Axton POV

After the meeting, I dismiss the room and put the entire pack on high alert.

All that is left is me and Ellie. I stand in front of my desk as she sits in a seat across from me with her head hanging, lost in think. She refuses to look at me. No matter what I did, or what I say, after she said that Cortez will kill her for not healing him, Ellie just refused to make eye contact with me.

My wolf keeps yelling at me to comfort her and to kill Cortez, and although I do agree with him, it also feel like she is keeping something else from me.

"Ellie," my voice barely breaks above a whisper.

She just shakes her head and continues to look at the floor.

"Ellie," I say again, this time moving in front of her and placing my hands against her cheeks to lift her face, "Please look at me."

"Axton," her voice cracks as if she is on the verge of tears.

I rub my thumbs in circles to calm her before speaking, "Ellie, why didn't you tell me any of this when you told me about the rogue prison you escaped from? Knowing about Cortez would could have helped us. Or why didn't you say that you are a healer?"

"Because I'm not a healer," she cracks.

"But you healed that girl."

"No, I don't," she argues, "I can't heal anyone."

I shake my head before kissing her lightly, "Ellie, why didn't you tell me you are a gifted wolf?" I ask.

"Because I'm not!" she screams, standing up abruptly before throwing her hands up.

"Ellie-"

"No Axton!" she screams at me, "I'm trying to tell you, but you aren't listening."

"What are you trying to tell me then?" I ask, trying to understand but coming up completely blank.

"I didn't heal anyone. It was-"

"Mommy!" Zea comes charging into the room, carrying a small teddy bear that Sawyer had gotten her. Both our attentions are immediately on her as our conversation drifts to the back of my mind.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Ellie asks as she bent down and picked Zea up into her arms.

"I had a bad dream."

"What about?" I ask as Zea rests her head on Ellie's shoulder.

"A mean man who wants to hurt mommy," she cracks.

"Shh, sweetheart. No one is going to hurt me. I'm fine," Ellie soothes her.

I give my daughter a soft smile, "I promise Zea, no one is going to hurt her. I won't allow it."

"Are you sure?" she whispers.

"Absolutely," I tell her as she nods her head before clutching onto to Ellie's neck harder, "Why don't I take her to bed?"

Ellie nods her head in agreement as she hands our daughter to me, "I think we could all use some sleep."

Looking her over, I can see the exhaustion coming off her in waves. She's been up for over twenty hours now, "Come on."

Pulling Zea closer to my chest, we head for the door and move up the stairs. Every movement screams silence as we walk. A pin could be dropped and still heard.

Carefully carrying Zea into her room, I gently lay her down into her bed before drawing the covers up to her chin and giving her a light kiss on the top of her head.

"Goodnight," I whisper to her as I draw back and lead Ellie out of the room.

"She'll be alright," Ellie says quietly to me as she shuts the door behind us.

"I'm worried about both of you," I tell her honestly, wanting no more secrets between us. Even little ones. I put my hand against her cheek and she leans into my palm, "I can't lose either one of you."

She closes her eyes for a moment as she just breathes. A light smile on her lips as she looks up at me, "You won't, not again."

I don't spare a moment as I lift her into my arms, connecting in a heated kiss. Passion screams between us as I carry her into our room, not breaking apart for even a second. I kiss every inch of her neck as I move to my mark, causing a moan to come from her.

I pull back for a moment, taking in the feeling of finally having my mate, "I love you."

Her face lights up in a bright smile as she grabs my collar and pulls me back to her. I move to the bed, "I love you too."

*****

I wake up to gentle touch of an angel.

Looking down, I watch as Ellie traces a few of the scars on my chest. Pain and concern are clear as she gently touches each line permanently placed into my skin.

"They don't hurt," I whisper to her, causing her to stop tracing the lines as she picks up her head from my chest to look me in the eyes, "Not anymore."

"How?" it is all she asks, but I know what she wants to know. When and why.

I place my hand against her cheek as my other arm rests on her back, "When I got to the pack house that day, the place was destroyed. Everything was ripped to shreds, and I could smell the rogue scent. So, we went after the rogues. All of them. We killed many of their cells looking for you. I got the scars during those attacks," I slowly guide my hand down her face and arm until I reach her hand, bringing it up my chest to the deepest of my scars. The one that had cut through my heart, "Well almost all of them. This one is from an attack on the pack."

"When did that happen? I don't remember hearing anything from the other packs."

"About three years ago," I tell her, "It was one of the largest attacks any rogue has ever planned on this territory."

"So much has happened these past seven years," she whispers as she places her head back onto my chest, "We've lost so much."

"There's beauty in things that are lost," I tell her. She gives me a wondering look before I continue, "When you find what is lost, you get to fall in love with it all over again."

*****

I shuffle through the reports on my desk. Walker had brought me all of the reports of missing pack members from seven years ago, and based on the size of this pile, there are almost fifty from over the last seven years.

"How did I miss all of these?" I almost scream as I slap the latest file onto my desk.

"You were distracted. Losing your mate can do that to you," Walker comments as he looks up from the file he is on.

