Chapter 29

Xaviers POV

It had been four days since we had told Blaine that Anna could possibly find her parents. We had decided that we weren’t going to do anything until Blaine was all healed up and out of the hospital. She agreed that there was no point in finding out where they were if she was still bed bound. If anything it would probably be counter productive for her as she’d just sit in bed and worry the whole time, feeling useless for not being able to do anything.

The day had finally come though, Blaine had been released from hospital this morning and, with strict instructions from the doctor on how and when to take her medication, we were off home.

We were now sitting in my living room, all staring at each other as we planned our next move. The one downside about Anna’s ability to spirit walk was that she was as real there as she was here. In other words, if someone hurt her whilst she was in a spirit walk they not only hurt her soul there but also her body here. It was dangerous, especially when we didn’t know what she was going into, but we had to have faith in the Mood Goddess to keep her safe . We had to believe that if things got to dangerous for Anna the Goddess would pull her spirit back into her body.

“So how will it all work?” Blaine asked as she continued to snuggle up into my side. I smiled down at her as her fly aways tickled my nose, but I didn’t move them, afraid that she would move if she thought they were annoying me. It was as if the more contact I had with her the more the ever present void in my chest began to close, healed by her very presence.

I hadn’t asked her about our bond yet, about whether she knew what type of bond we shared, but I knew I’d have to ask her soon. It would become obvious when we marked each other anyway and I think it would be best coming from me rather than someone else.

“Well to you it will just look like I’ve fallen into a deep sleep, my body will remain here but my spirit will be taken elsewhere by the Goddess. It used to happen randomly, the Goddess would just take me wherever she thought I needed to go, but over time I’ve managed to control it a little. I can now call upon the gift whenever it is required and I can control where I go... to a certain degree” Anna explained as she smiled over at Blaine.

If anyone knew how Blaine would be feeling in this second it would be Anna. She too had to live through her parents being kidnapped and taken away from her.

“Okay... so what do we do whilst you’re in your sleep?” Blaine asked as she played with my fingers as they rested in her lap.

“Honestly there isn’t really much you can do, it’s more of a waiting game for you lot until I get back” she shrugged as she kissed Jax on the side of his jaw.

Jax was never okay with her doing something dangerous, let alone something where he couldn’t protect her, but he knew his mate, once she had her mind set on something she was damn well going to do it.

“Right shall we get this party started then?” Anna asked as she got up and shooed Jax off the sofa so that she could stretch out and get comfy.

“I’m going to be by your side the whole time okay little mate? And I want you to promise me that if things get to dangerous or you start to feel unsafe in anyway you’ll come straight back here alright?” Jax asked as he knelt on the floor beside her head, stroking her hair affectionately as he stared at her.

She smiled softly up at him as she nodded her head before taking a deep breath in and out to calm herself before she closed her eyes. She was out in seconds.

Looking over at Anna and Jax as he stared at her like she was the only think in the world, I realised how far I had come in the last month or so. Before I had met Blaine watching them would have been like a dagger to my heart, slowly twisting as I felt the pain of being mateless grow until I could no longer take it. But now, as I looked down at my perfect mate as she rested in my arms, I realised how lucky I was.

After my family died, I had vowed to never slack off on my Beta duties again. To never go off and have a good time and get drunk at a random party. Never wake up next to some unknown girl who I had used to try and numb the pain of being mateless, and never question the importance of the Beta role ever again. After all that was what got my family killed in the first place, me and my stupid arrogant self.

“Is this all we do now? Sit around and wait for her to wake up?” Blaine whispered over to me, almost as if she was worried she was going to wake Anna up if she spoke to loud.

I shrugged as I looked back at the couple on the opposite sofa before looking back down at Blaine, “pretty much yeah”.

“Oh... well in that case I’m going to take a page out of Anna’s book and go for a little nap. My sleep pattern is all over the place at the moment anyway so why bother trying to stay up when I’m dead on my feet” Blaine shrugged as she snuggled in and got comfy.

I smiled down at her as I watched her face relax and her breathing even out before looking back up at Jax who was still staring at his mate, looking for any sign that she was in trouble.

“You good if I have a quick nap to?” I asked him, feeling my eyes starting to drop. “I never sleep well on that hospital cot and it’s been ages since I’ve managed to have a decent rest”.

“Sure man no worries, I’ll wake you up if anything happens” Jax nodded as he lifted Anna’s feet up and placed them back on his lap.

I smiled over at him in gratitude before letting my eyes drop and before I knew it I was out like a light.

“Annabelle... Annabelle wake up... come on little mate...please... wake up!” I rose from my deep sleep to the sound of Jax’s panicked voice and when I realised what he was saying I sprang awake. Something had happened.

Slipping out from under Blaine I ran over to Jax’s side as he knelt on the floor, softly shaking her shoulders to try and rouse her from her spirit sleep.

“Whats happening?” I asked, frantically looking over her to see if I could see any injuries.

“I don’t know” Jax muttered as he continued to try and wake her up. “One minute she was asleep and the next it was like she had been shocked by some electricity or something. Her whole body jerked before it went deadly still again” he explained as he sniffed the air. I did the same, looking for any changes in her body that might have caused her to have such a violent reaction.

