Rise Of The Moonwalker Pack

Chapter 34- Jace's Diner

Jace's pov

You ever have one of those nights where you're so tired you feel like you could sleep for a week straight. Then, when you finally lay down, you basically nap in twenty minute intervals, constantly waking up to check the clock?

In my case, I've constantly woken up to check Azariah and Xavier. All three of us were sleeping on the L shaped couch after passing out during a movie. It was late when we got home last night, but Xavier was still up, watching nature shows with Matias.

Xavier snuggled up with my mate on one side of the couch, and within thirty minutes of starting the movie, they were both sound asleep. I wasn't this lucky. Every time I closed my eyes, my brain would go on a loop of all the shit that happened today. For some reason, I keep getting images that were the opposite of reality. I didn't save Xavier. My mate dies in that tunnel. Amber dies of the posion. Micah goes ballistic, and then I wake up.

At one point, I had hoped that Kratos was going to haul my ass to the hell realm for training. That's how desperate I was to escape the never-ending nightmare. Balor did say he was going to see me last night, but it never happened. The last short nap I had, the nightmare repeated itself yet again, but as an added bonus, I faced off against Malcomb at the end. We never got to the point of fighting. We just stood staring at each other, which was creepy enough for me. Malcombs eye were a yellowish golden color, and it felt like they burned a hole straight through me where he was looking.

Even when I woke up, I could feel a burning sensation in my chest. That's the point where I decided closing my eyes again wasn't going to happen. In that dream, I knew that Malcomb and I were the last ones standing. He had managed to kill every last wolf in all five packs, and as we stood there staring each other down, I wondered why I was even still bothering.

There was nobody left to save.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sit up and look around the room. It was eerily quiet in our house. Might be due to the fact that any time I was awake, there was at least one, if not two or three, other people up with me. And of course, the damn cat, who was always up under my feet, meowing his little heart out. Right now, he was snuggled up in front of Xavier, precariously close to the edge.

As quiet as possible, I get up and head into the kitchen. With my nerves bouncing all over the place, there was one sure fire thing that would help to calm me down. Baking. There was just something about the entire process that soothed the beast in my soul. From mixing the batter to pouring it into the pan or muffin tin. Then there was the smell of it baking. All of those things combined could instantly turn my mood around.

I'm grateful for the strength and skills I was given, but sometimes I wonder if I jumped into the wrong profession. While I'm glad I have the ability to protect not only my family but also my friends and pack as well, I don't find it as rewarding as I thought I would. Then again, I didn't ever imagine that I'd have to face off against multiple other wolves trying to kill me. Being able to blend with Ehron certainly came in handy last night. He doesn't share the same reservations that I do about having to kill someone.

Until we were joined, he was raised much differently than I was. He relied heavily on his instincts and didn't have human emotions attached to his thought process. For him, there was black or white. Nothing in between.

Back when I started training to become a pack warrior, I don't think I could have ever predicted the shit show we were going to be dealing with. Malcombs' original plan seemed laughable, like how did he honestly expect to pull off this insane plan of his? Now, it's clear how much time and effort he's put into this plan of his. I have no doubts this new posioning of the wolves who are sent in to attack us isn't the last trick he has. He was going to keep changing the game until he ultimately wins. Since we have no way of knowing what his next move will be, there's no way for us to formulate a plan to combat it.