•••Jason's POV•••

Panic filled my chest as I regained back control of my own body.

Then came the pain of being pushed out a third story window.

But that's not important right now.

I breathed heavily as I stumbled to my feet.

S**t, s**t, s**t

S**t Malaki! What have you done?!

Silence.

Oh, of course you have nothing to say!

I gritted my teeth as I half walked, half limped back toward the doors of the Main House.

With each step, I grew angrier at myself, but there was a bone crushing sadness to counter it.

An enraged, but even more-so, distraught, roar ripped through me.

"F**k!" I screamed.

  "F**k, what have I done?" My voice cracked.

  Next thing I knew, Zach came sprinting over with wide and alert eyes. They fell on the blood on my hand, and mouth, and to the broken window that he knows goes to Maria's room. His gaze switched to my eyes with a hard look.

  "What did you do?" He questioned worriedly.

  I couldn't stop the tears, "I have to go after her," I ran forward.

  He stopped me and gripped my shoulders. "Dude, what happened? What did you do?"

  That's when Maria's friends, Rose and Brandon, came into view, but I wasn't paying attention to them.

  I looked into my second in command's eyes, someone who's supposed to be coming to me for trouble, not the other way around, and broke even further, "I didn't mean to," I cried, trying to pry him off me.

  Rose's voice went dark, "What did you do?" She repeated after Zach.

  "I didn't mean to hurt her," I cried to my Beta. To my best friend. A silent, "help me," was in my words. "I swear! He. . . He. I couldn't stop him," I shook my head, nearly hysterical.

  Realization washed over his face, and he looked like he pitied me.

  But he just fought harder to hold me back. Away from her.

  "You bastard!" Brandon bellowed as he charged towards me.

  They don't even know the half of it.

  Gah!

  I hate myself.

  "Wait! Brandon!" Rose latched onto him. "Mari needs us! She probably went where she always does. We can beat the s**t out of him later, but right now, Mari shouldn't be alone," she looked into his eyes.

  His gaze whipped in my direction. He gave me one last long glare before he left with his mate with a grunt.

  "Let me go," I looked back to Zach, "Let me go," I pleaded.

  He shook his head with sad eyes, "She probably doesn't wanna see you right now, man."

  My heart shattered.

  Malaki finally came out of silence to whimper.

  My blood boiled at the reminder of what he did.

  Yeah, you better cry, you f**king animal! Piece of s**t! Look what you've done!! You've driven her away! She'll never be ours now!

  'She is ours,' he grumbled quietly.

OH REALLY?! I hollered at him. WHAT ABOUT THIS SITUATION MAKES YOU THINK THAT?!

  'My mark on her neck.'

  Oh you —

  'And her tie to us through the mate bond.'

I swear, I'm going to —

  'And her house in our hands.'

  I shoved him to the back of my mind.

  Locked him in a cage.

  Put a muzzle over his mouth.

  Smart @ss.

  Without him pestering me, I could focus back on Zach. "I have to go to her," I tried to shake him off. "You have to let me go to her," I looked him straight in the eyes.

 
  From the look of it, his heart seemed to be breaking too, but he still shook his head. "Not now, man. Just give her some time."

  "I-I have to fix things," I stammered frantically.

  "I know you do," he nodded, holding my gaze and arms tighter. "And you will. When she's ready."

:::Rose's POV:::

We booked it to the private training center when Maria's scent wasn't headed towards the woods.

I swear, I'm gonna kill that guy for hurting her.

And I know Brandon feels the same way. His anger is coming off him in waves. Even if someone couldn't feel emotions, they'd probably still be able to tell.

I turned to my mate as we sprinted towards the building.

I love this guy.

He'll do anything for our friends and family.

I love him so much.

I love him so much that — oh s**t, we're here.

And I smell blood.

We rushed in to find Maria going to town on a punching bag.

My heart clenched at the site of her.

"Oh no," I felt myself whisper.

"GAH!" She screamed. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! I HATE YOU!" She kicked and punched and hit and hit and hit.

We ran up to her.

"Maria stop!" Brandon demanded. "You're hurt!"

The blood is soaking her t-shirt at this point.

But things like that never stopped her before.

She sobbed loudly. "I. Hate. Him!"

She kept hitting and hitting and hitting.

"MARI!" I hollered.

It finally seemed like we got through to her.

Her sobs quieted but the tears kept falling.

She gave one last angry kick to the bag, putting all her force into it, then collapsed into a whimpering heap.

The both of us hurried to crouch down next to her.

"Maria," I whispered again, gently placing my hand on her shoulder.

"Here, let me see the wound, Mari," Brandon reached towards her.

She didn't make a move to show him herself, but didn't object as he lifted up her tattered shirt to show us her shredded stomach.

We both cringed.

Brandon tried to shrug, "Don't worry," he glanced nervously at me, "it's just a scratch."

I huffed, "Yeah, just a scratch that's not gonna heal if you keep doing sh*t like that," I nudged my head to the punching bag.

She just leaned into my shoulder and cried silently.

Brandon and I looked at each other.

  I sighed sadly. "You're okay, babe." I ran my hands through her hair. "Do you wanna tell us what happened?"

  "Wait," Brandon spoke up, "are you hurt anywhere else?"

  I leaned away a little bit so we could see her face.

  She sniffled and let out another sob. "It hurts so bad," her shoulders shook.

  Brandon and I looked up in alarm.

  Maria doesn't complain. Not about pain. She's a fu*king rock.

  I've seen her continue fighting on two broken ankles, a shattered hip bone, and a dislocated shoulder.

  I can't imagine how excruciating this injury is if Maria is sobbing over it.

  If she's actually in enough pain for me to slip by with my ability and feel some of it.

  "What? What hurts? Let me see," Brandon urged as I continued holding her close.

  She shakily reached up to move her hair away from her neck.

  The breath left my lungs.

  Brandon started shaking in anger by the time he could process what the wound was.

  "I-I," Maria choked on her words, "I can't. It hurts so bad."

  "He's so dead," I gritted through my teeth.

  "D@mn right he is," Brandon agreed.

  If he thinks he can get away with forcefully marking my best friend, this gruesomely, nonetheless, he's sadly mistaken.

  Now I understand why Mari's in agony. Her mate just took a f**king chunk out of her neck.

The spot where mates are meant to mark is way sensitive to their touch.

Regular markings hurt. Any movement while their teeth are in your neck is excruciating.

And if I know Maria — or can see the f**king hole in her neck — she fought.

And what was left behind is not pretty.

Her sobs got louder and louder into my shoulder.

  Before tears could come to my eyes as well, I scooped her up bridal style with a grunt.

  "I'll go ahead and tell Doc," Brandon said while getting up, as well. "By the time you get to the infirmary with her extra weight, we should have a good place to put her."

I nodded, "Sounds good, love."

He pressed a haste kiss to my cheek and took off.

I looked down at Mari, "Hang in there," and then took off as well.

•••Jason's POV•••

  "We're postponing our party's search until Maria's healed," I growled once I got the news her friends took her to the infirmary.

  "Jason, we can't —"

  "I'm not leaving her, Zach!" I barked at him.

  He stared at me for a second. Looking into my eyes for something.

  I guess he found it when he shook his head.

  "Fine."

~~~~~~~
(A/N)

  Hey:) This is the first time we're seeing Rose's POV! How do you guys like her? We also got more of Brandon.

  They're definitely going to be becoming more prominent members of the story in coming chapters, so hopefully you guys like them:)

  Thanks for reading!

  ~ The Awkward Camper