We both froze at the same time, as we smelled the blood that was coming from her body.

“Anna!” I shouted the same time Jax shouted “Annabelle!” He frantically started looking over her body, looking for the source of where the blood was coming from, and when he found it he froze, his whole hand covered in her blood.

“It’s her head Xav, she’s bleeding from her head” he whispered as he stared at his blood stained hand.

“What’s happening” I heard Blaine mumble from the opposite sofa but we both ignored her as we continued to look over Anna.

I moved so that I was on her other side and leant over the back of the sofa. “Blaine I need you to come here and check Anna’s head, shes bleeding and we can’t check it without moving her” I explained as I reached down to touch Anna’ shoulder.

As I made contact with her skin though Jax growled. I looked over to see that gold was swirling in his eyes and his teeth had extended slightly.

When your mate was injured you went into overprotective mode, so it was completely natural for him to be territorial over Anna and want to protect her. But him standing guard over her wasn’t going to help her and if we’re going to check her injuries and see if she needed medical attention we had to see how serious the cut was.

“Jax snap out of it” I growled as I let my own eyes swirl with gold. “You acting like an overprotective and jealous mate is not going to help her in anyway now help me lift Anna up slightly so that Blaine can have a look at her head”. It was a risk, yelling at your Alpha whilst his wolf was out, but it was one that seemed to pay off because in an instant Jax’s eyes had gone back to their usual brown colour. He nodded one swift nod before reaching out and lifting her other side , both of us supporting her head and neck so that it didn’t roll back.

Blaine quickly shifted her hair out of the way and with a small torch began to inspect the area where she was bleeding. “It doesn’t appear to be a big cut, my guess is that she was thrown against a wall and her head made impacted with it” she explained as she continued to inspect it. “Honestly I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, I doubt she’d even get concussion from it, but if you wanted to call the doctor out just to be on the safe side you can”.

Jax nodded his head in understanding before lowering her back down, his eyes already unfocused with the telling signs of him using his mind link.

Just when we’d started to relax again I frowned when I saw a slight swelling appear on her cheek bone. “Umm Jax... I think you’re going to want to see this” I muttered as I continued to stare at the beginnings of a bruise that was starting to form.

“God damn it Annabelle” Jax shouted as he punched the floor. “She promised me that she would exit the spirit walk if things got to dangerous” he growled as he got up from his spot on the floor and started pacing.

And then the worst part happened... four distinctive claw marks appearing on her stomach, the blood soaking through her t-shirt. Before any of us could say anything though Anna startled awake, taking in a huge gulp of air, as if she had been kept underwater for too long.

“Annabelle are you okay?” Jax asked as he rushed to her side, his angry pacing long forgotten as he took her head in his lap.

She nodded slightly, causing her too wince slightly at her head scraped against the fabric of the pillow she’d been lying on.

“Are you sure? I have the doctor on the way just in case, to check you over and make sure you haven’t damaged yourself” he explained as he stroked her hair back.

I looked over to see that Blaine had removed herself from our little group, as she wrapped her arms around her waist and looked over at Anna with regret. I smiled at her slightly before walking over to her and taking her in my arms, comforting her the best that I could.

“It’s not your fault Blaine” I whispered in her ear as I lead her over to the other sofa.

“It is though” she mumbled back, her voice muffled due to her face being buried in my neck. “I was the one who asked her to help me find my family, if I hadn’t done that she wouldn’t be over there in pain right now”.

I sighed as I rubbed her back comfortingly. “Trust me, no one makes Anna do something she doesn’t want to do. She wanted to help you and she would have done this with or without you asking her.”

“He’s right Blaine, you didn’t make me do anything” Anna muttered as she smiled over at us.

Blaine smiled back and nodded her head in thanks before settling back into my arms. I could tell she wanted to know what Anna had seen, but she also didn’t want to press the issue to much, probably afraid that it would cause Anna to much strain after what she had been through.

I, on the other hand, knew she was fine and was just waiting for the go ahead from us to start talking. “So what did you find?”

“Well... I didn’t see your family, or maybe I did and I just didn’t know it was them, seeing as I’ve never actually seen them before, but I know they were there. I just had this feeling that this was what we were looking for you know?” She asked as she rested her hand over her eyes, blocking the light out slightly. She always seemed to get a bit of a headache after she forced a spirit walk.

“And what did you see?” Blaine tentatively asked, almost as if she didn’t really want to know the answer but also kid of did at the same time.

Anna shifted out of Jax’s lap and looked over at Blaine, sadness pinching the edges of her eyes. “Are you sure you want to know? What I saw wasn’t... pleasant” Anna stuttered as she thought of a good enough descriptive word to use.

Blaine just nodded her head, her shoulders set in determination.

Anna sighed as she ran her hand over her forehead before looking right into Blaine’s eyes. “I found an underground, illegal fighting ring”.

Hey everyone!

Looks like we’re finally getting to the good stuff hu? *rubs hands together*