ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Notes: Caleb's POV

* * *

-'All I can give you is memories, carry them with you & I'll never leave. . .'-

* * * *

It hurt.

     It hurt so much.

     In one moment, I was stepping out of my car after arriving at the Helland cottage, and in the next, I felt an unexpected blow right in my chest. The hit was so powerful that it had brought me down to my knees; the pain was unbearable and unlike anything I had ever felt before.

     I clutched at my chest as blood curdling yells sounded in my ears.

     Had they come out from my own mouth?

     "Caleb!"

     I could hear Chase's distorted voice calling my name repeatedly, but could barely see his face hovered over mine through my blurred vision.

     "What's wrong?" Kane's head moved in beside Chase's. "Caleb, can you hear us? Caleb! Caleb!"

     I moved my mouth to speak, or at least I thought I had. I couldn't say for sure. Not while my chest felt like it just had its heart ripped out from it.

     Something was wrong.

     Something had happened to Ava-Rain.

     "Ava-Rain. . ." I prayed to Luna that I had spoken the words out loud. They needed to get to her. They needed to save her before it was too late. "Find Ava-Rain. . .save her. . .save her."

     Whether it had been my eyes that closed or just my vision that had gone black, I couldn't say. Either way, I felt the chilling darkness as it closed in all around me, preparing to take me hostage. The sound of my betas calling my name was the last thing that I heard before the darkness latched onto me and dragged me away.

* * *

     She was beautiful.

     Standing in the familiar field of grass, bathed in the moonlight with the trees from the woods as her backdrop, Ava-Rain was beautiful.

     But my wolf and I both knew she was far from okay.

     Making use out of the fact that her back was turned towards me, I allowed myself to be captivated by the sight of her white dress against her skin, and the halo of moonlight that sat atop of her curls. However, I was only able to do so for mere seconds because seconds was all it took before Ava-Rain's back stiffened and she turned around to face me.

     Latching onto her brown eyes, my body floated across the grass as my mate reeled me in with her gaze. With every step that I took, I shed myself of the angst still clinging to my body since leaving the den. I erased the smug look on Jax's double-crossing face from my memory and replaced it with the sight of Ava-Rain's smiling face as she drew me towards her. And after pulling her into my chest once I reached her, my earlier fear of getting to her too late morphed into fear of letting her go.

     Because I was never going to let her go.

     Because if she was still here, that meant I still had time.

     "You came," she breathed out, her tone full of amazement and surprise. Pulling away slightly, she peered up at me; the smile on her face brightened as she tightened her hold around my waist.