LOGINShare
4. Jinxed
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Layla stood in the shadows of the trees and watched one of the younger trainees stop and listen to his surroundings. He wouldn’t find her. She had this part of her gifts down; she could do it without effort.
The boy lowered to his haunches and tilted his head. He was listening to the vibrations in the air, the sound of breathing, a heartbeat. Anything at all so he could pass through this stage of his training. At least he would get a chance to advance. She was just stuck there.
It was also supposed to be a test for her to make sure she kept practising her skills. She wanted something more challenging than playing around with the kids in the woods. They must have forgotten that she’d killed enemy wolves with her bare teeth in her human form. And she was the one who’d got that witch who’d plagued them all. Or it was precisely the reason they kept giving her these stupid exercises because she was beginning to suspect that no one wanted to spar with her. Brit would probably get further ahead in her training once she started.
The young trainee rose and started walking again. The warrior in charge of the session claimed the young man already mastered how to sneak up on the enemy, but it sounded like a herd of elephants was trampling through the forest to her ears.
She had an unfair advantage. It was why she needed to find a better way to train. Jax was the only one she could go one-on-one with, but maybe it was time she asked her mother. Her mother knew of the dangers out there; she would teach her if asked to.
Maybe it was time to finally bury the hatchet and rebuild their relationship properly.
When the boy walked out of the woods to tell the trainer he failed, she sighed and slipped out of the shadows that engulfed her. She didn’t bother masking her scent or any sounds she made as she marched out of the woods.
“Can I move on to weapons training or something else?” she asked.
The trainer lowered his gaze, and it exasperated her. That was another reason they didn’t train her as hard as they prepared the others. She was their Luna, and her mate was an overprotective bastard.
“Um... I’ll see what Alpha Jackson says...”
She sighed and walked away before he spewed any more words that would ruin her mood.
The man once told her he would bring her back to the packhouse and train her when she thought of running away from the Hunters. Now if he wasn’t the one doing it, no one else was allowed to.
Still, that was a problem for another day. She had Brit to worry about that day.
Hope was in the lobby when she walked into the house. The toddler’s face lit up when she saw her, and she ran into her arms for a cuddle.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” she said as she kissed her daughter on the top of her head and then balanced her on her hip.
Hope’s hair was growing fast, and the bright red made her stand out the same way she had stood out when she’d been younger. She suspected Hope was like her, but with her father’s genes, she had no idea what was in store for her child. But she knew Jax would have to let Hope train like the others. He couldn’t give any special treatment to either of them just because they were his.
“Morning, Miss Layla.”
She smiled and walked across the lobby to Faith, who’d offered to babysit Hope so she could talk with Brit.
“Morning, Faith. Are you just about ready to leave?”
The semester break hadn’t started yet. Faith only came home for the birthday and memorial, but there were still a few more weeks until they broke off for the summer.
“Yeah, we’re leaving later this afternoon,” Faith answered as they started to walk together to the kitchen. “Mum’s already crying like I’m not going to come back.”
“She misses you when you’re not here, but don’t worry. Hope and I look after her.”
The woman in question was busy giving orders as the morning rush began. Grace’s face lit up like Hope’s when she saw them, and she came toward Faith to embrace her. They had the type of relationship she hoped to have with Hope when she was older. The kind she wished she had with Rebecca.
“Come and sit down for breakfast, Faith. You’ve lost so much weight; you haven’t been looking after yourself,” Grace said as she fussed over her child.
Faith rolled her eyes but smiled as her mother led her to the kitchen island and placed a plate of steaming food in front of her a second later.
“What may I get you, Luna?” Sandra asked as she turned around to face her and Hope.
Her cheeks were reddening, and she sensed the older woman’s mortification. She fussed over her child before attending to the Luna like any good mother was supposed to. There was no need for her to feel like that.
“Don’t worry about me. I was just coming to say we will have breakfast with my sister in my room this morning. You can lay out the dining room for everyone else,” she answered with a smile.
There was no point in everyone skipping a meal again. She would take Jax’s suggestion and ease everyone into things.
She told Faith not to forget to say goodbye and left the uncomfortable Omegas to their duties. Jax said it would take some time until they opened up to her like Faith, but at least they weren’t afraid of her anymore.
