Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 72

Jonathan and Jess were already in their wolf forms when Rock and Melissa showed up. Upon arriving, they too transitioned into their wolf forms.

The silence grew loud, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Jonathan knew they planned to get rid of Jess; that was something he wasn’t going to allow happen. As far as Rock knew, Arina was inside with Emee and attempting to keep her safe. But what he didn’t know was that Arina and Emee were safe in Onyxfang and out of harm’s way.

Rock looked startled to see Jonathan and Jess waiting for him. It didn’t take him long to realize what was happening.

“The cufflink…” Rock hissed; Melissa gasped and looked over at Jonathan.

Sure enough, she saw a little silver cufflink hooked to Jonathan’s fur.

“We know why you’re here, Rock,” Jonathan hissed back.

“Is that so?” Rock teased, with sarcasm oozing from his tone. “So, I guess you wouldn’t mind if we finished this once and for all?”

Rock revealed his strong and sharp teeth; Melissa followed pursuit, targeting Jess.

Soon, they were all going head-to-head with one another. Rock went for Jonathan’s throat, but Jonathan was too fast for him, and he missed only by a hair; Jonathan ended up with the upper hand and bit into Rock’s shoulder blade hard. Rock tumbled to the ground but not before scratching his way through the flesh of Jonathan’s face and sinking his teeth deep into his calve.

Jonathan fell on top of Rock and scratched his chest, taking out layers of dark fur within his claws and digging through his flesh.

Meanwhile, Jess had clawed her way through Melissa’s features, leaving scarring tissue across Melissa’s eye. Melissa screamed out as she sunk her teeth into the side of Jess’s body, making Jess fall to the ground in agony.

“You will give us the child!” Melissa hissed to Jess.

“Over my dead body,” Jess growled in return.

“That can be arranged,” Melissa chuckled as she sunk her teeth into Jess’s shoulder blade.

Melissa proved to be much stronger than Jess; Jess wasn’t much of a fighter. She never needed to fight for something physically before. But she felt responsible for most of the events that have taken place and she felt as though she was the reason everyone she loved was in danger. She felt she needed to right a wrong. So, if she needed to die to fix things, then so be it.

“Jonathan?” A voice went through Jonathan’s mind through the wolf’s link.

It was Erick’s.

He couldn’t have picked a worse time.

“Kind of busy,” Jonathan responded through the link.

“Arina’s gone,” Erick said quickly in a panic.

“What?!” Jonathan hissed as he bit Rock in the leg.

“I was getting firewood to build a fire. I came back and Arina and Ronnie were both gone!”

“And Emee?” Jonathan asked, panic struck him.

“She’s fine. She’s with Jessica,” Erick told him; his voice sounded strained. “But Arina and Ronnie aren’t here. Jessica told me she was headed to you. They wanted to help.”

“F**k!!!” Jonathan yelled out loud, startling Rock who lost his guard, giving Jonathan the upper hand to almost snap his neck.

But he was stopped by a view in the corner of his eye; Nikini and Boris were there.

The fighting seemed to cease as the Conway’s made their way over to them.

“I see we are late to the party,” Nikini said, staring amongst the group. “What did I miss?”

“He has the cufflink,” Rock hissed between gasps of air.

Nikini’s eyes found Jonathan’s and then fell to the cufflink around his wrist; she frowned.

“It appears he does,” she said in a breath.

Boris looked almost confused; he stood beside his wife protectively staring around at all the angry faces. Jonathan wasn’t sure how much Boris knew about the situation. He was supposed to be the country’s number one and first detective; sworn to protect wolves from danger. But if he was working with Nikini and Rock to take Emee and sell her to a third-world country, he couldn’t really be that good of a detective.

It was infuriating to Jonathan because of how much the country has come to trust Boris. But he was nothing but a double-crossing, dirty detective.

Nikini turned to Rock, her frown deepening.

“What exactly were you planning on doing, Rock?” She asked, her tone filled with disgust. “Walk in, kill them, and then steal the kid?”

She laughed, but the laugh didn’t meet her eyes.

“We were trying to get her out of the way,” Rock mumbled as he motioned for Jess.

Nikini’s eyes met Jess’s and a small gasp left her lips; she stared amongst Jess silently for a moment. Jess said nothing as well. It was awkward seeing someone who thought was your friend and ended up betraying you. Nikini and Jess haven’t spoken since they met as children and Nikini was just how Jess had remembered.

