Chapter Thirteen | Damage

                   "Jaylin, what the hell were you thinking?!" Her voice rose until I could hear the vibrations of every word and syllable bouncing off the walls in a rhythmic pattern as it echoed relentlessly in this unnecessarily large room.

She paced around back and forth in front of me with one of her hands placed firmly at her waist and her other hand pinching the bridge of her perfectly structured nose. Her eyes were closed shut and she'd occasionally suck in ragged breaths in order to keep herself from blowing up any further, so far it was working but Moon Goddess only know how long it would last.

It probably didn't help that I watched her pace around and try to maintain her anger with the back of my head lying on the soft dark colored L-shaped couch in the most lax position ever which would do nothing but anger her further if she saw my current position. So before those deep brown eyes of hers could reopen and see me in my current uncaring stats, I sit up because I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I was here for almost two hours now.

Her eyes opened, she stopped moving, and she looked at me with a glare. "Do you have any idea how much damage was done and how expensive it'll be to fix because of you two?!"

"Mom..." I begin with a sigh as I look up at her. "The entire thing wasn't even my fault. I didn't cause all of that damage either!"

"Oh, so you think you played no part in anything that happened? Is that what you're trying to tell me Jaylin Wilson?" She began to tap her feet against the hard wood floor impatiently with her eyebrows arched in disbelief and her mauve stained lips pursed.

I sigh as I run a hand down my face and stand up. Now I'm looking down at the short woman who's expression hasn't faltered one bit. She looks up at me with her eyes still narrowed into slits like she wanted to dissolve me into the ground herself.

"When you think about it, you're yelling at the wrong person here. It's Xanders fault. He did all of the damage so why are you yelling at me?" I retort, shoving my hands defensively into the pockets of my black jogger shorts.

"That's a joke, right?" Kaylee snorted, butting into the conversation from her place on the loveseat that just a few feet away from where mom and I stood.

I look over at her and curse silently as I glare at her to shut the fuck up but the look in her eyes told me that she didn't intend to do that. I expected it though.

"Jay, love you bro but I literally tried to warn you while you were in your little heated speech about how much you hate being Xanders mate —"

"It was not a speech about how much I hate being Xanders mate. I was giving my fucking opinion on the book." I sharply interject with my eyes hardened.

"Right, you were totally only talking about the damn book and none of what you said had shit to do with Xander at all. My bad dude." The sarcasm was overflowing as it heavily oozed out of her mouth effortlessly and violently. I could only muster up the roll of my eyes. "Now if you're done shitting everyone and hiding behind Lucy and Max, what you really did is rant about how fake you think mate bonds are and how there's no way you could sincerely come to love Xander ever if not for the mate bond. Which fucking broke his heart, Jaylin!"

"Broke his heart?" I arch a brow. "Xander hardly cares! You think he actually gives a damn about the fact that we're mates? It's just the mate attraction, that's it. He would've never even looked at me that way if we weren't mated!"

Kaylee laughs exasperatedly as she stands up from her seat on the sofa and marches towards me until she's directly in front of me. I didn't know when but mom had sat down on the L-shaped couch that I was previously sitting down on with her back laying on the soft cushions, her hands covering her face as she drew in deep breaths.

Dad, who clearly didn't want to get involved as he's been silent this entire time, is sat beside her with his arms wrapped around her waist with his lips firmly pressed against the top of her head. Shifting my focus back onto an angry Kaylee who scowls up at me who has her fist balled up into fists, I watch as she raises one of those fists and punches me square in the face.

Shocked and completely caught off guard, I stumbled backwards with my eyes wide. Kaylee has never and I mean never actually hit me. Of course we had playful fights and we'd playfully punch each other in the arm, but actually punch me in the fucking face? Yeah, no. That shit never happened. So here I am shocked as hell with wide eyes, staring down at my fuming sister.

I slowly raise my hand and gingerly brush my fingers against my bottom lip where I felt the cool feeling of blood as it trickles down my chin. Unable to really process that I'm actually fucking bleeding right now, I raise my hand and take in the sight of blood on my fingers. Narrowing my eyes at Kaylee, I open my mouth to verbally retaliate. I would never lay my hands on my sister like that even though she did that shit to me. But I wasn't even able to get my words out before Kaylee was assaulting me again her sharp words that pierced me like a dagger as it buried itself deeply into my heart.

"You think that him literally destroying our classroom in a fit of rage is him hardly caring? You think that shit was him not giving a fucking damn, Jaylin?" She spat out the rhetoric questions that she didn't actually intend for me to answer.

In all honesty, if I answered them she'd probably break my nose. But truthfully, I wouldn't know how to answer it in general. Xander isn't the kind of person who does things like that. He doesn't go full Alpha rage and destroy things and I've never seen him so ballistic angry. Just recalling the way he effortlessly snapped those steel tables in half with his bare and bloody hands made me shiver as I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and shuddered as I closed my eyes and tried to bury down the urge I had to go to him.

The urge to actually...comfort him.

I remember everyone being scared shitless as their Alpha went on a rampage with those dark eyes of his illuminating so brightly, so threatening and dark with the warning and promise to send you in the hospital if you dared to approach him. That wasn't the Xander I knew. He didn't break things when he was angry, he didn't go crazy like that, he didn't do shit like destroy an entire classroom to the point of being unrecognizable.

