Did she mishear him? Layla’s eyes widened as she looked at the unhinged Hunter in front of her. She’d only briefly been in the restricted area, but she knew what those disfigured Hunters were—failed experiments. So the Commander was ready to risk his life after one successful bite? They weren’t even sure if there would be any side effects. It hadn’t been long enough to tell if the experiment succeeded. “Didn’t you hear me? I said bite me, Layla,” the Commander said. He stepped forward, forcing her to take a step back. His eyes sparkled as if he was high on anticipating what was coming. She wanted to bite him—right through his neck. But there were guards in the room with their weapons pointed at her, and she didn’t know if Faith and the children were safe. They were her priority. “You’re willing to risk your life?” she asked. “I’m not risking anything. Don’t you see what I’ve done?” he asked, turning back to the glass cage and sweeping his arm at the turned Hunter. “I have done
Layla’s rage boiled over. No longer hidden behind her panic and worry, a white-hot fury left everything else in embers. Her fists clenched again, but she wasn’t trying to contain herself anymore. ‘Don’t, Layla,’ Rebecca said through their mindlink. ‘You don’t know what it will do to you.’ Her mother rushed up to the glass and put her palms against it. She hadn't noticed it before, but there were bags under her mother’s usually vibrant face, and the undeniable strength she always sensed from her mother was gone. The Hunters did that. They took a woman who once shielded a whole packhouse full of wolves, calmed them during the war and reduced her to just a shell of herself. A wolf rumoured to be stronger than anyone. They took scouts, the bravest and most skilled fighters out of all the packs. They took Gavin and Faith. They took children. She approached the glass that imprisoned her mother and placed her palm against it. Behind her, the mood shifted. The tension in the Hunters
Jax watched the vehicles drive out of the gates, and several Hunters came out to hide in strategic points around the base wall. Beyond the open gates, more Hunters loaded onto their vehicles. They wouldn't leave the base unmanned—that much was a given. But fighting even half those bastards was better than the whole army. He only hoped the others were ready. His gaze remained on the Hunters still loading into the cars. The morning sun shone brightly without any hint of a cloud in the sky. There was nothing to hide behind, no darkness to cover him. The second he made his move, he needed to be ready to get attacked. ‘They’ll lead the Hunters as far away from the base as possible before they attack,’ Dylan said. His Beta, his brother, stood beside him, bloody from the bait they set when they attacked the Hunter families. He could sense Dylan’s eagerness to attack the base even though he stood perfectly still. It wasn’t their first time fighting side by side. He and Dylan went throu
They were going to kill everyone? Like fuck, they would. Layla was within his reach, and they thought they could keep him from her? There were no windows, so it was pitch black in the building. It may have made no difference to the Hunters blocking his path because of their superior vision but for Layla... ‘Layla, where are you?’ ‘Outside the warehouse. They’ve locked everyone up in cages but can gas us all in seconds. I won’t be able to save them all.’ Cages? He’d been furious before, but the thought of his mate in a cage brought a surge of violent emotions that made him shift instantly. His mate in a cage? Like an animal? They tortured her and treated her so inhumanely. Cain lowered his head, ready to plough through all of them. ‘Are you hurt?’ he growled. ‘I smell blood.’ A lot of it. He already knew none of that blood was Layla’s, but he had no idea what the hell was happening. If she was caged, where had the blood come from? ‘No.’ ‘Can you break out of your cage?’ Jus
Was she dreaming? Layla followed Jax out of yet another room, leaving destruction and bloodshed in their wake. Her head was a mess, but somehow Nia was holding everything together. Maybe her wolf had always kept things together, with all that shit they’d gone through growing up. But how could she fight like that when everything inside her was falling apart? How was Jax standing in front of her in the hellish place she’d thought she would die in? After watching him decimate their enemies, her hope they would make it out alive grew. Who would have thought that, after growing up in the slums of Wolfdale, she’d see so much bloodshed? That she would be a murderer? That she would like it. Watching Jax rip apart the enemy was like watching an artist at work. His movements were precise, smooth, and so quick that the Hunters couldn’t keep up with him. His red eyes matched all the red on the walls and the floor, and his teeth... She shivered when he dispatched the last Hunter in the room a
The air shifted without her giving it a thought. It was as if Nia really became the master of the darkness. Stuck in the whirlwind of fury in the wolf’s head, Layla didn’t think of anything else. Instead, she felt the surge of power surrounding her. It coursed through her veins, through every cell in her body and supercharged her. Jax must have felt it all because he shifted back to his wolf form without a word. The Commander stepped back, his eyes wide as he faced the Alpha King and his Queen. The energy in the room changed. Instead of the wolves showing their fear, a wave of hope came from them. But Nia saw nothing else except the monster in front of her. “What the hell are you doing? I said I’d kill you all,” the Commander hissed as he grabbed a gas mask from one of the Hunters. “Kill them!” The Hunter nearest to Faith raised his sword. Everything happened in slow motion. The shadows surrounded Nia as she lunged forward and snapped her teeth into the Hunter’s torso. A se
Jax looked down at Layla’s sleeping form. Her hair sprawled out on her pillow, and she was tangled up in his sheets, something he hadn’t thought he would see again. She looked just the same, despite what she had been through. But something had changed. Was she blocking him the way she used to do in the beginning? He’d felt all her pain in the forest, and it broke him. Was she trying to protect him? He pushed back strands of hair from her face and put his head down next to hers on the pillow. Cain retreated after they consoled his mate in the forest, but he didn’t need that beast to know something was wrong. His alarm bells were ringing despite how exhausted he still was. He couldn’t feel her. Layla could never shield herself well in her sleep, but now she was completely shut off. Was it because of her trauma? Layla had been involved in the pack wars but never to such an extent. Taking someone’s life took a toll on anybody with even an ounce of empathy. Layla had a shitload of
Layla bit back her tears and tried to numb herself the way she used to when she had Nia. She looked back at Jax and saw the look on his face. The devastation was so apparent. With a little smile at him, she closed the bathroom door and headed straight for the shower. Only when she was standing under the spray did she let her tears fall and mix with the water. He knew. If she could feel the loss of their connection so acutely, Jax would have felt it, too. Their lovemaking was always more intense because they could share all their emotions through the bond. But when she came apart in his arms, it had been just her. Their bond was gone. The man she loved with every fibre of her being was free to be with someone else. She slid down to the shower basin and hugged her knees to try to comfort herself, but Jax was the apex predator, the Alpha King. She did not doubt that he would sense everything. When the water started to cool, she forced herself to her feet and washed. When she s