His Unwanted Mate novel Chapter 17

I saw things that were very familiar when we got closer to the territory. We were immediately let in and Leo drove to the pack house. He parked in the driveway and we all got out. Leo opened the door and we all filed into the pack house and headed towards the living room. There, sitting on the couch, was Jaxon.

"Jax!" I shouted, and when he saw me, he was immediately on his feet.

"Eden?! I thought you were dead!" He said and I jumped into his arms, giving him a hug. I laughed, tears streaming down my face.

"Missed you too, Jax," I said. He hugged me tighter.

"You're back, I'm so glad that you're back," he mumbled against my hair.

"Me too," I said quietly. When we pulled apart, I saw Leo's fists were clenched and his eyes were flashing from gold to black and back again. I took a small step away from Jaxon because I could tell Leo was already fighting his wolf.

"Wait, wait, wait... I have so many questions! What happened?! Why'd you leave?! Where have you been?! No, no, no, most importantly, are you okay?" He asked, worry clear in his voice.

"I'm fine," I said, but Jaxon looked doubtful. "I promise," I said, reassuring him.

"Okay, but what about everything else I asked you?" He asked.

"I'll explain everything later," I promised. He seemed pleased with my answer and nodded his head. While I had been speaking to Jaxon, everyone else had left except for Leo. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Um, Eden, should I drive you to your parents house now?" Leo asked. Before I could say anything, Jaxon spoke.

"I can drive her," he said. Leo was about to argue, but I gave him a pleading stare. He clenched his jaw, and nodded.

"Alright," he said through gritted teeth. Leo gave Jaxon the keys to the car, since it had all of my luggage in it, before Jaxon and I got into the car. He started catching me up on everything that I had missed over the past year, and we were soon at my parents house.

I stood outside in the brisk air as I stared up at the house. I'd grown up here, and I had just up and left almost a complete year ago. I took a deep breath before walking up the front steps and knocked on the front door. The door opened and there stood my dad.

"Dad!" I cried, catapulting myself into his arms. He immediately hugged me back as I cried.

"Eden?! What- you're here! Ella! Eden's here!" My dad yelled to my mom. My mom came running to the front door with tears in her eyes. She immediately pulled me into a hug.

"Eden! Oh, we've been so worried about you! Where have you been?!" My mom asked.

"I've been staying with the New Dawn Pack in New York," I explained.

"Was," I said quietly, and Jaxon furrowed his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"He rejected me, so he was my mate, he's not anymore," I explained, looking down as tears threatened to fall. When Jaxon didn't say anything for a while, I looked up at him. His jaw and fists were clenched. "Jax?" I asked cautiously.

"Who is he?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Jax, it doesn't matter-" I started, but was cut off.

"Eden, yes it does! Your mate, the person that is supposed to love and protect you, rejected you!" He said, raising his voice.

"Yeah, you don't need to remind me," I snapped, making his eyes immediately soften.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling me into a hug. My body shook as I sobbed onto his shoulder as all the memories of that night came back again. After a while, I finally stopped crying. I pulled away from Jaxon, wiping my tears away. "Please, Eden, tell me who your mate was," he said quietly, almost pleading. I sighed before answering.