Page 35

“Explain. Now.” Jaxon is getting angry, and Skyler looks at him with his neck bare and shame on his face.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. There was someone with a strange smell talking to Calla, but it was so small that I just ignored it. Looking back, it must have been a warlock hiding his smell. I can’t believe I messed up. Calla, I’m so sorry!”
Skyler came up to me and knelt down next to me, taking my hand. He was so sorry that his eyes were filling with tears as he sat in front of me. “You’re my Luna. I failed at my one job, which was to protect you. I promise to make it right.”
Okay, now I’m not sure what you mean. They’re using words that I don’t get. Did a warlock give me bad dreams? I don’t even know what a warlock can do. The only one I know of is Magnus Bane from City of Bones, and he’s not real!
I ask a million questions, but I’m not sure which ones I want answered first. “What are you guys talking about? A warlock did this to me? Can he undo it? And who is he?” When Jaxon holds me closer and growls, “Who is he?” it makes things easier for me. I can tell that the fact that it’s a guy makes him ten times angrier. He was already very angry, but now I’m afraid he’s going to kill this warlock. I want the warlock to pay, but I don’t think killing him is the right thing to do.
“That guy with the white hair in your Ethics class. The one I told you not to talk to last week.”
“Felix?” I ask, shocked by what I just heard. The blue fog in my dreams did look like the blue flash in Felix’s eyes when we were fighting. He touched my hand, and shocks went through my body, making me weak for a moment. The timeline makes sense; that was the first night I had nightmares. Why didn’t I put the pieces together sooner? I knew Felix could be a part of the supernatural world, but I didn’t think he would try to hurt me.
I thought Felix and Elise were my friends, but the whole time they were lying to me. They probably only became friends with me because I was Jaxon’s mate and they wanted to make him weaker. What better way to do that than to attack his weak, defenseless human mate?
I am more angry than ever that I am weak. I’m a weak person who can’t protect herself and needs other werewolves to help her. I’m the worst kind of damsel because I can’t even see the danger in front of me! I never even thought that something supernatural was wrong with me and that Jaxon had to save me again. This is so embarrassing.
I feel like I was let down more than anything else. I thought Felix was a friend and trusted him. Now that I know our friendship was a lie, I want to cry again. I feel like I’ve been used. I’m hurt.
“Who the f**k is Felix?” Jaxon asks both me and Skyler. He’s mad again, which is great.
“He’s my friend—well, he was my friend from ethics class. We studied together a few times, and oh my god, I’m so stupid! He and his twin Elise took me to Nectar Noir! That was a supernatural club, right? That’s why they were there, and the vampire showed up? Oh my god!”
I start to cry again because I can’t handle how I feel. This betrayal and my lack of sleep are costing me a lot. I don’t feel well, and I think Jaxon can tell because he growls protectively and pulls me even closer to him.
“You’re not dumb, Baby. He’s dumb for thinking he can hurt you. Williams,” Jaxon’s voice is much softer when he talks to me than when he talks to Williams. The change in his voice is amazing, and I’m glad he cares about me so much and knows he needs to be gentle with me.
“I want him in jail by sunrise.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
I can’t help but yawn again. It’s getting harder and harder for me to stay awake. I curl up closer to Jaxon, looking for any kind of comfort. Now that I’m thinking about all the sleep I’ve missed and the strange reason why, I’m finally completely exhausted. I’m cranky and emotional, and my eyelids keep closing every few seconds, which wakes me up. I know that if I go to sleep, I’ll have another nightmare that could be worse for my health.
“Charlotte, do you have any ideas for now?” Jaxon asks. He asks the question to Williams’s friend, the red-haired girl I haven’t met yet. She looks great even though she was woken up in the middle of the night. Her hair is naturally wavy and fiery, and her green eyes shine like emeralds. She’s definitely taller than me, probably 5’5″ or 5’6″, but then again, everyone is taller than me—I’m only 5’1″.
Charlotte looks at me with what she probably thinks is a small smile, but it looks more like a grimace. She starts to speak up, but not very loudly.
“I’m really sorry, but there’s not much you can do. I will say that falling asleep is the last thing you want to do- every time you fall asleep, the magic will be siphoning energy off of you, making you even more exhausted than when you were awake. I can reach out to my friends in another coven and see if they have any magical potions that can soften the effects of the spell. Unfortunately, the only way these spells can be lifted is if the casting witch or warlock removes them.”
She bows her head, clearly upset that she can’t do anything else. Williams kisses her cheek and puts his arm around her waist. She leans into him for support and smiles sadly at him. I wonder how Charlotte learned so much about magic. I’ll have to ask her when this nightmare is over and I’ve had a full 48 hours to sleep.
