Jaded Hearts
Chapter 36

Matt

“Oh my god,” I heard Taylor whisper behind me. In my rage, I had forgotten she was there. I spun around and took her face in my hands. She was trembling, and a few tears had slipped down her cheeks.

“Why don’t you go replace the girls until we’re finished here? Maybe spend some time with your favorite little guy, Alex?”

“H-He’s trying time kill me? But I don’t understand.…”

“You’re alright, baby, don’t worry. I’ll take care of this. Just go, and I’ll come replace you when I’m done.”

She nodded her head before she took a step back, then headed for the office door. As soon as it was closed, I blew the f**k up.

“He touched her! That motherfucker put his hands on her, my pregnant fiancé, disguising himself as a friend. And I didn’t kill him. I knew I didn’t like him, but I let it go. For her.”

Dad looked at me, surprised, and I realized what I’d just said. Oh well, there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.

“So, he’s still alive? James, I’m surprised. Back when my father was Alpha, you never let a shifter-hitter live. Have you gone soft in your retirement?” Xander asked.

“Not at all, Alpha. Yes, he’s alive, but I didn’t say for how long. Besides, he can probably lead us to our end goal. He’s working with Drew, so he may know how we can replace him. And he’s your Beta female’s cousin. I figured that still mattered, and you should be given the opportunity to decide what happens with him.”

“How did you replace him?” I asked.

“I had someone shadow you and a Taylor in Italy. And before you get upset, it was clearly the right move to make. When he approached her in Rome, it was obvious that he was looking for her. It wasn’t a random encounter. My man followed him after your run-in and found out his plan.”

“This isn’t good. Morgan almost lost her brother, and now her cousin was hired to kill her best friend. How much more s**t is going to be thrown on her?” Kade stated to the room.

“Kade, talk to Morgan and explain what’s happening. She’s going to have to accept Tyson’s fate. He sided with the enemy, and we can’t let him live.”

“f**k!”

“I’m going down there. He’s going to tell us what we need to know. Then he’s dead,” I said as I headed towards the door.

No one stopped me. In fact, Kade, Xander, and Alexi followed me down while my dad decided to leave with his men. They had done their jobs, and for now, they weren’t needed.

When we got to the basement, I heard a sound that stopped my heart. Taylor was already here, and she was talking to him.

* * *

Taylor

When I left Xander’s office, I shot Morgan and text and told her to meet me in the kitchen. She was already there, so when I saw her, I immediately told her what was happening.

“No. That can’t be true, Tay. He’d never try to hurt you. He loves you!”

“We need to go talk to him. Now. The men are going to kill him soon, so we don’t have much time.”

“Kade wouldn’t kill him. He knows Tyson is my family.”

“It doesn’t matter! He’s the connection to Drew. Now come on!” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the basement.

I had never been down here before, so I just followed my instinct, and it led me right where we wanted to go. I found a long hallway with cells on either side. Tyson was in the very first one, chained to the back wall and covered in b***d.

“Tyson! Oh my god, what did they do to him?” Morgan stifled a scream beside me. She raced to the cell door and tried her hardest to open it, but obviously, it was locked.

“Morgan, calm down. Go and see if you can replace the keys, okay?”

She wiped her face and nodded before she ran back upstairs. I knew she wouldn’t replace a key, but she needed something to keep her busy while I found out what was going on. I walked to the cell and grabbed on to the bars. They were made of silver, and my palms began to burn almost immediately, so I quickly let them go and took a step back.

“Tyson, can you hear me?”

His head hung limply on his chest, and he barely looked alive.

“Tyson! Wake up!”

He jumped slightly, and I knew he was finally hearing me.

“Open your eyes and look at me.”

He slowly lifted his head, and I saw that both his eyes were almost completely swollen shut. James’s team seriously didn’t play.

“Sunshine? What are you doing here?” he groggily asked.

“I live here, Tyson. The better question is, why are you here?”

“Live here? Those were Blue Moon guys who jumped me?”

“It appears so. What are you doing, Tyson? Why would you do this?”

“I’m doing my job.”

“Killing people? Seriously?!”

“Yes, seriously! I’ve got to live, and this is how I do it. What the f**k do you know about struggling, princess? You’ve been taken care of your whole life, and now you’ve got the protection of an entire f*****g were pack. One of the biggest and richest in the country! Don’t judge me for what I do to survive.”

He winced when he took a deep breath, and I saw that his ribs were bruised and swollen.

“You need to calm down. Your ribs are broken, and all this extra s**t you’ve got going on will only make it worst.”

“Yeah? And how do you know that?”

“First of all, I was a pre-med student. Second, I nursed plenty of broken ribs when I was dating Drew. He handed them out like f*****g flowers.”

