The Alpha and his Mate
Chapter 13

Annabelle’s POV

It was dark.

The smell of mould and burnt flesh filled my nostrils as I took a sharp intake of air, making me gag.

Where was I? The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on Jax’s comfy sofa after refusing to let him sleep on it. He would have probably dangled off the end of it with how tall he was.

I went to move my arm to brush some hair out of my face that had started to tickle my nose but hissed in pain as they were held back by some form of chains. Silver chains. My heart started to pound in my chest as I frantically looked around, trying to see if I could get my bearings at all. All I could see though were the damp stone walls that formed the walls of my current prison and a concrete floor with what looked like fresh blood splattered all over it. My blood.

I couldn’t help the little whimper that escaped my lips as I continued to stare at the puddle of blood at my feet. What had happened to me?

“Ahh the princess is up” someone sneered at me from somewhere in the dark.

My head snapped up at the voice and I squinted into the darkness, trying to find a face that the voice belonged to.

“I was wondering when you were going to finally wake up, I have a little someone here that has been just dying to see you” the voice continued.

I frowned as I just about made out the outline of a body leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed over his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles. Apart from that he was just a shadow, a faceless shadow with a sinister voice.

“She’s awake” he shouted, making me jump at the sudden volume change. He smirked at my reaction before kicking himself off the wall and turned around to face the door. I still couldn’t make out his face but what I did spot was a tattoo on the back of his neck, a tattoo of some kind of tribal knot that I had never seen before.

I frowned at it, following the twists and turns it took, before he moved out of the way of the door and I came face to face with someone I never thought I’d see again. Someone I thought I had escaped when I ran away from that place.

“Damon”. His name slipped from my lips with venom and I didn’t know whether I wanted to scream in anger or terror at seeing him again.

He smirked at me, obviously happy that I recognised him, and started to make his way over to me. I shuffled away from him, ignoring the smell of burnt flesh as the chains rubbed against my skin, I had to get away from him.

“Hello little Annabelle” he sneered as he grabbed my chin forcefully and brought my face up to meet his. “I see you remember me then” he laughed.

I growled at him angrily and ripped my chin from his grasp.

“Oh little Annabelle, when are you going to learn to respect your superiors” he sighed before slapping me hard across the face.

I bit my lip so as not to make any noise, Damon always got a little thrill out of my screams and I had learnt from a young age that if I remained quiet the beatings were always less intense.

“Now where shall I begin” he muttered, more to himself than to me. “Yes, I think here is a wonderful place to start” he said as he got on his knees before me and produced a knife. Not a huge one but it appeared to be very sharp, sharp enough to cut skin away from its bone if he so wished. “I’m going to enjoy peeling your skin off layer by layer as I watch you scream in pain .You’ve had this coming since the day you ran away from me little girl. You ruined everything for me and my family.

And then he started. I screamed as he proceeded to hack small chunks of flesh out of my legs, feeling strangers hands holding me down as he continued his torture.

Just then I heard a whisper in my ear, a whisper so low I had to question whether it was actually there. “Annabelle...Annabelle it’s me... calm down before you hurt yourself”. Before I hurt myself? It was Damon who was hurting me! I screamed and begged him to stop but he just carried on going, getting a thrill out of my agony.

″Annabelle... Annabelle... come back to me. Your here and your safe, I’ve got you, I won’t let anyone hurt you I promise”.

I knew that voice... that was Jax’s voice, he had come for me! I focused on his voice, just his voice and before I knew it, I was in his warm familiar arms. Safe.

“J-Jax?” I whispered, hoping that he really was really here with me.

“Yeah it’s me, I’ve got you” he relied as his grip on me tightened, bringing me closer into his lap. I breathed in his scent, instantly calming me down and before long my breathing had gone back to semi normal as I snuggled slightly into his side.

“Annabelle are you okay?”

I stiffened, was I okay? That dream seemed so real, I mean I was still half expecting to look down and see blood coating my legs from Damon’s torture. I breathed in Jax’s scent again, grounding me, before nodding my head. It was just a dream.

“Want to talk about it?”

I shook my head and buried it into the crook of his neck, hoping to forget about the whole ordeal. My hand made its way to his chest, hoping the feel of his heartbeat would ground me like before, but when he flinched I retracted my hand and looked at him with a frown, had I done something wrong?

