Chapter 48

“Jax. I – I didn’t know there was anyone here,” I stuttered.
“Of course, you didn’t,” he said and got to his feet. “Where are you going?”
“Uh… I just wanted to go out for… a stroll.”
“At 3 a.m.?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I know it’s an odd time but I just needed some fresh air,” I lied.
“Why not just open a window?” He asked. He was clearly not buying my lame excuse. “Does Sahid know you’re leaving?”
“He’s asleep. I didn’t want to wake him.”
“How convenient,” he said and grabbed my arm. “Let’s see what you’ve got stashed underneath that dress.”
“Stop!” I protested but it was useless. He was already hiking my dress up and groping my body.
“Stop it!” I whispered desperately. I didn’t want to yell and wake the whole brothel up and this monster knew it.
“Make me,” he growled while he continued to rough-handle me. The coins in my dress pockets jiggled loudly as he struggled with me.
“What’s that?” He asked.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“Thief,” he growled. “I’m going to teach you a lesson. Next time, you won’t ever think of stealing from my boss again.”
He slammed me against the door and bunched my dress around my waist. My butt and private parts were all exposed. I knew what he was about to do and fear gripped me.
No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t break free. It was as if I was pinned to the door by an iron hand.
“Let her go!”
Jax released me immediately when he heard his boss’s voice. I quickly fixed my dress and turned around. Sahid was standing on the steps, wearing a silk robe and watching us with hard eyes.
“She stole your money boss,” said Jax. “She was trying to run away with it when I caught her.”
“That’s all right, Jax,” he said to him coldly. To me, he said, “I will not force you to stay here against your will. Feel free to leave.”
Guilt crippled me. I couldn’t move. I felt bad because I could see just how disappointed he was with me. I shouldn’t have stolen from him. He would have given me the money I needed if I had just asked nicely.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Open the door and let her go,” he said to Jax. “And go to bed once she leaves.”
He turned around and went back upstairs.
*************************
I had never felt so ashamed in my life. I had reduced myself to a petty thief and for what?
After I left the brothel, I didn’t know where else to go. I had some money in my pocket and a comfortable dress on my body but that was it.
Perhaps I should go back to Freya’s place but then what? She was expecting me to return to her with that cursed necklace. How was I going to find it without running into Dominic and getting butchered to death on the spot?
I sighed. Maybe I should return to the Highlands and submit myself to slavery. At least, I would be surrounded by familiar faces.
But weren’t those the same familiar faces I had promised to rescue? Damn it!
I suddenly remembered Alpha Rowan and my pulse started to race. Gosh, that guy was fine and tempting. Too bad he was a monster. Why were all the fine guys mentally disturbed?
“Luna Jade.”
I recognized the voice instantly and my stomach twisted into a tight knot. I knew I would be found sooner than later, so I wasn’t surprised.
I turned around slowly and I saw him clearly in the dark. He had fresh scars all over his body and I knew what caused them.
“Beta Jon. What an unpleasant surprise,” I said with a shaky smile.
“I know,” he said. “Alpha Dominic ordered me to look for you and bring you to Apex Woods.”
I sighed sadly.
“I know what fate awaits you there but I have no choice, Luna Jade. I owe my life to the triplets, so I cannot refuse their orders.”
“You owe your life to them? How?”
“When your uncle ordered the assassination of the triplet Alphas, I was one of the Betas that went on that mission with Beta Antonio. After he was killed, the Alphas came after the rest of us.”
“How did you survive their retaliation?” I asked eagerly.
“It was brutal. When I saw my friends and colleagues dying one after the other in the most gruesome way imaginable, I shamelessly begged for my life.”
He bowed his head in shame as he spoke. I could only imagine how embarrassing it was for him to admit his weakness to me like this.
“I promised to be loyal to them for the rest of my life if they let me live,” he continued. “My mate had just given birth to our first pup then. I couldn’t imagine my innocent child growing up without me in her life.”
My heart went out to him. I knew what it felt like to want to be present in a child’s life.
“Luckily, they let me live,” he said. “If not for them, I wouldn’t have witnessed my daughter growing up or be blessed with another beautiful pup last year. Those two adorable girls have made my life so colourful.”
I loved how his eyes lit up when he spoke about his children. I could tell that he adored them as much as he should. Not like the triplets who barely acknowledged their son and did not mourn him when he died tragically.
His wistful expression changed when he looked into my eyes again. “The Alpha threatened me. He said I must not return if I don’t find you and when he’s tired of waiting, he would kill my family.”
I gasped. “What?”
“Yes,” he said. “He will kill them if I fail to find you, Luna Jade.”
Even though I was terrified, I appreciated how he addressed me formally and with respect. Not everyone will stick to protocols when their lives were in danger.
“Please, come with me,” he said softly. “It’s either you or my sweet little girls.”
“I understand,” I said. “I will never be free of the triplet Alphas anyway. Not as long as they live.”
“I am so sorry,” he said in a low voice.
“Don’t be. This isn’t your fault. You didn’t shape my destiny, fate did.”
“Fate,” he said and chuckled sadly. “That invincible power that decides what becomes of our lives. I wonder who created fate.”
I chuckled too. “Let’s wonder about it together,” I said. “Come on, let’s go.”
We walked side by side like two friends taking a stroll. I was not afraid to return to Apex Woods. I may be fooling myself but I believed that Nana and Freya were right about my future. There was definitely a bubble of happiness awaiting me in my future.
The Alpha brothers may torture me and put me through unimaginable pains, but they will not take my life. Since I have managed to survive their previous attacks, nothing stops me from surviving the next one.
This journey may be the last challenge that I would face before I finally get my happy ending. I didn’t even know what to look forward to but I was certain that there was light at the end of the tunnel for me.
During our two-day trip, Jon and I caught up on what has been going on in our lives in the past eight years since I first left Apex Woods. I used the money I stole from Sahid to buy us food and pay for a one-night stay at the village inn in the southern village.
I would have liked to stop by and say hello to Albert and Lattie, but this was not the time for a social visit. I didn’t want them to be involved in this dramatic phase of my life.