A Mother Before A Mate
Chapter 35

-Lexi's point of View-

I don't feel Jack's anger as strong as I did before. Is he hurt? Zac opens the back door and I feel so relieved to see him.

"What's going on?" I ask frantically.

"Jack's fine. Don't worry," he says and I move towards the door.

"No! Don't go in there," he states. I stop, and turn back with a look of warning.

"Lexi, I'm serious. He doesn't want you in there, right now," he adds firmly.

"Watch Molly!" I growl. His hands lift in frustration but he nods. I rush to Jack's office, and I can't believe what I'm seeing. There is blood everywhere. Not just blood though - limbs and flesh are scattered. Furniture is broken, and Jack is sitting naked in his chair covered in blood. "What happened?" I gasp as I rush to him.

He shakes his head, "I didn't want you to see this," he grumbles, and I can tell he's frustrated.

"I don't care. What happened? What's going on?" I insist, and then grab his face to maintain eye contact. "Talk to me," I whisper.

"He was f*****g aroused by Molly," he admits, disgust all over his face and I feel my blood start to boil. "What?" I growl.

"Yeah, his eyes were black, just at the sight of her in her bathing suit," he confesses. If I would have known I would have killed him myself. I climb onto his lap, I don't even care that he's full of blood and I wrap my arms around him and hold him close. His touch is helping my emotions, and I hope I'm helping with his. I feel his arms tighten around me. "I love you, and Molly so much," he whispers.

"I know you do, and we love you," I whisper back.

"His guys are still here? What are you going to do?" I ask.

He shrugs, "Tell the truth?" I sit in his arms for a minute thinking of what we could possibly say. "What can I do?" I ask.

He gives me a small smile. "Nothing babe. You should pack a bag, and take Molly to the packhouse, and stay in one of the suites. I'll be there when I can. I don't want Molly to see this. I didn't want you to see this either, but Zac doesn't f*****g listen," he growls, and he sounds frustrated with Zac.

"He tried to stop me from coming in but I wouldn't listen. He would have had to physically restrain me, and in front of Molly. Would you have wanted that?" I ask, and he shakes his head and softens. "So don't give him a hard time," I warn, with a knowing look and he nods.

"Let's go upstairs. You shower, so you don't look so murderous, and I'm going to get some clothes for us to take to the packhouse."

We go upstairs and when he gets in the shower, I take off my bathing suit cover that is now covered in blood. I wash my arms in the sink because they also have blood all over them. I get dressed and pack all three of us some clothes. I'm not sure if I have blood on me still, but I'll shower when I get to the suite.

I open the glass door to the shower, "Babe, I'm going to get Molly now and go to the packhouse. I love you so much."

"I love you too," he adds, and he moves into give me a kiss. I pull him in with a hand on his face and give him a good one.

"Thank you for protecting her," I say while holding his gaze. He needs to know I have his back, and I'm grateful. "Always!"

When I get downstairs, I see Molly jumping on her trampoline, and Zac is sitting watching her. I left all kinds of food out because I was in the middle of making lunch. I place everything back in the fridge. I don't feel like eating now. I wrap up Molly's lunch to go and wrap up the rest of the sandwiches I had made and put them in the fridge.

"Thanks for watching her. Jack should be finishing up his shower soon. Are you hungry? I have some sandwiches made?"

"I'm starving," he groans. No surprise there, Zac's always starving.

"They're wrapped in the fridge. You can help yourself. I'm taking Molly to the packhouse. If you guys need me, or if you think Jack would benefit from having me here, please let me know. I'll get his parents or Becka to watch, Molly."

"I will, and thanks for the sandwiches," he remarks.

Jack's Point of View

I come downstairs and call out for Zac, and replace him in the kitchen eating sandwiches. "Lexi makes the best sandwiches, dude. What sauce does she use?" he asks. Is he seriously asking me about f*****g sandwiches right now? I raise a brow, and he realizes it's not the time for this.

He clears his throat, "So what's the plan?"

"I'm going to call his father and explain. We'll see how it goes from there," I shrug.

"I want you to call a cleaning crew and tell them to get a tote or something. I want all of the... pieces gathered. We'll cremate him and send the ashes back. Hopefully, that will mean something. I have a feeling it won't make a difference, but his parents should still have it," I explain. Then I go into my office and grab my phone off the floor, and wipe off the blood so I can make this call.

