No Escape

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Lily spent the next day training just like the day before. However this time when she felt her muscles begin to give out, she made her way back into her room to shower and change. When she went to lay down to try to take a nap, she noticed a piece of paper folded on her night stand. She opened it up and read what was written: 'Tonight. Southwest border. 12:45am shift change. Her life for yours. Come alone or she dies.'

She crumpled up the piece of paper and flushed it down the toilet so there wasn't a chance of anyone seeing it. Lily then made her way to Jackson's room next door, not bothering to knock before entering. However, he wasn't in there. Where are you? She asked him through their mindlink.

Dad's office. Everything okay? Jackson asked her. He could sense that she was feeling uneasy, anxious yet determined. It confused him. It had only been a couple days since Charlotte had gone missing, but he could feel her heartbreak in his chest. Even though it was still there, that feeling was lessened and these new emotions overpowered it.

Yes, Lily answered as she made her way towards the office. Even though it was a lie. Things wouldn't be okay until everything going on with Nikolas was taken care of and over. She knew it would be soon, but hoped everything would turn out in their favor.

When Lily made it to the office, she sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. "Do we have the border patrol schedules for the days the girls' bodies were found?"

As if he had read her mind, Dylan walked in with the papers in hand. Jackson quickly thanked him, then dismissed him. It wasn't that he didn't trust his beta, but they didn't know who the traitor could be and they didn't need anyone acting irrationally when his mate and Charlotte's life were in danger, as well as the packs wellbeing.

Lily gently took the papers out of Jackson's hand as well as a pen so she could start crossing names that weren't in common off. She could feel her mate watching her work, but tried her best to ignore it. After a few minutes though, it became too much. You know it's rude to stare. She minklinked, then paused what she was doing and looked up at him.

"I'm not staring, I'm admiring. There is a difference," he told her and smirked. Jackson could hear Lily gasp and her heart race after he said that. He loved that he could cause such a reaction from her. She tucked her hair behind her ear and bit down on her bottom lip. He sucked in a breath as he felt his wolf stir within him. She should definitely refrain from doing that if they wanted to get any work done. Inappropriate images scattered around his mind; thoughts of Lily writhing underneath him, moaning, and screaming his name.

"Jackson!" Lily yelled, in attempt to break him out of his reverie. She studied him and wondered what exactly he'd been thinking about that had caused the bulge in his pants. She cleared her throat to stop her mind from wandering and looked back down at the papers in front of her. I should have known, she thought to herself. "Want to take a guess as to who in the pack has been aiding Nikolas?"

"Not particularly," Jackson said, still trying to maintain his focus.

"Oh, come on. We both know this person; they are very judgmental and went to school with us." Lily continued, giving clues. She figured she had to make some part of this fun, as untimely as it was, or she'd get lost in the destruction of it all. Jackson didn't seem amused though, so she blurted it out, becoming serious once again, "fine. It's Erin."

Jackson looked at his mate, bewildered. "Erin?! Nooo!!" He took the schedules from her hands and looked over them. But what Lily said had been true. Erin was the only border patrol who had been on duty each time at those borders. He was speechless; unable to believe that she was capable of doing something like this.

Lily chuckled, humorlessly. "You've forgotten, haven't you?" She began laughing uncontrollably even though she didn't think it was funny. The irony of it all was unbelievable to her. She could feel that her mate was confused and a little bit worried by what she had said, and took a few minutes to calm her laughter down. "You forgot who she really is. You forgot how horrible of a person she can be. And not just to me; though I think I may have pushed her limits. But that's not the point. The point is, you forgot, Jacks! She humiliated me in front of the whole school. In front of your pack!"

Jackson had a vague memory of what she could have been talking about, but there was no possible way Erin had been the only guilty party in that. But Lily started laughing again, "you think that really matters to me?! That she wasn't the only one! Ha! And you think she stopped there?" Memories of the day she was referring to ran through his head as Lily continued; "she made everyone think that I had a choice, that I deserved my lessons because I couldn't follow directions. She accused me of not being good enough and threatened me. She spat in my face, Jackson!"

Immediately he started to feel guilty. He had forgotten what Erin had said and done to his mate. Jackson lightly grabbed one of Lily's wrists and pulled her into his chest, then wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her as close as he could, nestled his head to her neck and took in as much of her vanilla and orange scent as he could get. "I'm sorry." He told her as began rubbing his hand up and down her back.

Lily calmed down after being wrapped up in Jackson's arms for a few minutes, but she couldn't let it completely go. "You remember the first time you took me to the pack doctor?" She asked, only continuing when she felt him nod, "Erin had threatened me and shoved me against the lockers, saw the bruises and cuts on my face and accused me of liking it rough." She laughed humorlessly again, but this time it had a sadness to it. "I was humiliated again and angry that people just stood around and laughed. I kneed her as hard as I could to get her off my case. She got the last word in but at that point my stitches had split open and I was in a lot of pain, so I didn't care."

It was quiet for a few more minutes before Lily spoke up again, "she's done more but that was the worst of it."

Jackson sighed; he couldn't believe that this had happened right under his nose and he hadn't known about it, "I punished her, you know? After what happened in the lunchroom. She spent a few days in the cells and was given an insane amount of chores for two months. I thought she would have learned her lesson after getting out of the cells. I guess I was wrong. I'm sorry my pack was involved in causing you any kind of pain. It kind of brings things into a new perspective."

Lily looked up at him, "how so?"

"You shouldn't be the one trying to prove yourself to them; they should be proving that they're better than that to you."

~

I think I've realized why this story is so twisted:

I really love my crime shows (LIKE A LOT), especially Criminal Minds. I blame it on that lol

Anyways sorry for the little bit of a longer wait, I got stuck towards the beginning of this chapter. But we're here now, so it's all good.

I'm gonna try to get the next chapter up within the next few days, so just hang tight. Things are about to go awry (again...)

TM