Jackson walked through the doors that the door attendants held open for them. Micah had stayed behind to protect the pack with his Gamma, Jon, but Dylan insisted they needed a few warriors when they met the Circle. Almost like he had no faith in him anymore.He balled his fists, something he was doing too often lately, as they walked through the lobby. The sun was just rising, so there was thankfully no one—“Mr King, welcome back.”Fuck’s sake.He ignored the voice and continued walking to the elevators. What the hell was that woman doing here so early, anyway?“I heard you were coming, but I wasn’t sure if you plan on staying for a while. We cleaned your suite again despite that very young girl you have staying as your guest.”He sensed the judgement in her tone. He had no time for this shit. Layla had still been asleep when he had gone in to see her before he’d left, but he had sensed something wrong with her all night. Cain wanted to go back and make sure she was alright, but sh
“I don’t understand why the Circle is coming. We haven't dealt with them since the last king was murder—”Alpha Chase cut himself off and glanced at him.“Sorry. Since King Jackson ascended to the throne,” he continued.That wasn’t a mistake. Chase was his biggest ally, but he never failed to mention the circumstances surrounding his father’s death every time they met. Most people outside his pack didn’t know what Alpha King Richard had been like in the end because they had kept him hidden. “They’re not here to see you, so don’t worry about it,” he answered with a tight smile.Chase had never openly challenged him. Like most Alphas, his ego was the size of a small country, but he was strong enough and intelligent enough to back it up. He would be a dangerous enemy for Dylan if he didn’t deal with him the right way. “But we’re neighbours and allies. I have to worry about the things you and your pack do,” Chase said, adding—as if it was an afterthought—“Your Majesty.”His fists balled
Layla stretched and then opened her eyes. Something still didn’t feel right, but it differed from the previous day. She didn’t just feel mentally broken; she also felt bereft. Something was missing.Maybe it was the fact she knew Jackson would see Britney and had left her stuck in this room. She rolled over and punched her pillow several times before finally dragging herself to the bathroom. The stress had taken a more considerable toll on her than usual. She felt drained, just a shell of herself, as she stood under the shower spray. She didn't understand why it felt worse this time when it hadn't got as far as it usually did. She hadn't even seen a wolf or heard the voices in her head, for that matter. All she’d had were hallucinations and feeling separated from reality. It had been pretty mild compared to her usual meltdowns.But still, the feeling wouldn’t let her go. Once dressed in another t-shirt and jean outfit from Jackson's wardrobe, she walked over to the windows to look
Layla took a step back. Her first instinct was to run, but where the hell would she go? The girl was blocking the path down the side of the vast building, and they had come quite a distance from the main door of the house. The girl was strong. Maybe she was fast, too. Trying to make it back to the room would be a gamble. She should never have come out in the first place. She should have listened to Jackson."You shouldn't be here, Monica," Diedre said, stepping in front of her as if to shield her. The woman's sunny nature had disappeared, and it actually felt a little chilly in the air. Layla had no idea if Diedre was just like the girl, if she was just as strong from whatever they ate or injected themselves with in this place, but she hoped so. She did not fancy getting her ass kicked again."But I didn't do anything wrong," the girl, Monica, said. Her voice sounded small. That fierce snarl she had shown the first day was nowhere to be seen. The anger and the attitude were gone as
“You know the rules better than anyone, Jackson. No humans on pack territories,” Hugo said. “There are Hunters who have been operating not too far from you. Now isn’t the time to take any chances.”“Who told you about her?” Jackson asked as he sat back in the chair.He was willing to bet it was Zach. That old man hadn’t been happy that he had shut him down during that dinner. But of course, after the rogues had declared Layla one of them, it could have been anyone in the pack. “That doesn’t matter, Jackson,” Lincoln said. “What matters is that you need to fix this before things escalate. We don’t want to have to take any... extra measures.”The threat was clear in Alpha Lincoln’s tone. He’d seen some of their ‘extra measures’ before. The Circle was so sadistic that he wasn’t sure who was worse; them or the Hunters. Whole packs had disappeared—maybe moved off their lands or worse, he didn’t know for sure—just to make sure the Hunters found nothing when they arrived. All in the name of
Rage.That was all he felt when he saw Layla pinned down on the path. When he saw Laken and his sons with their filthy hands on her. His vision was red as he slowed to a stop. He’d got out of the car and ran the rest of the way to the packhouse, but he hadn’t shifted because he had assumed Layla had just seen something that had scared her, and he’d known how dangerous it would be for Layla if she saw Cain. But he couldn’t rein his beast in now. He growled in warning, and the three wolves let go of Layla immediately and backed away. Their fear polluted the air as they lowered their gazes. He had stopped Cain from carrying out justice many times already but this... This he would not let go of. Dylan finally reached him and stopped beside him.“Fuck,” Dylan whispered. Because he knew. He knew this was the end of them.His gaze lowered to Layla, who was still on the ground, frozen in place. His mate. She felt... broken. They had done this to her. ‘Stay,’ he growled in the mind link w