Jackson was just coming down the stairs when she returned to the lobby. He looked tired. Even after he’d made love to her, his thoughts kept him up longer than they should have. He hadn’t even woken up when she’d got up for training.
He smiled when he saw them and kissed the top of Hope’s head before he kissed her lips.
“You should have woken me,” he said.
“You needed the rest. Maybe we should take a break today?” she offered.
“I have a lot of—”
“Come on,” she urged, putting her free arm around him. “Everything is fine. There’s nothing urgent that you need to do. We could spend days in bed; no one would notice.”
“Pretty sure this young lady would notice,” he said as he took Hope into his arms when the little girl demanded his attention. She squealed when Jax blew raspberries on her chubby cheek.
Jax was right; the little girl always looked for him. Hope was a daddy’s girl through and through. Just as she had been before her mother left, before Gerald became a shell of himself. In times like these, when she watched the two of them together, her heart twisted with thoughts of her father. She would never understand how anyone could have a child and discard them so easily. He’d sold her to pay off debts. That was how little she meant to him.
Her mood lowered. Jackson stopped kissing his daughter and met her gaze over her head.
“You’re right,” he said after a while. “Everything is perfect right now. We have our health, we have our little family, and we have peace in our territory. Everything is fine. There’s no reason why I can’t take a few days off and just relax with my girls.”
A small smile formed on her lips as his words pushed her father out of her mind again.
“You’ve just jinxed us,” she teased. “You’re not supposed to say things like that, or everything will go wrong.”
Jax chuckled as he put his arm around her and then turned to go back up the stairs.
“Don’t tell me I mated a superstitious woman,” he teased. “Before that witch, we were pretty much the happiest, safest territory in the world. I doubt anyone will mess with us now that I have you by my side.”
“Imagine if they came here and found out I’m actually pretty useless because no one is training with me,” she snorted.
“Are we going to fight about that?” Jax grinned. “Because I have a stack of paperwork on my desk...”
She didn’t know if Jax chose to be that dense about that subject on purpose or if he genuinely thought she was happy with the crumbs he threw her when he did train with her. But she didn’t want to fight about that at all.
“I’ll get Brit for breakfast so we can hang out together. I need you to make more of an effort with her,” she said.
“Yes, dear.”
He didn’t hide his grin this time.
But she had to admit that arguing about the little things was much better than constantly fighting for their lives and wondering if he loved her. Perhaps this was the ‘happy ever after’ part of things, after all.
Related chapters
The Alpha King's Fate 5. Security Threat
Jax watched his mate nervously sipping her cup of coffee while she watched Britney fuss over her niece.Layla was determined to have her sister with them, like she had forgotten how she had reacted to the life-altering news. She’d been in a zombie-like state for days. He understood that Britney, like Layla, liked to have all the facts to figure things out herself, but the timing wasn’t right. Brit still had to go and finish the semester so she could wrap up her first year in college. “So... Did you sleep well?” Layla asked. “I’m in a cult in the middle of a forest full of wolves. How do you think I slept?” Brit answered without looking away from Hope. Layla put her mug down and pushed the food on her plate around. She hadn’t really eaten it, just as she hadn’t eaten much of her dinner. “We’re not a cult, but you’ll see that for yourself soon,” Layla said. “But we need to talk about why you’re here. You sounded terrified when you called me.”Britney’s eyes widened as she looked up
The Alpha King's Fate 6. Gerald Carlisle
Layla was fuming when Jax led her through the doors to the hotel's security centre. Gerald Carlisle said and did many things that would forever be engraved in her heart and mind, but their last argument kept ringing through her head. It was funny. She hadn’t seen or spoken to her father since the night Costas took them, but she remembered it like it was yesterday. ‘You’re going to have to think of your sister. I’m going to give him what he wants.’‘I’m going to give him you.’‘You’re a high school dropout. Scrubbing rich people’s toilets is all you’ll ever do.’‘You look just like your mother; I’m sure you’ll make more money on your back.’He’d cut her up with his words. How could a father ever think that about his child? How could he think that was in any way okay?She clenched and unclenched her fists to control her anger as a man met them at the door and bowed his head in greeting. She’d forgotten about the hotel rules. When she’d worked there, she thought her employer thought hi
The Alpha King's Fate 7. What Do We Do?
