Alpha Battle (5 page)

Always,

Eli

Jadelyn slowly got off her bed and made her way to her vanity by the window.  After moving the chair out of her way, she crawled underneath the vanity, and sure enough
, something was duct taped at the back of the vanity.  Over the years, the tape must have loosened because all it took was one hard pull for the tape to give way.  As she crawled out, she heard her father clearing his voice. 

“Jadelyn, what are you doing under there?”

“I read the first letter Eli sent to me and it led me to a present he left right before my thirteenth birthday,” she answered her father as she tore the tape off and opened the jewelry box.  Inside the box was a silver necklace with a starfish charm on it with engraving on the front and back of the starfish.  On the front in light green engraving were both of their initials
E & J,
turning it around, she saw
Best friends
with the infinity symbol underneath it.  She kept turning it in her hand, caressing it, staring at it as if it had all the answers to her questions.  She wanted to know why Eli didn’t come back eleven years ago when he turned eighteen.  Why would someone want to take the letters they had written each other?  Jadelyn thought if she could just get the necklace on, then some of the confusion, some of the chaotic emotions she was feeling, would calm inside her.   

“Dad, can you help put this on
.” 

Her father walked all the way into her room as she turned around and handed the necklace to him.  Baron hooked it onto his daughter’s neck and turned to leave.  He knew she would want her space while she thought things through and when she was ready, she would talk to him.  Eli and her mother were the only shifters she told everything to
. It took her longer to open up to everyone else around her, her father included.  Just as he was walking out, he turned back around.  “I will stay with Jake at the private hospital for two more days until it is time for the battle to start and then Ace’s father will take over for me so you guys won’t have to worry about his safety.  Just have fun and meet me at the battle an hour ahead of time.” 

She wanted to ask her father why Jake was at the private hospital but knew he would just tell her to ask Eli tomorrow. 

She nodded her head and then her father closed the door.  Jadelyn walked to her bathroom to get ready for bed.  After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she walked back into her bedroom, preparing herself to read the rest of Eli’s letters, when she noticed Ace was now sitting at her vanity while Chelsea was sitting on her bed.

“So what happened when Eli came over?” Chelsea asked as Jadelyn put her dress in the
dry-cleaning basket.

Jadelyn climbed onto her bed next to Chelsea as she told them everything that happened when Eli stopped by
earlier.

“Can I read the rest of the letters with you?  I want to see what they say,” asked Chelsea. 

Ace rolled his eyes as he stood up.  “I am going to be in our room while you two do that girly stuff.” 
I can’t wait until Eli moves in,
Ace thought as he walked out of Jadelyn’s room and down the hall into his and Chelsea’s room.  They moved into the Alpha’s house right after Jadelyn started receiving the gruesome pictures and threats, so they could be there with her in case someone decided to take the threats further.  When they won the Beta Battle, without their second mate, they would move into the Beta house, and learn from his fathers and mother until it was time for them to take over.

When Ace closed her door, Jadelyn turned to Chelsea before they started to read the letters.  “I am sorry for running off and not talking to you when I
realized Eli was my mate.”

“It’s okay.  I know you like to bottle things up inside until you are ready to let them
out, and I know how you like your space.  I wasn’t worried.  I knew you would come to me when you were ready to talk.  Believe me, I have learned over the years not to force anything out of you until you are ready,” Chelsea said sincerely as she looked back at Jadelyn.

“It is
not
okay.  I should have been able to let all my frustration out in front of you guys.  My problem is I have been trying to hold everything I feel back so others wouldn’t think I was weak because of my latency.  So instead of telling Eli how I felt or letting you comfort me, I ran away.”

“You have been through a lot over the
years.  It's okay, but know that we are your friends, and you do not have to hide anything from us.  So how do you feel about all of this?”

“I don’t
know, since the only reason I was mad at Eli was because I thought he wasn’t writing me back.  I'm confused right now,” Jadelyn said as she let out a frustrated breath and rolled her eyes.

