Chapter 37

Xavier’s POV

We hadn’t found anything of relevance since the girls had left. When I first found out that Blaine had gone off and was searching the hallways and caves without at least telling me first I had been fuming. Jax had to tell me to calm down as my body language and attitude had started to draw some unwanted attention. If I was being honest I couldn’t believe that Jax had been okay with Anna heading off on her own to begin with. He had talked me down though and we were now walking around the edges of the large cave type room trying not to look suspicious and out of place.

I knew that the others from our pack who had joined us were also within the room but it was so jam packed full of people I was having a hard time finding any familiar face.

“Stop fidgeting man, you’re going to give us away” Jax muttered next to me as he took a swig from the beer he had bought from the bar. He said it was to try and help us blend in but I think it was more to try and ease his nerves about him and Anna being apart. He knew the Goddess would take care of her though, hence why he wasn’t storming off and looking for her as we speak.

“I can’t help it” I defended myself as I again swept the room for any sign of someone or something out of the ordinary. “Not knowing where she is or whether she’s in danger or not is really setting me on edge” I grumbled as I ran a hand through my hair and along the back of my neck.

“I get it man but just try to take it easy. You have the mate bond now, not only that you have a blood bond, use it to your advantage” he said as he slapped his hand on the back of my shoulder.

“That’s great advice and all but if you haven’t noticed we haven’t exactly been mated all that long, I’m not even one hundred percent sure on how it even works yet” I sighed. Jax was right in the sense that we did share a strong bond with each other, one the Goddess thought was needed for us to get through being with each other, but without practicing and truly understanding one another there was no way of telling how this thing works. It’s not like a one size fits all type thing, every mated pair was different and ever bond linking that pair was different.

“Just try alright?” Jax sighed as took another drink and sidestepped a huge bald guy wanting to get past us. “You’ve probably read every book known to us about the blood bond, surely that must count for something? Just try something easy like focusing on her emotions, I know that helps me stay calm when Anna’s away from me. Like right now for example I can tell that she’s a little confused as well as on edge and upset but it tells me that she’s not in any danger, if she were she’d be feeling scared”.

“You’re keeping tabs on her?” I chuckled as I raised my eyebrows at him. “Does she know this or does she think you’re just being a super supportive and trustworthy mate”.

“I trust her!” He defended but otherwise didn’t say anything. In other words no she doesn’t know and if she finds out he is in the dog house, excuse the pun.

I snorted but quickly shut up as a saw out of the corner of my eye a group of less than friendly looking guys looking in our direction. “Jax three o’clock” I mutter as I turned around with my back to them so Jax could get a look at them without it being to obvious. “Think it’s anything we need to worry about?” I asked but before Jax could respond a flash of fear shot through my system making my body freeze up and my pupils dilate.

It wasn’t the fact that the fear itself put me on edge and almost paralyzed me, it was the fact that the unmistakable chill of fear wasn’t my own, it was Blaine’s.

I took one look at Jax and without even voicing my concerns I know that he was feeling the exact same thing as I was. This could only mean one thing, the girls were in danger.

Without another second wasted Jax dropped his beer, letting it smash to the ground and turned around to make his was back to the point where we split off, hoping that we could find their scent and follow it to where they were.

But before we could even take two steps the crowd seemed to part around us and we were swarmed by guys, all tattooed up and grinning at us. They were all strangers to me, all but one. My eyes locked onto him as soon as I spied him in the gang of people, the rouge who had hurt my Blaine during the attack.

“Long time no see rogue killer” he grinned as he flashed his slightly extended teeth at me.

I growled at him as my wolf started to show through, my eyes no doubt burning gold with rage at finally being face to face again with the wolf that hurt and nearly killed my mate. “Not soon enough” I growled as I stared him down.

We had attracted quite a crowd by now, the ring of people around us growing by the second as they gathered to see a possible fight, one that hadn’t been pre arranged.

“And not only do we have the rogue killer with us ladies and gentlemen but we also have the Alpha himself gracing us with his presence... welcome to my humble abode” he grinned as he shifted his gaze over to Jax who was standing tense beside me.

“If only you would have brought your beautiful mates along with you so that they could witness the show” he sighed as he looked around the crowd with an evil grin plastered on his face, his teeth still out for all to see. “But wait... what is that I hear?” He asked as he made a gesture of putting his hand to his ear and listening to something in the background.

At first I head nothing, just the breaths and sniggers of the people around me but it wasn’t long before I heard something that made dread seep into my veins and this time, the fear was completely my own.

