Chapter 88
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Aiden looked delighted. He was smiling from ear to ear like a kid in a candy store. I tried to tell Jaxon with my eyes to leave but he was content with ignoring me and concentrating solely on Aiden. Aiden picked up his gun and a scream hooked in my throat when I thought he was going to point it at Jaxon but to my shock, he pointed it at my head.
“Unarm yourself,” he told Jaxon. “Do it now or I will blow her brains out and you know I’m not t joking.”
“I’m the one you have a problem with so leave her out of it. Let Freya go and we can discuss this together.”
“Do you think I’m st*pid?” Aiden scoffed as he took off the safety on the gun. “She is the only leverage I have over you. She is the only reason you haven’t killed me on the spot. Do you really think that I would be s*upid enough to give that up? You clearly don’t know me as well as you think you do, Jaxon. Unlike you, I don’t have a moral high ground. Unarm yourself,
now.
Jaxon gritted his teeth but I watched as he took out his gun from his back pocket and slid it onto the ground. Aiden stepped closer to me with the gun and I knew it was a clear threat. Jaxon leaned down and took out a knife from his boots. He proceeded to take out three more knives and he threw them all on the ground in front of him.
“Take a step back,” Aiden ordered and Jaxon did exactly as he asked. Aiden walked over while still keeping the gun trained at me. He used his feet to pull the weapons closer to him and away from Jaxon. “Now that we are all unarmed, we can discuss like civil individuals. How did you know where to find me?”
“I got back to the palace and went through the files: I noticed something in yours that I had never seen before and it was how you got monthly payments from my father before he died. It made no sense because my father could care less about his servants. I couldn’t find you so I called home to speak to Freya and I hear my children crying while they narrate what happened.”
Jaxon had been stoic but when he got to the last part, I saw a crack in his mask. I hated that the children had to see what happened and I could only imagine how terrified they must have been and sounded for it to affect Jaxon the way it did.
“That doesn’t explain how you knew where I was.”
“Does it matter?” Jaxon asked. “You have me right where you want me, I don’t see why you need the entire story. What do you want from me, Aiden? Do you want money? Take it. Do you want to be king? Go ahead. The goddess knows I would give anything to have a normal life with my family. If you wanted the throne then all you had to do was contest for it. I just want my mate.”
Aiden looked as shocked as I felt. I never expected that Jaxon would give up his throne for anyone- much less me. The throne was his inheritance from his father. It was his birth right t was just a woman. If he was lucky, he could live for centuries and find another mate. It made no sense that he would give up everything he had for me.
“You would give up the throne for her,” Aiden spat the words as if they were a curse. “You would give up your entire legacy for her. It shows how little you appreciate it and how little you deserve it. Your father would be disappointed.”
“Maybe, but my mother would not,” Jaxon was unfazed as he spoke. “I cannot be a good king without her. I cannot rule right unless she is by my side. There are more important things in life than ruling and I only wish you understood that.”
Aiden clenched his jaw tightly at the insult and he moved the gun from facing me to facing Jaxon. “I should kill you where you stand. She will die too so your act of bravery will be in vain!
“As long as you do not harm her.
The words coming out of Jaxon’s mouth were his but I still couldn’t believe it. If someone had told me that he said those words, I wouldn’t have believed them but I was hearing them personally. For a split second, I thought I was dreaming and imagining everything but it was clear that I wasn’t. Even Aiden looked confused on what to do with what he was hearing. He looked furious and I didn’t understand why. He should have been happy that Jaxon was giving him the throne, that was what he wanted so why did he look like he was losing?
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Chapter 88
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“You weren’t supposed to agree,” Aiden said more to himself than to us and for the first time, Jaxon’s eyes found mine. When Aiden realized, he let out a growl and threw the barrel that was close to him. “Focus on me! This isn’t about both of you, it is about me. You are supposed to choose the crown so she can see how much of an a*shole you are and leave you. You are supposed to lose everything.”
“Aiden,” I spoke as softly as possible making him turn to me. “You had to have known that he would never choose that. You know Jaxon better than anyone. You know what matters to him”
He nodded more to himself and he muttered a few words under his chest but I couldn’t hear them. Finally, he paused and looked me square in the eye. “You’re right, I do.”
He lifted the gun and I braced myself for the impact but the next thing I knew, Aiden was being pushed to the side and the bullet went into my shoulder. I let out a groan of pain and I watched as Jaxon tackled Aiden to the ground. In the midst of their scuffle, someone hit the foot of my chair and I it gave out under me. I fell on my injured shoulder and it took everything in me not to scream,
Luckily, I fell directly in front of Jaxon’s weapons and I shuffled until I was able to get a knife in my hands. I could hear them fighting and I could see their shadows but I couldn’t see them. I focused on cutting the ropes holding me down so I could help. It was hard being tied up but it was harder because my shoulder was throbbing. By the time I was able to get free, there was sweat lining my forehead and my arm felt heavy. I should have been healing but for some reason, I wasn’t.