Layla sat on the edge of Jackson’s bed and ignored the woman hovering around her.“I thought you were safe. I should have seen it...”The mumblings of a crazy person. But who was she to talk? She spoke to wolves in her head.Still, that was better to focus on than the fact that she’d almost been raped and killed. And that Jackson was blaming her for that.Anger fought with despair and shock. The turmoil in her head threatened to consume her. Almost raped. Almost raped.She could still feel their hands on her body as if it was still happening. Still feel their breath on her face. Still see the looks in their eyes. “I’m sorry, Layla. I don’t know what came over them,” Diedre continued.She didn’t want to hear about it anymore, so she stood up and walked to the bathroom. She stripped and threw her clothes in the trash before entering Jackson’s colossal shower. The spray was icy at first and then very hot, but she was too numb to feel it. All she wanted was to get rid of the feeling of t
Jackson looked at the two young men and their kid sister as they hung suspended on silver chains. The girl had passed out before he could do anything to her. The boys had lasted a little longer. They were bloody, and he could smell their impending death as the silver poisoned them, but he wasn’t satisfied. His rage still filled him and clouded his mind. It had been worse when he’d held Layla and listened to her talk in her sleep.The hatch opened, and he caught Dylan’s scent as he came down. Cain growled in his head at the intrusion. He knew why his Beta was there. Dylan thought the kids had had enough, but he and Cain begged to differ. It would be enough when he could no longer smell their scents or hear their heartbeats. “Alpha Chase is still trying to get a hold of you,” Dylan said as he came to stand beside him. “I’m still busy,” he growled. “You killed their dad, Jax. I think they’ve learned their lesson.”“It’s because I killed their dad that they must die. I don’t need thes
Jackson grinned when Dylan rolled his eyes at him as Hope led him by the finger to the tea party she had set up in the garden. “Enjoy your party,” he called to them before he turned and walked toward the packhouse. The trainees had the day off today, but he was pleased that most of them took their training seriously and were sparring in the fields. All the kids had to grow up quickly after the last war. In a few days, they would all hold a memorial honouring all the people they had lost. Gavin walked up to him before he reached the door. “Everything is all set, Alpha,” he said. Gavin was the most prominent reminder of what the war had cost him. He’d had to fill Micah’s big shoes. Though it wasn’t his fault, his heart cracked whenever he saw Micah’s replacement as the Gamma. “Thank you. We’ll be ready in time,” he said with a nod. The packhouse was spotless as usual, awaiting all the guests he had invited. As he walked toward the stairs, Faith’s mother walked in, a huge sm
Layla clutched her heart and fell to her knees. Hope started to cry behind her, as if her poor child could sense her pain, too. Faith tried to soothe her, but there was too much fear in the air, too much pain. “Jackson is hurt,” she whispered, looking at her mother. She had held out long enough. The house was full of all the vulnerable people in the pack, and their fear and anxiety weighed down on her. She couldn’t wait any longer. Rebecca walked over to Faith and took Hope from her. And her little girl instantly quietened in her grandmother’s arms. Rebecca met her gaze and nodded. “I will look after Hope. And I will protect everyone in this house,” Rebecca said, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her mother knew what she had to do. She couldn’t leave Jackson to fight alone, but if anything happened to one of them, it would happen to the other. “Can I trust you, Mum?” she whispered. She hadn’t called her mum since the day she had abandoned them. “Always,” Rebecca whis
The dark clouds completely covered the sun. Jax stood at his lookout rock and looked over the forest. Even the witch was closing in from that direction when it was supposed to be their safest. He could sense her magic filling up in it even though he couldn’t sense any individual wolves. It was like when she’d sent the rogues who had hidden in the shadows right under their noses. His warriors wouldn’t sense them until it was too late. ‘The women and children are in the packhouse,’ Dylan said in the mind link. He didn’t know if that would make a difference. The strength he could sense in the magic around him was something he had never experienced from the witch before. He could feel it in the clouds above him, in the air they were all breathing. He could feel it rippling over his skin, yet they had not reached their boundary. Cain was silent in his head, already in hunting mode. But he couldn’t hunt everywhere at once. They were surrounded by armies bigger than any that had ever
