Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

- Jace -

"Jace...JACE!" A hard slap around my face forces my eyes wide open, my jaw aching as both Knox and Jaxon stand above me.

My eyes search the room...Josie was passed out on the floor, Callie crouched down beside her holding her hand.

"What happened?" I grunt out, rubbing my jaw line, trying to soothe the burning sensation from the freshly landed hit.

"Looks like the adults have left the kids to defend for themselves." Knox grumbles out as he places a hand out for me, upon taking it he pulls me upright back onto my feet.

My hand moves to the back of my neck, trying to ease the tense muscles as I try to play catch up...try to think what had happened.

I remember seeing their shoes walk out the front door... Dad practically holding Mum upright herself...her eyes pure blue.

She had used her White Wolf ability to not only wipe me out but also Josie. How was Jaxon standing before me.

"She didn't get you?"

"Oh, she did." A lowly growl escapes him, the noise triggering some kind of flashback within me.

Then it hits me, like a fucking high speed train....Cleo was pregnant, pregnant with my baby...and she was with someone that had fucking raped my own mother.

I've pushed her to him. I've pushed her towards a monster when everything I have done, as cut throat towards her as it has been has solely been done to keep her safe.

My wolf howls in my head, his anger at me...at what I have done is painstakingly real.

He'll never forgive me, she'll never forgive me.

I'm a fucking idiot. I've pushed her away to keep her safe, but all I have done is send her to a monster.

I've loaded the gun myself...I just haven't pulled the trigger...I've put Cleo in a position where she had no choice not to.

My Cleo....

I've loved her my entire life, at first as a friend...a protector. Then as I grew those feelings changed. I didn't notice at first, I went away to alpha training, tried to ignore those feelings.

Thinking it was just part of being away from every one. Something every alpha feels...being away from their pack. Fuck, Knox even delivered training on calming your wolf from being off pack grounds for extended amounts of time.

When I returned, when she walked in to the house. To see her again after a year away...my wolf knew instantly.

As did I. She was mine she was made for me.

She was too young to feel the mate bond then, I knew I had time on my side.

I've held her hand, I've hugged her after numerous of tumbles trying to keep up with us....crazing her knee.

I even tried her tears as she cried.

That gravitational pull has been between us since her birth, the mate bond humming in the background. The need to protect her, to keep her safe...even from me.

I've denied it...I've tried to fight it...every fucking decision I have made, every step I have taken has led me to this moment...and I regret making every single one of them.

Fuck, I should have kept her in my arms, marked her the night of the beach club hotel...never have left her alone that morning.

Been the man she needed, been the mate she fucking deserved all along. Now it might be too late.

I should have just fucking admitted that she was my everything, that my destiny is to be with her...

"Josie." I move to my sister, my alpha command rolling off me and into her. It works, her eyes shoot open...a growl emitting from Knox behind me.

I didn't have time to wait for her to wake up on her own, I need to leave and now.

"Jace, what's going on? Kit?"

"We are leaving, and now."noveldrama

"Jace, think about this." Jaxon warns me.

"No, I don't have the time."

"Jace!" Jaxon pulls me by my arm, pulling me back towards him.

"Mum and Dad have just walked into a potential trap. We need to be smart about

this."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I shove his hand off me, my wolf wanting blood.

"Because she said she would leave if I did, I was worried she would do something exactly like ths."

"My mate, my baby..." Anger pushes forward, my hands gripping at his collar.

"I didn't know she was your mate." He seethes back at me, our faces inches apart. He's been lying to me all this time.

"Jace, you can't blame Jaxon for this....this is.." Josie roars out, trying to break us apart.