I managed to get myself out of the ropes and I stumbled to my feet. The two were physically brawling and I saw that Aiden’s gun had been pushed to the side. I rushed to pick it up.
“Stop!” both men turned to me immediately. They had managed to get hits into one another but I had the gun, I had the upper hand and I was currently pointing it at Aiden. “I don’t want to hurt you but if you give me reason to then I will.”
Aiden scoffed. “Is the part where you offer me mercy? I always knew you shouldn’t be Queen. Let me lay it out for you in case you are forgetting anything. I helped your step mother kidnap your daughter, I helped your first mate get into this pack, I poisoned Jaxon so he would die in that battle, I was partly responsible for the loss of your child.”
“Stop it,” I already knew what he had done. I didn’t feed to hear it again. His words grated on my insides and it made my hands shake but Aiden didn’t seem to care.
“I sought out Violet and convinced her that revenge on you was a brilliant idea. I burned down the house that Kieran’s mother lived in. I burned the farmer’s crops, I got Violet the poison that she used in the women’s shelter. If I wasn’t in a hurry when I left your house, I would have marched up those stairs and shot both your children in the-”
There were two loud! bangs and Aiden crumpled to the floor. I glanced over at Jaxon and he had a gun in his hands but both of ours were smoking- we shot Aiden. I couldn’t stop myself from rushing over to his side. Both bullets had hit his chest and I expected him to start healing but he wasn’t.
“Why isn’t he healing?” I asked Jaxon but it was Aiden who responded.
“Anathis and silver laced bullets,” he managed out and my hands flew to my mouth. It explained why I wasn’t healing from the wound in my shoulder. “if you’re going to kill me then make it quick.”
“I never wanted to kill you,” I told him. “I trusted you but this is your fault.”
“Freya, we have to leave,” it was Jaxon who spoke. He hadn’t moved from his spot where he was standing and he kept his eyes away from Aiden. I knew the betrayal had cut him deep and I knew that he would never forgive Aiden for it. “We have to go,
now!”
I reluctamly pulled myself away from Aiden and towards Jaxon, Jaxon analyzed the blood in my shoulder and pulled off his shirt in one quick move. He scrunched it up and pressed it against my shoulder and once he was sure I was holding it securely, he let go.
“I instructed and I opened my mouth to complain but he cut me off. “Please
1 you to go outside and wait for me,” don’t argue with me on this.”
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Chapter 88
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It was the fact that he said please that had me nodding. I took a step back and walked out. Out of the corner of my eye as I left, I saw Jaxon make his way towards Aiden and crouch down by his side. A part of me wanted to know what he was saying but another part knew it was none of my business. It was between both of them and they deserved to have time to come to terms with what had happened.
1 was barely out for five minutes before the smell of gasoline filled my nostrils. Jaxon walked out of the warehouse and before I could say anything, he retrieved a lighter and he set the entire building on fire. I stumbled back, not from the fire but from the emotionless look on his face. There was no ounce of sadness or pity or regret and the last time I saw Jaxon look like that was when I left the first time about four years ago.
He turned to me and I braced myself for whatever he would say as he made his way over to me. His eyes zeroed in on my shoulder. “Can you hold that until we get to the hospital? The guards will be here soon.”
“Is he dead?” I asked instead and I saw a crack in his mask- it was hurt and raw pain. He stayed silent but I wasn’t willing to let it drop. “I want to know if he is alive in there.”
“He isn’t he assured me. “Now, do you want to go to the hospital and get checked out or do you want to go home and have a doctor brought to you?”
“Home.” I said without hesitation. After everything that happened, there was only one place I wanted to be. I needed to see the kids and assure them that I was fine.
Jaxon nodded and he hooked an arm around my waist as he led me to the car. He knew I could walk but I couldn’t help but wonder if the contact was more for his benefit than for mine. He helped me into his car and I allowed my head fall back into the seats. Jaxon got into the driver’s side but his hand hesitated over the ignition.
“Is it bad that I don’t hate him?” he asked and it took me a second to realize that he was talking to me. “If I had known who he was, I would have given it all to him. I knew my father was an a*shole but I didn’t know he was this terrible.”
“He was your friend and he was your brother in all the ways that mattered. I would be more surprised if you did hate him,” Jaxon sighed. “How did you know we would be here?”
This building used to be a warehouse for the palace. It was where Aiden’s mother worked before she was made to be my mother’s maid. It was where she met Aiden’s- our father. Aiden told me the story when we were teenagers. He said his mother told him how she met him here. I figured it was the only place that held enough attachment for him to take you.”
1 watched the orange flames in the distance and I momentarily let go of my shoulder to hold his hand. “Let’s go home. Jaxon.”
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