CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY FIVE
Talia’s POV
I knew his face before my mind caught up with what I was seeing.
Jason.
He had changed his appearance but not enough. The moment our eyes met I felt rage build up in me. I had been right the first time I saw him when the wall was being built, but I had doubted myself.
“Jason, why are you here?!” I hissed.
Maggie stood up and looked between Jason and I. “Luna, you’re mistaken. His name is Mason,” she said.
The confusion in her voice was genuine, and it made my chest hurt. Maggie did not know about Jason’s past and the horrible things he had done in the name of ‘love’. ‘She’s not going to listen to us. We need our mate to command her to us,’ my wolf advised.
‘Order Maggie to come to us right now,’ I told Nolan through our bond.
“Maggie, come to me right now,” Nolan ordered.
“He is my mate. I think you have mistaken him for someone else, Luna, Alpha, please,” Maggie continued as she began walking
towards us.
Jason pushed away from the table and Nolan dropped the gifts. He lunged forward to subdue Jason, but Jason moved faster than I expected. His hand closed around Maggie’s throat, and he pulled her back against him before Nolan reached him. Nolan stopped.
“Back,” Jason growled. “Both of you. Step back or I will kill her!”
“Mason, what are you doing?” Maggie’s hands came up to his forearm. “Mason, please. Calm down. Whatever this is, we can talk about it. You are hurting me. Please calm down.”
“You are so stupid. Everything would have been fine if you hadn’t invited them,” Jason growled. “Just shut up!”
“Mason, please…”
He squeezed her throat. Maggie choked and went silent. Her eyes found mine and what I saw in them made my chest ache. Confusion. Pain. She had trusted the wrong person again and she was just now realizing it.
Nolan’s Alpha aura was rolling off him. His eyes were fixed on Jason with pure hatred and the veins in his neck stood out from the effort of holding himself back.
“You had the opportunity to move on and do better, but you just couldn’t help yourself. I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Nolan snarled.
“You should have,” Jason agreed. His grip on Maggie tightened. She made a small sound.
“She’s carrying your child!” I blurted out.
Jason froze. For a moment, he looked conflicted and his grip on Maggie’s neck loosened for a second. Then, Jason’s face hardened. “That is a trick,” he said flatly. “You would say anything right now.”
“The doctor confirmed it today,” I said. “Ask Maggie yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“I do not care,” Jason growled.
Maggie flinched as though she had been struck. Her eyes were still locked on mine. I saw as the tears began to slide down her
face.
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‘He needs to be killed. He hurts anyone he touches,’ my wolf growled.
I agreed. I could not let Maggie be harmed any further for his obsession with me.
“Take me instead,” I offered. “Let Maggie go. I am the one you came for.”
Nolan’s head snapped toward me. “Talia, no!”
‘Don’t worry,’ I told him through our mate’s link. ‘I know what I am doing.’
Jason studied me for a long moment before saying, “Walk to me. No sudden movements.”
I did so. He grabbed my arm with his free arm before releasing Maggie and kicking her toward Nolan. Nolan caught Maggie as she stumbled forward.
“Get out of my way or I’ll snap her neck,” Jason growled and Nolan and Maggie stepped out of our way.
Jason pulled me toward the door and out into the corridor. At the border gate the guards looked at Nolan. Nolan gave a short nod and they stepped aside. We went through and out onto the road beyond the pack border.
“You do not have to do this,” I said. Jason kept his grip on me. He kept walking, and I kept pace with him. “It is over. Whatever you came here to do, it is finished. Surrender now and this ends without anyone else getting hurt.”
“I don’t think so. You have no control right now,” Jason responded.
“Maggie loved you,” I continued. “Whatever you told her, she believed every word of it. She risked everything she had built in this pack for you. Does none of that mean anything to you?”
“I do not love Maggie,” Jason snapped. “I loved you, but you didn’t love me.”
“I did at one time, but you cheated on our mate bond because you thought I was an omega. You never loved me Jason,” I argued.
“I told you I was tricked! And you still chose Nolan over me!” Jason retorted. “I have only ever loved you and you betrayed me!”
Jason’s delusion was not flattering. It was chilling because I was sure Jason was insane. He had everything he ever wanted, a child, but he couldn’t believe it.
Behind us, Nolan said, “You are outside our territory now, Jason. Release her.”
“No, she and I are going to die here together,” Jason said as he pulled me closer like crazy.
Then, Jason cried out in pain and his grip on my neck went slack. An arrow had caught him in the shoulder. He stumbled back and I stepped away from him.
Nolan reached me in seconds. His hands moved over my face and my arms checking for injury.
“I am fine,” I told him. “I am fine.”
Jason was on one knee on the road ahead of us. I pulled free of Nolan’s hands and moved toward him.
“Luna Talia!” Maggie’s voice came from behind me. She had followed us through the gate. “Please. Don’t kill him.”
I stopped.
Jason looked up at me and lunged. He had a dagger in his uninjured hand. I did not step back fast enough.
Maggie stepped in front of me to stop Jason. The dagger sank into her chest the next second. Maggie tell back into my arms and
I lowered her to the ground. Blood began pouring from the wound and she began to choke.
“Maggie, NOOO!” I said as I pressed both hands against the wound.
“You bastard!” Nolan snarled as he lunged for Jason.
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