Jax drove in the opposite direction to the packhouse, fighting the urge to put his foot down on the gas. How had he not sensed them approaching the hotel? Or had they been there all along, but he was distracted by his worry about Layla and her dad? Since Layla went out first, he couldn’t be sure if they saw her face or if her eyes were still glowing. Would the Hunters have sensed them? Masking himself became second nature to him, but Layla had been on the verge of losing control. “What are we going to do?” Layla whispered. “Nothing. We’ll go and lay low for a few days until they go. I sensed only a few of them; they might be passing through.” Those words did nothing to ease his mate, and they didn’t ease his mind. Had he missed something? He’d been carefully watching the new employees at his hotel, but most of the ones he’d gotten rid of were still in town. He was still watching them, too. Still monitoring their calls and emails. But he was aware he couldn’t watch the whole cit
The Alpha King's Fate 8. A Warning
Layla couldn’t relax as she watched the videos playing simultaneously on the screen. The last time she had been at this house, Jax had told her it was entirely off the grid. He hadn’t once mentioned that he had a room hidden behind the pantry where he could communicate with people without any problems with the network. It was probably how Gavin had warned them about Amber when they had caught her scent before Hope had been born. She couldn’t stop her foot from bouncing as she sat next to Jax at a desk full of computer screens and software. The scene with her father had been hard to watch. She had assumed he had got into that filthy state when he’d been locked up in the security room, but he had gone into the hotel like that. Filthy. Spouting bullshit. And repeatedly asking for her by name. Everyone in the lobby had been trying to stay away from him as if he was diseased. He showed everyone that he was from the other side of the tracks, the side that all the clientele would turn
The Alpha King's Fate 9. Rolling Around In Dopamine
Jax stood on the patio and looked out at the woods, completely relaxed for the first time since they killed the witch. It was the first time he had so much time to make love to his mate properly. It felt like a honeymoon, although when the time came for that, he intended to stretch that out as long as he could. Fucking Layla was an addiction that could never be equalled. Perhaps it was all he needed to focus on so he could heal his mind. If he could keep up with her, that was. His thighs and other parts of his body were still shaking from the exertion. A smile stretched his lips as he sipped his coffee. He needed to sit down and rest, but as always, fucking Layla wrecked him and energised him at the same time. Everything was going to be okay now. He’d fucked up with Gerald, and the incident with the Hunters ruffled their feathers, but they could put all of it behind them now. Once they got home, he’d train her ass off if that was what she wanted. He’d stop interfering with Gera
The Alpha King's Fate 10. Trouble In Paradise
Layla felt a sense of relief when the main gates of their compound finally came into view. She didn’t know when the city became so scary, but she felt safer within those walls and Diedre’s protection wards. “We’ll take her for a walk to our lookout point,” Jax said. “It will be okay; you’ll see.” Jax seemed to have pulled himself out of his depression, so at least the time alone had been helpful to both of them. But there were hundreds of missed calls on her phone. When she put it on, it dinged and vibrated with message notifications for quite some time. Brit could be dramatic sometimes but she couldn’t blame her sister for this. She’d stuck her with some strangers when she was feeling scared and then abandoned her. The town wasn’t as busy as it usually was, and that brought back memories of when they all lived in fear and constantly camped on the packhouse grounds. The whole pack was more relaxed since the incident with the witch, and part of her believed it was because they a
The Alpha King's Fate 11. Summons
Jax walked into the conference room where Dylan was waiting and went straight for the drinks cabinet. “A little too early for that, isn’t it?” Dylan said. He threw his head back and downed the shot before he poured another. And that still wasn’t enough fortification. He turned around and looked at the envelope Dylan placed on the table. There was only one group of people so full of themselves that they still sent messengers when they could easily have called. The little envelope had its official seal, a raised circle stamped in red wax, and it stank of dark magic. “It’s been over a year since that incident at the gate and longer since Alpha Finn. Why would they do this now?” Dylan asked. “Because they’re assholes,” he growled. He’d started to believe that the Circle accepted his declaration that they were breaking away because he hadn’t heard from them since their last visit. Since Layla grabbed Hugo by his throat. He should have known better. They would never let him go t
The Alpha King's Fate 12. Scam Artist
