Mikkeli POV
Fear...
I'm familiar with it; after all, it was one of my greatest companions during my childhood. For years I've learned how to deal with it, how not to let it consume me, and how to analyze and not panic.
When I saw Rosie in Jake's arms, I knew that I couldn't take him head-on. His claws were on her neck, and no matter how fast I was, I would've never made it. Plus, there was determination in his eyes. For whatever reason, he did this; he was ready to go till the end.
So I did what he demanded and first put on the collar. In the pack, we call them rogue's collars; they are made of silver. When they are placed on werewolves, they make shifting almost impossible, and they cut the possibility of communicating through the mindlink. In the injection, there was silver, not enough to kill, but enough to bury Byron very deep in my mind, so he won't be able to help me, and my strength would diminish significantly.
When I finished, Jake smirked and got in the direction of shelves, where in the wall, to my great surprise, was a tiny switch, which allowed him to unlock the door on the floor. I must say it was perfectly hidden; I've been spending in this study so many hours every day, and yet I haven't known there is a passage hidden here.
"Don't look so surprised, Mikkeli; your father left so suddenly that he didn't share with you many secrets of this house," Jake taunts as he forces me to go downstairs.
We are under the house in some kind of passage. I go first, and Jake follows but keeps a safe distance. Even though I'm getting weaker with every second, silver is working; he still is cautious with me.
The underground passage allows us to get into the woods, where is parked Jake's jeep. When we get closer, Jake smirks again and drops unconscious Rosie on the ground, I immediately rush towards him, but I'm already weak because of the poison. I feel a sharp pain, and the darkness surrounds me.
As I come to my senses, I feel a small hand on my cheek; I slowly open my eyes to see crying Rosie.
"Mikkeli, please wake up; I'm scared," she keeps whispering.
"It's okay, little one," I manage to say, and she immediately wraps her small arms around my arm.
I try to sit, but I can't; I'm chained to the floor with my two hands, I can only stabilize myself on my elbows lying on my stomach, and pretty much that's it. Rogue's Collar is still on my neck, and I feel a terrible pain in all my muscles; I know it's an effect of silver in my blood. I close my eyes and try to focus.
Before I put this collar on myself, I tried to reach Hannah through our mating bond, and I'm sure she felt me, but now I can't sense her. I can only hope that she will somehow find me. Time, no matter what, I must give her as much time as I can.
I know this place. We are in the basement of my father's wooden cottage, the same one I took Hannah to after our first date.
"Rosie," I say as gently as I can, "If I tell you to run, you will run, do you understand?"
She keeps sobbing but nods her head, and the door to the basement gets opened. Jake comes downstairs. I can still see his usually stoic face as if nothing happened, as if he hasn't just kidnapped us.
"You can lock Rosie in the bathroom," I say. "There is no need for her to watch this."
For a moment, he is just looking at me and finally gets closer to grab Rosie, but first, he sends a strong kick into my stomach, directly in the place he cut with his claws before. I whimper in pain as Rosie screams when Jake shoves her to the corner of the room.
"Rosie, close your eyes, and no matter what, don't open them unless I tell you!" I manage to say before another Jake's kick makes my lungs struggle for oxygen.
For a long moment, he just glares at me as Rosie cringes in the corner.
"Was it you?" I ask, coughing. "Was it you who told Becca about her birth and set her up?"
"Yes, actually, I was the one who came up with the whole plan. I found out about Hayden's children; I told Becca the truth and promised to help her take power; I killed Maddie."
"But why if you planned to take power?"
"Becca's plan was to take power; my plan was different. I used her to pry into your family because all I wanted was to destroy this pack and burned it to the ground."
His voice is calm, void of all emotions but hatred.
"I wanted to provoke Becca, Hayden, and you to tear this place apart, to make sure nothing will last of the Blackwood Pack and you, Mikkeli!"
"But why Jake? You were the Beta of this place for almost all your life, you..."
"All I have ever done wasn't for this pack; I've always despised this place," he interrupts me. "Everything I did was for your father, Mikkeli. He was the only one that mattered; he was my whole life!"
I look at him as the realization hits me; the devotion I can sense from him can only have one reason.
"You were my father's mate," I say.
Jake storms towards me and starts kicking me with fury screaming:
"Don't you dare to mention him, you filthy runt! Don't you dare to even think about him!"
I feel my stomach hurting and bruising forming, blood dripping from my wound. I try to cover my head, fuck because of the silver; everything is far more painful than a normal beating. After some time, Jake stops, and I try to catch my breath as I cough some blood. I manage to check on Rosie as she cries in the corner, but her eyes are closed; she's listening to me.
