*2 months after Jade’s return*
Two months passed since Jade had returned to the pack. Everyone in the pack sighed with relief upon her arrival, because for the past year, their Alpha was like a walking time bomb, and everyone including the Beta Brian was afraid that they would say something wrong and cause the Alpha to explode and go on a rampage.
Jade also learnt that it was Adeena who had helped Darius with the kidnapping, and when Adryan found out, he almost killed her but elders in the pack stopped him. Instead, Adeena was thrown out of the pack. Exiled and doomed to survive with rogues.
Violet also let Jade know that looking after Adonis was the only reason Adryan survived. She couldn’t imagine the inner battle his lycan was having after losing their mate for over a year.
Violet had hugged Jade tightly the moment she entered the pack house, swearing to never leave her side. Jaade couldn’t conceal her tears when she saw her baby, Adonis’s eyes filled the moment he saw his mother, causing Jade to embrace him tightly in her arms, it was safe to say that the four-year-old refused to leave his mother’s side after his crying episode. He clung to her like a koala all the time and Jade wasn’t complaining either. She was ecstatic to be back.
Yet there were moments when her thoughts drifted back to him, even though his actions led her to be separated from her mate and child, she couldn’t come to hate him. She had felt a connection with him, maybe the theory about him being her second mate would’ve been true but that bond wasn’t enough for her to stay with him when her everything was back in The Blood Moon Pack.
Jade couldn’t shake off the image of his lone figure standing on the third floor. There was also the thought about what she had found out about the hybrid experiments before she lost her memories.
Jade had already warned Adryan to be prepared for a war, after telling him whatever she knew about the experiments being done to create hybrids. Adryan was furious, to say the least, he was ready to storm to the place where Darius lived.
It was her question that made him stop, “But then what? Storming there means a risk of getting killed. I don’t want there to be any bloodshed. I don’t want the females in the pack to lose their mates.” Her reasoning made Adryan think about the bigger picture. It was better to prepare for war than attack blindly, and he wasn’t sure that he would be able to find Darius’s lair. He had tried numerous times in the past year to find Jade but nothing came up. He knew that Darius had taken the help of a superior witch to use black magic to conceal his location from the outside world.
Everyone in the pack has prepared to fight in the war but it’s been two months and it was peaceful, it didn’t feel like there would be war. Jade usually could sense when something bad was about to happen, like a premonition but this time she felt nothing instead she felt relaxed.
—
Jade feels a tingling sensation on her face, a hand traces the contours of her face, the touch gentle yet waking her up from her short nap. Opening her eyes she comes face to face with ocean blue eyes staring straight at her.
A small smile graces her face, Adryan leans forward kisses her softly on her forehead and moves down to kiss her on the mark he has left on her neck that completes their mate bond. The soft touch of his lips on her neck makes her feel ticklish, her hands tangle them with his midnight-black hair.
A knock is heard on their bedroom door, Adryan quickly pulls back knowing that it might be an urgent matter for the person to come to the Alpha’s house personally.
Jade sits upright on their bed as Adryan opens the door to see Brian standing there with a serious expression.
“Alpha” Brian addresses instead of calling his best friend’s name.
“Did something happen?” Adryan asks, prepared to run out if there was a surprise attack on the pack, but Brian shakes his head as if reading his thoughts.
“There is a stranger at the border of the pack. The person claims to know Luna Jade” Brian says causing both Jade and Adryan to look at each other. “his name is Marco, we couldn’t get his scent but we believe he might be a vampire.” Brian finishes, hearing the name from Brian’s mouth alerts Jade. She immediately stands up.
—
Jade could see Marco immediately as soon as she reached the pack borders. More than a dozen pack members stood before him in a defensive stance, ready to attack any moment if he made a move.
Jade moved towards where Marco stood, Adryan closely behind her, his stance attentive and ready to protect her from harm. He wanted to stop her from meeting this stranger, especially since he was one of Darius’s men, but he had full faith in Jade and knew she would’ve alerted him if there was anything bad that was about to happen.
“Marco” Jade acknowledges him. Jade was familiar with Marco, he was what Darius had closest to a best friend. They had often communicated with each other the year she was with Darius.
“I’m here to relay a message from Darius’s behalf,” Marco says, his words causing the pack members present, Adryan, Brian and Violet to tense, thinking that this was the warning Darius was going to give them before he attacked.
Marco was standing just outside the border so no one could attack him for trespassing as technically he wasn’t. Marco takes out a small white envelope and a familiar necklace from his pocket. He hands them to Jade wordlessly and turns to leave.
“Wait” Jade stops him from leaving. Marco halts in his tracks turning to face Jade once again.
“What about the war and the experiments?” Jade asks him directly with confusion and apprehension.
“You don’t have to worry about it any longer, Darius made sure to fix everything before he left. There won’t be any war. He abandoned everything he has done till now for you. He hopes that you can live peacefully now.” Marco says.
“Can I meet him one last time?” Jade asks Marco. Jade’s question makes Adryan furrow his eyebrows in displeasure.
‘Jade’ Adryan called her through their shared link.
‘Just trust me’ she replies.
Marco lets her know about Darius’s location and leaves.
Jade looked down at the necklace that she had thought she lost, but there it was. The same crescent moon-shaped necklace with a circular pearl in the middle. The same one Adryan had gifted her. Next, she turned to open the envelope, which was a small rectangular. When she took out the note, there wasn’t much, just a line. After reading it, Jade didn’t know what to feel.
‘I’m sorry for everything’
~Darius