I rub my hands across my face as I think about how much I let slip, "If I had just been more focused or if I had just read these back then, I might have found Ellie sooner."

"You can't beat yourself up about what ifs and what could have been," Walker tells me, "You just have to focus on the here and now. You have Ellie back and you have Zea. Try not to spend too much time looking back."

I nod as I take in his words, "You're right. I need to focus on killing Cortez here, in the present," I growl out.

"Sounds like a good idea," I look up to see Ellie standing in the doorway. She stands hesitantly in the doorway, "I don't want to interrupt anything, but Axton, do you have a moment to talk?" she asks me.

"Of course," I answer immediately, standing up and walking over to her. I am about to leave when I look back to Walker, "You can take a break for a while. You've been here longer than I have."

He smiles at me, "I haven't been here for you, Axton. I've been here for me."

Ellie laughs at that, "Are you hiding from Sawyer again?"

"Yes!" he exclaims, standing up, "She wants to redecorate our room again. This will be the fourth time in two months. I love her but she is driving me crazy with all of it."

I laugh at this, "Admittedly it's weird, but it's Sawyer. You know how she likes to change things."

"But not this much," Walker all but whines.

"That's because she's-" Ellie stops herself midsentence for a second, "She's under a lot of stress. You should be there for her," she scolds him, "You ready Axton?"

I nod at her, "Yeah I'm good. Let's go."

We walk out of the office and straight out of the house. She grabs my hand as she pulls me onto the forest path that runs through the territory. The path was dirt since it was mostly made from patrols running back and forth from the border.

"What did you want to talk about?" I ask, curious to the topic.

"Not yet," she says as she pulls us to a stop to stand in front of me, "First, I have to do this."

She slides her arms around my neck as I pull her into a kiss. I bring her closer to me as my hands wrap around her waist, deepening the kiss even more. When we both are breathless, she pulls away with her amazing smile on her lips.

I smile at her as I sneak another kiss, "I think that should be how we start all of our conversations."

"I think I agree," she laughs as she steps back slightly to start walking on the trail again. It's a few moments before her demeanor shifts to more hesitant, "I want to finish the conversation we were having last night."

"Alright," I tell her, "You were telling me that you weren't a gifted wolf."

"Because I'm not," she says.

I pull her forward so I can look at her, "Then how was that little girl healed?" I ask her, "The light coming from your hands and the way you described how you healed her are the same from reports of other healers, of other gifted wolves. So why don't you believe it?"

"It's not about belief," she tells me as she starts walking again, "I know for a fact that I'm not the healer that saved that little girl that day."

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused on why she keeps denying it.

"What do you know about gifted wolves," she starts, keeping her eyes on the trees and the sky as she walks ahead of me.

"I know the basics and what I've read in reports," I tell her honestly.

"What do you know about pregnant she-wolves?" she asks.

"What?" I ask confused, "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about a gifted wolf when it's still young, when it hasn't even been born yet," she says, her voice quiet among the silent forest, "I'm asking because when that little girl was healed, I wasn't the only wolf in that room."

I stop walking for a second, slowly trying to understand. I am about to asks her to explain, for I'm pretty sure what she is going to tell me, but I don't get a chance.

It happens in a split second. I don't even register what is happening until they are already on top of us.

A rogue snarls as the group attacks us. There are six of them, all in wolf form, ready to kill us.

Pulling Ellie behind me, I shift and cut the first one off. I grab onto the fur of his neck, twisting to snap his neck as two more jump on top of my back.

Looking over to Ellie, I see as she defends herself from one of the rogues. A different one sneaks behind and rams into her legs, knocking her down. Growling out, I twist my head to the rogue on the top of my back, biting into his side as I shake the other one off me and throw him into a tree.

Running right at the one above Ellie, I sink my claws into his side. We both snarl and bite at each other. I rip and tear at him until I finally get my claws right into his throat. Using all my strength, I tear into his skin and kill him.

Turning back to Ellie, I watch as the rogue lashes at her, but she kicks it right in his side. She grabs a branch from the path and drives it into his ribs. He falls to the ground, instantly dead.

Another growl sounds from behind us as we both prepare for the last wolf to attack. Watching his eyes, I growl out at him and he releases a low snarl. He sprints towards us and jumps.

But instead of landing in front of us, he flies backwards into a tree. He moves to get up, but the second he does, the tree splits, impaling the rogue.

Shifting back, I stare at the dead wolves as I look at the last one, "What was that?"

"That was me," I spin around and prepare for another attack. A man steps out from behind a tree. He is tall with auburn hair. I notice he is wearing a dark cloak as he walks closer to me. I can feel energy and power coming off him, but not like a werewolf. He is something else, "I'm here to help."

I am about to asks him who he is when I register a sharp pain across my stomach.

Mate! Knox screams to me.

I turn the second I feel it. Staring at Ellie, I watch as she pulls her hand away from her stomach. It's covered in blood as the red bleeds into her clothing.

"Axton," she breathes out, collapsing onto the ground.