They were back at the mansion and had constructed a plan on the way. The danger was still not altogether eliminated, not all enemies had been neutralized and they were those on the inside still aiming to break Jax and Lola apart.
Jax and Ash walked into the mansion with Lola keeping her distance behind them. She turned away from them and hid where they wouldn't see her until it was time.
Jax had called for a meeting on the way and told his parents and Lavina to meet him in the study. Nobody had suspected a thing, they were all just glad to hear that he was alright and their Alpha and son were returning home.
The Blackwood boys entered the office and let the door fall to a near close.
"It is so good to see you again, darling," Mrs. Blackwood gleamed.
Lavina ran up and wrapped her arms around him. The wide smile on her face and the wrinkles on her eyes deepened as relief washed over her.
"I was so worried I almost went after you myself but Lola insisted she had it covered," she said.
They pulled back and Jax put a lock of her hair behind her ear. He caressed her cheek and gazed lovingly into her glimmering eyes. He tried to see if the relief he saw in her was a show like everything else or if it was genuine.
"Speaking of which, where is Lola?" Mr. Blackwood asked with pinched brows and a strong stance with his arms crossed over his chest.
Jax stepped back, he looked adoringly at Lavina and then turned with a narrowed scowl to his parents.
"She gave herself over to Lucien to save my life,"
Lavina gasped av put her hand over her chest.
"It's odd but I...I don't feel sad about losing her. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel but I don't think it's this," he said and turned his head.
Ash stood like a soldier beside him. A mask plastered on his face and bit back a laugh when he saw the frustration on Mrs. Blackwood's face, realizing she couldn't read him
"Son, maybe she wasn't your mate." Mrs. Blackwood mused.
"Maybe now you get to choose your love. Maybe now you can do it the right way and fix my mistake of having you marry the wrong girl. You can give the pack a good Luna," she continued.
The door opened up and Nash poked his head inside.
Lavina welcomed him and brought him into the center of the office.
"Why are you here?" She asked with an eery calm.
"The Alpha called for me." He explained warily. They all turned to Jax.
"I've been having these strange dreams. Memories of things I don't remember. Lola for example, being with her and loving her,"
Lavina clenched her jaw and coiled her fingers into fists.
"Son, she is gone. You need to forget about the girl. She was nothing more than a tumor in this family, slowly killing all that we've built and we are lucky to be rid of her. All she did was bring shame over us all," Mrs. Blackwood cursed.
Ash bit back a growl and fought to hold himself down.
"Perhaps you're right," Jax said and looked at his mother. "But that doesn't explain the vision of you and Lavina talking before her mate died, or the fact that I met him the other day." He said and turned to Lavina.
Lavina gulped and her eyes grew to twice the size.
"You said he was dead," Jax said and looked at her.
"He is... of course, why would I lie about that? Nash, I think maybe-" Lavina began but was cut off but Jax's touch against the side of her neck.
"I'm not doubting you. We've had something ever since you came back, I can't deny it anymore. I just keep seeing these visions of you with Ash and my mother but mostly with you," he said and looked at Nash.
Nash rolled back his shoulders, he lifted his head and his eyes sparkled under the light.
Ever since they were children they needed only to look at each other to know exactly what the other was thinking.
Their own secret language if you will. A soul bond between brothers, the same one that Jax also shared with his cousin. Only those that you truly know and trust. Where you know that the love is pure and honest.
Therefore the pain of betrayal was tenfold as the two people he'd trusted since childhood turned on him, stabbed him in the back, and twisted the knives.
"I don't understand what you're getting at," Lavina said and cupped his cheek. "You're in shock, you need to lay down and take it easy for a few days. You need to mourn your loss and when you're ready, I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere," she promised and stroked the side of his face.
Nash gulped. Jax cupped her cheek, he scanned her moving muscles before glaring back at Nash who gulped.
Nash drew a deep breath and lifted his head.
"Yes." He said. One word. A confession.
"Yes you are, Lavina, you're going somewhere where you and I will never meet. You're going on a trip down south where I hope they will treat you just as you deserve," his grip around her neck tightened and he extended his claws. They dug into her neck, blood ran down her chest in a stream from the different puncture marks and her eyes were wide in disbelief.
"Where you will never love, never have what you had. What you tossed away for a fantasy with a man who never wanted you. I never wanted you, Lavina. I never loved you." He continued as the life drew from her eyes.
Mrs. Blackwood fell back against the desk.
"What in the world have you done, my son." She said under her breath.
He retracted his claws and was handed a napkin by Ash with which he wiped his hand clean of Lavina's blood and her lifeless body fell on the carpet.
"Did you think I would never find out? That I would live oblivious for the rest of my life as your puppet, with a woman I don't love?" He asked calmly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said.
The door opened again and Lola stepped inside.
Mrs. Blackwood snarled upon seeing her daughter-in-law and frowned as she walked up next to Jax.
"You were the biggest mistake of my life." Mrs. Blackwood snarled, her words laced with poison.
"I believe you," Lola said and held her head high. She did not let it show on her face what she felt, having learned that it gets you nowhere to show remorse, fear, or anger.
