~~Valerie~~
Once at his office building, I opted not to go downstairs with Jackson and his people to interrogate the shifters who’d burned my store. Yes, the kids could have killed Azure and me, but I started to feel as if dealing with them was pack business and something they should handle on their own. I also feared that the kids would clam up if they saw me…saw Jackson’s protective stance over me.
Jackson had tried to argue with me, to insist that I was part of the pack; therefore, I had every right to be there when they talked to the kids. I almost gave in to him, but the instant we entered the building, a few of the kids started yelling up at us, and the sound of them frightened me. They called out threats, profanities, and more. I just couldn’t bring myself to go down there and listen to them blame me for the deaths of those they loved.
Jackson tried to use his alpha voice to silence them. The voice hadn’t worked, though. Most of them no longer saw him as their alpha, so they didn’t fear any repercussions of disobeying him. I promised him that I was fine waiting where I was in the outer office even though my entire purpose of coming with him was to hear their story.
“I can hear them from here,” I told him when he pointed that fact out to me. “I don’t have to be down there with them.”
Stephanie stayed with me, on Jackson’s orders. She was to make sure I didn’t leave the sofa he’d sat me on to examine my feet. He might have even requested that I nap, but after a head injury, that wasn’t a good idea.
She and I talked while Jackson and a large group of beings went downstairs to interrogate the kids. She didn’t ask me if I saw the mark on Jackson’s hand, which I had while the healers had worked on my head.
She had seen it the second she had entered the office and beamed. My mark was in full view as well, but his mark was the one no one mentioned. Every being that had entered the room and shook hands with Jackson had seen his mark. He hadn’t acknowledged it, though.
No one commented on how he was suddenly speaking to me. I wanted to talk about that. I also wanted to know why when Mrs. Rose entered twenty minutes after we arrived, an elderly woman I didn’t know and who held Ms. Talia magically restrained followed her.
Jackson, who had come back to the outer office when he’d heard them come in, looked both furious and sad when they brought Ms. Talia into the office. He and his Aunt had a few quick words, but the two women only gave me a passing glance before escorting Ms. Talia down to the cells. All anyone told me on that matter was that Ms. Talia’s crime could wait another day.
By that point, there were so many people in the building that all Jackson was able to do was smile at me, as he followed them back downstairs.
Stephanie and I’s conversations were sporadic due to the things she wouldn’t or couldn’t talk to me about and due to the all of the yelling coming from below us.
I got the gist of the kids’ story, though. When I’d used what one of the boys called “my alpha voice” on them that day at the bookstore, they knew I had mated an alpha. They didn’t then, and still didn’t at the time of their detainment, know that Jackson was the alpha I’d mated. I’m sure some of them had figured things out, though.
They said a group of beings, mostly weres, who were staying in the woods outside of Greenleaf had overheard them talking about me and discussing the possible mating. They convinced the kids that I was one of the humans who’d started the plague, something that they had also heard others say. The group didn’t have a difficult time convincing the kids that the only way to prevent more people from dying was to kill me.
At hearing that, I told Stephanie that I thought I should go back home so that I didn’t put any more people in danger. She got up and shut the door leading down to the holding cells, then shook her head at me.
“Do you think Jackson will let you go now that he has finally owned up to the mating?” she asked in a low voice.
“If that’s what’s good for all of you, yes.”
“You’re wrong. You leaving isn’t what’s good for our people. If rumors like that are what are circulating amongst our people, then you have to stay. You have to help prove those rumors wrong. Besides, the way he’s been looking at you since I’ve arrived, I’m surprised he’s down there without you.”
My face flushed, and I looked down at my palm.
An hour or so later, the group returned to the outer office, talked amongst themselves for a bit, then dispersed. Most went home to get some rest, others went out looking for the group the kids had mentioned, and Mrs. Rose, Stephanie, and Jackson remained with me.
“What’s going to happen to the kids?” I asked from the doorway to the holding cells. I couldn’t bring myself to go down there. I didn’t want to look at the faces of the people who had nearly killed Azure.
“Council soldiers will be here in a day or so to take them to Valeterra City where they will stand trial,” Mrs. Rose said. At my shocked expression, she said, “They won’t kill them. Too many of our people have died for us to go killing each other. They’ll go to a work camp for the next five years or so.”
I nodded.
“What about Talia?” Jackson asked.
“The Coven leaders will come for her as well. You’ll probably be asked to testify if they aren’t willing to take Myrtle’s word for everything,” Mrs. Rose said.
“What did Talia do?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you everything later,” Jackson said, coming to me and wrapping me in his arms. He turned me away from the stairs and shut the door.
“You should say your goodbyes to Azure now. I want to leave immediately,” Mrs. Rose said, heading for the front door.
“What goodbyes? Is something wrong?” I asked and all but jerked myself from Jackson’s arms. Caiden had brought me shoes, so I had no problems running back to the healing center if they were trying to take her away from me.
“She’s fine,” Jackson said, steadying me.
“Then why…” I asked.
“I’m taking her back to Valeterra City with me. We have the best healers, and she’s the proof we need to convict those children. Our Council will be upset that the fire had harmed you, but they’ll be angrier that one of our children nearly died,” Mrs. Rose said.
“You’ll bring her back, won’t you?”
“Yes. Azure won’t be gone any more than about a month.”
I wasn’t happy about that, but as long as they weren’t taking her away from me for good, I would accept it. A month would give me time to find another place for us to live, another occupation so that I could support her, and allow Jackson and me time to figure out our relationship, once he explained why he’d been ignoring our mating.
“I want to see her now,” I said to Jackson.
He nodded, took my hand, and went straight to the door.
When we were back at the healing center, Azure was awake but barely. One of the healers was trying to convince her that changing would help her feel better right that moment and while on the road. When she saw me, she burst into tears, and I rushed to hold her.
“You’re okay,” I whispered into her hair.
“I thought something had happened to you,” she said through her sobs. “They kept telling me I’m going to Valeterra City with Grandma Rose, but nothing about you.”
“I’m okay, but you do have to go with your grandmother. You’ll be home soon, though, I promise.”
“I can come back to live with you, can’t I?” she asked.
“Absolutely. I don’t know where we’ll be living, but yes.”
“We need her to shift,” one of the healers told me. “If she shifts, her bones will finish resetting, she’ll heal faster, and the drive won’t be so hard on her.”
I nodded.
Before I could say anything to Azure, though, she said, “I was going to shift. I just wanted to know that you were okay first. Promise you’ll be here when I get back?”
“I promise. I love you.” I kissed her on the forehead before helping her discretely disrobe so that she could shift properly.
I petted her and carried her out to Mrs. Rose’s waiting vehicle. Mrs. Rose promised me that Azure would be all right and that she would return her to me as soon as she could.
Jackson held me as they drove away. I refused to cry.