I grab Austin by his shirt and pull him towards me, "she's pregnant?" I ask. "Maya's pregnant with my baby?"
"Are you not fucking hearing me?" he demands. "She's gone. You took her from us. You bloody asshole!"
I let go of him and dropped to the ground in defeat. All of the signs point to her being dead, but the mate bond begs me to believe otherwise. It begs me to think that she's still alive but is in some sort of danger. I want to believe it, I really do, but all of the evidence says otherwise. Her brothers' reactions and trust in this letter make me doubt myself.
Austin shouts some more hateful comments, and I do not blame him. I can't let them hurt me anymore; however, I need to get to the bottom of this letter. I need to find out what the fuck happened to my mate. I don't believe that she's dead. I can't think that she's dead. If I do, I will not make it out alive.
And now they're telling me that she was pregnant with our baby.
Our baby! Just the thought of anything happening to both my mate and baby is enough to take all the air out of my lungs. I will murder anyone that caused them pain. Anyone.
I cannot let this letter turn me away from finding the truth. There is a high possibility that Maya is still alive and pregnant with my child. I had to find them; I had to find my mate and our baby. I wouldn't believe that I'd lost them both before I could tell them how much they meant to me. How much I love them. Because fuck; I do, I don't think I've ever loved anyone this much before. And I won't sit back and let anything stop me from finding her, from finding out what happened to her.
I pick her hair up from the ground, and I stagger back as I feel the real pain of possibly losing her finally hit me. I've been trying hard to deny that she's gone, but there is a possibility that this isn't a lie. That she has really left me.
I fall to the ground and grip the dirt in agony. I want to believe that she is alive, but just the thought of her leaving me and taking our unborn child with her leaves me in so much fucking pain.
"Maya!" I roar. Everyone gets quiet when they hear my cry of agony.
"MAYA!" I roar louder than before.
Where are you?
Who has you? What did they do to you?
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for not protecting you, for not loving you the way that you deserved. I'm sorry that I'm the worst mate in the entire universe. I'm sorry that I was chosen for you when I never deserved you. I'm so fucking sorry.
I can't stop shouting her name in regret and deep sadness. She couldn't have left me. I didn't get a chance to apologize to her, to tell her how sorry I was for hurting her. To tell her how much I regret the choices I made.
"Are you seeing his state?" The girl who has been protecting me asks Maya's brothers. "It's obvious that he wasn't the one that killed her. Whoever wrote that note was not him. Is there someone else that you killed for trying to harm your family? Someone's sister? Someone else seems to be out for revenge, not just Maya's mate. It doesn't make sense for him to kill her. You're looking in the wrong place for your sister's killer; believe me, when I tell you it's not here, it's not him; he did not kill her. The longer you stay here trying to destroy the person that's going to feel her loss the most, the more time you're taking away from finding the true culprit."
I need to stand up; I need to be strong for Maya. She needs me now. If she's still alive, she needs me more than ever.
I pick myself off the ground and look Austin in his eyes, "I swear to you, I would never hurt Maya in that way. I know the terrible things I did to her, and I fucking regret it; I wish I could turn back time and change what I did. But I promise you, I did not hurt her; I would never hurt her again and especially not in that way. And you may not believe me when I tell you this, but I don't believe that she's dead; I will never believe that she's dead. I feel her connection still. How can you trust a letter and pieces of her hair? I'm going to find out who sent this letter and when I do, they will take me to my mate."
And she better fucking be alive. She has to be. I know I'm in constant denial, going back and forth, but I'm sticking to believing that she's still with me.
Austin doesn't look like he wants to believe me, but something must have changed his mind because he orders everyone to back up and leave.
When they're all gone, I'm left alone in my sorrow and regret. Dane hugs me and taps my shoulders, "if you believe that she's still alive. She has to be. She's a fighter. Even if they may think they killed her, she will be out there somewhere. I believe it. I believe in her, and you should also. If she were pregnant, Maya wouldn't let anyone harm her baby. She's out there still, Kane. You have to find her. Don't let these people fool you into thinking that she's dead. It's exactly what they want."
I'm so devastated that I didn't realize we have more company. There are multiple men in front of us. Men that I know and dislike intensely.
"Look at what we have here."
Alpha Jacks.
Fuck.
Is everyone coming for me today? Is this my payback for what I did to Maya? I'm not getting a chance to recover from the shock of everything that happened since the day she left me; everything is hitting me one after the next, and damn it, I'm tired of it all.
"Now is not a good time," I growl.
I notice that he isn't alone; he's brought about many men, enough to take us down since there isn't much of us left anymore. The fight between Maya's family and my pack made sure of that.
"I don't care if it isn't a good time for you. What's important is that it's a good time for me." He says. "Now!" He shouts.
Within seconds, we are all surrounded.
My men all have swords pointed at their throats; even the women that we once protected have blades by their throats.
I stiffen.
I felt helpless seeing my pack in danger and not doing anything to help them.
"What do you want?" I demand.
"Finally, you're speaking my language." He says. "There are many things that I want from you, but the first one is a bit personal. Do you remember my daughter Giselle? She's quite fond of you even though I disapprove of it. She's a stubborn one and insists that she wants you for herself. My first thought was to kill you, but she stopped me. She begged for your life, you see, and in turn, I will give her what she wants. If you want to see your pack alive after today, you must agree to marry my daughter; if you don't agree, I will kill everyone here without a second thought."
There are gasps all around us.
"Don't do it, Kane." My people beg me. "Let him kill us. Do not sacrifice your life to give us ours."
I swallow, faced with a very difficult situation. I still had to find Maya and protect her. Even if I chose to let him kill all of us, it would mean that I could never find out what happened to my mate. I couldn't let that happen.
The man holding a sword to Dane's neck pressed down harder, and the moment that I saw the blood, I knew what I had to do.
I close my eyes and accept defeat. I'll have to give in. At least for now until I found a way to get out of this mess. I'll have to let him think that he's won today. I'll have to agree to marry his daughter.