“I think reading the letters
will help you understand Eli now and wipe away some of the confusion.  You still will have questions, as Eli will as well, but you two can discuss it tomorrow.”

Jadelyn and Chels lay on Jadelyn’s bed as they read Eli’s letters from the past decade. 

“Chelsea, I read the letters from the first few years he was away, and it seems as though Ella turned on him as soon as they got off the Isle.  Do you think she could be behind all of this?”

“She could be, you never know.  You should tell Eli what you think tomorrow.  In the
letters I have here he is starting to get frustrated from you not responding so he threw himself into different activities trying to get over the hurt.”

“Why do I have the feeling someone was trying to either mess up our lives or keep us
apart, and Ella is involved?” Jadelyn asked Chelsea as she picked up more letters.

“I don’t know, but I am starting to think the same thing,” Chelsea said as she started to skim over the last few letters.

They both began to notice when Eli became frustrated from Jadelyn not responding to his letters.  Three hours later, they passed out on Jadelyn’s bed with letters all over the place.  Jadelyn fell asleep with many questions running through her mind. 

***

Baron made his way to the secured hospital to visit Jake after fastening the necklace on Jadelyn’s neck.  The necklace had triggered the past in his mind.  His heart was heavy just thinking about what happened over the last seventeen years.  Not only did he lose his mate from the accident, but he also lost his best friends in the span of two days.  Not only were Jake, Eli’s mother, Kasey, and Ella his best friends, they were also his First Betas.  When Jake and Ella left, Baron had to pull Ace's parents up from Second Beta to First Beta and pull Chelsea's parents from Head Enforcers to Second Beta.  Baron couldn’t remember doing so since he was wallowing in grieve for the first two years after his mate's death.  Until he really looked at Jadelyn one day and realized not only had she lost her mother, but him as well.  He wasn’t being the father his mate, Lynn, would like him to be, so he shaped up for Jadelyn.  Hell, he wasn’t being the father even he felt he should be.

He ran his hands through his hair when his anger took over him as he thou
ght about everything this Isle put Jadelyn through when they learned she was latent.  They forgot about the nice, tough girl who faced danger, even as a kid, to help others out.  Baron couldn’t believe how the Isle turned their backs on Jadelyn, especially after his grandfather had saved some of their parents and grandparents.  As a Father, he wanted to rip apart the whole Isle to protect Jadelyn, but as the Alpha, he had to remain neutral.  It didn’t mean he liked it, just something he had to do, but he made sure Jadelyn was protected from them at all times.  Some of the fear he had for Jadelyn had washed away when Eli stepped back on the Isle.  Baron knew Eli would protect Jadelyn, as he would, with everything he had.

He smiled as he thought about the carefree younger Jadelyn, who did whatever she wanted no matter what others thought.  She stood up for what she believed in, even if she was the only one who believed it. 
Like the time half of the Isle thought Eli’s grandmother was manipulating her visions into the outcomes she wanted them to be.  At just fourteen, Jadelyn went in search of someone who could prove Eli’s grandmother was giving everyone the correct vision he or she were to receive and live by.  Jadelyn went to the cat shifters of the Isle and found a cat with the power of truth.  Who proved Eli’s grandmother was relaying her visions to them just the way she saw them in her mind.  Jadelyn was the type to fight for everything she believed in, even as a child, and he wanted the true Jadelyn back.  The Jadelyn, who believed in herself no matter what others said about her.  In his heart, Baron knew Eli would be the shifter to bring the real Jadelyn back, not the shell of a shifter she was now, or maybe it was just a father’s wishful thinking.

Baron wondered where Ella was as he stepped out of the car in front of the secured hospital.  He had left word with her parents about Jake's change in hospita
ls.  It wasn’t like Ella not to be concerned with what was going on with her mate.  Baron made a note in his head to check on her as he stepped into the elevator.

