Sucker For Love

JASON

I pressed the magazine release behind the trigger, dropping the magazine out of the grip. Ensuring it was fully loaded, I pushed it firmly back into the magazine well until I heard a click. Pulling the slide back sharply until it stopped, I released my hand. The slide snapped forward, chambering a round from the magazine. It was loaded and ready. I placed my Glock in my shoulder holster and covered it with my jacket.

"You ready?" Theo asked, placing his own gun in the back of his trousers.

We' were parked round the back of a rusty old warehouse in Minnesota, scouting the perimeter to get an idea of what we're up against.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Great, let's go," he said, climbing out of the passenger side of my matte black G-Wagon.

Something big was going down, we just didn't know what. Members of our pack had been vanishing one by one. We feared the hunters had been slaughtering them, but we couldn't be sure without confirming it personally. We'd searched in every nook and cranny for months, not a stone left unturned, but no matter how much digging we'd done or how many fuckers we put down, we came up with nothing. They were good at covering their tracks, I'll give 'em that.

Until now, that is.

We both weaved through the trees and sauntered round to the entrance.

Everything was quiet, eerily quiet. Either they knew we were coming and we were about to get ambushed, or they have no idea what was about to hit them. Hopefully the latter. "I have a bad feeling about this," I muttered to Theo.

"It looked like they have a back room on the blueprints," he whispered, stepping inside and nodding his head towards a room on the far right.

Following his lead, we traipsed towards the door, my Glock gripped firmly in my hands in front of me. Arriving behind a stack of crates, Theo silently moved his palm up in front of my face, to signal me to stop and then held four fingers up to indicate there were four men in his sight. "Cover me," he said, before he advanced to another stack of crates and I kept watch. The four men were surrounding a laptop on a stand, two of them with their backs to us and the other two were facing us but focused on the laptop.

I recognised one of them.

Robert.

I looked back at Theo who then signalled "1...2...3," with his fingers and we both took a shot. Theo took out one of the men with their backs to us with a head shot. Two of them retreated behind industrial shelving, but Robert was stuck on the spot.

He recognised me and he knows he's done for.

Theo had bolted a few seconds ago towards the other two men. They must have retreated out the back door because I could only hear gunshots faintly, but my focus was on Robert so I couldn't be sure. "That's right asshole, this is the end for you!" I shouted, taking a shot and near-missing his head as he ducked. He pulled a gun out from the back of his trousers and took a few shots at me, the bullets ricocheting off of the metal shelving and penetrating crates, forcing me to dive out of the way. Sitting with my back up against the pallet I was behind previously, I risked peeking my head out to catch a glimpse of Robert fleeing through the door we saw earlier.

It's now or never.

I followed behind cautiously, slipping through the door way and I was suddenly stopped in my tracks.

What the hell is going on? There was nothing to indicate they kept anybody here.

"No please! Please don't do this! I just want to go home! Please!" The woman sobbed.

Robert was nowhere to be seen but there was a bald stocky guy, stood clinging to a young woman, with a gun pointed at her head. She tried to wrestle him off but he pressed the gun into her head until she went still. "Struggling won't do you any favours," the man seethed from behind her. She didn't move an inch, like she knew that if she even let out a breath, he'd kill her on the spot.

I looked her dead in the face, amber-golden eyes shone back at me just for a brief moment before returning to a warm hazel colour. Images of a family I didn't recognise and a girl growing up, flashed across my mind like a slideshow that was sped up, my memories of growing up followed behind, and then both of us together. It can't be-

She shook her head like she saw what I saw too.

The blood drained from my face. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Where the hell are you Jason?" I heard Theo through a mind-link , but I couldn't speak to tell him I'm okay. He'd kill her if he knew Theo was coming and my concentration was off. I just wanted to focus on the asshole pointing a gun at my mate. "I'm coming to find you." I'd been gone too long and now he was looking for me.

"You don't need to do this," I tried to negotiate with the guy whilst my gun was still pointed at him. I couldn't get a clean shot. "She's innocent."

If I timed this right, he could faulted and I'm certain I've got a chance to take him out without her being harmed.

"Innocent? Innocent!" the man screeched, a cackle following shortly after. "She's evil, just like the rest of you."

"You don't know what you're talking about," the woman cried.