That's something Gnashton would do, not Xander King.

The pang in my heart made me want to clench my chest because pain still overtook me when I remember the feelings that went rampant within me in that moment. The feeling of being fearful, surprised, unsure...but crazy enough, none of those feelings were any match for the feeling and ultimate desire for me to touch him.

I wanted to wrap my arms around him tightly and I didn't want to let go. I knew that behind all of that anger, all of that rage, and all of that aggression was my best friend who was hurt. And I'm the stupid ass asshole who hurt him. I was the selfish one who was only paying attention to how I felt  each and every time, I disregarded his feelings in favor of how I felt like a self centered dick. If the mate bond was never in place, he wouldn't have been hurt at all.

Fuck.

I sucked in a breath as I open my eyes to see Kaylees soft ones as her anger had seemingly dissipated while I was sucked into my own thoughts. Her eyes look saddened as she raises her hand and uses the back of her hand to wipe at the blood that was still flowing down my chin and probably made its way down my neck but I wasn't even able to pay attention to that. The only thing I could think about is how much I've hurt Xander, someone who's supposed to be my best friend.

"I'm sorry for punching you." She whispered the apology. Drawing her hands away, she sighs as she casts her eyes down to look at the light hardwood floors. "I just...I understand how hurt he must've been to hear you say all of that Jay. You and I both know that Xander doesn't do reckless shit like that, that's Gnashton —"

Oh, I know.

"— so to see him do that, I just felt for him. I've been in that kind of..." she trails off slowly then shakes her head, and abruptly looks up at me with a smile.

A smile that didn't reach her eyes and it pained me to watch my sister who was clearly harboring some kind of emotional pain that she didn't feel comfortable or ready to tell me about. The frown on my face told her that I knew she was keeping something from me but that only made her smile brighter.

I clenched my teeth and took my sisters hands into my own as I softly rubbed the pads of my thumb on the back of her hand but I didn't press her about it. I knew not to press her about it. That bright smile on her face dropped into a soft grin, a genuine grin that I welcomed and responded to with reassuring eyes and the arch of my lips into a half smile.

"I fucked up, I know that." I admit, the words painful to say as I hated conceding and I hated the fact that I was the one to cause my best friends hurt. Inhaling, I look away from Kaylee. "I'll fix it."

I didn't have to look at my sister to know that she was smiling. I didn't have to glance over at my parents to know that they were content. And I didn't have to hear anything from Jackson to know that he was delighted and pleased. I just hope that they didn't think that me saying, 'I'll fix it' meant that I'll accept him. That still won't happen but I'm desperate to repair what Xander and I used to have. I...miss that. A lot.

"But I still don't understand why I had to get chewed out for over two hours for destroying the classroom when I didn't do it." I grumbled, looking between Kaylee and my mom.

Kaylee rolled her eyes and threw my hands away from hers. She strolled over to the couch and sat by mom, laying her big ass head on her shoulder.

"It was indirectly your fault too, idiot." Kaylee said.

In response, I rolled my eyes.

"You really think you got your ears chewed off?" Dad questioned with his eyebrows raised. Cuddling up closer to mom, he smirks as he says, "stay silent for a moment."

So we did. Everyone kept quiet, with not a sound escape any of us as we remain still in this massive living room that was one out of the many that are in this 'house.' What I heard next made me jolt. I could actually feel the vibrations on the floor followed by the shaking of the walls and a distant but still thunderous sound. That kind of impact can only be made by one person. I shiver.

"That, Jaylin, is the sound of Killian King." Dad smiled to himself with amusement as he shakes his head. "If you got your ears chewed off, Xander's got his ripped clean off with no hesitation. Poor little fucker."

Mom elbows him for the last thing he said and I almost laughed at how dad acted like it was the most painful thing in the world but those abs of his were the equivalent to a steel vault so moms sharp elbows did nothing. Plus, she didn't put that much force.

"I hope Finnick is there too. If not, shit could get crazy." Kaylee muttered to herself.

Finnick King, Xander's other father who is Killians kryptonite, mate, and the only person who can calm down the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack that was infamous for his temper and violent nature when he was around Xander's age. If Finnick wasn't there, I can't imagine how bad things could get and not because Killian would assault his own son or attack him in any way. Things would get bad because Xander isn't one to keep his mouth closed.

He'd retaliate right back and with Alphas, they hated when their authority was being challenged. Two hot tempered Alphas were a formula for absolute disaster, the only way to defuse a situation like that would be to have their mates present or at least one of their mates present.

I gnawed on my bottom lip, the loud sounds drifting into my ear and the shaking of the floors and walls never ceasing and actually intensifying tremendously. It's okay. Finnick is probably there so things will die down soon, I know it will and the situation will be fine.

There is absolutely no need to worry about what's going on the opposite side of the pack house. Xander can handle his own, he's a big boy after all. Why am I even worrying about him? Actually, I'm not worrying about him at all. Nope, not at all.

My legs are just tapping against the floor because I randomly wanted to make a beat. My heart is thudding against my chest like I just ran one hundred miles in ten minutes because I have a heart condition that I clearly didn't know about until now. My hands are sweating like this because — oh, fuck it.

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Note: unedited.