The Alpha and his Mate
Chapter 22

Jax POV

I was shocked awake by the sounds of smashing glass coming from downstairs and quickly rolled over to cover my Annabelle, if there was an intruder in the house then there was no way I was letting them get to my mate. As I rolled over onto my right to cover Annabelle with my body though I was met with a cold and empty side of the bed.

“Annabelle?” I questioned the dark and empty room, becoming more panicked when I realised she wasn’t in the room with me.

“Annabelle!” I shouted across the room, hoping that she was holed up in the bathroom somewhere, but there was still no response. I quickly shot out of bed and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, to where I could hear her heart racing in the kitchen.

What I found confused and frightened me all at the same time. I saw Annabelle with her head in her hands, curled up into a foetus position, surrounded by water and broken glass. She must have smashed it and panicked.

I sighed and walked over to her, minding the broken glass with my bare feet, and crouched down so that I was more on her level. “Annabelle, it’s okay... it’s okay. I’m not mad that you broke a glass” I muttered, hoping my voice was soft enough so as not to startle her further.

When the only response I got was a whimper and her clutching her head tighter I frowned. I reached out to brush a few strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face, hoping that the gentle gesture would calm her panic attack in some way.

When I brushed her face though my frown deepened at what I found, or more correctly what I didn’t replace. Our mate sparks were gone. Not a single trace of tingling could be detected by both myself and my wolf. That’s when I really started to panic.

Had Parker gotten to her whilst she was still in my pack territory and somehow severed out mating link?

‘XAVIER!’ I screamed down the pack link, not even bothering to try and mask my panic and confusion. ′Get over here now! There’s something wrong with Annabelle.′

‘Why what’s wrong? She seemed fine when I left you guys last night’ he responded after a few seconds of me prodding into his brain, urging him to wake up.

‘I don’t know’ I replied as I picked Annabelle up off the floor and ran into the living room, placing her onto the sofa so that she could be more comfortable. ′Something’s wrong.′

I searched through her head as best I could but without our bond being finalised there wasn’t much I could do, there was one thing that was startingly obvious though. Her wolf was gone.

The door suddenly burst open and Xavier ran in panting with his eyes flicking across the room back and forth trying to replace us. When he saw me knelt on the floor besides a curled-up Annabelle, he made his way over and sat on the arm of the sofa next to us.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know”. I hated how my voice cracked as I answered, an Alpha should always be strong and never show weakness, but right now the earth could be crumbling from under my feet and I wouldn’t care.

Xavier patted me on the shoulder, showing me as much support as he was capable of, but without any answers there wasn’t much that he could do for me.

“Is this something to do with the messenger thing or something?” He hadn’t left the library since he had left mine last night, surely something would have come up that would explain what was going on.

He let out a puff of air and ran one of his hands down his face. “Honestly man I don’t know, I mean it’s possible, I guess, that the moon goddess is somehow involved in this, there aren’t many people that can make a mate bond disappear”.

“It’s not just the bond that’s missing Xavier” I muttered as I felt my wolf reach out to hers. “Her wolf is missing as well’”

It was silent for a minute, the only noise coming from Annabelle’s slightly elevated breathing and heartbeat. She had relaxed out slightly now, she looked so peaceful, if I didn’t know any better I would of guessed that she was sleeping.

“I’m getting Dr Tessler over here, maybe she has some logical answer as to what is going on here” Xavier muttered as he stood up and slightly walked away from me with his phone in his hand.

It was common curtesy to not use the pack link at night whilst someone was sleeping unless it was a dyer emergency. It made the wolf feel groggy and was just a plain shock to the system when your wolf is woken up by another but your body isn’t fully awake yet.

I tuned his voice out as I focused on my little mate in front of me, I didn’t know what was going on right now, but we were going to make it through. We just had to.

“The Doc will be here in five man, honestly you should pay that woman double” Xavier laughed, trying to get a reaction out of me that wasn’t stone faced and pathetic.

I just nodded my head, letting him know that I had heard him, without taking my eyes off from Annabelle. Think Jax think. If we were mated I could know exactly what she was going through her brain, at least then I’d know that she wasn’t scared, but we weren’t and it just made the wolf inside my head even crazier. I’m seriously going to have to bring the topic up soon, just to give my heart a rest and myself a bit of peace of mind.

I suddenly felt a hand touch my shoulder and looked up to replace my mother looking down at me, a look of understanding in her eyes as she took me in.

