The Alpha's Retribution

Chapter 6: Water

JAXOM'S POV

“Easy, Shandiin (sunbeam). I’m here. I’m right here,” Donovan murmured, lifting his daughter up so her head rested on his lap. Beside him, Trinity’s aunt knelt on the floor, holding the girl’s trembling hand as she whispered a prayer with closed eyes.

It was a far cry from the erotic scene of my nightmare. Trinity was falling in and out of consciousness, hallucinating whenever she woke. In her hazy mind, Warren was lurking in every dark corner, hiding behind the concerned faces of her loved ones. The extent of my mate’s fear tore me open.

Her labored breath was like a death knell, and the lovely brown of her skin had faded to a pallid gray. It was gut-wrenching to watch, and my every instinct told me to go to her, to hold her, to save her. Denying those impulses was causing me nothing short of physical pain.

As much as I longed to gather Trinity against the safety of my chest, I couldn’t risk jeopardizing my tenuous understanding with the Ahtones. Their support would be needed if I held any hope of keeping Trinity by my side.

Eisen had spent the last half hour briefing the community elders on what to expect during a blood offering. The act itself was simple, and the healing process was usually swift. Even so, the Ahtone family was far from enthusiastic about what lay ahead. I couldn’t say that I blamed them. Blood sharing was intimate, even among werewolf kind.

“Jaxom, she’s ready for you.” My brother was at my side, his pale eyes regarding me warily. I knew why. He didn’t think I could complete the transfer without shifting. I wasn’t so sure about that myself.

Clenching my jaw, I gave him a stiff nod and knelt at Trinity’s bedside. My eyes snapped to Donovan, but his gaze was focused solely on his daughter. I’d find no support from him. As soon as Trinity was healed, he would want me gone.

To my surprise, a hand came to rest lightly on my shoulder. Turning my head, I saw that it belonged to Trinity’s aunt, her eyes still closed as her lips moved in silent prayer. Small as it was, the gesture buoyed my resolve.

I raised my left wrist, clenching it into a fist before slicing a vertical channel along the line of my vein. The blood began to flow and I clamped my free hand over the wound, lowering my wrist for Trinity to drink.

Her eyes flew open, pupils dilating in fear. “No! No! Don’t you touch me! Don’t you f*****g touch me!”

“I’m not going to hurt you, baby. Please, I’m trying to save you, Trinity.” My chest tightened as her body bucked and thrashed, spending what precious little energy it had left. She was so frail, so impossibly fragile.

“Her body is failing. We need to make this quick.” Falling seamlessly into his role as Beta, my brother started barking out orders. "Donovan, hold down her legs. Good, keep her head steady. I've got her arms. That's it. Do it now, Jaxom!”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, pressing my wrist flush to Trinity’s lips.

“Open her mouth," Eisen instructed from over my shoulder. "She needs to take it."

As gently as I could manage, I worked my fingers against her lower jaw, prying until Trinity’s lips were parted against my skin. It was the first time I had ever touched her, but, unlike my dream, I took no pleasure in it. Immediately, she began to choke and sputter, her eyes watering at the metallic taste filling her mouth.

“She’s had enough!” I rasped, feeling as demented as Warren for tormenting my mate. A tremor snaked down my spine, my control already waning.

Eisen gripped both of my shoulders, holding me steady. “She hasn’t, not until she swallows down some more. You’re doing what needs to be done, brother. Set aside Jaxom, become the Alpha.”

With a low growl, I pressed my wrist down firmly, pinching Trinity’s nose so she had no choice but to gulp down the thick flow. Her throat bobbed, then her body went still. Helplessly, I watched as her dark eyes rolled back, a sliver of white showing before they finally closed.

“Good, good, well done,” my brother praised wearily, releasing his hold as my arm fell limply to my side. Its wound had already closed, but not before coating Trinity’s bedsheets in crimson. It looked like a crime scene, and even as I watched my mate’s chest rise and fall in steady rhythm, a blanket of guilt settled over my shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, Trinity,” I repeated, reaching to brush a black strand from her cheek.

"Don't," Donovan caught my wrist, “You’ve done enough. Now, go. Leave us.”

“Stop it, Don! We owe this man our thanks! Shame on you!” his sister scolded him. “Come, Jaxom Hill, my niece needs rest and so do you.”

