Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

134

Sitting on the bottom step with his head in his hands, Link tried to ground himself. When it first hit him, he hadn't fully comprehended what happened. He was bringing Terra home and on the way back, he hit a fox that was crossing the road. He injured it pretty severely, calling animal control because he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't call the police and he couldn't just bring it home with him, nor could he just leave it in the road.

He then went back to the house and told Rhett what happened, and that's when Rhett informed Link that Jessie was the Kitsune. That she was the fox that he had hit. He should have known with the gorgeous amber eyes, and he beat himself up over it something fierce.

How Rhett came to know that, Link had no idea. Link was destroyed though, gutted from the inside out. Not only did he hurt Jessie without realizing it, but he made Rhett upset with him. During a time like this, they needed to stick together because the force of both of them together was far greater than one.

Rhett had disappeared without telling Link where he was going, although Link had an idea that he was probably pursuing animal control for Jessie at the current moment.

Link's heart pounded against his rib cage, his head throbbing. No amount of keeping his breath long and steady was relieving the tension in his chest. It felt like an elephant had taken a seat on his chest, and he rocked back and forth. There was nothing he could do to reverse the injury he'd caused to Jessie. There was nothing he could do to make Rhett turn around and come back, so they could rescue her together. He felt hopeless, broken, and alone.

"What are you and that blundering idiot doing?" Jackson's voice caused Link to raise his head sharply, his eyes wide. "You're two skinny, pale, defenseless hooligans looking to take on an Alpha werewolf. Do you realize how incredibly stupid that is?"

As much as Link hated Jackson's snotty and know-it-all attitude, he couldn't help but agree. It was stupid of them to get mixed up in this. Look at what it had resulted in so far.

"We really don't have a choice at this point," Link sighed, slumping his shoulders.

Jackson arched an eyebrow, wriggling in his seat. His muscles in his legs and back were beginning to stiffen.

"How come? Are you directly impacted by this guy?"

Link looked up again, his eyebrows rocketing up his forehead. Why was Jackson being so talkative with him? Should Link even be answering his questions? Link didn't know how far Rhett had come with prying answers out of Jackson, but maybe this could be Link's shot to fish for a little something too. At least then Rhett would have a little something to be happy with Link over.

"Actually, yes. He has our blood pact and he's using our blood to make him stronger."

"So what? Why not just let him get stronger?" Jackson's coy tone was wedging under Link's skin and making it prickle like millions of tiny spiders were crawling all over his skin.

Link looked Jackson's face over, and he could see in his set and strong features that he was being totally serious.

"Because if he did that, he would cause a lot more damage than he already has. He would try to build his pack, maybe even his own empire. When Terra was attacked and turned by him, we vowed to never mention a word of seeing the Alpha unless he harmed somebody else. But it happened, and we had to hold true to our word. We had to do something about it. Even though we're doing a really poor job," Link added the last bit as an afterthought, lowering his eyes. Shame crept into the apples of his cheeks.

He looked up into Jackson's eyes, Jackson's lip nearly twitching into a faint smile.

"You do realize you're one of his targets don't you?" Link said, feeling confident that he had him in the bag and he was certain of it, but Jackson only flashed a smile. Link noticed how the light seemingly glinted off of his teeth. It reminded him of the Orbitz commercial for some reason.