Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 183: Sage POV
We were all lost without Jonah, Andrei had been on the phone to Kat and Everybody he could think of that could help. Yet the day was slipping by and I longed to hear his voice. I needed to make sure he was ok and we tried to ring but got no answer.
Sitting outside, I tried the phone number again. The phone rang completely out and it was nearly 4:30 PM, he should be getting ready for dinner and a bath. Why wasn’t he answering. I sit on the log next to the fire pit when I see Andrei come out. He looked exhausted and stressed just like the rest of us.
“Still no answer?” He asks and I shake my feeling sick at not being able to see him or speak to him.
“We can try again later, if he’s headed to the city he could still be on the road” Andrei says, running his fingers through his shoulder length hair. He sits on the log beside me grabbing my hand and bringing it to his l!ps.
“Come on, we should head inside and have shower, you have been in that dress since the day of Alpha meeting” He says and I look down at the wrinkled dress, completely forgetting I had been in it for two days now I only got out of Kat’s clothes and slipped this on but never showered.
I sniff myself but I smell fine besides the scent of tears and the lingering smell of Jonah. I look at Andrei and he was out of his clothes, when did he remember to shower? With everything on my mind, showering was the last thing I thought about.
Andrei tugs me to my feet just as Zane calls out to him. “Alpha, Nora”
“Argh f*uc*k I forgot, ”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to bother you with everything going on but she is getting worse, I think she will go into heat tonight”
“Yep, I will do it now. Casen come here” Andrei calls out and waves him over. Casen jogs over to us and Malik too.
“What is up Alpha?” Casen asks before looking at Zane. He tosses his head back and gr0@ns.
“Already, f*uc*k” He whines and Malik scrubs a hand down his face.
“I will come too, let’s head out now” Malik says and Andrei nods to them before nodding to Zane.
“Sorry guys” Zane tells them.
“It’s fine, just not used to having girls here for so long, I forgot about the heats, when no one here obviously has them” Casen says before looking at me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean”
“It’s fine Casen, I am not offended. Not your fault I am useless in that department” I tell him with a slight twinge of guilt. I was useless, I couldn’t even provide an heir for Andrei, couldn’t give us a family. And now the only hope we had of having a child was just taken away. I watch them go, heading for the forest.
“Night lock berries?” I ask Andrei and he nods his head.
“Dad!” Andrei called out and I liked that he was now calling Derrick dad. I could also see that Derrick got a kick out of hearing it, see the way his eyes light up every time his son said it. Derrick rushes over to us from where he was sitting on a chair under the willow reading some mail.
“Do you remember how to make the night lock jam?” He asks.
“Bit rusty, Nora gone into heat already?” he asks and Zane nods.
“Probably be in full blown heat tonight sometime, I can smell her scent changing” Zane says.
“Okay, let’s get this fire started and I need a spoon and pot” Derrick says.
“Call out if you need me to make it, I just want to take Sage to shower and then try Jonah again, Malik and Casen have gone to collect the berries” Andrei tells him. Derrick nods and heads after Zane to help collect kindling to get the firepit going.
“I forgot about her heat” I tell Andrei as he leads me inside and up the stairs.
“Yes, slipped my mind too, the boys will be extra grumpy tonight, not sure if you have seen rogues on nightlock”
“Yeah once, one of the camps we spotted had a female in omega in heat when I was kid. They also used nightlock to suppress the unmated wolves but they made it into a soup not a jam”
“Yeah we always made Jams or paste from it, more concentrated that way and not so watery” Andrei says and it made sense but when rogue, there aren’t many options in the camps. You couldn’t lock the woman down like those in packs and warn people away when there was nowhere to
go. You also didn’t have shutters or descenters for the woman to keep the unmated at bay, so good old poison was used to knock out their wolves. I have heard it makes them incredibly itchy and uncomfortable in their own skin.
We head into the shower but just before I Str!p off and hop in. The phone rings and Andrei grabs it.
“It’s Jonah” He says and my heart starts pounding in my ch3st. He quickly answers, putting the phone on loudspeaker.