The Alpha warriors stepped inside in uniform.
"You will either go willingly or by force," Jax ordered.
His parents scoffed in disbelief.
"You can not be serious, we are your parents. The former leaders of this pack. We are not going to rot in some dungeon!" She spat.
"You tried to take my wife from me. The woman I love, my mate, the future mother of my children. You took away the memories of my most cherished person, the woman I promised to protect, whose love I swore I would earn and protect and you turned my heart against her. For that, you will pay with either your freedom or your life." He said, his wolf and him speaking as one.
They all turned their heads when Lola stepped closer.
"You're also the reason why five pack members lost their lives. They never wanted to hurt me, did they," She said and turned to Nash.
His cheeks flushed and his face fell as his dull eyes looked back at them. "No," he whispered.
Jax hung his head. When he looked back up, his eyes were black, all the anger aimed at his parents and he felt not a single twinge of regret or shame over what he did.
Mrs. Blackwood pulled out a small knife from the halter under her blouse and held it against Nash's throat. She pressed the blade against his skin and pulled blood.
"This is your fault you disloyal little-"
Nash held out his hand and shook his head at her.
"No, Mrs. Blackwood, I just finally made right on my loyalty." He said.
She clawed at her throat when her air pipe was being crushed by Nash's magic.
Mrs. Blackwood staggered backwards towards her husband who reached out his hand into her chest from her back and leaned his head on hers
"I'm so sorry my love but I can not let you go on with this any longer." He pulled his hand out and held her heart in the palm of his hand.
He grabbed her body, following her down on the floor, never letting go of the heart he held dearest. Her eyes were open, her lips parted in a desperate attempt for a breath and her heart was in the hand of her husband.
"I'm so sorry...I'm...I'm sorry my love," he pressed a kiss to her forehead and laid her heart next to her body.
When he stood, Jax saw how a once great man had fallen from a far-up height.
He didn't recognize him anymore, the eyes which had always brought a sense of comfort now only held pain, he was the shell of the great man he once was.
"That O'hare boy, your mother was responsible for his death. She was the one who stuck the vampire on him, Ed I believe his name is. Said he wasn't part of the plan, collateral damage she called it," he dragged a hand over his face and walked with the warriors. He didn't spare his son a single glance, knowing the sheer disappointment he'd see on Jax's face or worse...the nothing in his eyes towards the man who had raised him.
"He was a boy," he muttered under his breath as he was taken to the cellar. "He was just a boy," they heard from down the hall as he disappeared out of sight.
The door closed and they stood alone, Ash, Jax, and Lola. His mother's eyes were open, staring at the ceiling and despite all of the bad she had done, she was still his mother.
She still protected him with her life and kept him safe even when he was strong enough to do it himself. But he knew that his father had made the right call, Margret Blackwood could never hurt another soul again.
The two bodies were carried out to be prepared for burial and though they were exhausted and in desperate need of a good night's sleep, they knew they had one more thing they needed to do.
They hurried over to Melissa's house and barged in to find her having dinner with her parents. Mr and Mrs. Clifton raised a brow and looked at the exhausted people in their kitchen. They were covered in dirt, and dried blood and hadn't slept for what felt like days but they needed to make sure that Ed was gone.
"Where is Ed?" Lola asked.
Melissa pouted and furrowed her brows.
"He left again, this time he just wrote me this note." She said and slid it over the table.
'Dearest Melissa, I'm sorry to do this to you again but something came up that needs my attention. But don't worry, you and I will meet again. I'll make sure of it and when we do, it will be a forever thing'
Lola chuckled and held the note close to her chest.
"Do you wanna have a movie night at the mansion? I could use the company." She said smilingly.
"She really looks like she could, and maybe a shower." Mrs. Clifton mused.
Melissa nodded, grabbed her bag, and said goodbye to her parents.
They got in the car and doors slammed shut.
Melissa put the seatbelt on and her face twisted into a serious grimace.
"I know this isn't about movie night, what's going on?" She said.
Lola swallowed the lump in her throat and hated herself for what she had to say.
"Ed's a vampire, he's been keeping an eye on you for leverage in case I didn't do what they said. I'm so sorry but you can never see him again," She said and grabbed Melissa's hands.
Jax and Ash rode in the front so the girls spread out in the back and sat facing each other.
"Seriously? My first boyfriend and he never even liked me?" she asked.
"We don't know that he didn't. He might've but he's also a vampire who will drink your blood or turn you or worse. If you ever see him again you have to promise to call me or one of the guys," Lola pleaded.
"I promise. But I never want to see him again," she spat.
"If all goes to plan, you won't have to," Jax said, looking back at her through the rearview mirror.
"I will take you up on that move night though," Melissa pouted.
They leaned their heads against each other and enjoyed the peace as they rode to the mansion. Lola envisioned the shower she was about to take and how she would spend the entire day tomorrow in bed. She thought about how she and Jax would talk and plan their future. A future that was finally theirs.
They watched each other through the rearview mirror. Their eyes locked in a deep gaze that spoke volumes of the love they shared, the love that Jax could finally remember. The love that Lola never forgot, no matter what.
The End