordan. He smirked.
“You have a lot to learn about me, Angel, ” Jordan said. His green eyes looked at me with so much love, I blushed a bit.
“What do you remember?” Seth asked me. I told them everything I had remembered. They took in the information, until I remembered something else. Fucking Emma. She was one of the women I saw in the vision with Damien, but I only just now put it together and I gasped.
” What is it?” Carter asked.
” Emma, the waitress that drugged me, she was one of the women that Damien slept with last night”, I told them as the memory of Damien fucking those women came into my mind. It made me nauseous. All three of us heard a deep growl from downstairs and the door slammed. Damien had been listening in. I felt a rush of anger from him. I saw Seth’s eyes flicker. He was mind linking.
” Damien will handle it”, is all he said before looking back at me. “How are you feeling?”
“Slightly nauseous, but tired mostly. ” I said.
“Lay down, and get more rest, baby girl. The drug she gave you was from a plant that makes you sleep for hours, though your body burns it off in under thirty minutes. “, Seth said as I laid back down.
“What is happening to me?” I asked and the room grew silent.
“We don’t know. We will be taking you to our pack member Agatha to figure it out. If anyone can help, it will be her”, Carter said, kissing my forehead.
“How did you find me?” I asked them.
“Damien and I traced you on our system, though it was Damien who hacked into the government satellites and followed your trail in the forest. We kept Carter and Seth in the loop at where you were at the entire time, ” Jordan explained.
” Damien helped? “I asked. Didn’t he like, hate me or something?
” Damien is stubborn and most likely always will be, but he does care about you. He would never admit it openly. I don’t want you to feel like you have to beg for him, but give him time to open up. He has always been the most reserved of the four of us, and his mother’s influence on him growing up has made him this way”, Jordan said. I pondered on what they were saying. I told him I never wanted to see him again, and he helped rescue me. I felt gratitude, but I was still broken up about him cheating on me. I would not be going after him in this mate bond. If he wants me, he will have to prove that himself. I felt he only searched for me out of concern for his brothers.
” Okay”, I told them, though I knew I didn’t mean it.
“Thank you all for finding me”, I said to them, looking at each one of them and smiling. I snuggled into Seth’s warm body. Carter was on the other side. Jordan went back to the couch and laid down. I didn’t like him being over there, alone. I sat up and crawled off the bed, getting the huge cover and putting it on the carpet. They all watched as I pulled the pillows off the bed and put them on the floor.
“Um. Red. Whatcha doing?” Carter asked and I smiled.
“Lay with us”, I said to Jordan, and reached out my arms to him. He wasted no time coming to me and lying down on the floor. It was still comfortable.
“I guess we were laying on the floor then”, Seth said and crawled beside me. Carter crawled between my legs and laid his head on my stomach.
” We’re going to have to get a bigger bed”, Carter said, and I giggled. I settled between the three of them, happy and content as the three of them fell asleep, but my thoughts drifted to Damien. What was he doing and where was he? As if my body was answering my question, I was somehow on the floor inside of what looked like a club. I looked around, surveilling my surroundings. People were crowded around the middle. I could hear Damien speaking about Emma, who I saw on the floor on her knees, begging for her life. All I know is I saw red after that.