The Secret One

26

Chapter 26

Running with the pack feels excellent. No worries, we are running with the family. Jason and Storm are running next to us. Jameson is also upfront. Anya stayed back because of her pregnancy. Brenden was just a little behind us. Of course, Octavia stayed with Anya. Halfway through the run, Jameson slowed down. He stops, making all of us stop.

He shifts back to human. "Something isn't right," Jameson says while grabbing his hair. I start to walk over to him, but Brenden steps up. "It's going to be too late, Ruthy," Brenden mocks at me: those words, those mocking words. My world falls apart. I look over at Jake and see he is pissed. Brenden smirked, knowing he was just an act. He never changed. I was played. The weak was left at the pack house for this run! We all shift back, running to the pack land.

Brenden keeps up, following us back to the pack house. It didn't take long for the smell of fire to hit us, making us run faster. To my left, I see Brenden tackle Jason. Knowing Jason can handle himself, we push for the pack house. All the kids and the injured wolf! Haterted flashes in my vision. All the innocent lives that will be lost tonight over one selfish man. I stop as Jake stops. The house is in flames. Jameson pushes past us. We follow him.

We watch as the man himself pushes Anya to her knees and slides the blade slowly across her neck. Waylen eyes meet mine as he does this. He was smirking, feeling the blood run from her neck. Jameson watches in horror as life runs from his mate's eyes. I can tell Anya put up a fight.

Her clothes are torn, and she has a black eye and broken knuckles. All I want to do is hold her. Her hands drop from Waylen's wrist as she accepts her fate and mouths I love you to the three people in front of her. Waylen pushes her forward, and her body hits the ground. Knowing the baby inside her is gone as well. Waylen walks away from Anya's body and walks toward the pack house. My eyes never leave his. Jameson rushes to Anya, pulling her body up to his as he kisses her goodbye. Rest easy, Anya.

I gather myself and start to walk over to Waylen. Brenden comes out of nowhere and tackles Jake to the ground. Jason? That was my first thought. It didn't take long for Jake to know what was happening, so he started to protect himself from Brenden. Face to face with Waylen again. He is uglier than I remember. Sunken in eyes. Tall but deathly skinny. " My Ruthy," He sings out to me. I shake my head like a child trying to push away all the memories he just resurfaced. "Why can't you leave me alone?"

"You are my treasure," He calmly says to me. "I will kill you," I say to him. Everything around is gone. Standing eye to eye with the person who has held me captive for my life for years is what matters to me right now. " That's what your dear friend said as well," Waylen dares to speak of Anya's name. I try to punch him, but he stops my fist. He places my fist putting down to my side. "She was a good fighter. Not better than me, though. Sad I killed her with twin growing in her belly. I want what's mine," Waylen just said, twins. Anya was having twins. She is gone because of me. Jewls, Brock, and now Anya. If I had never come to the Blood Moon pack. Everyone would still be alive.

"I have lived for the day I get to watch the life drain from your eyes, Waylen," I mock him, saying his name. He clicks his tongue and waves his finger in my face. "You see, my dear, there is one big difference between us. I have nothing to lose other than you. You, on the other hand," He doesn't have to finish. I know he is talking about the pack. Jake comes next to me right on cue—the same height as Waylen. Waylen smirks at Jake. "Well done, boy, but Brenden is not dead," Waylen says, waving his hand down and showing us Brenden is getting back up. "I am not worried about him. I want you," Jake's voice is dark, knowing he wants death for Waylen.

"If Ruthy just behaved, we wouldn't be here- now would we?" A simple question causes Jake to lash and punch Waylen square in the nose. Waylen falls to the ground and laughs, grabbing his nose. Jake climbs onto Waylen, grabs his shirt collar, and starts to punch his face while yelling this is for his sister. Jake lost his pack and sister tonight because of me. I look around and see everyone fighting for their lives. Tears fill my eyes. I wish I never had shown up here.