“Mum? What are you doing here?” I asked as I stood up and took her into a quick hug, making sure that I kept one hand on Annabelle just in case the mate link came back.

“Xavier called and said you needed some support; your father and siblings are here too” she explained as she gestured with her thumb to where I’m guessing they were.

I looked behind her to see the rest of my family sat on the sofa on the other side of the living room. I gave them a brief nod, showing my appreciation for their support before turning back to my Mother. “I don’t know what to do mum, she won’t wake up and I can’t feel the bond. Her wolf has gone. What... what if her wolf never comes back?” I muttered, showing my fears to the one person I knew wouldn’t judge me.

“Don’t worry Jax, we will pray for the moon goddess to bring her back to us, if that’s not the case and that her wolf was to traumatised after being forced not to shift than we will deal with it okay?” My mum reassured me as she patted me on my shoulder. There was something about a mothers comfort and confidence that always seemed to ease the mind just a little.

I smiled and nodded down at her before I looked back down at me sleeping mate. Please come back to me.

“I came as fast as I could” I heard a voice from behind me state and I turned around to see Dr Tessler standing behind me with her medical bag in hand. She was still dressed in her dressing gown and her hair was shoved into a knot on top of her head but I didn’t care, as long as she was here to help my Annabelle.

“Thank you Dr, she seems to have gone into a coma of sorts, when I found her she was in a foetal position on the floor in the kitchen covering her ears. When I first saw her, I thought she was having a panic attack from smashing a glass but when I went to touch her I couldn’t feel the mate bond between us, I still can’t even now. Her wolf also seems to have disappeared, I can’t figure out why though” I explained, hoping that I hadn’t left out any vital bits of information.

The Dr nodded her head as she took a stethoscope out of her bag and knelt down to listen to Annabelle’s heart rate. “And when was this?” she asked, getting a device out that she wrapped around Annabelle’s arm so that she could measure her blood pressure.

“I don’t know, maybe half an hour ago?” I shrugged, unsure as to when I had found her. My brain was in such a state the last thing I was focusing on was what the time was.

“An hour” Xavier piped up from the sofa and I nodded a thanks to him before looking back at the doctor.

“Okay and was her wolf missing as soon as you went to her or did it slowly fade away from her?”

“Umm... I think her wolf was already gone when I found her”. I honestly couldn’t remember much from the past hour, all that has been running through my head was that my Annabelle couldn’t die on me, not after I had just found her.

“Okay good, at least her wolf didn’t slowly fade away like she was dying, at least like this there is a chance of replaceing her again and getting her back.”

I nodded, trying to take some comfort in that little bit of information, but I couldn’t relax entirely until Annabelle was up and about and safe in my arms again. “How long will it take before she wakes up Doctor?”

She looked at me and shrugged “It’s hard to say Alpha, we don’t know half of the trauma that this girl has faced over the years, maybe this is just her body’s way of dealing with everything that it’s gone through” she explained.

“It’s quite common for our brains to shut down every now and then so that they can process everything, kind of like slipping into a coma but only less severe. Between the new environment, new people, coming face to face with her previous Alpha and finally managing to shift, I wouldn’t be surprised if Annabelle’s wolf has just temporarily shut down to try and process everything. Our human brain can cope with such strong emotions, but our wolf side is much more basic, relying more on instinct than emotion and reason. It’s possible that her wolf has disappeared purely to protect it’s self and navigate the difficult situation that it’s in” the doctor explained as she removed the blood pressure sleeve from Annabelle’s arm.

“We’ll get her back son; don’t you worry about it” my Dad reassured me as he walked up beside me and slapped me on the shoulder.

I suddenly heard a slight whimper coming from the sofa and looked down to replace Annabelle’s eyebrows drawn into a frown. Was she waking up?

“Annabelle? Annabelle can you hear me?” I knelt down to get closer to her but was pulled out of the way by my dad so that Dr Tessler could get to her.

“Let the doctor do her thing son” my dad explained as I shot him a warning glare.

It killed me but I gave a swift nod and let the doctor pass so that she could give Annabelle another quick exam. She pulled the lids back from her eyes and shined a torch into them, checking her pupil reflexes. As soon as she put the small pocket torch away though Annabelle suddenly woke up with a gasp and said one word that made all of us frown in confusion.

“Mum?”

Soooo... thoughts?