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Chapter Seventeen

ECHO

I pulled the Alpha down with me, but his impulses were quicker than mine as he shielded my body with his.

An arrow grazed the right side of my arm and rammed into the wall just beside me. I looked at it in horror.

Suddenly, there was chaos everywhere with the humans screaming and the werewolves trying to figure out what was happening.

The Alpha pulled us up and dragged me into the café. But that would be a mistake. If we went inside, we would be trapped with nowhere to run and I didn't know what kind of danger we were in or who was behind it; though I had an inclination.

I tugged on his arm and drew him to stop.

"What?!" he growled angrily.

"We can't go inside. We'll be trapped."

"Are you seriously questioning my judgment right now, Echo?" he growled again.

"Yes, I am! I've been on the run for a while and I can sniff out a trap sooner than you can. Trust me on this, please," I begged and searched his eyes for a positive response.

He clearly was very frustrated as he ran his hands through his hair and groaned.

The Alpha looked me dead in the eye and maintained his glare as he spoke, "Fine. But if one more thing goes wrong, we are doing things my way."

I sighed thanking the Goddess.

"Let's get the humans out of here first," I instructed and the Alpha mind-linked all the wolves that were present here.

Soon the wolves made sure that the humans were safe by making them exit the premises. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and no more arrows were flying through the air.

I was shit scared on the inside. If the Alpha hadn't noticed how freaked out I was then maybe I was a better actress than I thought.

He made me stand in the corner so that nobody had a clear shot of me. It was sweet of him to think of my safety, but I really wanted to help and hated being stuffed in some goddamn corner.

Once the café was empty, leaving only the members of the Bloodrose Pack, the Alpha ordered some of the wolves to do a perimeter check while the rest of them checked out the arrow and tried to get a scent off of it.

I walked up to him and placed my hand and his shoulder. "We'll find the person who did this."

"Echo, we don't even know who it was. How are we supposed to find this person?" he snapped.

He was quite upset and I understood that. But his anger was not at all helpful in this situation. I squeezed his shoulder in an attempt to reassure him, but he wasn't convinced. However, he didn't push me away.

Instead, he grabbed the back of my head with his left hand and pulled me towards him.

Placing a soft kiss on the top of my head, he breathed in my scent. It was a gesture that I had come to love.

After a couple of minutes, I felt his body relax and surprisingly, I felt calm too.

I waited for him to pull away, but he didn't and we stood like that in the middle of chaos. But all moments come to an end, and ours did too when one of the wolves approached us and cleared his throat.

Jax growled lowly and instead of pushing me away, he dropped his hand and took a step back only to snake his arm around my waist and held me tightly as if someone was going to snatch me away.

I looked up and raised an eyebrow, but he gave me a 'what' look. If he thought he could cover up his emotions, he was wrong because I didn't miss the hint of smile playing on his lips.

Shaking my head, I chuckled softly and looked at the guy standing in front of us.

For some reason he seemed as though he was going to shit himself. He looked between the two of us, but said nothing.

He probably just wanted to speak with his Alpha alone and couldn't trust a complete stranger like myself – well, that was my explanation for his silence.

So, I removed Jax's hand from my waist and told him that I was just going to wait outside.

"Stay," he said to me.

"Whatever you have to say, you can tell us."

"Uh, the thing is that, um..."

"Speak up!"

"Alpha, we found a scent," the guy said hurriedly.

His eyes were wide as saucers and he was freaking out; though none of us could understand why.

"Whose scent was it?"

"It was...hers," the werewolf said in an accusatory tone while looking right at me.

I was lost.

How could that arrow be covered in my scent?

"We haven't removed the arrow from the wall, but there was only one scent present. I-"

"Hey, I'm sorry. I came as quickly as I could." Stone rushed towards us and abruptly came to a stop.

"The area is secure, but we still need to figure out-" Jax started to fill him in when he was interrupted by his beta.

"Goodness, Echo! You are bleeding," Stone hissed, "Somebody get me a first aid kit quickly!"