Brenden comes out of nowhere and tackles me to the ground. He holds my hands above my head, making me look at him, "I am sorry. Maybe in another life, we would have been good friends," He tells me quietly. Tears spill from my eyes. I hate him. I hate life! Brenden doesn't do anything to me other than kiss my forehead. He gets off of me. Jake stands from Waylen. Jake was huffing from punching him so much. "Good punch, son, but your anger will be the death of you," Waylen whispers while wiping the blood from his mouth. Jake tilts his head back, breaking out in a laughing fit, "My mate is traumatized because of you. I lost two pack members and now my sister. My anger is because of you," Jake spits out to him, his bloody knuckles and swollen lip showing through.

Jake just said everything Waylen has done. In reality, I did them to him. Waylen stands after cleaning his mouth. He flicks his hand up, kind of like flicking a cigarette away. His pack stops fighting. Unsettlement came over me. His pack is like a robot. Brenden is the only one that moves. He walks over to us. "This can all end if you come back," Waylen tests the water. "She will not go anywhere with you," Jake answers for me before I can speak up.

Waylen's bloody smile took over his face. He raises two fingers and flashes them. He was grunting next to us. A man pushes Jason down. Jason smiles from ear to ear. "Nice night we are having. To say I am a little warm from the fire, though," Jason cracks a joke. I stifle my laugh, but Jake doesn't. Waylen turns on his heels and walks away from the formed small group. "You pick Ruth. Who dies? Jake or pretty boy," My mouth drops open. I close it more than once and gasp for air. I can't pick. Killing Jake will kill me. I can't kill Jason because that will kill Storm. Jameson is already dead even while he is breathing. Losing a mate is the worst pain. Most of the time, the other half kills themself because of the pain.

"Kill me," Jason says. I shake my head, unable to speak. Jake comes to me and places his hands on my face. "It's just me and you here. I love you, Ruth," Jake tells me. I wrap my hands around his wrist. Leave, I will go with him- I tell myself. Waylen has only killed one person with his hands, and yet he has killed a whole pack. "I will go with you," I say, catching everyone's attention.

Waylen doesn't have to be facing me for me to know he is smiling. I look back at Jake while Waylen walks back to us. Within a second, there was pain in Jake's eyes, not because of me leaving but because of the sword through his heart. The slicing noise fills my ears as the blade gets removed from his chest. "We can't have you returning to him, can we?" The Waylen soft voice feels the air. I catch Jake's falling body and hold him in my arms.

I push his hair away from his face. He is gasping for air while reaching for me. Tears leave my face as I scream up at the stars. "You are okay. I got you," I repeat out loud for him to hear. His smile never left his face. Jason comes next to me, grabbing Jakes's other hand. "You forget I can hear your thoughts. I choose you. Any version of life, I choose you. From the raindrops to the stars filling the night sky, little one," Jake whispers. His words make me cry harder into his chest. "I love you, I love you so much!" I scream. His heartbeat slows as the pain in my chest grows. My scream is like no other I have ever let out. I reach up, closing his eyes and kissing his forehead. My mate is dead.

I look at Waylen from my knees. I also turn to look around. Every pack member of the Silver Moon back is kneeling with teared-streaked faces. Jason doesn't lift from his formal alpha body, knowing he is now the new alpha. "If I go, everything stops?" I ask. I am already dead. My heart died with Jake. Waylen didn't answer, but he did smile and nod his head. "Take care of him for me," I asked Jason. He looks up and smiles at me. "I got you, little one," Jason cracks out, making me sigh in relief. Knowing I will never hear the nickname little one ever again. I slide my arm across my nose and stand up. I am gasping for air as I take Waylen's hand. He is leading me away from a pack that is a wreck. Knowing that Anya and Jake are back together helps.

Everywhere I go, I leave death. I look back to see Waylen pack following us like promised. Octavia in Brenden's arms knowing she will never see Anya or the pack again. Jason, Storm, and Jameson pick up Jake's dead body from the ground and lift him above their heads. My life is gone. I am gone.

THE END