“Get your hands off of me you idiotic excuse of a man” Blaine growled as I heard scuffling not to far from us. They had been found.

I growled as I realised an unknown wolf had his hands on my mate and was probably hurting her. No one hurts my mate and gets away with it.

Blaine and Anna suddenly broke through the ring of onlookers and were forced into the little clearing that Jax and I were standing in, both of them with their own escort tightly holding their biceps in their firm grip.

“Let go of her” Jax growled as he started to advance on the man holding his mate. He was quickly held back though as a few of the surrounding guards interfere and held his arms back, effectively stopping him from getting anywhere near the girls.

“Not so fast little Alpha” the head guy laughed, “the people here came for a show and I think it’s only fair that we give it to them” he continued to laugh as he looked around the room with his hands in the air, loving the cheers from his onlookers as they agreed with him.

“Now I was going to have the big bad Alpha face of with a few of my best fighters, after all we’ve never seen an Alpha fight in hand to hand combat this close before” he shrugged. “But I think I’ve found something ten times better than that” he laughed, his voice increasing in volume so that the whole room can hear.

“You see everyone” he continued as he walked around us, circling us as if we were his pray and he was just toying with us “the rogue killer here is actually mated to a rogue” he exclaimed, his onlookers laughing along with him as he continued his speech. “Quite recently to by the looks of those bite marks on the side of your neck” he questioned as he pointed to the side of my neck where Blaine’s mark stood proud on my skin.

“Now the real kicker in all of this folks is that his mate is actually Blaine over here” he said as he gestured to my mate who was currently looking over at the man with daggers in his eyes. “Now I’ve been looking for her for the better part of two years. You see not only do I have her brother as one of my prize fighters I also have her sister, her mother and her father too and what can I say” he laughs as he shrugs his shoulders “I’m a collector”. The crowd laughed along with him at his last comment but Blaine growled, her eyes turning bright gold and her teeth extending to their fullest at the mention of her family being nothing more than collectable items.

“You’re a sick son of a bitch, you know that?” I growled at him, my speech having a slight lisp to it due to my extended canines.

“I prefer to look at it as pure genius” he shrugged.

There was one thing I’d learnt about this guy, he loved a show and he loved the attention to be all on him. In his eyes he was the Alpha of this place, the one barking out all the orders and reaping all the rewards and that had been made plainly obvious by this little show that he was putting on.

“So what’s your big plan then? kill my family in front of me or something just so you can entertain all your little buddies?” Blaine hissed as she again struggled to get out of the hold of the guy holding her.

“You know that had crossed my mind” he nodded, as if he was deliberating the option “but then I thought why waste a perfect opportunity with just simply killing someone? Why not do it our style and have a fight in the cage” he grinned over at her whilst the crowd shouted and cheered him on.

That was the last straw for me. The idea that he was going to steal my mate from me and put her in a cage to fight off her own family made me sick to my stomach, not to mention the fact that it would probably kill her to even lay a had on one of her family members.

“Take me, let the rest of my pack go and I will give you a show like you’ve never seen” I said as I turned away from Blaine and looked at the guy square in the face. I could hear Blaine scream at me not to, begging me to stop talking and to just let her handle her own family issues but I ignored her. This was something I had to do.

“Think about it” I continued “the rogue killer fighting a rogue for all to see” I shouted, raising my arms up and gesturing to the crowds around me, “now wouldn’t that be a show for your adoring fans”.

“Xavier no!” Blaine screamed.

I turned to her with a sad smile as I looked her deep in her eyes, hoping she will understand just how much I loved her. “I’ve already watched my mum and my sister die, I can’t stand aside and watch you die too” I sighed before looking back over at the guy calling all the shots. I knew that it was pointless trying to fight our way out of here, we were completely surrounded and any attempt at escaping would mean certain death for all of us.

“So what do you say big man, am I worthy enough to be entertainment for you and your little group?”

The room was silent as we waited for him to decide, the tension thick as I waited for the decision that would surely end my life. I knew I couldn’t kill a member of Blaine’s family, they were a part of her and I knew that if I harmed them Blaine would never forgive me.

“Fine” the guy finally shrugged as he pointed over to the cage “lets see what you’re made of”.

Blaine and Anna screamed as the guy finally agreed to my proposal but I couldn’t look over at them as I walked past them and towards the cage.

For some reason this was a really hard chapter to write. I hope you all enjoyed it! :D