Ring Ring

Tim Johnson: Hello, Alpha Lavard!

Me: Alpha Johnson, Hello.

Tim: I thought I wasn't supposed to talk to you until next week to discuss business? [My firm has also been helping them with the accounting work for his pack]

Me: That's correct. I'm calling for another reason, actually.

Tim: Oh, What is it?

Me: Well, earlier today, Derrick reached out to me, and wanted to come to speak to me about the possibility of making a match with one of my warriors. I'm not sure if you were aware of that?

Tim: I wasn't aware. Is everything okay?

Me: No, unfortunately it's not. While he was here, my daughter happened to come into my office. She had just come from our pool, and she was in her swimsuit-

Tim: You have a daughter?

Me: Yes. I recently found my mate. We were married, and she is now my Luna. I have adopted her child as my own.

Tim: Congratulations.

Me: Thank you. As I was saying, my daughter, who isn't even two yet, came into my office in her swimsuit...

Tim: okay...

Me: And Derrick... His eyes were black with desire for her.

Tim: What? NO!

Me: It's true.

Tim: I want to talk to him. Let me talk to him. Where is he?

Me: I'm sorry. I hope you can understand the rage that came over me when I saw him looking at my innocent little daughter like that.

Tim: You didn't? No-

Me: I did. [I say somberly. I don't want a war, and I understand as a parent he'll be upset. I'm not sorry I killed him, but I'm not going to boast about it to his father, whom I've respected and got along with.] Tim: He's dead?

Me: He is. Try and put yourself in my position. What would you have done?

Tim: And I'm just supposed to take your word for this? Are there any other witnesses? [He's starting to yell.]

Me: There were no other witnesses.

Tim: He deserved a trial! You had no right. He was an Alpha... An equal. And with no proof? How do you think other packs will react when they hear this? You'll pay for this!

[He slams his phone down]

Zac's staring at me, "Well?"

"Not good," I huff.

"War?" I shrug; I really don't know.

"His pack has about 300 people in it. He'll have to do major recruiting if he wants to take us on," I point out.

"Let's go see Kyle and Derrick's guys." When we get to the rec hall, Kyle is laughing and talking with two men.

"Alpha Lavard, nice to meet you," one of them says and I nod.

"Where's Derrick?" He asks.

"I'll be straight with you. I killed him. He was lusting after my small child, and I killed him," I say without remorse, and they are both just staring at me. "What? Are you serious?" Kyle asks.

"Unfortunately... I have called Alpha Tim Johnson, and he is aware of what has happened. You both should get back home," I tell them.

They don't say a word and they walk out. I motion for Zac and Kyle to follow them out and make sure they get off of my packlands without causing trouble. As I'm standing there, I start to think about the way his Beta and Gamma acted when I told them the news. They didn't act at all surprised, and they didn't defend him. Did they know? Were they like him? One thing I know for sure is that it's a good thing he won't be in a position of authority over people. I can only imagine the ways he could have abused that power and hurt innocent children in the process. I'm feeling sick about it, and right now I just want to see Molly. Logically, I know she's okay, but I just want to see her and feel that she's okay. -Meet me in a half-hour at my place- I mind-link Zac and Kyle.

-Where are you guys?- I mind-link, Lexi.

-Suite #7-

I run up to see my girls. I scoop Molly up and just hold her. I know it's close to nap time, so I rock her in my arms until she's fast asleep. Then I sit down on the couch and just hold her until I need to make it back to meet Kyle and Zac. "You okay, babe?" Lexi asks.

"I feel better now. I guess just witnessing someone having vile thoughts about her... I logically knew she was okay because he didn't lay a finger on her, but I just wanted to hold her and feel that she felt safe and that she wasn't affected by his disgusting thoughts," I admit.

"You're a good man, and an even better father. She's okay. She's okay because of you, and so are other children," she says, as she cuddles up beside us on the couch. I thought Lexi might feel... maybe scared or disgusted with me for the gory scene in the office but she really doesn't seem phased by it. Thankfully, because I don't want her to be afraid of me, or for anything to change between us.