Jake was happy to finally be back home where he belonged.  He shouldn’t have let Ella talk him into moving away from his home, family and friends.  Jake was grieving at the time so it made it easier for
Ella to talk him into anything back then he realized, as he thought back seventeen years ago.  He also realized he never saw Ella grieving the death of Kasey, as he and Eli were.  At first, he thought maybe she was grieving in private, but as the poison wore off, he realized that wasn’t true either.  It was as if Ella was a totally different person after Kasey’s death, and he didn’t like nor understand the person she had turned into.

She gave him an ultimatum the first time he suggested they go back home to
the Isle of Paradise, only two weeks after being in the human world.  Ella would tell him it was either they stay in the human world together or he and Eli go back to the Isle of Paradise alone.  He couldn’t lose Ella so soon after losing Kasey.  Jake already felt as though his heart was ripped out of his chest after Kasey’s death and didn’t want to feel it if he left Ella.

Jake could hear footsteps approaching his room and listened closely to them. 
He could tell it was Baron coming back by the way the shoes hit the floor and the sound of his keys jingling.  Jake smiled, his friend hadn’t changed much over the years, but he was worried about Jadelyn.  Jake wanted out of the hospital as quick as possible in order to help protect Jadelyn.  If Baron hadn’t told him he would do more harm than good, as sick as he was, he would be at the Alpha house now.

“What is with the smile on your face, Baron?” Jake asked.

“Oh nothing, just our kids have finally discovered they were mates,” Baron said.

“What?” Jake asked.  He knew they were best friends but not mates.
“Wow, that explains a lot, Baron, doesn’t it?”

“No, their wolves would only have figured out they were mates when they turned fourteen.  They wouldn’t have figured it out until their sixteenth birthday, when the
dreams of their mate’s scent surfaced, so it was just a true friendship connection all those years,” Baron answered.

“Speaking of my boy, how is he and where is he at?” Jake asked with concern.  Eli had never been out of his sight for this long.  Well, only when he spent the night at the Alpha’s house.

“
He’s in a tent sleeping under Jadelyn’s window.  Ace told him about the time someone tried to sneak into her room while she was in there,” Baron replied.

“I should have known.  Remember the time when they were ten, and he slept under her window since she was mad at him?” Jake asked.

“Yes, he spent half the night throwing rocks at her window trying to explain why he wanted her birthday present to be a surprise, especially since it was a week later,” Baron said with a smile on his face. 

Jadelyn had argued her valid points as to why Eli should give her her birthday surprise early.  The points were so good Baron was tempted to give Jadelyn her surprises from
him
early until Eli argued his valid points and told her no.  Jadelyn ran up the stairs and locked everyone out. She was never a patient person.  Later on, Eli had argued his points as to why he should be permitted to pitch a tent below her window to Baron and his parents.  They agreed as long as he took an Enforcer with him.

“We have some smart kids.  I just wish Jadelyn would get her spunk back,” Baron said as the memory washed away.

“She will, you know.  They have always brought out the best in each other, just give her some more time.  I think Jadelyn has to prove or see something for herself in order to believe she is the same person she always was.  My mother wrote me a few years ago when Jadelyn went out to prove everyone wrong about her.  Remind me to thank Jadelyn when I get out of this place,” Jake said.

“I will, but you know she doesn’t like anyone thanking her for something she feels as though everyone should have done,” Baron said as he thought about his selfless daughter.

Something has been bothering Jake since he learned Jadelyn was latent, and he had to let Baron know.  “Baron, I have been thinking we have to go hunting for some truths when I am finally released out of the hospital.  Jadelyn shouldn’t be latent, since both of her parents have Alpha blood.  There has never been an Alpha in all our history to produce a latent, especially from two Alpha parents.  I could see it happening if Lynn had Beta or Enforcer blood running through her, but it shouldn’t have happened since she didn’t.  We have to dig and see what we can discover so we can document this for history because when a wolf pup is first born, they are born in their wolf form, whether they are latent or not.