Layla landed hard on her elbow, knocking the wind out of herself for the millionth time. And for the millionth time, Jax rushed over to help her back to her feet. “I’m fine,” she said through her teeth. “You’re not fine. You’re distracted. I look like I’m beating up my mate,” Jax growled. “Do you want to do this or not?” “Of course, I want to do this,” she snapped, pushing him off and testing the movement in her arm. The pain had already subsided. She looked around the field and saw several trainees sitting around the perimeter, watching her make a fool of herself. They were probably regretting putting their faith in her now. She’d been crap for the last couple of hours, and if it hadn’t been for her sleeping wolf, she would have bled all over the place. “Then stop fucking around and get your head in the game,” Jax growled before he walked back to his side. He’d been angry with her since they got back. She didn’t know if it was because he’d figured out that Britney was a littl
Latest chapter
The Alpha King's Fate 78. No Regrets - Epilogue
“What’s this?” Jax looked at the envelope in front of him with the Circle’s seal. The last time he received one of those, they summoned him and Layla to stand trial. He looked up at Hugo, sitting at the end of his conference table with Keith and frowned. If they thought they could punish him for defending his pack, they could think again. “You’re not going to sit at my table and tell me that piece of shit deserved to live, are you?” he growled. Hugo shook his head. “No, of course not, Your Majesty,” he said. “That’s just a formal apology from the Circle, acknowledging our mistakes. And we’d like to welcome the Queen and her family into your pack.” “They don’t need your shitty welcome,” Ryker snapped. Hugo flinched and looked at Ryker, who was sitting opposite him. Out of everyone, the Alpha of the Night Walkers was the least agreeable about the new partnership. If anyone knew how to hold grudges, it was Ryker. He wouldn’t be surprised if he managed to string one of them up
The Alpha King's Fate 77. Reunion
Layla struggled to breathe. She could feel Lincoln’s large hand crushing her windpipe, even though part of him was twitching on the floor in front of her. Her mind was foggy with the lack of oxygen, but the fear that crippled her disappeared. Jax had taken charge now. Everything would be okay. Her eyes fluttered and then closed even with all the commotion around her. The cut-off screams. The scent of blood that even her nose could pick up. And when she heard her mother’s voice, she breathed a sigh of relief. Rebecca’s wolf was stronger than Nia. She would never allow anyone to hurt her family. She relaxed entirely until Britney's scream brought her back to the present. Her heart lurched as she sat up and saw Alpha Cole drag her and Hope towards him. Maybe Cole didn’t have a wolf, or he wasn’t shifting because he knew he was outnumbered. But there was no denying he had enough dark magic to follow through with his threats. She could almost smell it even though she was less than
The Alpha King's Fate 76. And Then There Were Three
The dark magic continuously ripped Jax’s cells apart even as Cain worked on healing them. Cole—that fucker—rounded up some of the strongest witches. They were no match individually for Diedre, but together they bound her up tighter than anything. He gritted his teeth and looked sideways at Diedre. Her face was pale, her teeth snapped together, and her eyes closed. He sensed her pain. He felt all the pain in the room, even the children’s. “Silence!” The command rippled across the room. Cain growled in his head at the challenge. Had he not been bound, he would have commanded Cole just as he did at the trial. Another warrior fell beside him, and the pain slashed through his body when another bond broke. He was still trying to recover when Lincoln grabbed Layla by her throat. His claws dug into her delicate skin and punctured it. And the scent of her blood overpowered every other smell in the room. Her blood. Her pain. Her fear. All of it clouded his head, calling on the beast
The Alpha King's Fate 75. Gatecrashers
Where did the vampire come from? How did he go through Diedre’s wards? Layla backed up until she felt Jax’s car behind her. The vampire grinned, showing his teeth, and she froze in place. Fear filled her body. This was her worst nightmare come to life. She was vulnerable, and her child was in the hall. She couldn’t protect her. “Breach!” Someone shouted behind the vampire. But she would never have outrun him even if the fear didn’t paralyse her. Their speed was unmatched. There were screams. Something zoomed past at such speeds she realised there were more of them. And if the vampires were there, the Circle was making its move. And that was the twist—the final nail in the coffin full of all her hopes for a future with Jax. Something snapped around her, some invisible force that pulled her forward. It was magic. How did it even get past Diedre’s wards? She tried to lift her arms and drag her feet, but it was futile. Wolves around her were hauled towards the hall like rag do