The air was knocked out of her lungs as Layla landed in a heap in the field. Everything hurt. Jackson had been pounding into her for hours. ‘And not in a good way. How the hell are you getting worse at this instead of better?’ the voice in her head said. Since Jackson had marked her, that voice had become a more permanent feature in her head. She’d been able to shut it off before, but now it was impossible. She was constantly arguing with it and losing focus, and her ability to control her emotions was also on the fritz. Her moods were yo-yo-ing worse than when she’d been pregnant. “You’re distracted.” She lifted her head with the bit of energy she had left and looked at Jackson, who was glaring at her from the other side of their makeshift ring. “I’m tired,” she corrected. “Let’s take a break.” “We can’t, Layla,” Jackson growled. He marched across to her and helped her to her feet. “You pissed off the Circle, and I pissed off the Wicked Witch. It was fine when our sins were
Angelic singing. It drifted in and out of his ears and tried to force him from his peaceful slumber. It was beautiful but it was pissing him off. Why did anyone have to sing so much when people were trying to fucking sleep? His eyes shot open. His heart slammed in his chest. Could it be? He turned and saw the face he had fallen asleep next to because it was the last face he wanted to see before he died. Layla’s mouth was slightly open and she was snoring softly. He sat up with a jolt and listened to the singing. Those weren’t angels. That should have been his first clue. His soul had been damned long ago; there were no angels in his afterlife. “What are you doing? Come back to sleep,” Layla mumbled. It took her a few more seconds, but Layla jolted awake and her eyes widened as she looked at him. She sucked in a breath, her heart hammering to match his. Maybe he was dreaming. Perhaps he wanted this so much that he was dreaming about it just before the curse snatched his l
Jackson watched the sleeping baby in his arms and blinked back his tears. He was leaving his precious little girl in chaos. All his efforts to find the witch had failed. She’d disappeared after Amber and Miss Roberts had failed. He assumed the witch knew there was no point now. She’d already achieved her goal of making the rest of his life miserable. “I’m sorry, Hope,” he whispered. “I know you’ll become a better person than I was, even in any adversity. Do you know why? Because you also have your mother in you. You are going to be magnificent.” The more he said it, the more he would believe it. But it was hard to see any such future in a helpless three-month-old. “What the fuck was I thinking?” His chest squeezed as it had done all day. “It’s not your fault.” He looked up to see his mate in the bathroom doorway, a vision in a green, body-hugging dress. It had thin straps, so his mark was on show. For a second, he felt pride in it. But he remembered it was nothing but a death s
Jackson wasn’t too worried about Hugo’s threat. Since Diedre had started feeling better, she had been working hard to remove all the traces of dark magic around their territory. Her well of magic seemed to run deeper, even though it was not yet fully replenished. Warding the whole territory had been beyond her before Layla had healed her. But all the entry points had been fortified. Her magic wasn’t as it used to be but strong. Nobody would enter through his gates without his permission. Even if Diedre’s magic didn’t work on him and Layla, it had to work for the rest of the pack. Right? He was more worried about what the hell Layla was doing there. She should have been home with Hope and the others. Especially since he’d already warned her that the Circle was worse than any Hunter she would ever meet. Layla seemed intent on breaking all his rules. He was about to tell Hugo they had wasted their time when he sensed the rage rising in his mate. It was so dark it felt like Cain’s
Layla opened her eyes and stretched. And then she remembered what she had done. She sat up and looked at the other side of the bed. Jackson hadn’t come back, though she could sense he was close. And he was angry. Rightfully so. She lay back and pulled the covers over her naked body. Her hand went to her neck, and she felt the grooves left by his teeth. She’d assumed his bite would heal like all her other injuries. Maybe that was why they called it marking. Would everyone be able to see it? It tingled when she ran her fingers on it, and though the way she had got it made her cheeks heat up with shame, she didn’t regret it. She had known he would react like that. She would have been livid in his shoes. If he never spoke to her again, then she would understand. But she would never have forgiven himself if he died and she could have saved him. She’d had no choice. She sighed as she pushed the covers off again and slid off the bed. She started walking toward the bathroom, but her st
Everything felt different. The longer he lay on the rock, the more he sensed the differences. Everything was sharper, as if there had been a veil on his vision before. The stars were so clear he felt like he could touch them. The air was sweeter. The chirping of the birds as they woke up to get the worm... Beautiful. Fucking beautiful. And the rage in his heart eclipsed it all. He’d told her. He’d said no over and over again, even before she had known what his bite would do. And she’d gone ahead and violated his trust. Violated him. ‘She was never going to give us up without a fight,’ Cain stated. ‘Stop talking like you knew it was going to happen. This isn’t Romeo and Juliet. We don’t have to die together!’ ‘What would you have done in her shoes?’ That question cooled some of his anger. He knew what he would have done for his love. He’d have moved heaven and earth to save her. He’d have crossed any ocean, climbed any mountain. But this wasn’t about him! “I’ve killed her,”