ELLIE

        “Jayson?” Blake and I both said at the same time but he didn’t move. He just stood inside the door where we could both see him, silent and still.

        I couldn’t believe that he was here. He had been gone for over a year now, Mollie had killed herself four months’ ago because she didn’t want to live without Jayson anymore and Jonah had effectively lost control of the pack almost seven months’ ago.

        To look at him now you wouldn’t know that he had once been the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the country. He had bags under his eyes, premature wrinkles covering most of his face and he looked like he hadn’t stayed in one place for longer than couple of days.

        “Halloween was three months’ ago mate,” Blake joked when Jayson didn’t speak but I really wasn’t seeing the funny side of this.

        “Not helping,” I muttered to Blake.

        “Yo, Blake, Ell—“ but Jackson stopped his sentence short when his eyes landed on Jayson. He looked just as shocked as Blake and I were to see him here. “Jayson?”

        “Where have you been?” I asked him as I walked towards him. He flinched slightly when I raised my hand to his cheek, but he didn’t move away from me or force my hand away from his face.

        “I couldn’t do it anymore Ellie. I just, it was too much, I didn’t want that life,” Jayson whispered as his eyes found mine and I could see the sadness in them, like he was trying to stop himself from crying because he didn’t want us to see his pain.

        “Leave us,” I used my Alpha tone with Jackson and Blake for the first time ever. I had never used it with them before but I had a feeling Jayson wasn’t going to talk to me unless they were gone from the room.

        “El—“

        “I said, leave,” I told them again. I turned around to look at the both of them and neither of them could believe what I was doing. I would apologise to them later and I would tell them what happened, but I needed Jayson to speak and that wasn’t going to happen with either of those in the room with us.

        “Alpha,” Jackson bowed his head in respect and headed back upstairs without another word.

        “Ellie. You—“

        “Blake. Please,” I said gently but he continued to look at me like he hated me for sending him away and I didn’t want him to feel like that. I wasn’t doing it to be cruel, I was doing it because I needed to know what had happened to Jayson and I also wanted to know why the hell he had turned up in my pack covered in blood which clearly wasn’t his own.

        I will tell you later. Just let me speak to him. I told him through the mate link with a slight smile on my face, just to reassure him that I wasn’t lying and I had every intention of filling him in whatever Jayson told me. Please.

        “I love you El,” he replied.

        “And I love you too Blake,” I smiled back at him and then he walked into the kitchen, calling out Luca’s name as he disappeared and not a second later the both of them reappeared, walking out the door in deep conversation with each other about something.

        “I need help Ellie,” Jayson muttered once the door closed and I led him over to the sofa, sitting down beside him with his hand in my own.

        “Talk to me Jay. We’ve all missed you and your mother has been going crazy looking for you,” I told him.

        “I didn’t want to be the Alpha anymore. When Lex died, it reminded me that I was the reason both their parents were dead and I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t keep pretending to be someone I’m really not,” Jayson replied as his grip on my hand tightened a little.

        “Their father deserved what he got. He was an animal and three of them appreciated what you did. Especially since you saved Blake’s life,” I reassured him. I had never seen Jayson like this before, I was used to the smiles and laughter, not the vulnerable and weak side he was showing me now.

        “But their mother didn’t. The night she was killed, I was supposed to be on patrol, but I got distracted by a girl and so I disappeared with her instead. The rogue who killed their mother slipped into the territory at the part of the border I was supposed to be patrolling,” Jayson muttered.

        OK. Perhaps I was lying when I told Blake I would tell him everything Jayson told me. It wasn’t my place to tell Blake that he was the reason his mother was dead, Jayson needed to be the one to tell Blake that on his own terms.

        I didn’t want to push a rift between the two of them. They had been inseparable since the age of the four and were practically brothers by the time they were both ten, I didn’t want to break something that special up when Jayson clearly needed all the support he could get right now.

        “Where have you been for the last year Jay?” I asked him.

        “Everywhere. I spent some time hiding in Alpha Mason’s pack house and then I paid a visit to Alpha John before moving onto Alpha Jacob. All three of them were very helpful but after that I just remained on land which wasn’t owned by anyone,” Jayson sighed.

        “You know Mollie killed herself. Right?”

        “I felt the loss of the connection. I was surprised that she lasted as long as she did,” Jayson muttered and I knew that was another death he was going to blame himself for.

        She was his mate and he abandoned her. He was the reason that she was dead because he ignored her pleas to come back, instead settling for shutting her out and acting like she didn’t exist. I wasn’t going to tell him that because I didn’t know how to deal with that level of emotion right now.

        “Why are you covered in blood?”

        “Look, I’m not the same person you remember. I am a monster and I need help. You are the only one I trust to be able to help me,” Jayson said as he pulled his hand away from mine and stood up, walking away from where I was sitting so that he wasn’t anywhere near me.

        “I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours,” I sighed. I moved my hand across my stomach as I felt a twinge of pain in the side where Nicole was and it was only a second later when I felt her kicking, something which made me smile to myself despite the situation I was currently dealing with.

        “I see you’re pregnant,” Jayson muttered.

        “Don’t change the subject Jayson. Tell me why you’re covered in blood,” I snapped.

        “Blake always talked about wanting to be a father. Glad to see he got his wish,” Jayson continued to ignore the question. He couldn’t tell me that he wanted me to help him and then ignore me when I tried to help him. It just wasn’t going to work out if he was going to play it that way.

        “Jayson,” I growled and I could feel my anger rising, which wasn’t good because I wasn’t in any fit state to shift right now. I closed my eyes and ended up taking deep breaths in order to quell my anger and push my wolf back beneath the surface.

        “It was a bad idea coming here. Forg—“

        “No. I won’t forget you were here Jayson. So, just answer the damn question,” I shouted as I pushed myself from the sofa and stepped in front of him, preventing him from walking out of the door. He wasn’t going to get away from me that easily.

        “Ellie, ple—“

        “Damn it Jayson. Why the fuck are you covered in blood?” I stopped him before he could start begging with me. I didn’t deal well with begging, regardless of who the person was and what they wanted me to do for them.

        “I need to le—“

        “You’re not leaving until you tell me the truth,” I told him, refusing to move from the front of the door until he had spoken to me and told me the truth.

        I need to see my mother,” he said coolly.

        “Tell me why you’re covered in blood and then you can leave,” I shrugged, my hand on my stomach as the pain from moments ago began to disappear.

        I was sure Blake could feel the pain I was in and he would also be able to sense how angry I was getting, which meant that he would be back here any second now to make sure nothing had happened to me or the twins. That meant Jayson didn’t have all that long to tell me the real reason he was here.

        If he wasn’t going to tell me why he had just wandered into my territory, when he was technically a rogue now, then there were plenty of prison cells for him to pick from where he could think over what he was doing here.

        “Eurgh. You are infuriating,” Jayson complained as he threw his hands up in the air in defeat and turned him back on me, releasing a breath I didn’t even know he had been holding in. “This blood, Ellie, is the blood of the rogues I murdered.”

- Jayson to the side (or above if you're reading on the app). I hope you enjoyed this and I have a lot planned for this book, so keep those eyes open.