"Your father was the love of my life but I couldn't be his Luna. That was just inappropriate because I wasn't a woman nor an omega, and I couldn't give him an heir. In the beginning, he was trying not to love me, and yet he kept coming back to me."
Sounds like him, I think. My father had never accepted Jake, but he didn't reject him either. He was obsessed with his bloodline and with his strength; he would have never accepted the infertile mate. Jake's wolf isn't an omega, so that he couldn't conceive. But at the same time, my father maintained the romance with his mate so his wolf could keep being strong. My father truly was a greedy bastard.
"You didn't mind that he had a wife?" I say even though I need to struggle to form a sentence.
"He could fuck whoever he wanted as long as I was special to him since I was the only one fucking him! And as an Alpha, he needed the heir; Becca's mother failed; of course, he had to try again with Hayden's mother!"
"And my mother?"
He punches me again, and for a brief moment again, I have a problem catching my breath.
"That dirty slut! She was meaningless! The only reason you were brought to the house was because of your scent! Becca's scent was never noticed because it was too weak. I didn't know about Kyle being his too, but if I did, I would have gotten rid of the brat many years ago. But you... you were a different story. I suggested my mate keeping you; I knew you had much bigger potential than Hayden. You were a good investment in the future of this place. My mate was a great Alpha, he loved this pack, and he must've made it strong. He must have had a strong heir!"
"That's why you've agreed to stay hidden for all those years? Because that was what he had wanted?"
"He had to think about his pack, about his legacy, about his position. You would never understand what we both had, Mikkeli. This cottage was where we could be together; the passage I took you from the packhouse was to make sure no one would notice us. When I think that you brought that filthy human bitch here and fucked her on our bed, it makes me sick!"
Another strong blow, this time towards my spine, fuck it hurts like hell. Jake grabs me by my hair and yanks my face towards him.
"It didn't have to come to this; what has happened is your fault! You could've just ruled as your father's successor if you and that fucking pack just had shown some respect! His body didn't even turn cold, yet everyone was saying that you are better than your father, smarter, juster, stronger! Better leader, better warrior! When he was alive, they bowed, and when he was gone, they called him pathetic, cruel! He sacrificed everything for this place, and the pack couldn't even acknowledge it!"
"So this is it? You wanted to destroy Blackwood Pack because we disregarded your late mate?"
"And now you even want to erase his bloodline, you and this stupid bitch! You made your father forgotten, and that's what I can't bare! I killed Maddie, so you had to bring boys here, and that's how I provoked Becca to take more drastic steps like rogues attack, hunters in the packhouse, or Red Venom. And Hannah being your mate was just the opportunity I couldn't miss. Do you remember when she cut you? It was healing far too long, and that's when I realized she was your mate. How do you think that fool Andrew came up with the idea to rape her even though he knew that rape is strictly punishable in your pack!"
"You fucking bastard," I growl.
He smirks and crushes my face into the floor, his claws dangerously close to my throat.
"I only gave him some ideas such a pity he failed! I helped Becca stage the attack in the forest and later the one with the hunters, telling them exactly where and how to strike. This fucking place deserves nothing but to be burned to the ground because they don't love my mate anymore despite him sacrificing everything for this place!"
"No, he didn't," I say; I can feel a faint sound of a heartbeat. It's painful, my body is screaming from pain, but I know I need more time; I need to get more time.
Jake comes closer. I see his fury rising up, he focuses only on me, and he doesn't pay any attention to his surroundings.
"What do you want to do now?" I ask.
"I want to kill you, Mikkeli. With you and Tony and Hayden gone, this place will disappear, and rogues and your enemies will come; there will be a bloodbath."
"You said you loved my father, and he? Did he love you?"
"Of course he loved me; he was my mate, unmarked but still mine!" he screams.
"If he loved you, why didn't he mark you after my stepmother had left?"
Jake growls as his ice-cold eyes stare at me when another load of kicks lands on my back and ribs. I struggle to keep my breath. I feel her heartbeat stronger, just a moment, just a little more.
"He didn't sacrifice you because of his pack; he did this because of his greed. He wanted to have everything but was unable of any sacrifices. The pack was just his excuse..." I manage to whisper.
"Shut up!!!" Jake screams, "You would never understand! He was mine! He loved me, he cared about me, and none of his whores ever mattered!"
