~Chapter Twenty-Seven~

Cayden

One more day until Nathan is slaughtered. It’s been three days since Jake has been warned, and we’ve heard nothing. I had left Nathan hanging downstairs. Desmond was beginning to get ready to put Nathan down, and go after Lucian’s pack. Of course didn't want to lose such a beautiful pet, but he had to go. We made a deal.

I went downstairs and looked up at Nathan. His white skin was beautifully dotted and covered in blue and red and black. His blood had been spilled and it stained the cement floors. He looked like an angel with his blonde hair and the light shimmering off of him. Drew came up behind me and paused. He covered his nose in disgust.

"Smells like human, alright..." He muttered. "Not to mention your stench all over him." I snickered.

"He is mine. I've made that clear." Drew looked at me.

"Desmond wants to know if you want to put him down tomorrow." I paused and blinked.

"How does he want me to do it?"

"He said he'd prefer a gun since we'll be attacking Lucian's pack anyway." I hummed.

"I see.." I brushed my hand through my hair. "I'll just snap his neck. I'll be holding him then." I watched Nathan. "I think he'd prefer death now, don't you agree?"

"After being beaten and raped, I would imagine so." I rolled my eyes and watched Nathan.

“Have we heard anything from Lucian or Jake?”

“Nothing yet… But, they’ll give in. We all know Jake; he’ll come for Nathan.. Even when he’ll die getting him.” Drew sighed. “Do you think it’s really necessary to have kidnapped a person?” I stiffened and glared at Drew. “I mean, we could’ve just fought the pack… But even then, fighting seems fucking ridiculous. We’re fighting for something we’ll all die for and it’s not wort---“ I turned around and slammed my fist into Drew’s cheek.

“It IS worth it, you little fuck… Lucian killed my father! It is my job to kill Lucian!” I yelled. Drew didn’t even flinch. He looked up at me and cursed under his breath.

“No wonder Nathan is terrified of you..” He growled and walked away. I rolled my eyes and watched Nathan. He was almost dead. He wasn’t moving. The only thing that was letting me know he wasn’t dead was his labored breathing. I went upstairs after Drew and sat up there.

Come on, Jake. I want you to save Nathan.

Either way, one of you will die.

_______________________

Jake

“Grab whatever weapons you can,” my father growled at the group of fifteen men and boys willing to fight. “We will try to fight hand-to-hand… Turn only when it’s your last option… We’re going to get Nathan back, hopefully not to fight..” But we all knew that would never happen.

We’d all fight, some would lose their lives for someone they barely knew… But they needed to keep me alive… No one else could take place of Alpha…

My mother and the women were weeping, but they didn’t protest. They knew exactly what we did… We had to do this no matter what.

“Do you think they’ll keep Nathan alive?” Liam whispered beside me, sliding a handgun into its holster on his hip. I looked at him. Liam was watching me with sad eyes… “Because if they don’t… I need to know what you want to happen if it happens...” I looked down and slid on shoes.

“We talked about this, Liam… If I go, you’re to take my place…” I murmured. Natalie was shaking visibly as she sat on a chair and watched us get ready. I felt bad… “Liam… You should stay he---“

“Hell no. Jake, you’re my best friend. I’m fighting with you.”

“Liam, what if---“

“Let’s just make a deal to not talk about what ifs, okay?” Liam looked at me with a stone cold look. “We can win, okay?” I slowly nodded. We were strong… Why was I doubting everything so much..?

“Okay, men..” My father looked over us. “Now is the time to leave if you’re unsure to fight.” I glanced around. No one budged… “Alright. You’ve all made your decisions. We are entering the Rogue territory. Stay together, and stay behind Jake and I. Yes, they’ll know you’re there, but I want to try to negotiate before blood is spilled.” Everyone nodded. “Let’s move out.” I ran up to my father’s side.

“Dad..?” I whispered to him. “Do you think Nathan will be okay?” My father paused before patting my shoulder.

“I know he’ll be alright.” Leaves beneath us crunched from the Alaskan frost. Soon, we got into the part of the territory where barely any life besides trees resided. No more birds chirped. Nothing.

Pure white snow began falling from the gray sky. I heard a few excited mutters. The snow would mask the scent of everything around us… At least we had the element of surprise behind us…

But there was no way we could start getting cocky. These were Rogue wolves; banished for life, they were bound to have the worst of grudges against the pack…

Not to mention Cayden was in their group…

I glanced at my dad who was holding a small rosary around his neck as he mouthed words to what seemed to be a prayer… Not even the Alpha was confident about this…

Heaven help us…

~*~

“Lucian! Jake!” Desmond’s voice boomed, echoing against the trees. “It’s so great you could make it!”

“Oh, you know we could never reject an invitation. That’s plain rude.” My dad responded. “Now, you have someone…”

“Oh, yes. The blondey.” Desmond snapped his fingers and Cayden slammed open a door leading into the big, wooden cabin. Dragging behind him was a body..

My heart sank when the stench of piss, vomit and blood filled the air. It was so potent, I could throw up too… It wasn’t just any body…

It was the beaten down, cut open body of the love of my life….

Nathan.

I opened my mouth to call out to him, but nothing came out… I reached out to him, tears burning the back of my eyes. My feet moved on their own forward. Cayden glared and shoved me back.

“Ah, ah, ah.” He tsked at me, smirking as he dropped Nathan’s limp body onto the porch of the large cabin. Snow swirled around us. “I’ll give him up when you give us what we want.”

