Jax chewed his food slowly. All his senses were alert as he paid attention to every little movement, every breath, the beating of their hearts.He could smell the deceit in the air even if they hadn’t said or done anything. One wrong move, and it would start a war. So why were they even going to attempt it?He looked over at Chase as he cut up his breakfast and then shoved it into his mouth as if he didn't have a care in the world. So far, he had yet to say what was so important that he had repeatedly sent his scouts to his gates until he’d secured an invitation. What was his angle? Had he forced this invitation just to get on his property?And then Kendrick. He sat quietly with Amber on one side and his Beta on the other. So far, his heart had been beating steadily, but Kendrick was the one he had to watch more closely.Kendrick was vocal about his displeasure that he had the most extensive territory. He was vocal about the fact that he didn’t think they needed a king. The fucker was
Jax stepped back and tried to rein his beast in, but his heart was pounding, and his head was still trying to process what he had just done.And Cain, the bastard, he was raring to go. He had a mate to mark and enemies to rip apart, in no particular order. “It was you,” Layla whispered. Behind him, the sound of footsteps pulled his attention away. Dylan and his warriors were running up the stairs. Shit! His door lay on the floor, and he couldn’t stop his shift. Like a newly shifted pup, his beast had taken all the control from him.He had to stop. If they saw Cain, then he would never be able to lie that Layla didn’t know the truth. ‘I’ll kill them all,’ Cain growled. ‘And then you won’t have to hide her from anyone.’‘They will take her from us!’“Hide, Layla,” he growled before Cain turned them around to face the coming deluge.By the time Dylan appeared on the landing, Cain was already halfway down the hall, ripping off his jacket and shirt as he became half man, half beast. The
Layla sat on the carpet floor in the walk-in closet, hugging her knees as she waited for Jackson to return.His face had been different, and he’d had claws. Fucking claws. But still, there she was, waiting for him because she didn’t know what was going on and if she was safe.Why had he knocked the door over like that? And who had been chasing him? Those people who had come for the meeting?The moment he’d looked behind him, something had crossed his face that looked like fear. The huge monster from the forest was scared of something. That had been enough to hammer in that something could be out there that was much worse than what she had seen with her own eyes. Jackson had constantly told her to just follow the rules. To not challenge him and not ask questions. She was starting to wonder if that had been his way of keeping her safe from his people.She lifted her hand and looked at the ring that had appeared on her finger in her sleep. Jackson hadn’t explained why he’d given her ano
Two days.Jackson had been out for two days.Layla placed the wet cloth on his forehead again and then studied his unconscious state. He looked like he was just sleeping, and his features were softened. So many emotions swirled inside her that she couldn’t make sense of any of them.Jackson was larger than life. When he was angry with her, when he made love to her, when he looked at her, he always evoked such extreme emotions in her. Now he looked harmless. He looked so vulnerable that she felt a hint of protectiveness towards him. It was funny how her fear of Jackson had disappeared now that he was so helpless. The need to stay by his side to take care of him was as strong as it was confusing. And she felt driven to touch him constantly as if she was trying to reassure herself that he was still alive. She shouldn’t have felt any of those things, especially now that she knew what he was.“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” she whispered, pushing a lock of his sweat-drenched hair out of his
Layla knew she looked insane as she paced the lobby. Her thoughts were becoming less coherent the longer she stayed up.At any other time, she would have thought she was having a mental breakdown because all her crazy thoughts were mixed in with the weird voices that got her into trouble when she was younger. But she knew this wasn’t anything related to the red wolf or her usual delusions. She wasn’t herself just because she was tired.Hell, she’d been walking around in a ‘packhouse’ surrounded by werewolves, and she hadn’t had the good sense to feel afraid. She felt like a zombie, and trying to understand anything around her was futile.Trying to understand how she felt and why she felt it was also futile. It was like she was thinking someone else’s thoughts and feeling someone else’s emotions, as insane as that sounded. She would probably need therapy when she went back home because none of that was normal.Faith had fed her, and she’d felt calmer in the girl’s presence, but her a
Everything hurt.Jax opened his heavy eyelids and winced against the brightness in the room. Even his eyeballs hurt. For the first time in his life, he felt disoriented and weak. His head was swimming, and it felt like someone had hit him continuously with a sledgehammer. His limbs felt too heavy to move, and the bite on his side made his whole body feel like he was burning from the inside. Normally he healed faster than other werewolves because of his royal blood, but that witch must have done something to prevent that. He could feel the dark magic in his blood, trying to get a hold of him again. Whatever spell or poison she had used had to have been very strong because he hadn’t sensed it until seconds before he passed out.Even Diedre, the strongest witch he knew, had not sensed it.He pushed that worry away because he was in no shape to make sense of that. The only thing that soothed him was the weight on his chest and the scent of his mate. Since the day he’d met her, he’d tried
Jax could feel Micah’s worry as he lowered him into the large bathtub.‘I’m healing. I’ll be fine,’ he said through the mind link.His head warrior nodded and then stepped back before looking at Layla standing quietly next to the sinks at the other end of his bathroom. Their bathroom. They had been in physical contact for a week, their bond strengthening even in their sleep. She was his; he couldn’t deny that anymore.“I’ll help him out when he’s ready,” Micah told Layla. “Thank you.”Layla sounded uncertain. She watched Micah leave the room and didn’t move even when he closed the door behind him. It was only when he heard the bedroom door being closed that Layla came forward. It was as if she had heard the door being closed, too.Speed. Check. Better eyesight. Check. Sensitive hearing. Double-check.“Can I trust any of them?” she whispered as she put some toiletries on the side and sat on the edge of the tub.There was no point lying to her about that now. She had to learn how to p
Layla washed quickly and let the water out of the tub. How the hell had she got herself into this mess? There was no trust involved in this place. She wasn't safe. And she was a crazy fool to feel even the slightest bit safe with Jackson.Something had changed. She could feel it even though she couldn’t understand it. Her head was a lot clearer, yet she still wasn’t herself. She couldn’t be, not when she felt like this for Jackson. How could she feel so... attached to him? Her feelings had been wild before she had passed out on top of him, and those feelings seemed to have settled even though she was very well-rested. Madness.She looked back at the man who’d fallen asleep when he had found his release. The image tugged at her heartstrings, something it shouldn’t have done. But he still looked so... defenceless. If he couldn’t trust the people around him, then that meant he expected her to look out for him again. And she felt compelled to because of whatever twisted thing was happeni
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,”