“Jonah?” Andrei says.
“I didn’t hear the phone” Jonah says and relief floods me. Andrei sits on the end of the bed, pulling me on his lap.
“But you’re ok, are you ok Jonah, where are you?” Andrei asks.
“Yes I am ok but I want to come home, when can I come home. I want to be with you and Sage”
“Who are you on the phone to?” I suddenly hear Clive’s voice snapping at Jonah and Andrei growls.
“Leave the boy alone” Dominic’s voice snaps back at Clive in the background.
“Dominic is still with you?” I ask Jonah.
“Yes, he put us in this room” Jonah says.
“Hand the phone over for a second Jonah, you can speak to your father in a minute” Dominic says.
Andrei’s heart skips a beat at his words. I hear the phone being fiddled with before Dominic’s voice comes through clearer.
“The boy is fine, I am not a complete monster. They are at my hotel in the Safari Casino room 410 and I will make sure he has been fed before I leave, this neanderthal would robably feed him beer and chips for dinner otherwise” Dominic says with disgust lacing his tone which shocks me, he clearly didn’t like Clive yet took Jonah from us.
“Have you spoken to Katya for me?” Dominic asks.
“Yes she is aware of what’s going on?” Andrei tells him.
“Good she has a week, I know these things take time and she will have to convince her mates but any longer and we will have issues. I can only tolerate this fool for so long” Dominic says, making me wonder what he meant by that.
“You are staying with Jonah?” Andrei asks, confused.
“No, I just brought them here until I found a pack that would accept this idiot and the boy. I will be leaving soon, tell Katya to hurry and make a
choice. I will put Jonah back on for you”
“Jonah you can talk to your parents, after dinner have a shower, but I need to leave now” Dominic tells him and I am shocked at the way he speaks softly to Jonah.
“Yes sir” Jonah says before I hear the phone passing hands again.
“Are you okay Jonah?” I ask.
“Yes, Dominic said you are my parents. Does that mean I can go home and have two dads like Mr. Andrei?” Jonah asks.
“ If you would like to have two dads but you don’t have to call him that if you don’t want to” I tell him.
“Can I have two mums too?” he asks and I refuse to get excited at his words, I didn’t want to pressure him but my heart soared at that word.
“Whatever you are comfortable with Jonah, you can call us what you like, we just want you home with us” Andrei tells him.
“I would like that, I miss the pack and Malik and Casen too, do they miss me?” Jonah asks.
“Yes everyone misses you and can’t wait for you to come home” Andrie tells them and I hear arguing in the background between Dominic and Clive.
“I don’t think that man likes my uncle Clive very much, ” Jonah whispers.
“It will be ok buddy, we will get you out of there soon” Andrei tells him.
“Please hurry, I don’t want to be here with him by myself. I want to come home” Jonah sobs.
“Ah shut it boy” Clive bellows and Jonah whimpers.
“Knock it off, he is a child” Dominic snarls in the background. Andrei’s jaw clenches and I actually feel sick knowing Dominic was about to leave Jonah with him. I would have preferred Jonah in that monster’s hands than Clives, at least he was nice to Jonah. Despite what he has done, at least he has parental instincts and knew how to raise a child.
“Come on buddy stop crying, breathe Jonah. It won’t be long we are doing everything we can”
“I want to come home,” Jonah cries, his voice breaking along with my heart at hearing him so upset.
“I know, I know, soon very soon” I hear a knock on the door in the background and Jonah falls quiet before I hear Dominic’s voice again.
“Jonah dinner, come eat. Say goodbye then have a shower when you finish eating. Clive I want you to stay out of my casino and the bars, you are to
watch the boy not leave him on his own” Dominic says and we hear Clive mutter but couldn’t hear what he said as he was too far away from the phone.
“I have to go,” Jonah says sadly.
“Ok, we will try to ring you later but you can call at any time, we will answer” I tell him.
“Okay bye” Jonah says before the phone hangs up.
“I feel sick” I tell Andrei and he nods before hugging me closer.