“F**k!” Jaxon growls. “So you’re saying that if we don’t find this f*****g warlock soon, Calla will never be able to sleep?!” He sounds mad at Charlotte for telling him the news, but I know he’s just mad for my sake. With his Alpha’s voice getting louder, I can see Williams’s grip on Charlotte get tighter and more protective. He doesn’t say anything; he just stands there and waits for orders.
One thing I’ve learned about werewolves is that they are very loyal. They are very protective of their mates, and sometimes too protective. They will protect their Alpha and Luna with their lives. I don’t know Charlotte very well, but I can tell that she will do everything she can to help me, just because I’m Jaxon’s mate and her Luna. It’s nice to know that there are more people in my life who care about me.
“Yes, Alpha. That’s what I’m saying. Calla will get worse and worse, and eventually…” Charlotte looks away and bites her lip as she finishes her sentence. It’s clear what she means: I’ll die if we don’t find Felix.
Jaxon makes the loudest growl I’ve ever heard. The other people in the room are so affected by the sound that their knees start to wobble from the sheer power he lets out. The noise is so loud that it shakes the furniture, and I bet anyone who was sleeping is now wide awake. His canines are fully out, and his eyes are completely black. He holds on to me more tightly as he stands up and towers over the other four pack leaders. They are Betas and Gammas, but they are not as strong or powerful as Jaxon.
I put my head on his neck and give him little kisses to calm him down, even though my ears are still ringing from his outburst and I’m a little more tense from his anger. I’m starting to get the whole mating thing because Jaxon slowly, and I mean slowly, pulls back his aura of power.
“It’s okay, Jaxon. They’ll find Felix. I’m fine,” I say in a low voice.
“You’re not fine, Calla. Don’t act like you are.” He rubs his nose along my neck, probably to remember that I’m still here with him and alive. “Get the pack warriors together. We’re leaving for the coven in 20 minutes. I want him alive.”
The Betas and Gammas look at each other with pity, determination, and anger, which makes me sure that they will try to undo this sleep magic. I guess they are going to wake up some pack members and start looking for Felix when they turn around and leave.
It’s hard to believe that a friend of mine is a warlock. Jaxon told me that they were real and lived in covens, but that’s all I know. I don’t know if they use wands, potions, spell books, or cauldrons. I don’t know how they live, but I do know that I’m hurt. I don’t think I can forgive Felix for hurting me. He used me to get to Jaxon, and that makes me angrier than I can say. Jaxon shouldn’t be upset, and I can tell he’s angry that I’m not doing well just by looking at his eyes, which are always switching between blue and black.
When the other people leave the office, Jaxon takes me back to his room. He pushes the door to his bedroom open with his back and then closes it again with his foot. I probably would have fallen on my face if I had tried to do that. Because he is a werewolf, he can do simple things very quickly and easily. I have to admit that I’m a little jealous.
He puts me in his bed and uses pillows to support me. I let him take care of me because I knew that if I tried to say anything, he would shut me up right away. His wolf side makes him want to protect and take care of me even more, so I let him put me in a position.
He croaks out, “What can I do?” with a lot of feeling in his voice. I look down at him with tired eyes and smile a little. I reach out to him and cuddle him. I close my eyes and let my arms hang over his chest.
“Nothing…” I can feel the darkness starting to cloud my mind, but I quickly wake up.
“Calla! Baby, you can’t go to sleep. You heard what Charlotte said. I’m so sorry, but you need to stay awake.” He lifts me up from the bed and grumbles about how dumb he was to put me there where I could easily fall asleep.
He puts me down in an armchair in the corner of the room and asks, “How about I make you some coffee? You like that, right?” I nod because I’m too tired to talk and I don’t want to complain more. I’ve stayed up all night for school before, but going almost a week without enough sleep… It feels like I’m dying, though. I look like death too, and my mind is racing because I know that my old friend is trying to kill me.
“Okay, I’m going to get you a big cup of coffee. Please try to stay awake, okay? I’ll be right back.” Jaxon practically runs out the door to get me coffee after giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I would find his eagerness funny in any other situation, but right now I can’t really think straight. Jaxon also tells me all the time that I drink too much coffee and that it’s not good for me to have that much caffeine. But now he’s the one who wants to bring me some. Things change in strange ways.
I can feel my eyes getting heavy, so I look for an interesting place on the wall where I can just barely see some spackle that was painted over to match the room’s color. I wonder what made that hole…
Jaxon comes back with a huge mug of coffee in record time. I swear, it looks like one of those mugs that people buy as a joke to give to their friends and family. That’s how big it is that they don’t even touch when I hold the mug. I blow on it and take a quick sip of the best drink in the world because the warmth that seeps into my hands makes me feel tired and fuzzy.
I look up at Jaxon with tired, playful eyes and say, “This is a bit too much, don’t you think?”