He stepped forward, but the Alpha snapped at him. Jax took my right arm and held it upwards to inspect the wound that I had completely forgotten about.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" he asked softly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. And it's not a big deal because it doesn't even hurt. It was just a graze."

I felt extremely guilty in the moment, though I knew I wasn't supposed to feel that way.

"What do you mean 'it doesn't even hurt'?"

"I mean, I can't feel a thing - as if I wasn't wounded in the first place."

My arm felt numb, but it could also be because of the adrenaline. I didn't think much about it. There was nothing that Advil and Savlon couldn't help with.

The Alpha looked at his Beta and I could sense that they were talking through their link. Whatever they were talking about was making Jax very angry.

When they were finished, he looked down at me with a pained look.

I frowned.

"I am sorry, but I have to do this, Echo."

"Do what?" I asked, keeping my eyes trained on his face.

"You really can't..." he trailed off in disbelief.

Confused as to what he meant, I followed his line of sighted and what I saw shocked me as well.

Jax had his thumb pressing down into the wound on my arm. It made me squishy sound when he did it again. Though bleeding had slowed a little it was fucking gross.

But that's not what had me shook.

The fact that I couldn't feel a thing despite his thumb jabbing at the wound was jarring.

"I think she's been poisoned, Jax," Stone stated.

"Poisoned?" I looked at the two of them to elaborate, but as before, I was being ignored again.

What was with them - especially the Alpha – and ignoring me? It was my life on the line if I was really poisoned. I had the right to know and have some insight.

Jax and Stone were facing each other so I went ahead and stood in between them to grab their attention and block their line of sight of each other.

I looked at Jax and told him that I was done with him treating me this way.

"I have the right to know, Jax. If you know something, tell me.

"Okay."

"We are not sure about the poison, but it is one of the working theories. We don't know what the arrow was dipped and won't know until we examine it. And-"

"What the hell are you waiting for? Go examine it! Do your thing!"

He growled and this time I growled back.

"You can get mad all you want, but after we figure out what's wrong with my arm. Okay?"

If looks could kill, I would be dead on the spot. The tension rose in the air only to be cut by Stone's laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" The Alpha snapped.

"Come on. I know it's a serious situation, but nobody has spoken to you this way. It's a tad comical."

Maybe he should've kept his mouth shut because this Alpha did not like to be laughed at – not in public and it was quite evident with the look on his face.

Stone just screwed himself. What an idiot.

"I am taking her to my place and I want you to carefully removed the arrow from the wall and take it to the pack house. Make sure nobody else touches it. Not even Cleo."

Cleo?

"Yes, Alpha."

Stone and the others bowed their heads as we exited the café. But nothing mattered because that one word was now stuck in my head.

Who was she to him?

A pang of jealousy hit me.

I wanted to meet her for the sole purpose of ripping her apart. I couldn't bear the thought of Jax being with some other woman.

A low growl escaped my lips and that caught his attention.

Woah. No. What was happening to me?

I closed my eyes and vigorously shook my head to clear those thoughts and gritted my teeth to control a gush of anger that had hit me out of nowhere.

When I opened them, instead of Jax looking confused, he looked slightly taken aback, but more so pleased.

What was he so pleased about?

Grumbling to myself, I sat in the car and paid no heed to where we were going. I was caught up in the web of my emotions so much only to realize later that the road to the Alpha's house seemed different today.

"Where are we going?"

"To get some answers," was all he said without taking his eyes off the road.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.

He was able to sense that and placed a hand on my thigh, squeezing it.

Instantly, my jittery nerves calmed down and I let a sigh of relief. I was still a little upset with him, but my frustration and anger seemed to have vanished.

Minutes had passed by, but the Alpha's hand was still on my thigh. I stared down at his hand and then back up at him.

Did I want him to remove his hand from where it was? Fuck no.

---

A/N: I know this chapter sucked and kinda ended on an abrupt note. I am terribly sorry about that.

I seemed to have hit a roadblock with this book and somewhere I've lost the inspiration to write further.

However, it does not mean that I will stop writing - just that the updates will be slow. Maybe once a week until I get back on track.

Thank you for understanding. <3

Much love,
Grace. xo


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