No Escape

Chapter Thirty

Lily trained even harder after the night they found Julia's body at the pack borders. Having a bigger motivation was really helping her to stay focused and push through the pain. She knew she would never be the strongest and that she would always have obvious weak spots, but Ty had been teaching her the best ways to avoid attacks targeting her arm and leg.

Lily was improving. Quicker than she had been previously. Her muscles grew more defined as she was learning offensive tactics as well as defensive. Ty was not only surprised by this, but impressed with her. This was a whole new side to Lily that he'd never seen before. She fought and talked back; she had some mouth on her. He had no idea that she could be so incredibly sarcastic.

She and Jackson worked together a lot as well. She told him all the things she knew about Nikolas, whether it was new information or old. She didn't want to overlook anything. They were working on gathering a group of pack members -future warriors and trackers, among others- that they thought would help them find Nikolas and end his destruction once and for all. It was a difficult task though; they didn't just have to find people who would to help Lily, but also those were willing to keep it from the Alpha.

Jackson's father had been walking around as if nothing had happened, as if nothing changed. He didn't speak to his children unless he was at any type of pack gathering and he continued with the side comments, but they were more obviously directed at Lily.

She ignored them as best she could, but sometimes they were just uncalled for. She had started snapping back at him, but only when Jackson wasn't around. He had been there one time when she had made a snappy comeback and Jackson had told her that she was stooping to his fathers level and showing him that was he was saying was getting to her. But it was getting to her, and he deserved it. She didn't care if it showed that anyway, she didn't want him to think that she was going to put up with his shit any longer. She didn't understand what she had done so wrong that made him hate her so much.

It was weeks later when Lily and Jackson had formed a decently sized group of trusted pack members that were willing to help. They set out to see if they could find any information about Nikolas, to see if they could find where he was hiding. Before they could return from their mission though, another body showed up at the border.

Jackson and Lily left Charlotte with Adrienne and rushed off to the South border. It didn't make any sense to Lily why the body was left at the southern border, unless Nikolas was trying to throw them off. Which, now that she thought about it, was highly likely.

Jackson looked over at his mate, concerned. She had been a huge help with all the information she had provided and with gathering their team. She had been training so hard and improving further and faster than anyone thought she could. But she had closed herself off in the process. It was like she put up an emotionless wall and no matter how hard he tried, Jackson couldn't get her to break it down.

It pained him to see her that way. Fighting her demons on her own instead of reaching out for help. Pretending that everything was okay and that this was strictly business and not her life in danger. He was certain that this was affecting her so much more than he could see, he just didn't want it to get to the point in which he lost her to herself again.

The two of them arrived at the scene after Jackson and Dylan's fathers had. The two were minklinking amongst themselves, cutting their sons out of the conversation. Jackson ignored them as he brought Lily forward towards the girls body.

She took in the scene for a minute before stating, "that's Mia. She would've been two." She examined the child's tiny body and couldn't help but feel like this was her fault. If she hadn't gotten away, Julia and Mia would have still been alive. Nikolas was taunting her, and it was working.

There was a note attached to the toddlers chest, Lily reached down and plucked it off of her, 'revenge is sweet, isn't it? I'm coming after what's mine' She hardened her gaze and before Lily could crumple the note, Jackson grabbed it from her hand.

A growl rumbled from deep in his chest as all he saw was red. It didn't matter whether Nikolas had meant the pack or his mate, he wouldn't let him succeed in taking either. The pack didn't deserve to be treated like that again and neither did his mate. He would protect them, no matter the cost.

Before Lily could get the chance to comfort Jackson, his father walked up behind him and read the note over his shoulder. Then started chuckling. Yes, chuckling. Like a mad man. "You know what?" His father started, barely in control of his laughter. "Maybe it's for the best that he wants to take over the pack; it would be better than having you" he continued, pointing an aggressively accusatory finger at Lily, "bringing the pack down as the Luna."

Lily didn't bother mentioning that if Nikolas succeeded, she would be forced to be his Luna anyway. Nikolas never mentioned anything about being a werewolf, but he had always said that he was going to make her his forever. She knew that in the worst case scenario, she would be stuck as his Luna for the rest of her life.

The beta, James, looked at his best friend wide-eyed at what he had said. Every single ranked member of the pack, remembered what it was like to be under Nikolas' reign. The fact that his friend would even suggest such an idea was disgusting to him. Before he had a chance to say anything, Jackson growled and started to breathe heavy, unable to control his anger. Shit, he was going to change.

This was not how Lily wanted to see Jackson in wolf form for the first time. She knew it needed to happen soon, but she never wanted it to happen like this. She didn't want to see the furious side of him forcing the switch, she wanted Jacks to be in control of his emotions, to ease into it. Seeing him now, with his eyes without a hint of green in them, puffing as hair sprouted from his skin, collapsing to all fours when claws and a tail formed; this wasn't how she expected it to happen. She was furious at his father for ruining a moment like that.

Jackson's wolf stepped in front his father, right in his face and roared at him before taking off into the comfort of the trees. Lily wanted to follow after her mate, she spoke her mind first before taking off without caring to hear a reply, "I may not know much about wolves and how the pack dynamics work. But the fact that you truly think that someone who abused his power and his pack is better than someone who is trying to understand and save it, tells me that you are a failure as an alpha."

~~~

Hello beautiful people!!

I hope you are staying safe and sane during this time. My semester is finally over so until work opens up I should be able to upload more frequently! *fingers crossed* Please comment to let me know what you think; constructive criticism is always super helpful. 

If you read the original author's note at the very beginning, you know that this story isn't my main focus right now. I have another one that I've been working on for much longer than this one, and though this has more frequent uploads, I am really trying to finish that one. 

That being said, I know I'm going to have to edit this story and make some changes. The story line will be exactly the same, I'm just not happy with certain things. I'm still going to continue writing this story and finish it. After that I will be editing :)

Thank you all so much for your support!! The next chapter should be up soon!

TM