Gone

Numb

Jackson POV 

I was sitting on the couch, pretending to have no care in the world as I played with Ember. It was so easy to be with her. Ember hadn't once shied away from me, it was amazing to know that she loved already. I hadn't even been home a week and she was already used to me. She didn't cry when I held her, she didn't try to get away from me, in fact it was like I had been with her the whole time, like I had never left. In some weird way, she was the only thing that felt perfectly normal to me. I wished I could say the same thing about Sadie, but I couldn't. I was still in live with her, but I felt like an outsider with her.  

Sadie hadn't come back inside the house yet and I had to fight with myself about going off to find her. I was pissed, to say the least. I could tell by the look on her face, when I told her what Ethan had said, that it was true. There was something going on between her and Andy and she had tried to hide it from me. Just thinking about that made me angry with Ethan. By the way Sadie reacted, he had to know more than he was letting on. He probably knew everything and I was most definitely looking like an idiot.  

I heard the back door slam and my head popped up immediately. I stiffened the second I saw Sadie. Her face was tear stained, puffy, and had red patches all over it. I knew that I was the cause of her distress and felt my stomach twist with guilt. I couldn't even begin to understand why I had gotten so mad. I don't think it would have even mattered what she was trying to tell me, I wouldn't have listened. I don't even think I was actually hearing her clearly, I was only seeing red and hearing what I thought I wanted to hear. More like what I had expected to hear.  

I watched as she whispered something into Elly's ear. If we hadn't been in the middle of an extremely full house with a million different conversations going on, I probably would have been able to hear what she said, but I obviously couldn't. I kept my eyes trained on her as she put a fake smile on her face and moved through the kitchen. She refused to make eye contact with me as she walked around, although I knew she could sense me. The moment she walked in her muscles went tight, telling me that she knew my eyes were on her. I didn't dare blink, following her every movement until she disappeared up the stairs. I wanted to follow, to apologize and beg for forgiveness, but instead I just sat and stared at the stairway. 

It was hard coming home. For over a year it was all I could think about. I thought that everything would be perfect, but I forgot to factor in that Sadie had probably gotten closer with other people in the pack. It's extremely rare that a mate would fall in love with someone else, but it's extremely rare that mates are separated for a long period of time. I don't think that I thought that Sadie had fallen for Andy, but I did know for sure that they had gotten much, much closer than I was ok with.  

I couldn't even begin to understand why Andy would have feelings for Sadie. It's usually very hard to fall in love again after a mate dies, but then again the death of a mate can make a person crazy. It almost turns the living mate into a hormonal teenager that changes their mind every few seconds. One moment they are happy and sweet, then the next moment they are angry and hateful. Most mates don't survive the death for long, and I was surprised that Andy had held on for so long, I couldn't help but think that it was because he had formed some sort of crazy obsession with my mate.  

I pulled my eyes away from the stairs and back down to where I had left Ember sitting, but she was no longer sitting beside my foot. Instead she had been relocated to her grandma's lap. I slowly stood up and grabbed Ember out of the Luna's hands, "We're gonna go check on mommy," I smiled.  

"You better behave," the Luna warned. There was not even a hint of joking within her tone. Knowing my luck, she had probably somehow heard the little spat we had earlier and was ready to rip my face off for upsetting her daughter. That would definitely be my luck.