He's My Mate

Chapter 32-- A Beta's Duties (cleaned)

  

Jayce’s POV

 

I had never been running so fast in my life. I had never needed to but I had a sickening feeling in the bottom of my stomach like when your favourite character in a book gets in trouble and you just know it can only end badly. I didn’t want anything to happen to my mate and I sure as hell wasn’t one for a stupid sad ending to a story that was nowhere near finished. My story wouldn’t end here with my mate. Not a chance.

I had already done some of the sappy cliché things of planning out my life with my love. We would grow old together, sit out on the back porch of the pack house and watch our kids running around with all the other pups, or if Aiden wanted we would move from the pack house into a little house of our own down by the lake or deeper into the forest. I’d do anything for my mate.

‘Run faster.’ My wolf commanded and I obliged with furious steps as my claws dug into the ground and propelled myself further into the wind , barely letting my feet touch the ground as I neared the western border.

‘’Jaycen slow down! We can’t keep up.’’ Helena yelled over the sound of the growling wind.

I looked back to see Rhyan and Evan panting furiously in their wolf forms with the girls on top of each of them. The girls had been running alongside us but we had been sprinting in this direction for a while now and they could barely keep up but I couldn’t help mine and my wolf’s drive to go after Aiden.

‘’Come on Jayce just a little break.’’ Ivy whined from on top of Evan.

I couldn’t help the growl that rumbled up and out of my mouth as I skidded to a stop making leaves and branches go flying in every direction. I turned to look back at the twins but they had already started dropping to the ground of exhaustion.

We hadn’t eaten in days so we didn’t have much energy. We didn’t even think to eat much throughout this whole entire mess of a situation and it was starting to take its toll on us, even me.

The shift back and forth between human and wolf was now more than a dull ache to my bones and muscles. It was an only just bearable pain now and that’s what always happened when a wolf hasn’t eaten or hasn’t slept in a few days, eventually a wolf would turn rogue, a senseless, mindless creature with the amount of pain it would cause to even think about shifting back to human form.

‘’Shift. We need to eat.’’  I told them as well all shifted back, the air filling with the sounds of our groans of pain as our bodies snapped back to a human skeletal and muscular system.

I wanted my mate, God only knows how much I wanted him but I was still Beta of my pack and I couldn’t abandon the health and wellbeing of my pack members and friends.

‘’I’m so hungry!’’ Rhyan whined and Evan just laughed softly earning a scowl from him.

‘’I’m really sorry guys for not-‘’

‘’It’s fine Jayce. We understand.’’ Evan smiled even though he looked worn out and had barely enough energy to pull on his tracksuit pants.

‘’Yeah Jay its fine. We just need some grub.’’ Rhyan gave me a smirk and smacked my shoulder in his usual brotherly way.

 ‘’Well hurry up. You guys might not mind but we’re starving.’’ Helena grumbled and plopped down on the ground cross legged next to Avery.

Gosh that was going to take a while of getting used to calling him a he instead of a she and Avery instead of Ivana. Why couldn’t we have just known it was Avery from the beginning? It feels like life is just full of secrets bursting out of the seams and it was like it was my job to try and keep up by sewing those seams shut again.

‘’I can smell something bleeding. Let’s go.’’ Rhyan licked his lips and started walking off into the trees making the girls cringe in disgust at the thought of some animal dying or dead and he’s thinking of eating it raw.

‘’Come on Ev. Let’s go.’’ Patting his shoulder and leading him after Rhyan we set off after the sweet scent of blood lingering in the air.

We followed the scent trail for about fifteen minutes until we came across a dead rabbit covered in blood just lying on the ground. To say it was odd was an understatement and it was still warm. Something had just killed it very recently but why would they leave it just laying here?

‘’There’s another wolf here.’’ Rhyan whispered and ducked down to crawl through some shrubs.

I didn’t even get a chance to check the scent of the wolf that had killed its prey before a terrible growling and whining broke throughout the trees.

The whines sounded desperate but muffled as if they didn’t want to be heard while the growling just grew louder with happiness and the howling softly raised through the commotion in celebration. It sounded like a desperate dog fight but so many more overpowering growls drowned out the whimpering and whining.

I looked to Jayce and he was staring at me secretly asking ‘Are we going to check it out?’ followed by Evan giving me the same look.

I thought about it logically. We were in a hurry and I had to think about the safety of everyone. If there were a pack of riled up wolves it would be horrible to stumble on them and have them come after us. We weren’t on our territory and we had to think about finding Aiden quickly. I had to think about the wellbeing of my pack members but something was gnawing on my stomach. I felt like I had to check it out and I answered with a curt nod to the twins.

We crept slowly, as close as we could get to the ground without becoming immobile through the thick brush of shrubs and broken branches. The animalistic noises were more wild and uneven as we closed the distance between us and them.

The gnawing in my stomach seemed to become more savage as we could hear the dimming of the attacked wolves whines. It sounded clouded and less careless on being muffled. It sounded like it didn’t have much time left and when I pushed my head over a branchy shrub I couldn’t bear what I had seen.

There, surrounded by red-eyed, crazed rogues was an almost lifeless ball of fur covered in dirt, saliva and blood. My mind screamed and my wolf howled in pain as we saw the wolf cowering away from the wolves with whatever energy it had left. He was bitten and thrown around, saliva coating all the bite marks and wherever they had tried to grab onto him before.

The sight in itself was horrible, painful and infuriating that a pack of rogues were attacking such a smaller and lone wolf. You had to be sick to let a wolf live through a pain like this and not take their life immediately. I could tell they were dragging it out and let him live through all the bites, scratches and mauls.

No. What was more gut wrenching was the familiar colour of the wolf only its fur was barely recognisable through the dirt. The familiar, nearly completely masked scent of the wolf caused by the disgusting rogues scent, saliva, blood and dirt. This wolf was too familiar, too close to me to be here, too painful for me to watch this happen, too close to my heart that the sight literally ripped the beating organ out of my chest, threw it to the ground and then left it to these monsters to do with it as they pleased.

‘Mate’ 

 

 

------------------------------------------------

 

 

A/N

 

Okay guys we’re seriously coming to our end here. We have about two chapters left!!!! How do you guys think it’s going to end!?!?! I’ve been dying for this ending (not for the story to end but the last chapter’s just been written since the beginning) and can’t believe it’s actually here almost!

 

Make sure to leave feedback!!!!

 

 C O M M E N T   V O T E   F O L L O W