The Scarlet Hunter

Chapter 47-3

"I have to take care of some things today, but I can stay here," Jackson informed Isla while in the shower. He ran his hands down her back, rinsing the soap from her. "I'll keep you with me instead of leaving you in your cell." He turned her so that she was facing him. His hand cupped her face, his thumb rubbing over her aging bruises. "You would like that, wouldn't you? To be with me."

Isla nodded, "Yes, Alpha Jackson."

He grinned, "Good."

He turned off the shower and proceeded to dry her off. "That reminds me, I had something installed in the room while you were in your cell yesterday."

Nothing good can come of this. Isla didn't notice anything new, so it couldn't have been too obnoxious.

He carried her into the room over by the window where Isla's system flooded with trepidation when she saw an eyehook on the floor.

Jackson put her on her feet. "Kneel for me."

Isla dropped down in front of a naked Jackson. He pulled her backward, tugging her wrists down behind her, and pushing her ankles towards each other. He secured them together, locked into the eye hook.

"Perfect," Jackson exclaimed from behind her. He walked around to her front. "Absolutely perfect." He walked away and disappeared down the hallway. When he emerged, he was dressed and carried a hairbrush in one hand and a bundle of long dark brown fabric with bronze pieces in the other.

Grabbing a chair on his way back, he placed it behind her and sat down. The brush combed through the wet copper curls, pulling through the tangles. He gathered all her hair and put it in a braid that laid over her shoulder.

"I think this will work out nicely." Pleasure seeping through his voice.

He carried her down the hall about fifteen minutes later, dressed as Princess Leia.

The door at the end of the hall opened to a long room of which the focal point was a desk that looked heavier than a Volkswagen. Two large windows behind the desk offered expansive views of the landscape and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves promised a high quantity if not quality of reading. The collection appeared to be curated for its leather and dark hues and not its content. The light cast through the glass fought the darkness of the décor and the aura of the main inhabitant.

"This is my office. I just need to take care of a couple things." He walked her around to his chair and sat down with her on his lap. "I can't have you distracting me, though. So, I need you to promise that you won't make any sounds, OK? I haven't had to gag you yet, and I really don't want to."

"Yes, Alpha Jackson." She made sure her face looked solemn.

He lifted her only to drop her to the floor in front of him. She looked up at him for confirmation that she was indeed supposed to be on her butt where he placed her. "I'm going to keep you tucked away down there." He scooted her under his desk. Secured in the cubby between drawers on either side, she was blocked by the back of the desk. Isla pulled her knees in and slid to the far corner as he caged her with his legs.

Isla pondered on the times she interacted with him at the Northern Territory and wondered how no one knew he was this insane. She didn't know either. But in her defense, she wasn't raised with him. She had very few interactions with him.

With a shin draped across her stomach, a foot behind her, and enclosed by three walls of an antique desk, never again will she mistake charm for sanity.

She remained trapped there while he tapped away on the keyboard, occasionally making frustrated noises. He made a few phone calls, but it all seemed foreign to her. He talked about deals and trades, asking how projects were coming along. Overall, he seemed to be reading and working away efficiently.

About an hour and a half later, his phone rang. "Remember what I said about being quiet, precious." His legs locked onto her, and he answered on speaker.

"How's it going there?" Jackson started the conversation.

"It's pretty intense." Came his response. "More than what we thought it would be."

"What's he doing?"

"So far, he's destroyed his office and his bedroom. He slept in the guest room across the hall when he did sleep. Apparently, her things are in that room."

Isla realized the phone call was about Alec.

She must have flinched because Jackson's grip tightened around her. She would pay dearly for that later.

"Good, good. They need to see his temperament. They need to see he's unfit to be the titled alpha. When does he head to the Northern Territory?"

"Tomorrow." The stranger responded. "After the dead ends here, they're going to explore some avenues there."

"How about Jax?"

"I don't have eyes on him. He's been busy, and honestly, there's a core of them keeping to themselves: Alec, Kelvin, Jax, and Damon. The rest of us are on the outside."

"Well, it'll all fall apart soon enough, and I'll take care of them after. I have the most valuable thing from the New Territory, so Alpha Cole can have it when Alec falls."

Jackson hung up, his legs on her loosened. "You see, precious," he addressed her from where he sat. "If my brother was so upset that he carried you to the bedroom, threw you down on the bed, and fucked you as desperately as he did because a couple guys got too close to you at a party, how much control do you think he's losing now?"

It was all Jackson. All of it. All the time.

***

Jax's eyes darted over the damage in Alec's office, taking note so that he could get Beta Kelvin to hire someone, or several people, to repair it. It might be time to redecorate it completely.

He closed the door behind him locking himself in with a distressed alpha, quickly losing his mind.

"It was Cole that took her but didn't keep her," Jax confirmed what they had been suspecting. "We are tracking down who he turned her over to."

"Why are we not destroying New Moon right now?"

"We will." Jax agreed. "Let's get Isla back first. If we burn the trail that leads to her, they will react. If we want to surprise them, we wait until we've found her."

"Is there going to be an Isla to get back, Jax?" Alec's eyes were dark and red.

"She is cunning and sharp,Alec," purposely addressing his alpha without using his title. "She will find away to survive."