He stopped moving and looked me in the eye as best he could with his being swollen shut. “What did you just say?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you? He used to beat the s**t out of me when we were dating. I’m sure almost every bone in my body was broken, fractured, or bruised at one point or another when I was with him. Morgan finally convinced me to leave him. He didn’t like that, so he found me again and tried to rape me.”

I heard a fierce growl that I assumed came from Tyson, but I was wrong. Matt had found me, and I hadn’t even gotten the answers I needed yet.

“Taylor, step away from the cell. Now.”

“Matt, I need to—”

“You need to do what I’m telling you to do and step back.”

“Does this fucker beat you too, sunshine? He seems like the type. All these mutts are the same.”

As soon as the words left Tyson’s mouth, Matt lost control and shifted, shredding his clothes to bits.

“Oh, s**t! Can’t you guys stop him?!” I yelled at Alexi, Kade, and Xander, who were standing behind, watching the scene unfold.

“I could, but I won’t,” Xander said with a shrug of his shoulder. “He has every right to defend his honor and yours.”

Tyson began to laugh in his cell, purposely taunting Logan, who was snapping his muzzle between the thick bars.

“Call off your dog, sunshine, or else I’ll be forced to do what I was hired to do and put him down.”

I stepped up and placed a hand on Logan’s head. Luckily, he was in an attack position; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to reach it. “What did you just say? Drew hired you to kill Matt?”

“That’s right.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. I was going to be paid $500k to take him out, but I decided that he could keep his money. I just want you.”

When Kade and Xander growled behind me, I knew I had to do something. This was going downhill fast, and someone was about to die.

“Tyson, shut your mouth—now. Xander, please have Matt shift back so we can figure this out. If Tyson dies, we may never replace Drew.”

“I’d rather just open the cell and let Matt do what needs to be done,” Xander said while stepping up to the door. His eyes were pitch black, and his voice was incredibly deep.

Kade stood beside me, and his nails turned to claws. Tyson seemed to finally see that he was on the losing end of this battle and wised up.

“How about I help you guys replace him?”

“Why would you do that? And why should we trust you?” Xander asked.

Tyson stood as tall as possible and looked him in the eye. “Did you know what he did to her? To my sunshine? Well, I didn’t, not until she told me. I’ve loved that woman my entire life, and he hired me to ruin hers. I don’t care who does it, but that fucker is going to die. And I’ll help make sure of it.”

* * *

Matt

He had accused me of hurting my treasure; put me in the same category as Drew. That was unforgivable, and there was no way I could keep Logan at bay.

“Matt, shift back.”

Xander couldn’t be serious. All he needed to do was open the cell. f**k the deal he was trying to make. I wanted Tyson’s b***d.

“Matt, I don’t want to have to command you. Just shift so you can participate in this conversation.”

It took all my willpower to force Logan back and shift. It was the last thing I wanted to do at that point. Xander passed me a pair of sweatpants, and when I had them on, I walked over to Taylor. “Are you alright, Tesoro? You shouldn’t be down here. You need to rest, baby.”

“I’m fine. Let’s just figure this out. Let me help, and if I need a break, I promise I’ll tell you.”

“Okay. But sit down.”

She did as I asked and sat down in a lone chair against the wall.

“You’re real protective of her. It’s almost sweet,” I heard Tyson say from his cell.

“Don’t speak to me about my mate. Don’t even look at her. She’ll never be yours, ever.”

“Whatever. So are we doing this or not?” he asked, looking over to Xander.

“What are you offering?” he replied.

I was furious that we were even entertaining him. Maybe he wasn’t hired to kill Taylor, but he was helping Drew. He deserved to die.

“I call him twice a week with an update. My next call is tomorrow at 2:30. I can tell him that sunshine has agreed to meet me.”

“Her name is Taylor! She’s not your f*****g sunshine!” I couldn’t help my outburst; this guy was really testing my patience.

“Matt. Come here,” Taylor said from her spot in her chair. I walked over and lifted her up, taking her seat and sitting her in my lap. In that moment, I needed her so badly. She ran her fingers through my hair, and with the other hand, rubbed circles on my back.

“It’s alright, baby. He knows I’m yours. Don’t let him get to you, okay?”

“Tyson, if we’re going to even entertain the idea of us working together, you’ll show some respect. Otherwise, I will kill you right now and deal with the consequences later. Understand?”

Clearly, Xander was fed up with the bullshit too.

“Yeah, I get it. Anyway, I’ll tell him Taylor has agreed to the meeting. He wants to get her off your territory, where she’s more vulnerable. With her gone, Matt will come looking for her, and that’s when I’m supposed to take him out. He’ll want to see Matt’s body in person. When I call him to come confirm the kill, you can grab him.”

Xander turned to me with an evil look in his eye. “So, Matt, what do you think? Think you can play dead for the cause?”

“If it gets us Drew, I’ll do whatever it takes.”