The Alpha and his Mate
Chapter 35

Annabelle’s PoV

‘A-Annabelle?’ The voice whispered to me, a voice that sounded oddly like Jax’s voice, a little gruff, but still like Jax.

‘Jax?’ I felt like an idiot basically talking to myself in my own hair, but when I felt shock and relief, shock and relief that weren’t my own emotions, flood through my brain I knew I wasn’t going crazy.

‘Oh my god Annabelle! Your alive! Oh you had me so worried, I never thought I was going to see you again’.

I started to smile at how cute he was being, but I held it in, I didn’t want anyone to know that I could now mind link and was communicating with Jax.

‘Jax hi! H-how is this possible?’

‘I don’t know baby, but I am so happy to hear from you, we aren’t too far away. We’re coming to get you baby’.

I gasped out load and froze as I realised, I had made a noise. I pretended to cringe as the woman carried on pinning pins into my hair, making it look like she had pulled my hair.

‘How are you nearly here? How did you even know where I was?’

‘It was fairly easy once you told us where you were, Alpha Parker hadn’t had that land for very long so my dad could guess fairly easily where you were’ he explained.

I paused to absorb that information as the woman moved onto making up my face.

‘Jax... Alpha Parker’s dead. A wolf named Matthew challenged him for his title and won’.

‘Who’s Matthew? Do you recognise him at all?’

I shook my head but paused as I took in the woman’s face in front of me, pausing what she was doing on my face until I remained still again. “Sorry just trying to get comfy” I lied. I don’t think she believed it, but she carried on anyway.

‘No I don’t recognise him, he’s younger than Parker, maybe a little bit older than you?’

‘Okay well that doesn’t change our plan at all, just who we have to kill’.

I paused our conversation as I debated telling him about Alpha Matthews plans in mating with me. I probably should, but I didn’t want him distracted as he ran into a dangerous situation to save me.

In the end though my conscious won and I told him.

‘Umm Jax? Matthew killed Alpha Parker because he didn’t like his plan for me’.

I could feel Jax’s confusion through the bond we had ′what do you mean?′

‘Well... apparently Parker’s plan was to lure me here and just... well... kill me’. Jax growled at that in my head but I ignored it and carried on ′but Alpha Matthew thought that was to small minded. Jax, he plans to sever our mate bond in the eyes of the Moon Goddess and form a new bond between the two of us. He says once he does that the Goddess will abandon me and therefore her people’.

Jax was silent for a while, so silent I thought I had lost my mind link with him, but all of a sudden my mind was filled with unbridled anger. So much anger that even I started to shake with rage, my eyes starting to swirl a different colour as I spotted them in the mirror.

‘He plans to WHAT!’

‘Sever our mate bond and create our own. I didn’t even know that was possible’.

‘It’s not’ he growled as I still felt the anger rippling through our bond. ′To break a bond and form a new one you need the help of a witch, a powerful witch, and even then it’s not a hundred percent effective. It is a very painful experience and against pack law to perform that ceremony under any circumstance’.

I whimpered as Jax explained the ceremony to me as the woman gestured for me to stand up so that she could fit me into the floor length white maxi dress I was being forced to wear.

‘Don’t worry baby, I won’t let that happen to you. I am going to get you out of this if it’s the last thing I do’.

I was currently standing outside of Alpha Matthews house, in a flimsy white maxi dress, in front of hundreds of people. It looks like his whole pack was summoned here to witness this.

After the woman was finished getting me ready, she simply led me out of the front door and then blended into the crowd, leaving me to stand on the porch by the front door with no idea what to do next.

I had the sudden urge to run, but I knew that I wouldn’t get far, Alpha Matthew and his men weren’t too far away.

I wrapped my arms around myself as I felt a strong breeze, causing goose bumps to form on my skin and my dress to billow around my bare feet. Could they not of at least given me a jacket? Or a pair of shoes?

Just as I was about to give up on standing here, I saw the sea of people part, revealing Alpha Matthew with a woman walking beside him. I didn’t recognise her, but I instantly knew she was the witch that was going to be performing the ceremony.

She had jet black hair tied into a top knot on the top of her head with bits hanging down framing her face, a black dress covered her thin body and a velvet cape hung across her shoulders. I internally rolled my eyes at her look, could she be any more cliché?

They both made their way onto the front porch, neither one of them acknowledging my presence as they turned to face their pack.

“Fellow pack members, I have gathered you all here today to witness the joining of your Alpha and Luna. It is a rare and special moment in history when two wolves decide to go against the Moon Goddess’ wishes and it should be celebrated for all to see” Alpha Matthew said, projecting his voice for all his pack to hear.

I frowned at him, confused. I thought Jax said it was against pack law to perform this kind of ceremony? If that was common knowledge, then why wasn’t anyone doing anything to help me?

I look amongst the sea of faces, hoping to replace one friendly face in the crowd, but deflated in defeat as I noticed not one set of eyes turned towards me, they were all solely focused on Matthew.

“Isabella will have the honour of performing the ritual.” Matthew shouted to the crowed as he turned to his left and took the witch, who I’m guessing is called Isabella, by the hand.

She bowed before Matthew as she reached into her cloak and produced a dagger. I had a moment of relief as I thought she intended to use the dagger on Matthew, but that relief was short lived as I watched her eyes fall on me.

