60. Chapter 60

Chapter 60

L ayla was dressed and wondering when Jackson would bring her something to eat when she saw the entourage of expensive cars coming up the driveway.

She leaned against the window to have a better look as the people started to come out of their cars. They were all dressed in suits like Jackson. She'd assumed he had just made up an excuse to escape her questioning, but she'd obviously been wrong about that.

The visitors met before the front steps and started talking. There was only one woman among them, and she was dressed to kill. A tight, short dress that showed off all her assets—and even from her distance, she could see what fine assets they were. She was tall, like all of them, and her hair was in some sort of elegant curly do on top of her head.

Something inside her hated the woman on sight. She never formed opinions about people if she'd never spoken to them but this woman... Her skin prickled just by looking at her. What sort of meeting was this anyway, where people dressed like they were going out for a night out when it was so early in the morning?

She squinted to try to get a better look at her face. As one, the group of people looked up to Jackson's window. She sucked in a breath and stepped away but she was sure they had seen her.

Were they like Jackson's people, then? Were they werewolves, too?

It was so strange to keep thinking that word. Werewolves. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Jackson told her not to ask those sorts of questions outside this room, which confirmed that this was something she wasn't supposed to know.

She wasn't losing her mind after all.

She should have been more terrified, but she was relieved. For years she'd had nightmares about her hallucinations and that the voices in her head would make her harm Britney. She'd thought that was finally coming true, but knowing she was right about Jackson and his people lifted that weight off her shoulders. Brit was safe for at least a while longer.

A knock at the door pulled her out of her thoughts. It would be Diedre. She was the only one polite enough to knock before she unlocked the door. Or it would be Dylan, ready to do the job he had been told he could do. Kill her and be done with it.

But why would Jackson want to kill her when he made love to her like that? Because she knew this dangerous secret? She didn't want to be there in the first place, so how was that fair?

The knock came again, and then a soft, familiar voice announced that she had brought breakfast.

"Come in," she called out.

When the key turned, and the door opened, she saw the girl who had prepared her lunch tray when Jackson had taken her to the kitchen. She was also the one who had told her to prepare for dinner the night she had tried to escape in the storm, she was sure. The voice was the same.

The girl smiled briefly before taking the tray to the table, and then she started to walk out again. She was young, maybe about Britney's age. Why was she stuck working in the kitchen when they were terrified of Jackson?

"Wait," she called out.

The girl tensed and slowly turned around. She didn't seem like the three girls who had beaten her up. She was calmer. Submissive, even. She looked like someone bullies like Jackson could easily pick on. But it was also possible that she was a werewolf and just as capable of hurting her as any of them.

"Yes, Miss?" the girl said softly.

"You're the one who's been preparing my food?" she asked as she stood from the edge of the bed.

"Yes."

"Thank you," she said as she stepped closer. "But don't you have to be at school or something? Why are you working in this place?"

"I already graduated."

She inched closer again. The girl seemed a little skittish; she didn't want to scare her away.

"You don't want to go to college?"

"I'm going. Alp... Mr King helped me find one not too far from home, but I decided to take a year off first. I guess I'm not ready," the girl shrugged. "I just help out around the packhouse when I'm needed."

She didn't know what to react to first. Jackson had helped this girl? And this was a ‘packhouse'? She stored that information to freak out about it when she was alone and nodded at the girl as if she'd made sense.

"It can be scary heading out alone," she agreed. "It's probably scarier for your parents, though. My sister is graduating this year, and I'm already shitting myself thinking about it."

The girl smiled briefly and then composed herself as if she wasn't allowed to do that.

"What's your name again?"

"Faith," the girl answered.

"Well, I'm sure you'll kill it out there when you're ready, Faith."

Faith smiled again, more brightly than before. She looked back at the door before she met her gaze properly for the first time.

"I haven't been away from home before. What's it like?" she asked quietly.

"Believe it or not, I've never been away from home, either. This is my first time, and when Britney graduates, I'll finally see the world," she answered truthfully.

If she lived that long. She ignored that voice and concentrated on the matter at hand.

Faith looked more relaxed now. Her shoulders had loosened, and she had moved closer to her.

"Mum was a little upset that I want to be a doctor as I'll be away longer than most people. She's happy running around here, but I want more, even if it's terrifying me. I hope that I'll be as excited as you are when the time comes for me to leave."

Medical school? Impressive.

Though she intended to get more information from the girl, she realised this was the first relaxed conversation she'd had with anyone since she arrived. There was nothing intimidating about Faith; her gentle aura made her want to keep talking to her.

"You'll probably still be scared," she told her. "But you'll get there; you'll learn how things work and settle in. Then you'll get used to it and wonder why you didn't do it sooner."

Faith smiled again.

"Thank you. Well, I better get back before Mum comes looking for me. Please eat your food before it gets cold."

"Can I ask you something?"

The smile lost some of its shine. Maybe they had been warned against talking to her after all.

"Why were you all scared of Jackson yesterday?"

"He's been furious after what happened to you," Faith answered quietly. "You're very lucky, you know. Jackson takes care of us, but I've never seen him do that for anyone. Some people think he went too far, but I think Laken deserved it."

"What do you mean? What did Jackson do?"

"He... um. You'll never see those people again. I'm sorry you went through that," Faith said quickly, and then she turned to walk to the door. "I must go. They're looking for me."

By the time the door was locked again, Layla had more questions. How had Faith known they were looking for her? Was it the telepathy thing she'd wondered about before?

She went to the coffee table and uncovered her breakfast, another feast that she had never eaten before. There was too much to unpack in that casual conversation. First off, Faith believed Jackson was a good man. He took care of them all, just as he had promised to take care of Britney. And they were scared of him because he had done something to avenge her honour. What though? Were those men dead? What about Monica?

She hadn't seen the other girls either since the night of the dinner. That girl who claimed she would be Jackson's girlfriend had vanished into thin air.

And then the fact this was a packhouse. Packhouse! Because wolves lived in packs. And they had an Alpha who took care of them all.

They all turned into the monsters she had seen in the woods, like the ones that had been about to attack her. Was that dead monster part of the pack? That one had seemed different, not just in appearance. It had looked half-dead, and she could still smell it hours later. When it had bitten the other wolf's side, she had been sure...

Her cutlery dropped to her plate, and her heart beat harder. She put her hand to her chest as if that would stop it from being so erratic. The drugs seemed to have worn off, but if there was ever a time she wanted something that put her on that safe, fluffy cloud, it was right then.

Because she kept seeing the way the smelly monster had bitten the bigger monster on the side. And she kept seeing the bloody dressing on Jackson's side that morning, the one he had told her was just ‘a little accident'.

The scarier monster... The one with the red eyes... The one so full of darkness that she had felt it so deep within her... The bigger monster that had easily ripped the other one apart... That was Jackson.