The woman extended her small hand to me, and for some reason, I didn’t hesitate to take it. Studying her face, it wasn’t hard to guess why. Aside from the fact that she was old enough to be Trinity's mother, the woman bore a strong resemblance to my mate. They shared the same aquiline nose and almond-shaped eyes, though Trinity’s face was heart-shaped whereas her aunt’s was more squared off.

“My name is Arveda,” the woman informed, leading me out of the bedroom like a puppy on a leash. “I’m going to make us some fry bread. Come, sit.” She pointed to a foldout chair positioned before a small card table.

“That’s okay, really, you don’t need to go to the trouble.”

I was used to people waiting on me, but given the circumstances, it seemed wrong. The woman was family, after all. Sort of.

“It’s no trouble. You’re a guest here. Go on, sit,” she ordered stubbornly, palming her hips.

I obeyed with a sigh, drumming my fingers against the tabletop as my gaze wandered back to the bedroom door.

“Are you afraid she’ll disappear while you aren’t looking?”

My forehead creased into a frown, but Arveda's eyes were still focused on the bowl in front of her, a soft smile curving her lips. What the hell did she know about mate bonds? They were closely coveted by werewolf kind and rarely shared with humans.

“No, just looking for my brother.”

“He’s outside with Don.” She tilted her chin towards the window, nodding at the two figures outlined beyond its pane. I hadn’t even noticed them walk past. “Don’t worry, Thora is watching over Trinity. My brother has a quick temper, so let’s hope yours can talk some sense into him.”

“Eisen is good at that,” I gruffed, watching as Arveda sifted through the bowl’s dry ingredients with her fingers.

Once everything was combined, she scooped up water from a nearby container and began adding it to the mixture by the cupful. There were more water bins positioned around the counter and a ten-gallon bucket to the right of the refrigerator.

I cleared my throat. “Is your sink broken? I can have some of my men come out and take a look at it.”

“A kind offer, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t do any good. It isn’t connected to anything. There’s no running water here.”

Arveda poured some oil over the dough before combining the ingredients with her hands. Her bracelets flashed in and out of the bowl in a blur of turquoise and silver.

“Let me make some calls. I’ll see what can be done about digging a well-”

“The groundwater here is contaminated with uranium, Jaxom Hill. They mined for it in Cane Valley back in the 50s. My grandfather worked there before he died of lung cancer. My mother, Thora, she used to drive a jeep hauling Uranium rock when she was only thirteen. Nobody knew it was dangerous back then.”

The dough hit the counter with a loud plop as Arveda began to knead it into a ball.

“How do you make it out here? Where do you get your drinking water?” I asked in bewilderment.

“The water station at the Dennehotso Chapter House. Those barrels outside, there,” she gestured out the window toward one of the horse corrals, “we fill them up and go back for more when they’re empty. We’re fortunate to be close by, others aren’t.”

Arveda placed the dough back in the bowl and covered it with a dishcloth. “And now we wait for it to rise,” she said with a satisfied sigh, pulling out the chair across from me.

Before she could sit, a murmur of excitement passed through the adjacent room and I stood to my feet just as Thora walked through the doorway.

“Trinity is awake. She is asking for you, Wolf King.”

The words had scarcely left the woman’s lips before I was brushing past her, rushing off in the direction of the bedroom. She was awake. She wanted me. My mate was asking for me. Maybe all of my fears were for nothing, I thought. Maybe saving her life was enough, after all.

Pushing past the door, my lips curled back into a grin, finding Trinity sitting upright in bed for the first time since I’d met her. Color had returned to my mate's warm skin, and her lungs no longer struggled for breath. The dark veining of her wounds had retreated and the torn flesh was already mending. She looked healthy, beautiful- pissed.

The smile slid from my lips.

“Stop! Stop right there, wolf. Don’t come any closer.” Trinity held up a warning hand, scooting back on the mattress until she was pressed against the wall.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk,” I murmured, halting at her command.

“You and I have nothing to talk about. Not now. Not ever.”

Any flicker of hope that I’d held onto was being ruthlessly snuffed out. How would I ever win this woman’s love when she couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with me?

“Trinity, don’t,” I rasped, the storm clouds in her eyes a warning of what was to come.

“Jaxom Hill, Alpha, King- whoever the hell you are- I, Trinity Ahtone, reject you as my mate and sever our bond. I have nothing left to give you. Get out of my house.”