“I-It’s snowing…” I whispered. “He’ll freeze!”

“Then give us what we want, little pup.” Cayden sneered. “Then you can have your precious Nathan.” I looked back at my dad, begging for help. He’d freeze… He’d freeze and get hurt even more!

“What exactly do you want, Desmond?” My father asked, stepping closer.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? I want to be Alpha. I want you to bow down to me and respect my orders.” Desmond smirked, crossing his arms.

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you got yourself and your family banished, no?” Desmond’s face got red in pure anger.

“You banished us!!” He yelled. His pack of Rogue’s got closer, glaring at us… I stiffened and my hand went to my gun in my holster. I looked at my father.

“Dad..” I whispered. He nodded and hushed me.

“I did. And it was for a good reason. I could’ve killed you, for what you did. But I chose to keep you alive since you have a family who depends on you.” My dad glared. “I did your family a favor. It’s time you repaid your debt.”

“No!! I will regain place as Alpha!” He tore his shirt open and changed. Within moments, everyone I loved was fighting against people who had no grudges against anyone but themselves… Liam changed and tore out some small wolf’s throat. He whimpered and looked at me in an instant before going after another.

I couldn’t move. My legs wouldn’t listen to me… I couldn’t even look away from Nathan. Everyone around me was putting their lives on the line, and I’ll was doing was standing there like a coward. Nathan’s body laid there… I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.. Dry blood covered his cheeks and chapped lips. His eyes were bruised, along with the rest of his body. He looked like something out of a horror movie.

A huge force sent me flying back. I cracked my head against the ice hard ground and everything started coming back to me. I blinked and saw Cayden leaning over me. He smirked.

“So this is the strong Alpha?” He scoffed. “More like a little bitch.” He pulled his fist back to hit me. I reached up quickly and grabbed his fist. I yelled and rolled over, putting him on the bottom. I punched him in the face as much as I could…

This was for Nathan… I would hurt Cayden.

I want to make your life a living HELL.

I grabbed Cayden’s hair and slammed his head against the ground. Twice… Three times… Four times… Five… I couldn’t stop. Cayden grabbed my neck and forced me over. He’s choking me…! I grabbed at his hands and tried to pull his hand off of me. I kicked, getting him in the stomach. He groaned out and his grip got lose.

Shoving him over, I elbowed him in the neck. He gasped out, but grabbed my shirt, yanking me down. His lip was bleeding, and his shirt was torn. I couldn’t hear anything around us. Just that I had to protect Nathan…

“I will keep you alive for a bit longer,” Cayden smirked, wiping his lip with the back of his hand. “So you can watch me make rough love to Nathan one last time before I whip his ass to death.” Cayden paused and turned around. Suddenly, his body got stiff. I heard some gurgling before Cayden’s body fell to the ground. My eyes widened.

Nathan…

He was holding a knife and watched Cayden fall. He had stumbled over and stabbed Cayden. I felt tears stream down my cheeks.

“Na-Nathan, y-you---“ I was stopped when Nathan straddled Cayden’s body and stabbed him again. And again… Five times… Thirteen… Twenty-four… Thirty-seven… Blood splattered all of Nathan and the white snow around them. It just kept spurting everywhere… I grabbed Nathan and pulled him back. “Nathan! Nathan, stop!”

“NO!” He screamed. It didn’t even sound like him. “NO!!!!!” He pulled away and stabbed Cayden again. He laughed and stabbed his crotch. “YOU CAN’T HURT ME NOW!!!! I’M FREE! I’M NOT YOURS!!! GO TO HELL!!!!!” Blood covered Nathan when he was done… He weakly pulled away and dropped the knife with his shaky hands. I looked around. The fight had ended… I didn’t know who died or not… But the ones near us, were watching in horror.

“N-Nathan..” I gently pulled him close and held his shaking body. “Nathan…” I whispered and tears slipped down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry..” My voice cracked. “I’m so, so sorry..” I stroked my hand through his hair and held him with my other arm. I felt his chest jerk as he started to sob. He turned around and held onto me tightly.

“Jake!! J-Jake! It’s you!” His voice was scratchy, as if he was about to lose his voice… I hushed him and rocked him so he’d calm down…

Even if Desmond was still alive… I had won…

I finally had what I wanted… Although I preferred Nathan back in better shape…. He was back…

I shakily stood and picked him up. I walked away from the bloody mess and walked home. Nathan had gone silent on the way there. His eyes were glazed over… I put him in the tub with me, and he just, stopped talking. It was like he wasn’t there anymore…

I was crying as I bathed the blood, dirt, sweat and whatever else was on him, off. Broken ribs stuck out noticeably and bruises in the shape of hands made my anger boil… I wanted to harm Cayden as much as he hurt Nathan... But now, the real danger to Addison and Nathan was gone… Addison would hopefully recover, and I could get Nathan the help he needed…

Everything would be okay then…

Once in my bed, I cuddled the limp Nathan after he had gotten wrapped up and given medication. He didn’t give me a sign that he could hear or see me…

“Nathan..” I whispered and held him. “I’m so sorry… I’ll do whatever it takes to make you better… No matter what, I love you…. I love you so much…”

I love you…

__________________

A/N:

Ahhh yes. This was long because I feel like y’all deserved something good… AND FINALLY. CAYDEN IS DEAD! (Never thought I’d be happy killing one of my own characters…)

Anyway, you know the drill (;

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Stay BEAUTIFUL.

~Mia