“It’s okay Angel, it’s just a few scratches that’s all, they’ll be healed by the morning” he smiled reassuringly at me.

I frowned again and looked down to see four long, deep gashes across his chest and I gasped in shock. What had he been doing whilst I was asleep? “How...” I let the question hang in the air, hoping he would catch on to what I was referring to.

“You partially shifted during your dream and your claws dug into my skin when I tried to wake you up” he explained with a shrug. Why did he look so happy when I had just hurt him.? He must’ve seen my confusion because he smiled down at me and kissed my forehead. “This is a good thing” he explained “it means your wolf is there in your head somewhere. She tried to come out to try and protect you when she thought you were in trouble but was held back by the command, hence the partial shift.”

I thought about it for a second before nodding my head to show I understood. I looked back down at his cuts and frowned again; I better get these cleaned up.

I moved to go to the bathroom and get a damp cloth to clean up the dried blood that had smeared across his chest, but frowned when I was held back by Jax’s arms.

“And where do you think you’re going little mate?” He asked, slightly amused.

I pointed to his cuts, hoping he would get the hint but when he just looked at me blankly I sighed, “Going to clean them” I muttered.

He smiled a stunning smile at me and my heart stuttered in my chest, god was it even legal to be that good looking?

“I’ve already got a first aid kit delivered, it’s by the door along with a glass of water for you, I’ll just go and get it for you”.

He started to get up but I scowled up at him as he started to move. “Sit” I all but growled at him as I made my way over to the door and grabbed the stuff. No way should he be moving with cuts like that on his chest, he could rip them open further and make them worse than they already are.

He smiled down at me as I sat in front of him and got the scissors out of the bag to cut the rest of his shirt off, it was ruined anyway so why try and save it now. Once the last of the fabric was off, I went about cleaning and dressing his wounds, making sure I didn’t miss anything as I slowly applied the steri strips to his chest to help the cuts heal quicker.

“How’d you learn to do all this?” He asked as I applied the last bit of dressing to his chest.

I didn’t respond as I didn’t think he would particularly like the answer. How do you tell someone that you were good at first aid because you were so used to having to do it on yourself on a daily basis?

He must’ve felt my unease as he took my hands into his and lifted my chin up so that I was looking at him in the eyes. “Thank you my little mate” was all he said as he kissed me on the cheek before getting up and going into his closet to change.

When he came out he was just in a pair of boxer shorts, leaving his chest bare for me to look at.

Mate! Mate! The voice in my head shouted and I frowned as I rubbed my temples, attempting to lessen the headache I always seem to get when the voice in my head speaks. He is ours! Mate! I huffed in frustration and attempted to block the voice out, which this time I thankfully managed to do.

“Are you okay?” Jax asked as he saw the frown on my face.

I smiled up at him and nodded, not wanting him to worry about me anymore than he already does. I had enough baggage as it was, I was not going to add hears voices in my head to the list.

He looked at me sceptically for a minute before slowly nodding his head and walked over to the sofa. “Good night then little mate, sleep well”.

My heart rate suddenly picked up at the thought of going back to sleep. What if the nightmare came back? I did not want to live through that again.

“What’s the matter? Your hearts going crazy”.

“I... umm...” I stuttered, not really knowing what to say. “Can you...I mean...would you mind if-if you umm...” come on Annabelle just spit it out “would you sleep with me?”

Jax grinned at me from the sofa and it was only then that I realised what that sounded like. “I mean not sleep with me, I just meant that...I mean would you mind...?” I sighed, giving up “don’t worry”.

Jax chuckled from the sofa before getting up and walking over to his side of the bed to join me. My face was bright red and I could feel the heat coming from my blush, god that was embarrassing.

“I wouldn’t mind at all my Angel” he smiled, kissing my forehead before sliding in next to me and pulling me close to him so that my head was resting on his chest. “Sleep well Annabelle, I’ll be right here if you need me” he whispered.

I was tense for a second, not really knowing what to do in this type of situation. I had never slept next to anyone before, let alone a gorgeous half naked werewolf.

“Just relax Annabelle, your body still need time to heal so get as much sleep as you can” he muttered, bringing his hand to my back before starting to gently draw circles on my skin. It felt so nice and relaxing I was out like a light in no time.

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