17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

T he dinner service had already started in the hotel when Jackson walked out of the elevator on his floor. The man guarding the girls was already on his feet, waiting for him.

‘I need you to keep an eye on Miss. Roberts. Follow her home and also get her phone records. I need to know who she's been talking to,' he ordered when he reached the door.

He had spent enough time with Costas and his men to know they were not associated with the Hunters, but he had to make sure he'd contained the situation. The more he'd spoken to him, the more he'd believed Andrea had fed Costas this information out of spite for being scorned, but he had to make sure.

‘Yes, Alpha.'

‘Get Miss Townsend's contact information. I don't want any loose ends."

‘And the others?'

‘They'll check out the hideout after they clean up. I'll watch the girls this weekend; just get it all done before I leave.'

‘Yes, Alpha,' he answered with a bow before he walked to the elevator.

He stood outside the door for a moment before he forced himself to open it and walk in. Layla seemed to have been waiting right by the door as he had expected. He felt her relief when she walked towards him, and her anxiety almost knocked him over. She didn't show any of it on her face, though. She looked cool and calm; he guessed she was doing that for her sister's sake.

"Dylan gave me your number," Layla said. "I called you a million times, but you didn't pick up."

"Dylan gave it to you, did he?" he grunted as he walked past her to the bedroom.

Britney sat silently on one of the sofas, and a movie played in the background. When he left, he sensed her uneasiness; now, she looked tense with fear. With the lengths Layla had gone to protect her sister, he didn't think she would have spilt their secrets, but something was going on in the girl's head.

He paused to look back at her, but the girl kept her head down. Had he scared her too much when he visited her on his own? Or something else had happened?

He wasn't surprised to see Layla follow him down to his bedroom. He turned around in the doorway to block her from walking in.

"We need to talk, Jackson," Layla hissed.

A far cry from the woman who'd been a bag of nerves at the packhouse.

"I don't see what we could possibly have to talk about," he drawled.

"Stop being childish," Layla whispered before she looked back towards the living space.

She pushed past him without an invitation, and the places she touched sent the usual jolts through his body. No, they were worse this time. The longer he spent avoiding her, the more he wanted to bite down on her pretty neck while he took his fill of her. This was what probably caused his father's madness. It was unbearable to want something he couldn't have.

No. Something he didn't want to have.

"What happened?" Layla asked as she turned around to face him.

"Nothing," he answered as he closed the door and walked over to the bed where he had left his bag.

"So why did you shower and change?"

He looked down at the jeans and t-shirt he wore instead of the suit. The suit would have to be incinerated along with everything else.

"I'm in a city full of women who don't mind sharing my bed. Why do you think I showered and changed?"

He met her gaze and watched the emeralds brighten as her anger replaced her anxiety, and it lifted his heart a little. Maybe he was being a dick, but he wanted her to know what he was going through, even if she wouldn't feel it as much.

"Don't ask me questions you don't really want the answers to."

"You're lying," she said, coming forward. "You claimed I'll be safe after I leave, but how will I do that if you don't tell me what I'm going up against? I'll be alone out here, Jackson."

The little joy he had squeezed out of his petty lie disappeared as if it hadn't been there. It always did when he thought of her being on her own.

"You don't need to know every detail, Layla. That's what will get you killed. You'll be fine if you keep your head down and try to live the same way you did before you met me," he said.

He picked the bag up and walked towards the dressing room. Layla followed. Her frustration with him was evident as her anger increased.

"You can't just walk away. You can't ignore me when something is happening that directly affects me."

Her voice was raised. She had shown him her feisty side a few times before knowing what he was. That was what had drawn him to her the most. No one ever challenged him like that.

"You saw that wolf in the woods, and then you've avoided me ever since," Layla continued. "Do you know what that did to me? How much I worried that I'd lost my mind and I wouldn't be able to take care of Brit? All you had to do was tell me it was real."

Her anger was rising along with her voice. He straightened and faced her, taking in her elevated heartbeat and dilated pupils. Her wolf blood was still responding to his claim that he had been with another woman. Jealousy was rife in the air, and the pull towards her was messing with his head. But the ache in his chest was still as raw as the day he had found her trying to leave. He had to hold on to that so he didn't fall into the trap again.

"Well, is it real?" Layla continued. "Is it a werewolf? Tell me that, at least."

"Come out of my room, Layla. Britney is waiting for you."

His voice was lower and husky. Cain was still so high on what he had done in the basement that being with the object of his desires wasn't a good idea. He should have gone to the other suite until he'd calmed down.

"No! You keep avoiding me. Like a fucking asshole, you locked me up in that dank little room even though I'm carrying your baby. And now you're telling me that you've just fucked another wo—"

Layla cut herself off and looked away, but he could see her wolf in her eyes. Pissed off didn't begin to describe what he felt from her. She was as angry as the day he had peeled her off Amber. Maybe making her angry in a hotel full of humans had been the wrong thing to do, considering he had no idea what her wolf was capable of.

But damned if her possessiveness didn't turn him on.

He tensed and tried to take control of his body and his wolf, but Cain was ready to reunite with their mate despite how much she had hurt them. How much they still hurt.

"I've had to hear all their whispers," Layla whispered. "I feel all their hate. I've lived with the burden of all those lives lost on my shoulders alone in that room, and I feel like I have no right to complain anymore. The least you can do is tell me what you've dragged me into so I can learn how to protect myself. I need to feel safe again, Jackson."

Her whispered plea hit him in his already destroyed heart. He'd heard those whispers, too, but was she really blaming herself for the attack? It wasn't her fault he had started reading more into their relationship. It wasn't her fault that she could even stomach the thought of leaving, much less try to carry it out.

He was the one who was a broken mess at her feet. He should have known better.

Like he needed to know better now.

"You need to leave," he said. His voice cracked with the strain of holding it all in. "I understand what you're saying, and I swear I'll tell you everything you need to know. But I need you to give me some space right now."

"No," Layla said, turning back to him. "Once we go back, I'll be back in that room, and you'll avoid me again. I need answers now. Right now, Jackson. Tell me what the fuck is going on."

He knew his eyes were red when he met her gaze, but she didn't look away. It was her wolf's eyes he was looking into. Gorgeous, glowing emerald eyes. It was a challenge he was too weak to resist. He'd never been a saint at the best of times, but when it came to this cold-hearted woman...

Did she realise she was closing the space between them? Did she know he could scent her arousal? Could she sense how turned on he was?

Did she know she was on the verge of being ravished by a starving animal?

‘No!' he screamed in his head.

'Yes,' Cain growled.

'She'll ruin us.'

'We're already ruined,' Cain said just as Layla stopped right in front of him.

Her scent pulled him in, and like all the other times, all his objections melted away.

There was nothing left on his mind but Layla.