He grabs my hair tighter, bringing my face closer to his; I see the madness in his eyes as I bite into his cheek. He screams in pain, the door to the basement flies open, and my wolves emerge through it. Jake screams louder as he is ripped away from me, and strong jaws bite into his limbs.
Hannah POV
A strong cry for help wakes me up. I stand up immediately and run toward Mikkeli's study, but it's already empty.
In a matter of minutes, everybody is up. Kyle, Patrick, Gideon, Dalton, and many others are with me. We know that it's Jake; that much I felt from Mikkeli when I was able to feel him. Rose was found wounded and unconscious but alive, and my sister and Mikkeli disappeared.
Our trackers react immediately, trying to locate Jake's scent. I sit in Mikkeli's office, trying to reach him, trying to concentrate enough, but I feel nothing, and I slowly start to panic, but one thing I'm sure of is that he isn't that far away.
"The only possibility is that he used Rosie to make Mikkeli submit to him," says Gideon, but it doesn't make me feel calmer.
"Where could he take them if they are still in the pack's territory?" Patrick says.
And that is when Kyle almost jumps in his seat.
"Couple of months ago, I was assigned to clean the alpha's cottage, that one deep in the mountains," he says.
Right, I know that place even though I was there only once.
"And?" Dalton asks as all present keep staring at Kyle.
"The cottage shouldn't have been used for a long time when I was there, but I remember I smelt there Jake's scent very intensively," he continues.
That can be the dead-end, but we have no other leads.
Minutes pass after minutes when finally Dalton's trackers, who were sent in the direction of the cottage, find the fresh scent of Jake, Mikkeli, and Rosie in the woods.
We don't wait; I sit on Dalton's wolf as we run through the forest, and soon after, I can feel Mikkeli again; I know that he is in pain but alive. As we reach the house, I know that they are inside and we are ready. I feel Mikkeli distracting Jake as Dalton and Patrick get ready to attack.
It takes only seconds, and Mikkeli is again in my arms; it takes only minutes, and my sister is holding me with all her strength; it takes another half an hour, and I've managed to calm Rosie, and Mikkeli is taken care of by Gideon, his wounds look painful but are not fatal. As quickly as the collar is removed, Byron immediately starts to get rid of poison from their system.
"I was so scared about you," I whisper, holding Mikkeli close.
"It will heal, it's alright, you've found me, Hannah, I'm safe," he gently says.
"Alpha, what about the traitor?" asks Patrick.
Mikkeli snarls dangerously and stands up; his legs are trembling, so I let him support himself on Dalton and me; with our help, Mikkeli manages to step outside the house. Gideon stays with Rosie inside.
Jake is held by pack warriors; he looks shaken, almost as if he's lost something important. Was it his thirst for revenge, or has he finally given in to the loss of his mate?
"You think you've won" he snarls as we get closer to him.
"You will die here," Mikkeli says slowly.
"How was it even possible? You haven't mind-linked anybody; I made sure of that!"
"I contacted Hannah through our mate bond."
"That's impossible, you haven't marked her!" he screams and tries to trash in the warriors' grip, but they hold him still.
"No, but I marked him," I say slowly and let my words sink into him as I come closer. "I love him, and he loves me. We are mates, you who will never understand what we two have because you don't know how to love as you were never loved."
"He loved me; he had to forsake us for this place!"
I don't doubt that he believes in it; he believes that he was loved. But the fact is his fate was what he warned me about some time ago. His mate was just selfish and greedy, and Jake has lived the life he had chosen for them both.
"As an Alpha of Blackwood Pack for your crimes against your pack, I, Alpha Mikkeli Blackwood, sentence you to die."
Jake looks at Mikkeli with a mocking smile.
Jake is the one who killed my parents. Jake is the one who wanted to kill my siblings and me. He helped to kill Tony, he almost killed the entire pack, and he wanted to kill Mikkeli.
"No, your mate didn't love you," I say, letting my hate take over as Jake looks at me. "He was a petty, greedy little man who thought only about himself and used everyone for his benefit, including you. He didn't care about his children; he didn't care about his pack; he didn't care about you. He didn't give a shit about anything but himself and you... You were nothing but an unwanted mate all this time."
Jakes starts crying, screaming that I'm wrong, but I don't feel pity, not this time. Mikkeli squeezes my hand harder.
I don't turn my eyes away as Jake is tossed on the grass, as warriors shift again and attack him all at once, as he screams in horror, as his blood soaks the ground, and as his life comes to an end.
As I hope it's finally over.