36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

L ayla rushed into the house and saw Dylan speaking to Micah in the lobby. They both turned to smile at her when she closed the door.

She didn't understand. Jackson had rushed off because there was something out there coming for him or the pack. Could they not feel that change in the air? Had Jackson just run off like a lunatic to fight by himself?

The smile died off Dylan's face as he came forward.

"What happened? Why are you so scared?"

"Jackson... He told me to take the ladies to our bedroom and lock the door."

The tension rose as both men looked at each other and rushed to open the door. There was silence in the air but she knew they were communicating.

Did Jackson have some sort of death wish? He'd let his pack brutally hit him without defending himself. He'd killed a man who'd come to do his job. And now he was off defending the pack by himself. Was this still about the guilt she felt consuming him every day? This wasn't how to make amends! What good would he do for the pack if he got killed?

Her heart started to hammer as she walked back out of the house. Fear she had never known before clutched her heart as she tried to focus on her senses. The air was heavier now, and whatever it was made her want to curl up and hide. It felt intense and very dark, and Jackson was dealing with it alone.

"That stubborn shit," Dylan growled.

"What did he say?" she asked quickly.

When Dylan gave her a pointed look, she remembered she wasn't supposed to let other people know she knew about them and what they could do.

"I'll go. Take care of our girls," Micah said before he ran down the stairs.

Dylan bundled her back into the house and shut the door before she could see Micah shift.

"Wait! It's happening again, isn't it?" she asked. "We're under attack again."

"Take Jasmine and Diedre to the bedroom and lock the door," Dylan said, ignoring her question as he rushed to one of the large windows to look. "And stay there this time. I mean it."

Micah's wife and Diedre appeared in the hallway without her having to call them. But she wasn't going anywhere if Jackson was out there on his own.

It wasn't just the discomfort that the separation brought; it was also the thought of losing him that made her feel ill. She'd just admitted how she felt about him! Why did this stuff keep happening to them?

"Aren't you going to help him?" she asked Dylan.

"I have to make sure you and the child are safe—"

"You have to make sure Jackson is safe. You're his best friend!"

Diedre came to the window and looked outside. Then she brought her hand to her mouth as if she had seen something horrific.

"No," Diedre whispered.

The woman looked tired, and she swore Diedre had somehow aged years in the few months she had known her. But that didn't strike her as much as the amount of pain and fear she felt from her.

"Diedre, please go upstairs," Dylan said. "Jackson will fix this."

"Has Micah gone out there?" Jasmine asked, and again, the fear from her was overwhelming, too.

Something big was happening. Something that terrified these strong wolves.

"Go and help them," she whispered to Dylan. "Please. I'll lock the front door."

Dylan looked outside again. It was clear that was what he wanted to do. It was what she wanted to do, too. Every part of her was pushing her to go and help Jackson despite the fear that was making her heart beat so fast.

‘Then do it,' the voice in her head said.

She just about managed not to jump that time.

‘Do it, Layla. I'll help you like I did last time. We can't let Jackson die.'

The moment that voice said that she heard the snarls and growls from beyond the gates. She knew before she felt the rage inside her that Jackson had started to fight.

Dylan rushed to open the door but stopped to look at her. It is evident from the look on his face that he'd heard the noise in the forest, too.

"Lock the door. Do. Not. Leave. The. House," he growled before he ran out of the house.

She focused her senses the way Jackson had taught her and followed the direction the fighting sounds were coming from. It wasn't just Jackson she heard. There were hundreds of wolves out there. Their paws thundered in unison on the ground as they approached the town. And somewhere in all that noise, Jackson continued to fight. He continued to defend his people. But he was still alone.

‘Go to him!'

"Lock the door behind me," she said as she opened the door.

"Layla!" Diedre called out. "Jackson won't like tha—"

"Lock the door," she repeated before she slammed it and ran after Dylan.

She was halfway down the drive when the gate slid open. People started running through them in droves. Some of them were naked, and some were half-dressed. She realised they must have shifted to evacuate to the packhouse where they would be safe.

"Move it, move it," someone shouted at the gate as he herded people in.

She was the only one going the other way, pushing through the crowd with her hand on her stomach. Like the last time, there were weapons in the gatehouse. She snuck in while the guard directed everyone in and chose knives like the last time before running through the gates.

She kept running, aware that she probably looked a little unhinged to anyone who noticed her in the chaos. This wasn't what the doctor meant when he said she was to be stress-free, but she couldn't sit back and do nothing. Guilt surfaced as she thought of the baby. She should have locked herself in the bedroom and waited. If anything happened—

‘I will protect the pup. Go.'

She had only just realised what that voice was, but she needed to trust it. Once she was out there, there would be no time to get cold feet.

"Miss Layla!"

She slowed her steps to look at the young girl she had saved the last time. She was coming out of one of the houses along the road with a bag under her arm, helping an older woman.

"Get to the house as quickly as you can," she told the girl.

"You're pregnant! Come with me."

She put her hand over her stomach again. Jackson would get angry with her and likely find a way to punish her.

But if he survived, he could punish her all he wanted.

"Go!"

She continued running until she was almost at the main gates. Only then did she realise she had become faster than she used to be.

Men and women lined up along the gates with Micah shouting orders. Dylan was already leading some of them to another side when there was a loud bang. The ground shook, and she took cover behind a tree trunk, unsure what the sound was. As the sound came again and a section of the wall started to shake, she realised what was happening.

The people on the other side were breaking the walls!

She looked back and noticed that too many people were still trying to get to safety. They were too close to the gates; they would be the first casualties if any wolves got past Micah and his guards. The children were screaming as they ran or were carried by the adults. Jackson had told her they shifted when they were around eighteen, so the children were in more danger without any defences.

The section of the wall came down, and a large, snarling wolf came through, and then another. They were almost like the one that had attacked her in the forest with the same look in their eyes, but they were well-kept and seemed bigger. Stronger. Harder to beat.

The screams behind her increased just as she heard a loud howl in the forest.

Jackson.

In pain.

It was too late. Someone was already hurting him, and he was still alone.

Something snapped inside her when she felt how much pain he was in. It was almost as if she was the one being attacked.

Her mind emptied as she pulled both knives out of her waistband and rushed towards the ruined wall. Her only thought was to get to him.

There were no shadows to hide behind this time, but she felt no fear as she launched at a wolf that had made it past Micah and his men. She'd slit its throat and was onto the next one before she realised it.

Jackson. Pain. Her mind felt broken as she completely gave her trust to the wolf inside her, carving her way through the enemy in desperation.

She had made it out of the hole in the wall using her knives, her limbs, her teeth. Using all the dirty fighting methods she knew. She was on a wolf's back with her teeth sunk in his neck when there was a change in the air. Something rippled over her skin and made her tense moments before all the wolves outside the wall started to whine and yelp.

She jumped off the wolf and started to back off.

And then, all of a sudden, the wolves started to writhe on the ground, and their sizes reduced. Their fur began to disappear until all that was left was their naked human form.

So many of them, all along the walls and in the forest. They'd all come to kill them.

"Layla!"

She turned back and saw Dylan, Micah and the other guards looking at her with their eyes wide.

She lowered her head and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. There was blood around her mouth. There was blood dripping from the knives in her hand. There was blood everywhere.

She knew she'd messed up. She could never deny knowing what they all were now.

"Go and find Jackson," she whispered to them.

That was all that mattered. She would deal with the consequences of her actions if they brought Jackson back to her.