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
The sun was setting when Layla’s taxi stopped at the top of the road that led into her old neighbourhood. The storm clouds were completely black now, and she could smell the rain in the air. Finding someone willing to drive to that side of the tracks from Jackson’s hotel had taken a long time. That was as far as she allowed Jax to go. If he had come all the way to the trailer, she might not have had the strength to let him leave. “Thank you,” she whispered as she paid the fare. She’d only hastily packed a single bag. She slung that over her shoulder as she watched the taxi peel away. She didn’t blame him. There were many desperate people in her neighbourhood, and even though they didn’t steal from their own, taxis were fair game. With a sigh, she started the walk home. The trailers looked more run-down in the two years she’d been away. Or maybe she’d just gotten used to living in luxury that she saw everything differently. The same tired people sat outside the trailers drinking a
“Keep all the children who were not reunited with their pack or families in my room. Give them everything they need and keep people away from them. They’re still terrified.” Some children hadn’t stopped shaking since they arrived, but others were subdued. He could see the trauma in their eyes, and it made him wonder if they could see his. “Your room? What about you and Layla?” Jax didn’t react when Dylan said her name. He already numbed himself to the pain before the first truck with the rescued wolves drove through the gates, and he kept busy until every person they saved was settled and comfortable. For the first time in a long time, he wished all the packs didn’t rely on him. All he wanted was to hide away. The sound of thunder forced him to look up at the sky. Would Layla even be safe in her dingy trailer in the storm? He forced himself to look back at Dylan. Layla chose this. She left him because the bond wasn’t forcing her to stay with him anymore. So much for her words o
It felt like hours had passed since she hid in her bedroom, but she didn’t cry for that long before the raging storm caught her attention. Gerald must have gone to lower the window shutters outside at some point because the room was dark. She couldn’t see a thing when she usually wouldn’t have needed to put a light on. When they were kids, Brit joked that she had supervision. She did. Back then, anyway. Her chest squeezed, and the tears threatened to fall again but she blinked them back. The storm sounded worse than she’d expected. She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself and make sure everything was secure. Lightning flashed outside and illuminated the bedroom as if it was still daytime. Shock rippled through her when she realised the shutters weren’t down after all. Her eyes just weren’t what they used to be. Surely humans saw things clearer than that? Or maybe that was what the Commander meant when he’d said she would be neither wolf nor human. The trailer rattled and sho
Layla secured the towel she’d wrapped around her hair. She’d taken as long as she could in the shower to warm up, something she didn’t normally do when there was a storm. She ran out of excuses to stay away from him. She took a deep breath before stepping out of the bedroom. It took her only seconds to realise she was still unprepared to talk to Jax. She felt his presence, but not in the same way. The love of her life filled her living room, taking over it the same way he took over her heart. He stood with her back to her, dressed in one of her old, comfortable bathrobes while he dried his hair. The worn cotton fabric of the robe sculpted his back, ass and thighs. He was like a work of art, sent by fate to tempt her. He might as well have stood there naked. Jax turned, and the view improved. He’d only loosely tied the belt so she could see his muscular thighs and the tattoos on his chest. He knew what he was doing to her. Heat spread through her cold body the same way it alway