“We will get him back,” Andrei tells me.
“Go shower, I will be in soon” Andrei says, tapping my leg. I climb off his lap and Andrei fiddles with the phone while I walk into the bathroom. I turn on the shower adjusting the taps and pulling my hair out of the bun I put in this morning and ma*s*saging my aching scalp from the strain of my heavy hair.
Reaching behind me, I start pulling the zip down trying to figure out how the heck I managed to sleep in it, it wasn’t exactly comfy and was rather tight.
Hands suddenly replace mine tugging the zip down and I pull my arms out before Andrei turns me around and helps me tug the dress down and over my h!ps.
I yawned, my eyes felt like sandpaper from barely sleeping and my eyes were puffy from crying when I felt Andrei’s hand move up my thighs.
“What happened to your thighs?” He says and I pull away from him. He never mentions my scars but hearing his words makes me step away from him embarra*s*sed. I told him already but he never asked before exactly what they did and that wasn’t something I wanted to relive. When I step away he grips my h!ps tugging me back to him.
“Andrei?” I question, my cheeks flaming and I su_ck in a breath. I hated that he was staring at them, scrutinizing me. I rarely looked down at my mutilated body but his intense gaze was making me squirm uncomfortably and want to cover up. I knew it looked gross but I didn’t expect him to point it out. I try to wrap a towel around myself.
“What are you doing?” He says gripping the towel and yanking it.
“Stop Andrei, please I know it’s gross but stop touching them” I tell him fighting back tears.
“What? Are you talking about, you are beautiful” He says, k!ssing my thigh and looking up at me.
“Look” He says and I shake my head.
“No, Sage look. They look like” he shakes his head. “It looks like handprints, they are on both sides,” He says.
“What?” I ask, looking down and su_cking in a breath, trying to f0rce myself to look at my destroyed skin.
“Here ” He points to my thighs, pressing a finger to each one. I sigh before looking down. My skin burnt and the skin rippled scarred when I saw
what he was talking about. Two spots no longer scarred and mutilated. Shocked, I bent down more and accidentally headb*tted Andrei. “Ow” I hiss and he chuckles rubbing the spot on my head I smacked.
He stands before gripping my h!ps and placing me on the sink basin and I look at my thighs, bile rises in my throat but I finally get a good look at what he is talking about. From my angle it does look like two small hand prints on my upper thighs.
“That is so strange, I swear I never noticed that before” He whispers, his brows furrowing.
“Yeah that wasn’t there before it was as mutilated as the rest of me” I tell him rubbing the smooth spot. Andrie growls, the sound menacing.
“Don’t speak like that about yourself, I won’t put up with it” He snaps and I roll my eyes. It’s not like it isn’t true, anyone seeing them would turn away at the sight.
Andrei grips my face and growls. “Don’t, is this because of what Clive said? I won’t tolerate you thinking like that. I will drag you out there and Str!p you in front of the entire pack, just to prove to you there is nothing wrong with any part of you.
I can tell you right now, not one man here would cringe away from the sight of you” he snarls, his l!p pulling over his upper l!p as his canines protrude. I was horrified at his words and the thought of being Str!pped in front of his pack. I go to say something but his grip on my face tightens.
“I mean it, one word Sage. You are mine and I love every inch of you, don’t speak like that just because you don’t see yourself the way we all do, now we need to figure out how you have tiny handprints on you” He says, k!ssing my l!ps before looking down and letting go of my face.
“Maybe you’re having a reaction to something, I can call Mathias to come check you over, but they look like” He pauses counting the little lines that resemble tiny fingers.
“Too small to be handprints unless they are baby handprints” We both pause and I touch the unblemished skin. It felt soft under my fingertips, the skin around the marks is rougher and raised slightly. I think of where I have been before realization smacks me in the face. Just as Andrei reaches the same conclusion.
“You were holding Eziah yesterday, ” He says, looking down at my legs.
“Yes, he was sitting in my lap slapping my legs, ” I tell him.
“He healed a pieces of you” Andrei gasps.