"Shut up!" he bellowed, that time striking her on the head. Her head shot to the side as her face contorted in pain, blood dripping from the spot he'd hit. That alone was enough to make my blood boil.

"Enough!" I roar. "Let her go now or I'll rip your fucking head off!"

"You're all the same. A bunch of inbred mutts, thinking you're superior to the rest of us. Well I've got news for you, you're not! Your threats mean nothing to me, I'm not scared of you."

"You should be," I replied plainly.

I glanced over to the woman. She didn't look scared now. She looked determined, as if the blow to the head forced her survival instincts to kick in. Like she could read my mind, she threw her elbow back into his stomach. Taken off guard, the man faltered like I predicted and dropped his gun hand slightly. She ducked to the side and with that, I pulled the trigger and planted a bullet in his head. His lifeless body dropped to the floor, pulling her to her knees with him. "Get off me, get off me!" She cried, struggling to roll out from underneath him.

Forcing herself out, she tumbled and then scurried towards the wall on the back of her feet and hands, to get as far away from the both of us as possible. She fell against it as she hit it, clutching her knees to her chest.

I slid my Glock back into the holster. "I need you to bring the car round the front Theo," I mind-linked, knowing he could hear me even if he wasn't in the room.

"What's going on? Where are you?" He asked, confused.

"Just get it!" I hissed.

The woman's eyes were darting around, her chest heaving with every deep breath she struggled to inhale. To her, I probably look like a mad man not saying anything but my facial expressions showing otherwise. "Hey, it's okay," I said calmly to her, taking a few steps towards her.

She sat frozen in fear as her adrenalin started wearing off. She wouldn't even look at me as I made every attempt to talk her out of the shocked daze she was in. What do I do? I hadn't realised how fragile she really was until now. I wasn't used to dealing with this, I'd been around violence like this my entire life and it never affected me, so why do I feel so guilty? I was petrified of breaking her.

God, this is ridiculous.

I'd seen and heard things that nobody should ever have to and yet, until this day I'd done it without so much as a hint of emotion or remorse. I've never cared until now.

Maybe it's because of the connection I felt when our eyes met. I shook that idea out of my head almost immediately. I couldn't think about that now. My priority was getting her out of here before Robert came back with an army and killed us all.

Right on time, Theo appeared beside me, slotting his gun into the back of his trousers. He looked over at me hesitantly before his eyes landed on the woman.

"Did you see where Robert went?" I asked him, snapping him out of his trance.

"No," Theo responded. "What the hell have you done Jason?"

"Not now," I said bluntly before taking off my jacket. I took a few steps towards the woman until I was a few feet away.

"Don't take another step!" She screeched.

"You're safe now," I tried to reassure her.

"You're no better than him, you killed him. Just stay away from me!"

Ouch. "I'm really sorry, I can't do that. I can't leave your side."

"What-" Instantly her eyes went wide, as if replaying something over in her head. It was obvious that she had seen what I saw when I looked into her eyes but she looked confused. I'm not sure how much she knows but by that look on her face, what she knew was minimal. "What was that? I-I saw something. It was like I saw our whole lives, but-but how is that possible?"

"We haven't got time for this, we need to get out of here," I replied, avoiding the question.

"Explain now, or I'm not going anywhere."

"For god's sake, just leave her here if she's not going to cooperate Jason! She's going to get us all killed!" Theo yelled behind me.

I ignored him. "Come on. Please? I'll explain everything, we just need to get you out of here first." I crouched down and extended my hand out to help her up. She flinched and from her apparent look of anxiety, my gesture didn't come across as as harmless as it was. She paused, thinking it over and I straightened myself out as she ignored my hand and shakily pushed herself up from the floor.

"Put this on," I instructed, handing her my jacket.

She was bare foot, wearing a skimpy black dress that was far too short and one of the straps had been torn clean off of it. She had cuts and bruises scattered all over from head to toe and a hint of a black eye was developing, but hadn't quite swelled up yet. That was definitely done recently. She looks like she had been through hell and back. She was shaking so much at this point that she struggled to wrap my jacket round her. I instinctively reached out to help her.

"I can do it myself," she retorted, her eyes shooting daggers at me. I held my hands up in surrender, realising I was just making things worse.

