Chapter 30

Xavier’s POV

“I’m sorry a what now?” Blaine exclaimed, disbelief lacing her tone. I was right up there with her, I had no idea what Anna was talking about.

Anna sighed as she ran her hand across her forehead, clearly struggling slightly. “I’ll go get you something to help with your headache” Jax muttered close to Anna’s ear before kissing her on the temple and rushing off to the kitchen, where he knew I kept my medical supplies.

Anna didn’t restart up again until Jax had returned with a few pills and a glass of water to help her wash them down. What she had found out about Blaine’s family, she obviously thought our Alpha needed to know about it, otherwise she would have started without him.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, just hearing the words illegal fighting club you just knew it was going to be bad.

“What did you see Anna?” Jax prompted as he took her hand in his, comforting her anyway he could. Anna was clearly shaken, you didn’t have to be overly observant to work that one out.

“Well... it started of with this cave type thing at the bottom of a mountain range, I’m not quite sure where it was specifically thought. Then there were a few weeds and vines covering a doorway, keeping it hidden from passersby. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the smell, it was a mix between a shady bar and a cell block. The stench of beer, urine and blood was so thick in the air I almost threw up”. She cringed suddenly, as if the memory of the smell alone was enough to make her gag again.

“I made my way through all these different deserted corridors, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. You could tell that they were man made tunnels and rooms, someone must’ve come across the cave a while back and decided to convert it into something bigger. There wasn’t much lighting around so I couldn’t make out a lot of features about the place but I could tell I was walking through some form of holding cell. There were doors leading everywhere and after looking inside a few, through what I’m assuming were their little feeding slots, I found wolf after wolf just lying there, motionless on the ground”.

“Most of them had some form of injuries on them, only superficial ones but enough to know that they were being harmed in some way. They also had collars on, of all different sizes and colours. They paid me no attention though, they just stared off into space with this ghostly look in their eye, as if they were there but not all at the same time.”

“I eventually made it to the end of the corridor and found myself in a huge room, bigger than I thought a cave could go, and that was when I figured out what was going on. In the middle of the room held a boxing ring of some sorts, it was bigger than your average ring though and it had a chain link fence surrounding the edges and on the top, creating some form of cage. Blood stained the floors and claw marks were scratching into the floors surface, looking like wolves had been dragged somewhere or something”.

“I was just about to leave, creeped out by what I had seen, when I was hit from behind. Thankfully the Goddess got me out of there before anything serious could happened”.

“Before anything serious? Anna you were knocked over the head, punched in the face and attacked by some wolf, I’d hardly say you got out before anything serious” Jax exclaimed, obviously not overly impressed with the way Anna played it down.

“Jax I’m fine, seriously it wasn’t as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be” Anna reassured him as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Then explain the claw marks” he growled as he shifted slightly, obviously feeling on edge at the mere mention of his mates injuries.

“I was throw into one of the cell type rooms that held the captured wolves” she sighed, almost silently.

“You what!” Jax exclaimed at the same time I shouted “Anna!”

“I’m fine alright? I’m still whole see?” She quickly defended herself as she held her hands up.

Just then there was a knock on the door before doctor Tessler let herself in. “I heard my favourite patient is in need of some assistance” she smiled over at Anna as she made her way over to her, doctors bag in hand.

“I’m only your favourite because I keep you so busy” she laughed, rolling her eyes.

“Now that’s only half true” she smiled before stopping in front of Anna. “Now I hear you’ve had a little accident during your spirit walk?”

I snorted at her choice of words before standing up, taking Blaine with me. “That’s right doc, she peed herself again” I laughed before swiftly making my way out of the living room and into the kitchen. Knowing Anna she gave way worse than she got and it always ended up being on the more physical side.

I walked into the kitchen with Blaine following close behind me but if it wasn’t for her hand currently clutched in mine I would have assumed she had stayed behind to be with the others, she was so quiet. I turned around so that I was facing her, intent on asking her what was wrong but when I got a look at her face I froze. She was crying.

Through everything I had seen Blaine go through, from the physical injuries to the hateful words I had told her right at the start of us meeting I had never seen her cry. She was like a stone that kept her feelings close to her chest. She never talked about how she was doing and she never openly showed me how she was feeling, like a wall had been built around her emotions a long time ago that she refused to let crumble.

Looking at her now my heart almost broke in two. She had big droplets of tears streaking down her freckled cheeks, her big green eyes glistening as they caught the kitchen light. Her nose was slightly red from her rubbing it a couple of times and her hair was a little frizzy from her running her hand through it constantly in distress.

I sighed as I looked her over before taking her in my arms, already understanding what had gotten her upset. Throughout the whole conversation of Anna explaining her findings to us Blaine hadn’t said one word, she just sat there in my arms as she digested everything that was being said.

“It’s going to be okay Blaine, We’re going to get them back” I whispered soothingly in her ear as I continued to hold her in my arms, stroking my hand up and down her back occasionally in the hopes that it would soothe her in some way.

“How can you know that?” She mumbled into my neck, not bringing her face out from her little hiding spot.

“Because I know my pack and I know you” I muttered as I continued the soothing strokes. “We will stop at nothing to get your family back Blaine, that I can promise you”.

She stayed silent for a while after that, not having anything to say as I held her securely in my arms.

After a while her tears died down and eventually stopped, the only evidence of them even existing was the wet patch that she had left on the collar of my shirt.

“What if they’re in pain Xav” she finally spoke, her voice slightly thick from the recent tears that had just been shed.

My heart rate kick up slightly at the use of her nickname but I forced it to remain as neutral as possible, the last thing she needed to deal with right now was an excited mate .

I sighed before kissing the top of her forehead delicately. “If we find them in pain then we’ll just have to do to the rogues what they did to your family. An eye for a eye”.

I continued to hold her close as I breathed in her scent, using it to calm me down and not let my wolf take over. I always got particularly worked up over thinking about someone close to me in pain. After... what happened... I had promised myself that I would never let anything happen to my friends and family again, and seeing as Blaine was my mate, her family were now my family.

“You’re my family now Blaine and I will do everything in my power to protect you and make you happy for the rest of your life” I vowed, kissing her firmly on her forehead once again.

Blaine retracted herself slightly from my arms so that she could look up at me. Even with her slightly puffy eyes and bright red nose, she was the most beautiful woman alive. I mean I may be a little bias due to the mate bond and everything but she damn sure was the most beautiful woman out there. Fact.

“Xavier I-” she stuttered as she looked up into my eyes “I umm...” she tried again before sighing and looking down at our feet, her head resting on my chest. She sighed as her shoulders slumped in defeat as she looked back up at me, a soft smile gracing her full lips. “Thank you” she muttered before resting her head back into the crook of my neck.

I stood there for a second, frozen, as I thought about what she had just said, or more accurately what she had tried to say. Was she really trying to say what I think she was?

I looked down at her, trying to get a look at her face and see if I could read her expression, but all I was met with was just a lot of red curly hair as it twisted in different random directions. I smiled for a second before squeezing my arms tightly around her. If I was being honest I knew what she was wanting to say, I wanted to say it too, but with everything that was going on and just down to my sheer cowardness, I decided to hold my tongue and not say the three words I so desperately wanted to.

Instead I just whispered into her ear “It’s going to be okay Blaine, it’s all going to be okay”.

Ta da!

Thoughts?