Page 19 of Kidnapped By the Alpha

My arms dropped to my sides, releasing the woman, and I stepped away from her. “Go,” I choked out.

She jumped into her car as quickly as she could and threw the van into reverse. The tires screeched as she peeled out of the parking space.

My tears mixed with the water on my dirty rag as I scoured the floor.

The tears that now streamed down my face were being wiped away by tender hands.

“April?” I asked, unsure of where I was.

“I’m right here,” she assured me kindly. “Get in the car. I’ll drive, alright?”

I nodded in assent, trying to piece together the last few moments in my mind. I remembered the woman and the girl, but it was like my mind had traveled back in time.

No one but Killian had ever been able to pull me out of a flashback before today. In fact, even my best friend had struggled to do what my mate had just done. My flashbacks from childhood usually left me incapacitated or sent me on a rampage, but April had used compassion and strength to bring me back from the brink in a way that I didn’t think was possible.

I glanced over at her as she drove slowly out of the parking lot and began the short drive toward home. There was something about this woman that made her different. As soon as my mind fully recovered, I vowed to find out exactly what that was.

Chapter 10 - April

The drive back to the cabin was completely silent as both Jasper and I processed the events from our outing. I’d been shocked by how quickly he had sprung into violence and unsure of how to proceed. The last thing I wanted to do was provoke another attack, but if I was going to live with this man, I needed to know more about him.

Our silence continued until we entered the cabin. Jasper sat down on his bed without removing his shoes and covered his face with his hands.

Tentatively, I sat beside him, hoping that my presence would continue to be as calming on him as when I’d interrupted his episode in the parking lot.

“Jasper,” I began quietly, “can we talk about what just happened?”

He sighed deeply without moving his hands from his face. “I’d really rather not,” he said.

I placed a hand on his knee, trying to bring him into the present moment with me. “You surprised me today,” I admitted. “I know that the Dark Moon Pack values strength, but I’ve never seen you rush to the defense of someone who was being hurt the way you did with that girl. Was that the first time you’ve done something like that?”

Jasper let out another deep sigh, this time removing his hands from his face. He folded his hands and placed them on his lap but didn’t respond. I didn’t want to push him too hard, so I decided to wait as long as it took for him to answer my question.

My patience was rewarded when, after a few minutes, he spoke. “No, that wasn’t the first time.”

I had assumed as much, but I was glad he seemed to finally be engaging with the conversation.

“The children who live here aren’t orphans, are they? You took them away from their abusers.” It wasn’t a question, because after witnessing his reaction to seeing a child being hit, there was no doubt in my mind now.

“Yes,” he said tersely.

“Why?” I asked. “You seem like you have other priorities as alpha, like gaining territory and wolves to your side. Why do you care so much about kids you don’t know? Kids who aren’t even part of the pack?”

“I really don’t want to talk about this, April,” he answered. He stood up from the bed and moved to the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water from the sink.

“Jasper, please,” I said, standing to join him. “I need to know what’s going on here.”

“’What’s going on here?’” he repeated back to me, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “What’s going on here is that the world is full of terrible people—women—who use and abuse anyone they can get their hands on if it serves their purposes. I’ve seen it time and time again, and every once in a while, I can’t help myself. I have to do something about it. Or do you think I should have just left those kids to be abused?”

His question was an attack, and I got the impression that he genuinely thought I was on the side of the woman in the van.

“Of course not,” I said. “I’m not a monster. I only want to understand why you wanted to kill her in the middle of a parking lot instead of, I don’t know, calling the police or asking the girl if she needed help.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Jasper said, waving his hand in dismissal.

“Help me understand,” I said earnestly. “What happened back there?”

“Fine.” He slammed his glass down on the table, water spilling over the side. His eyes burned with anger as he paced back and forth along the length of the wall. “You want to hear about how that woman reminded me of my mother, and how I wanted to kill her because of it?”

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