She took confident strides towards me, like a predictor who’s eyes were locked onto its helpless prey. My entire body was screaming at me to run, to fight this, but I knew that I couldn’t. If I did then everyone that I loved would die. I had to remain brave for the sake of my pack and for the sake of my family. Jax was coming for us, I just had to hold out as long as I could.

The witch extended her hand out to me and I copied her, placing my hand in hers and she proceeded to drag me forward until I stood in front of Alpha Matthew. My hands were shaking, both from the cold and the adrenaline as it pimped through my veins, but I refused to let it show as I looking into the eyes of evil.

He smirked at me, as if he knew what I was thinking, and I couldn’t stop the lone tear that escaped my eye lashes as trickled down my cheek.

‘Hurry Jax!’ I screamed in my head as I looked back into the red ringed eyes of Alpha Matthew.

“Aww tears of joy on our special day, how sweet” Matthew sneered as he snatched my hand in his and squeezed until I lost blood flow, my bones crunching together at the grip he had on me. “Remember why you’re doing this little Annie, for your beloved little Jax and for your family” he mocked.

Another tear escaped but I quickly wiped it from my cheek, this sorry excuse of a man didn’t deserve my fear. “Jax is going to replace you... he’s going to replace you and he’s going to kill you in the most painful and brutal way he can think of” I growled at him, as I felt my wolf start to come through.

“Ah ah little Annie, careful what you say to me” he chuckled, “wouldn’t want your little Beta to suffer for your mouth now would you?” Matthew smirked. I frowned at him as he pointed signalled with a nod of his head for me to look to my right. At first, I couldn’t see what he was talking about, but quickly spotted it as a gasp escaped my lips.

Xavier was being held up by two men, both of their knuckles covered in his blood, as one held a knife to his throat whilst the other held his head back.

“Don’t you dare hurt him” I growled again, feeling anger bubble away inside me at the way he was treating my pack, my friend.

“Go through with the ceremony and I won’t” he growled back, red shining bright though his irises.

I ground my teeth together to stop the choice words I desperately wanted to say to him from coming out and just gave him a small nod, not trusting myself to confirm verbally.

The witch suddenly stepped up to us and moved our palms to where she wanted them to be, face up next to each other. As we stood there, the wind blowing my hair around my shoulders and my dress around my feet, she started to mutter some incantation in a language. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but before I could even blink she drew the dagger up and slashed mine and Matthews palms in one flick of her wrist.

I hissed in pain and tried to bring my hand away, but my body wouldn’t let me, like my hand had a mind of its own and wanted to stay rooted next to Alpha Matthews.

“It’s no use trying to resist princess, you’re in it for the long hall now” Matthew grinned at me from across our blood-stained palms. Our blood merging into one another’s as it pooled and trickled across our palms. I glared at him in disgust for what he was making me do, hating him for getting me into this situation and forcing me to leave a life I had barely begun to live.

The witch sprinkled some form of herbs across our open palms, causing the opening in our flesh to burn and smoke. We stayed like that for a second as I watched on in horror as my blood bubble away before the witch gripped both of our wrists in each of her hands and brought our hands flat against each other in between us, so that the cuts were touching.

She started muttering more sounds in that unknown dialect of hers as she proceeded to tie a blood red silk sash around our wrists, the knots so tight it was impossible to move our hands apart even if we didn’t have the spell holding us together. The pain was intensifying by the second, as if someone was pouring acid onto my hand, and no amount of tugging I did would let me release my hand from Alpha Matthews and away from this pain.

I could feel the burning sensation slowly making its way up my arm as the witch continued to mutter to herself, as if the spell was weaving it’s way through my blood stream. I tried to slow my heart rate down in the hopes that it would cause the spell to work slower but it didn’t work, it just continued its assent up and past my elbow. Tears were dripping from my chin as I mourned what I was losing as well as the physical pain that I was currently going though.

To anyone else looking in on this situation, you would think that we were perfectly content, as if standing here and going through this process was the most relaxing experience of my existence. I knew differently though, and one look into Matthews eyes I could see that he was going through just as much pain as I was in this moment. Well at least this situation had a small silver lining, any form of pain Alpha Matthew was in was good to me.

I suddenly heard a roar off in the distance and my heart immediately spiked as my body reacted the sound. It was Jax, and he was pissed.

I just had to hold out a little bit longer, just long enough for him and everyone one else to get here and then I could be free from this hell and free from alpha Matthew.

‘JAX HURRY!’ I screamed through our mind link, but again I didn’t get a response, just static.

I looked back at Alpha Matthew and for the first time I saw doubt and fear flash through his eyes, but it was only for a second before the witch proceeded to mutter more words, her voice increasing in volume with every syllable, and stabbed us with the dagger in our hand.

I screamed in pain, this time my body allowing me to move, as I looked at both our hands, joined together by the dagger the witch had recently been holding. It went right through our skin, with the hilt of the handle touching the back of my hand and the tip sticking out of Matthews.

The next thing I knew my brain burst alive as I felt electricity and fire burn through every vain and cell in my body. What was happening to me!

Before I knew it, both myself and Matthew collapsed to the floor, our hands still connected by the dagger, as blackness consumed me.