She had sleek black hair that wrapped around her waistline and the same side bangs that covered one of her eyes. She was just as beautiful and mysterious as Jess remembered, maybe even more so.

Jess knew that Nikini had gone off to marry some rich wolf in Silverside. She didn’t know who the rich wolf was until Arina mentioned going to see them and doing a photo shoot. Arina had mentioned that Boris had an affair with Emlin; which Jess had no idea was a thing. Emlin had never mentioned Boris and she definitely didn’t think Boris was Emlin’s type.

It kind of bummed her out that she didn’t know any of that information and it bummed her out even more that Emlin would help Boris cheat on his luna. Nikini might not be the nicest wolf and probably not the nicest luna, but that didn’t mean she deserved to be cheated on by the one she married.

Jess wished that things could have been better between the two of them, but alas there they were. Standing only a few feet apart; face to face.

“It’s been a long time,” Nikini said, staring at Jess with an unreadable expression.

“It has been,” Jess responded, also trying to keep her face expressionless.

“How’s your mother?” Nikini asked.

It was a weird time to be making small talk.

“Dead,” Jess answered.

Nikini frowned, there was a flash of something that Jess wasn’t expecting. Sadness.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “I lost my mother too. I know it’s not easy.”

“Enough of this!!” Rock shouted, but his words were cut short by the sharp gaze of Nikini.

“I am speaking to an old friend,” she told him firmly.

Jess scoffed at those words.

“We were never friends, Nikini,” Jess shot to her. “You betrayed us.”

Nikini’s eyes widened.

“I tried to help you!” She hissed back.

“By sending the guards after us?” Jess asked, raising her tone.

“My mother sent those guards. I tried to stop her. I wanted to ask her if you and your mother could reside in our town, despite how rude your mother was to me…” Nikini argued.

Jess’s lips turned into a thin line as she stared around Nikini’s face.

“You expect me to believe that?” Jess asked in disbelief.

“I was a kid, Jess. Just like you were. Your mother hated me because she could smell my bloodline. I didn’t even know who Benjamin Davis was until I researched more about it. I was adopted when I was 3 years old. I didn’t know my birth parents and I guess that’s because they gave me up. They were disgraced that I was born female and wanted nothing to do with me. They sent me to live in an orphanage and I was adopted by a rich family that only wanted me as a publicity stunt. I was never loved. I didn’t have friends. I wasn’t allowed to have a life,” she paused so she could take a breath.

The silence was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Even Jonathan was afraid to make a sound. Jess’s mouth hung open in astonishment.

“I saw you and thought maybe you could be my friend. The new mysterious girl shows up out of nowhere. I thought you were cool and wanted to get to know you more. But your mother made it clear that it wasn’t possible. That I was an enemy and I had no idea why. I didn’t know what I did wrong in those few moments of talking to you. She mentioned something about being a Davis. So, I went home and I asked my mother what the Davis bloodline was. I also told her about meeting you and your mom and wanting you to reside in the town. But before I could get those words out…” her voice trailed off.

“She sent the guards…” Jess finished the sentence for her in a whisper.

Nikini nodded.

“I tried to stop her,” Nikini explained. “I never wanted to hurt you…”

Tears began forming in Jess’s eyes as she thought of her mother and how awful she was right off the bat to Nikini. They were both so young and neither of them knew about the Davis bloodline; it was wrong for Jess to assume that Nikini knew more about it than she did.

“That’s the real reason we are here. So, I can say that to you and tell you that I’m sorry,” Nikini told her.

“I’m sorry, what?!” Rock growled, inching closer to Nikini; Boris stepped in front of her to block her from Rock.

“Oh, Rock,” Nikini said, her voice silky as she addressed him. “You didn’t honestly think we were going to help you kidnap the baby, did you?”

“You said…!!!” Rock’s voice boomed but was cut short when Boris’ fist went straight through his jaw; the contact made everyone, including Melissa, flinch.

“I would never help a lowlife piece of garbage like yourself,” Nikini spat.

Without warning, Melissa sprung to her feet and began charging toward Nikini; the hatred and anger on her face were unmistakable. Before she reached Nikini and Boris a voice roared through the group and stopped Melissa in her tracks.

“Mom!! Stop!!!”

Ronnie.

Followed by a very frazzled and confused, Arina.