52. Chapter 52

Chapter 52

J ackson looked away from his brutal mate and tried to focus on the issue at hand.

Making sure he got rid of all the threats to her life was the only reason he was still breathing; otherwise, he would have succumbed to the pain a long time ago like his beast.

"I don't know how far she was, but she was in that direction, past the boundary at the end of that trail," Layla said, gesturing with her head to the woods. "She was quieter than the men who patrol your packhouse; I had to really focus to make sure I heard right. I might not have heard her if it wasn't for all that dry, long grass. And I know it's long and dry because of the sound it makes when blowing in the wind."

It seemed she had kept up with her training. Not for the first time, he wondered how strong she would be when she finally came into all her power. When he was dead and gone, would his mate still be the Queen she was meant to be?

"We caught her scent on the breeze, but I don't know how far that would have travelled to get to me. She seemed too far away for me to catch her scent. Maybe I imagined it."

He'd thought he'd imagined it at the hotel, too. But he wouldn't ignore any clues again. If he had hunted Amber that night, maybe she wouldn't have found Layla.

At least he had something to go on now. The dry, long grass gave him a better idea of where to look. Most of the land around them was full of trees and shrubs, but there was a field near the nearby pack's territory that they used for their strategic advantage when they had conflicts. Amber must have been very confident to venture that close to it.

Or she had joined them. Or the witch had found another pack to take over.

The possibilities were frustrating, and every little incident just brought home the fact that the witch had to be planning something big. Maybe the last hurrah for him. Something she thought would break him just before he met his end.

"You didn't imagine it. Amber's been doing that a lot. Just giving me hints of a scent and then nothing. Or giving me trails that don't lead anywhere," he admitted. "Keep that in mind if you catch another scent. It may not be what it seems."

Gavin had also caught that scent, so it couldn't have come from such a long distance. Something else was going on.

"I got so angry," she whispered. "It just came out of nowhere that it took me by surprise. I wanted to go out there and rip her apart. But my baby..."

The thought of her putting herself in danger again made him feel ill. Many pack members had told him in great detail about how she'd fought Brax's pack. How she'd ripped their throats out with her human teeth before she'd plunged her knives into them. The pack was still talking about it as if it were some great tale, but he'd had nightmares ever since.

"You did the right thing. There's magic involved; you can never be sure what you're up against," he said. "Can you think of anything else?"

"Her scent. It was familiar, but there was something different about it. Like maybe she had something rotting on her. And it just sort of disappeared after a few seconds. I thought it meant she was gone because I couldn't hear her anymore, but if she's still out there..."

Her scent had changed either because she hadn't found another pack to take her in yet, or she hadn't quite settled in with her new pack, or the witch had taken her over. Another set of frustrating possibilities. But it was time he joined the hunt. Amber already had a big lead on them.

He stood and looked out of the window. The warriors had already shifted and covered a lot of ground but wouldn't find her. Not if she was masked like the rogues that had found their way into their territory. And not if she had gone over the boundary of the next pack's territory.

He sighed and turned away to walk out of the room.

"Stay inside. I'll tell Faith to come and sit with you. Protect her."

After the way she'd run into the fights two times, he'd figured it was her nature to want to protect others. She would have made a perfect Luna. A perfect Queen. He hoped that putting Faith's life in her hands would at least keep her in the house so he wouldn't have to worry about her if he got into a fight.

He was out of the house minutes later, stripping as he walked to the woods at the back. With his senses open, he could hear the swishing of the long grass in the field quite a distance from the house.

It took him moments to shift, and he let Cain take over. But his beast hadn't been at his best since the night they had left Layla. All he wanted to do was curl up and lick his wounds; even going hunting wasn't pulling him out of his funk.

‘Focus, Cain. We only have one mission before we die. Keep our mate safe.'

Cain huffed but didn't increase his speed or offer one of his comebacks. It took him longer than he wanted to run through the woods. He sniffed around half-heartedly until they got to the edge of the woods, and then he lay down in the shade of the biggest tree. Cain had wrested control from him a few times after they had met Layla. He'd started doing things he shouldn't have been able to, like healing from an infected bite in days. He'd started to feel stronger. He'd been confident and pig-headed about his duty to Layla and had not let anything stand in their way.

But the past three months had felled him. He was nothing but a big puppy now. Harmless. Would he even fight the witch if they saw her?

The field in front of him was vast. The grass swayed like waves in the sea, and on the other side were the walls that surrounded the Night Walker Pack territory. They called themselves that because they attacked under the cover of night. Their Alpha had been his father's greatest enemy; he had inherited that feud when he became King.

They had kept out of each other's way so far, but if the witch aimed to do something big, this would be the way to do it. Alpha Ryker was nothing like Cain, and yet his ruthlessness almost matched.

At least it used to match before Cain turned into a puppy because their mate had ripped their heart out of the chest.

‘Jax, we can't find any tracks,' Dylan said in the pack link.

They wouldn't.

The wind was blowing from the direction of the Night Walker territory, bringing a hint of death and rotting wolf. Amber was still in the field or making a home with his enemy.

‘Start heading back to the house. Protect Layla,' he said through the pack link.

‘What are you going to do?'

‘I'm still hunting. I think I know where she is.'

‘Then we're coming with you. I'll send Gavin back to Layla, and we'll back you up.'

He mentally rolled his eyes. He should have expected that. Dylan was now the most efficient Beta that ever walked the earth. He ‘protected' him to the point of suffocation. Made it hard to do anything impulsive or dangerous, which sucked when he was hunting a deranged witch.

He stood and forced Cain to get his head back in the game.

‘What's the point?' Cain said. ‘We're going to die anyway.'

But the depressed wolf lowered his head and started to focus as they crouched and began to walk into the grass. It was tall enough to hide him, which disadvantaged him. Anyone watching from the Night Walker territory would see him moving through the grass while he could only rely on his other senses.

It didn't take him long to realise the witch was up to her old tricks.

Amber's scent hit him from all directions. Everywhere and nowhere. The smell of dark magic and the scent of rogue combined. He lowered his snout almost to the ground and concentrated on his hearing instead. But in every direction, he heard footsteps. Quiet ones, the way Layla had described. He heard heartbeats. Some were beating fast, and others were calm.

He couldn't tell which were real.

Unless none of them were.

The dark magic had surrounded him, swallowed him up as if it were in every blade of grass.

Had this been the witch's plan? To somehow lure him towards his enemy's territory and trap him in her magic? Or was this still just Amber hell-bent on revenge? Either way, this was a trap, and he'd walked right into it.

‘Alpha, something is coming!'

He didn't wait for Dylan to warn him again. He turned back and started to run, but he hadn't taken even two steps when he felt something sink into his flank.

He looked back and saw the arrow sticking into him. And then he felt the sting that told him it wasn't just an arrow.

He looked forward and realised he had gone further into the field than he had thought. His only hope was to get to his pack, but his side was on fire, and his paws felt like lead.

One step.

Two steps.

Darkness encroached on his vision before he took the third.