57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

T he sun hadn't yet risen when something woke Layla up again.

A howl.

And just like that, everything she had been trying to process returned to the forefront of her mind.

Another howl joined the first. She inhaled shakily and then bit her lips to stop herself from making a sound. Though she had left a big gap between them when she had eventually nodded off back to sleep, Jackson's arm was around her stomach, and his warm breath fanned her neck where he had nuzzled against her hair.

"You're thinking too hard," Jackson said sleepily.

Way too hard. The worst part was not knowing if she had lost her damn mind. If she asked Jackson, what would he think about her? Maybe the better question was why she would care. His opinion of her didn't matter to her. Not one bit. Especially since he was going to kill her once she gave birth.

Still, there was that horrible part of her... The one reacting to his nakedness and the warmth of his body. The one that felt the tingles when he spoke.

She tried to silence that part of herself to form her thoughts, but it was impossible.

But she still wanted to know. Had she slept with a monster? Was he like those things she had seen in the woods?

"What are you, Jackson?"

She felt his arm tense against her before he moved it and rolled onto his back.

"What kind of question is that?" he asked.

She risked looking at him and met his gaze. How could she look into his eyes and feel like he would never hurt her, and yet she'd overheard the conversation about her future murder with her own ears?

"I think I'm losing my mind," she whispered.

Jackson looked away from her and then pulled the covers off himself.

"You're fine, Layla. You went through some traumatic stuff. It's normal to feel out of sorts for a while."

She shook her head and looked at the ceiling, too. All she wanted was the truth. What was she up against? And if they were all werewolves, had escape ever really been on the cards? How did you escape something that could hunt you by your scent alone?

"Are you going to kill me?" she whispered again.

Not that she expected him to tell the truth about that, either, but what did she have to lose? The fluffy cloud she'd been on the day before seemed considerably less fluffy now. She knew she would break if someone didn't assure her that she wasn't seeing things.

Jackson rolled back over and propped himself up onto his elbow.

"No. Never," he said, looking into her eyes.

Once again, she felt secure as he raised his hand and pushed her hair out of her face.

"Those are dangerous questions to ask, Layla. Don't say anything like that outside these walls."

"I just want the truth."

"The truth is you can't run from me because I will find you," Jackson answered hoarsely as he lightly grabbed her hair. "The truth is you don't really want to run from me because you feel exactly how I feel."

He pulled her hair to tilt her head before he brought his nose down in the crook of her neck and inhaled. Like an animal would when it was sniffing its prey.

But still, that action made her shiver, and her body started to burn.

"You're safe here now. No one will bother you, as I've heard you saw for yourself when you went outside," Jackson continued. "Just enjoy it, and let me take care of you."

It was like a switch had been flipped. Once again, Jackson's touch was all she craved, and all her questions melted away. She briefly wondered if he was touching her on purpose just to stop her from asking any more questions, but even that thought disappeared when his hand started to inch lower.

His teeth scraped against her skin, causing an avalanche of sensations from somewhere deep inside her. Jackson hadn't even really touched her yet, but she was already lost. His hand inched over her chest and lower still.

"I will take care of you for as long as I live," Jackson whispered.

The sentence pulled her out of whatever spell he had put her under because it was odd. For the rest of his life?

She remembered the ring she had found on her finger when she'd woken up, but before she could ask about it, his hand slipped under her leggings and panties. Her legs opened wider without her consent, and her back arched as she silently begged for more. How the hell did he do this? It had been days, but she was immediately drawn back into all that madness.

Her body reacted of its own accord. Somehow her hand was in his hair, drawing him closer to her lips just as his finger slipped inside her.

That was all it took. He made her cum so quickly like it was a magic trick.

She cried out his name before his lips met hers and swallowed the sound. She was no longer on her safe, fluffy cloud as all her feelings ripped through her at once. Wave after wave, as if she had been starving.

Before she stopped trembling, Jackson rose above her and pulled off the workout gear she had slept in. Moments later, he pushed into her so swiftly and deeply that she lost all her thoughts.

Madness. Every stroke. Every grunt he made. Every urgent touch. She soared higher than she had ever gone, and for a brief moment, she felt a connection with him that went far deeper than anything she had ever known.

But she started falling before she had even prepared for it. She desperately clutched onto him as her head swam and her body began to burn from the inside. Every cell in her body reacted to this moment. It was more than she had ever felt, but her body still yearned for more, as if there was anything that could even compare.

Jackson pulled her up as he rose to his knees so she was straddling him. His arms secured her against him, and he went in deeper. So deep that she could feel every inch of him as he lifted and lowered her on his dick. She didn't care how much noise she made as he took what he wanted from her. He could have it all.

And when she fell again, Jackson buried his face in her neck and sucked hard at her sensitive skin. Her mind fizzled as her arms tightened around him and kept him in place as she rode the high wave. Whatever he was doing was what she needed.

"Harder," she moaned.

And she felt his teeth. They triggered something else inside her, something greedy. She had no idea what she wanted him to do, but she was desperate for it even as she kept cuming on him. With a final thrust, Jackson tensed, and she felt him twitch as he released his seed.

But she still held him trapped against her neck, still desperate for that missing thing. Maybe he needed to suck harder. Perhaps he needed to bite her—anything to quench the desperate feeling in her core.

"Bite me," she moaned.

His teeth felt sharp against her skin, and her body soared again. This was what it needed, she was sure.

But Jackson groaned against her before he wrenched his mouth away. He put her down and got off the bed as if there was a fire. There was. Her body was still craving more when he picked up the towel he had dropped on the floor and wrapped it around himself with her back turned to her.

Her mortification instantly replaced the fire. And then shock.

What the hell? Had she just asked a man to bite her?

She pulled the covers back up her body and prayed the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Jackson turned back to face her. He was breathing hard, and beads of sweat ran down his bare chest.

"You do not need to apologise," he said. "That was..."

He cleared his throat and looked away, but she could see that he was ready to go again. Had he felt that madness, too?

But her eyes strayed from the bulge forming under the towel to the dressing on his side. There was a patch of blood on it that was becoming bigger every second. She hadn't noticed it before, but she was pretty sure she'd had her leg wrapped around him and digging into it.

"What happened?"

Jackson looked down at his side and swore under his breath.

"Nothing. I have to go; I have meetings this morning."

And then he rushed to the bathroom.

The moment he was out of sight, and her thoughts started making sense, she mentally screamed. She'd done it again. No drugs were involved; she had ridden him of her own volition. And even as she lay there hating herself for that, she still wanted more.

What the hell was wrong with her?