I took a few deep breaths before heading off through the back door and out into the car park, towards my car that was still hidden in the dense woods. After a short hesitation, I heard the girls footsteps follow quietly behind us. Arriving at the passengers door, I reached for it and opened it for her as she stood waiting, anxiously looking around. Finding it difficult to focus on one thing, her eyes darted around trees. It was as if she was looking for a way out but realised she was in the middle of nowhere.

She was oblivious to what I was doing so I placed my hand on her back and indicated for her to get in. The confused look quickly disappeared from her face as she manoeuvred around me, avoiding any contact whilst doing so and climbed into the car without saying a word.

As I walked around the car, Theo reached for the back door. "We are going to speak about this whether you like it or not. The pack are going to lose their shit, Jason." He said.

"Fine, but not now," I nodded my head towards the woman. "I'm their Alpha, the pack will get over it."

I brushed my hand through my hair and climbed into my seat. It hadn't taken the woman long to push herself as far away from me as she could and as closely to the car door as possible. As expected, nothing was said for a majority of the journey. The journey was long and all she did was stare out of the window, her eyes tearing up as she watched the scenery go by.

After a while her posture changed. She had pulled her legs up onto the seat, holding them against her chest as tightly as she could. Whilst burying her head into her knees, she sobbed uncontrollably for what seemed like hours. Every now and then, I'd look at Theo in the mirror. He'd glare back at me silently.

I wanted desperately to comfort her but I knew she wasn't intending to speak to either of us. She had no idea who we were or what our intentions were. She was confused and quite rightly terrified.

She didn't deserve this, none of them did.

I had no idea what to say, but I had to say something.

"Are you okay?" No answer. I pulled the car over at the nearest layby. "How long have they kept you there?" I reached out and placed my hand on her back to comfort her, but she shrugged it off.

"Don't. Just don't. Don't touch me," she said, attempting to budge her whole body closer to the door, if that was even possible.

"What a shock. How did you think this was going to go?" Theo said smugly. "What was your plan here? You're a stranger to her." He was really starting to piss me off now.

"Shut the fuck up Theo!" I didn't mean to make her flinch but it was no shock that I did. "Shit, I'm sorry," I said to the woman this time. "Please talk to me, I want to help you". Theo sat back in his seat with his arms crossed. "Listen, I know you probably don't want to talk, but-"

"No, you're right, I don't. Not unless you're going to explain what that was," she cut me off half way through my sentence. Theo's eyes narrowed. He knew he missed something between us but I had no intention of explaining it to him right now.

"We're not going to hurt you, we're trying to help you," I carried on talking, desperate for her to keep talking. "Are you hungry?" She lifted her head this time and looked at me hesitantly. I expected a reply but in a matter of seconds, it dropped to her knees again.

As if her body was reacting to what I'd said, a deep rumble came from her stomach.

She lifted her head up again and wiped her tears away, a defeated look on her face. "Yes."

"I'll get you anything you want." She resumed crying, but this time more intensely than before.

She took a moment and then sobbed, "I can't even remember the last time I ate."

How can somebody treat another person so horrifically? I just can't understand it. Them starving her never even occurred to me as a possibility. "I'm taking you to get some food. Right now," I said before restarting my car and pulling off.

"No. Please! Please don't make me go out in public looking like this. Please!" She begged.

"You need to eat."

"I can wait."

"Okay, if that's what you want," I said hesitantly.

I didn't like this at all but I didn't want to force her. Maybe she'd feel safer at home.

Home.

I suddenly realised that I wanted my home to be her home too.

JASON

Theo was already hovering by the side of the car with his hands in his pockets, clearly not knowing what to do with himself. When I got to the woman's door, she was still clutching onto her knees and burying her head. I unfastened her seat belt and rubbed her back gently.

"Come on, let's get you inside and get you some food." She lifted her head up, nodded and got out of the car. "Hey, what's your name? I never got it."

"Hayley," she whispered.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Hayley, I'm Jason. And the guy with the attitude behind me there is my brother Theo." I nodded my head towards Theo, who was clearly not amused by that comment.

The pack were awaiting our arrival outside. They could always sense it when we were returning. I knew they'd be displeased to say the least about Hayley's presence but I at least expected them to trust my judgement. From the looks