Let me Save you

Lexi

I pushed myself out through the opposite door – the one beside where Dean had been sitting. It was already open, hanging crooked on its hinges. The whole place was covered in smoke as I got out. There was not a soul in sight, but I could hear screams from a distance.

“Rogues! They attacked!”

A rogue attack? When we had a hunter with us the whole time?

My head throbbed as I pressed a hand to my head and stumbled forward. The car that had crashed into us was nowhere to be found, but as I tried looking around, I saw him. Jax.

He was lying on the ground beside the car unconscious, but without a single scratch. He looked like he’d been dragged out of the driver’s seat. As if the attackers checked his face, saw that he wasn’t Dean, and tossed him aside. Unless… that was exactly what he wanted me to think.

This traitor. He planned this, and now he’s trying to pass it off as an accident. Just when I finally got to be with Dean again, Jax ruins everything.

My lips quivered as hot, shaking fury tore through me. I dropped to my knees beside him, my breath coming fast and uneven. “Get up,” I hissed, shoving at his chest with trembling hands.

When he didn’t move, something inside me snapped. “Get up, you traitor! Get up right now!” I shrieked as I pounded against him with both fists, over and over, even as my palms stung. His body was cold, the chilling kind that rogue hunters carried in their veins – so I knew he was not dead.

I kept hitting him until my hands finally gave out. My knuckles throbbed as I pressed them against my head, slumping beside him and the wrecked car, watching as smoke rose in lazy curls around us.

I thought about how my dream with Dean was now ruined. Again. It was stupid of me to think that this would last.

I don’t know how long I sat there before I felt the slightest movement beside me. I jerked my head up watching as Jax stirred.

His blue eyes opened, darker than usual, almost black around the edges. He groaned and touch his head. I didn’t speak. I watched silently as the realization washed over him.

“Are you alright?” he asked when he saw the blood on my face.

Still, I said nothing. I only glared. I wanted him to see every ounce of rage burning through me because he had let this happen.

He swallowed. “Look, I don’t know what happened back –”

“You were sleeping on the job. That’s what happened.”

He blinked in confusion. “I know how it looks, but –”

“No, I’ll tell you how it looks,” I stood, putting myself above him as he leaned against the car. “You caused that crash on purpose so you and whoever you’re working with – possibly rogues, could take Dean, kill him, and make everyone else believe it was just an unfortunate accident.”

He stared at me like I had slapped him.

“Seriously? Sleeping on the job?” my voice rose. “You expect me to believe that there’s any world where you’d be too sleepy to use your hunter reflexes to stop that crash?”

He looked down, unable or unwilling to meet my eyes.

“You should confess what you’ve done.”

“I’ve done nothing,” he said, rising suddenly to his feet with such speed that I instinctively stepped back. “I would never betray my Alpha. I am loyal to him,”

“Loyal?” I let out a cold laugh. “You hate him. you hated Dean and me when you served Derrick, but now you expect me to believe you’d never betray him?”

He dragged a hand through his hair, exasperated. “You don’t understand. There’s no time for this. I have to take you to Dane pack and then find Dean.”

“Like hell you are.” I yanked my hand free when he tried to guide me. His brows lifted at my resistance. “I’m not going anywhere until you bring Dean back from wherever you and those rogues hid him.”

“Okay stop!” he barked, loud enough that birds scattered from nearby trees. His breathing grew ragged. He could barely control himself.

I could tell that it was the same dangerous restraint he had before killing someone. I held my breath, afraid of what he would do.

“I promise you, I didn’t plan any of this,” he said through clenched teeth. “Just let me prove it.”

He went back to the car, rummaging through the wreckage until he returned with smeared dark powder on his fingers. “This,” he said, “is silver ash. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but someone must’ve put it in the car to weaken me and Dean so they could ambush us.”

“That’s your proof?” I scoffed. “You probably put it there yourself. Stop lying Jax. just admit you betrayed your Alpha.”

He shook his head hard. “You can still fix this,” I continued. “Just take me to where you’re hiding him. When we find him, I’ll convince him to spare your life and –”

I didn’t finish. In an instant, Jax’s hands were on me, slamming me back against the tree we’d crashed into. His height, his strength, his fury – all of it boxed me in.

His eyes flashed with lethal intent. I’d seen that look many times before he killed innocent people.

“So? You going to kill me?” I snapped. If he was going to kill me anyway, then I should tell him something he wouldn’t forget in a hurry. “Really? What kind of beta wouldn’t prioritize saving his Alpha – unless he’s a treacherous, disloyal coward?”

His jaw clenched. His eyes flickered with rage… then slowly dimmed. He exhaled shakily, like he was fighting something violent. Then he looked at me. His eyes weren’t murderous anymore. Instead, he seemed conflicted. It seemed I finally got to him.

That’s what I thought until his gaze drifted across my face, and something inside my chest tightened unexpectedly.

He hesitated before his fingers brushed the edge of my cheek so softly that a spark shot beneath my skin, down my neck, curling hot in my stomach.

I froze, and my breath caught. My body reacted before my mind could protest. Then he jerked back, as if touching me burned him.

He turned away sharply, putting distance between us. A lot of it.

“I have to put your safety first,” he said, his voice low, almost broken. “Dean wouldn’t want a world without you in it. So… just let me take you to Dane. I’ll find him. I promise.”

My heartbeat stuttered. Not because I trusted him, but because for the first time, I wasn’t entirely sure he was lying.

He took a step farther back, as if my closeness was something he suddenly feared.

“Look,” he continued, turning halfway toward me. “If I fail, you can do whatever you want to me. Label me a traitor. Have the hunters kill me – Anything, I won’t fight it.”

He extended a hand towards me, and his voice cracked just slightly. “Let me save you first. Please, Lexi.”

I stared at his hand, then his eyes.

I didn’t know if it was the way he said my name, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I refused, he was the one who would break. Not just Dean.

Still… could I trust him?

I opened my mouth to speak, but before a single word could leave me, I heard a sharp crack. Someone else was here.