The Alpha's Mate

19

Laylee's POV

I felt a little body collapse on my feet and grip onto my leg as I washed the dishes from breakfast later that morning. Soft giggling reached my ears, and I looked down to find Rhys sitting atop my foot. He used his grip on me to pull himself up to his feet, then reached one arm up for me. I quickly picked him up, cradling him to my chest.

"He can crawl now?" I asked, looking up at Jace.

"Um, yeah..." He scratched the back of his neck and frowned at the floor.

My son cuddled into me, his face burrowing into my neck. I swept his hair back and gently brushed my thumb over his cheek. A door slammed somewhere deeper in the house, and I looked back up to find Jace gone. Esbeth was leaning against the counter, a bagel in her hand, and her red hair was dripping down her shoulders.

"What was it like with him? Dominic, I mean?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because you seem different. Tougher, stronger. What happened to you?"

"Well that's a different question." I turned the water off single-handedly, and sat Rhys down on the counter.

"Answer the second one then. That's the one that I really wanted to ask."

I chuckled humorlessly and lifted my shirt, exposing my back and stomach to her. Raised scar-lines created a pattern across my skin and left next to no unharmed area on my torso. Burns littered my legs, but she doesn't need to know that. On my shoulder, he had carved his initials, as a way of marking his territory I suppose. Esbeth gasped and reached her hand out to touch the scars, but I jerked my shirt down and stepped away.

"Why... How did you manage to stay strong?"

"I didn't." I bit back tears and picked Rhys back up since he was reaching out to me, looking ready to fall off the counter to get to me. "I started out with no will to survive at all, but then I met all his other victims and I realized that they needed someone who could stand up to Dominic. That's when I decided to do it for them. After nearly two months, I started to believe that I also needed to do it for myself and for the twins. But not a day passed that I wanted to just give up, to just accept that Jace was never coming. Everynight I went to bed praying to at least see everyone one more time, but that dream seemed more impossible with every passing day."

Esbeth flung herself at me, and before I had time to duck away, she had me in a bear hug. Despite her fierceness and strength, she made sure to be gentle enough so that Rhys wouldn't be crushed. There was a loud bang upstairs that caused her to jump away, and she looked frightened. 

"Jace!" Caine went running by, giving us an apologetic look as he raced towards his brother. I started to go too, but Esbeth held me back.

"If he's mad, I'm the only one who can calm him down. I need to go."

"He was listening." Esbeth hissed in frustration. "I knew I should've talked to you in a soundproof room! That was a stupid mistake."

I blanched as I realized that he heard my spiel about how I managed in the cave. How my faith in my mate got smaller every day. The worst thing a mate can hear from their other half is that they don't trust them to keep them safe from harm. I ripped my arm away from Esbeth's grip and raced up the stairs, ignoring her shouts, and dodging the multiple people who tried to stop me. The guards standing outside the door tried to catch me, but I jumped over their heads and crashed into Jace's office.

Caine whipped around and I saw that he had had to put Jace in chains. My mate was bound by his hands and feet by duct tape, but chains wrapped around his torso and legs, pinning his arms to his body and making his legs immobile. Hands gripped my shoulders and I was pushed back out of the office. I shoved Caine out of the way, and danced around him, rushing to Jace's side. I immediately fell to my knees and wrapped my arm around his neck.