The Alpha King's Fate 74. Party Time
Layla didn’t sleep much. She’d alternated between having nightmares of Jax losing his wolf and watching her two girls sleep. She had her arm over them, content to soothe herself with their presence. She didn’t know where they had been and how far it was, but after dinner, Brit and Hope had been ready to go to bed. Faith prepared Britney’s room next to Jax’s and moved Hope’s cot there because the girls bonded while away. The three of them snuggled on the bed together. She imagined she heard someone outside the bedroom door a few times. She knew it was Jax. He’d told her the main bedroom was ready for her to return to, but she wasn’t prepared for that. It would be like accepting what he did—acknowledging that he ruined his life over her. Her hand went back to the bite on her neck. Did that mean they were mated again? It hadn’t felt the same as when he marked her the first time, even though it still caused the earth-shattering explosion. There had been no fire in her bones, and she
The Alpha King's Fate 73. Home
Layla smoothed her summer dress and adjusted the straps before she took a fortifying breath. Not that the expensive clothes would make a difference. Compared to how vibrant she’d looked when Nia manifested, she looked like crap now. No amount of makeup could hide the bags under her eyes or how lifeless her eyes had become. And she couldn’t tame the frizz, no matter what she did. She'd tied her hair up in a puff— the same style she used to have before she’d met Jax. She tilted her head to see the angry red mark on her neck. Her stomach churned, almost bringing up the few bites of food she’d managed to eat. Images of her night with Jax returned, and her nostrils flared. What did he think would happen now? The bite wasn’t healing as it did the first time; it was starting to look infected. Jax poisoned himself for nothing. She ripped out the hair band and the millions of pins holding her hair up and fluffed her hair, covering the mark again. No one else needed to know what Jax did.
The Alpha King's Fate 72. Hypocrite
“What the hell have you done?!” Layla repeated, and this time her anger surged as her voice rose. Jax gently pulled out of her before he straightened. He’d known how the night would end. It had been the same the first time he marked her. But her anger still hurt. It had been months, and every second of that had been torture. Did she not feel the same? “I did what I had to do, Layla.” “How could you do that to Cain?” Layla shouted. She pushed him aside and got off the hood to look for her skimpy little night dress. “We don’t know what they put in my blood, but we know damn well that it will kill him!” Layla pulled her nightie on before she turned to face him. Her emerald eyes blazed at him. He’d been just as angry when she bit him the night before the blood moon on his birthday. Marking someone without their consent was a dick move, and as the Alpha King, he’d put down a few wolves for that exact reason. But there he was. Being a dick. “It was Cain’s idea. And I completely agree
The Alpha King's Fate 71. No Regrets
Layla rolled her neck and shoulders to ease some of the stiffness but knew it wouldn’t do her any good. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt that tired. She spent money that she didn’t have to buy some energy drinks to keep her awake for the drive home. It was almost two in the morning, and working two jobs was sucking the life out of her. At one point in her life, she’d even had three jobs and still had the energy to run around after Brit and take care of their trailer. With a sigh, she grabbed her bag from the passenger seat and shoved her door open. The car had been a piece of crap when she’d bought it, but it was worse after being off the road for so long. She’d worked at least a month to afford the extra money to pay someone to get it roadworthy again. It was hectic catching buses or getting a taxi to take her close enough to her neighbourhood, especially this late at night. She hadn’t seen Jax since the picnic, but some warriors hung around the neighbourhood for wee
The Alpha King's Fate 70. Fuck Fate!
“Jax?” He kept his back to her with fists clenched. Cain wasn’t backing down. It felt like the time the beast had completely taken over when he killed Alpha Kendrick on his doorstep to protect Layla. Now all he wanted was to sink his teeth into her neck and return what was lost. “I’m sorry I don’t have the endurance I used to have,” Layla said as she came up behind him. He sensed the pain in her words but didn’t turn around to offer any comfort. If he’d needed proof that her wolf was well and truly gone, he had it now. Even before she had shifted, Layla could sense the danger in the air. She’d been able to feel when he was losing control. ‘She can’t sense me at all.’ Cain’s words caused an avalanche of pain that shoved him further into despair and buried him deep within it. He tried to focus so he could pull himself out, but it was pointless. He felt the same way his beast did. Cain couldn’t live without his mate, either. And if he tried to deny his mate, he would end up like
