69. Chapter 69

Chapter 69

L ayla set the cake in the middle of a table and turned to watch Brit holding Hope in the shade near the pool. Since Brit had refused to have a party to celebrate her birthday and also for writing her last paper, there was no one else around. It was for the best, anyway. She was anxious about what would happen that night.

"You said it can happen at any time, right?" she asked Jackson when he came out to set more snacks on the table.

"Yes, anytime around the eighteenth birthday if she's going to shift. If she's a half-blood, she won't, but she'll start having issues with her wolf half when she's older," Jackson answered.

She sighed and turned away from her sister to look at Jackson.

"And she could be like me," she stated.

"I'm not so sure. You have red hair and green eyes, and so does Hope. Your sister looks like your father, and I don't sense anything different in her," Jackson said. "It's a full moon tonight, so if it was going to happen, Britney would have started feeling it by now. I think you have to prepare yourself."

"Mum said she will be like me."

"I guess we'll just have to wait. Stop worrying, Layla. She'll be okay either way," Jackson said as he pulled her into his arms. "We haven't had a chance to enjoy anything normal since we got together. Why don't we just enjoy that and deal with whatever comes after?"

The guys came around the house after making sure everything was still secure. She turned to watch Britney and saw her eyes light up briefly when she saw Josh. But the young warrior looked at Jackson and whispered something to the rest of the guys before he walked back the way he had come. Brit's sadness hit her hard. She looked up at Jackson, hoping he would make the situation better.

"It's for her own good," Jackson said. "I won't be able to protect her from the Circle if she finds out about us."

She sighed and pushed out of his arms so she could go and sit with her girls. Jackson was right, and whatever crush Brit had would probably fizzle out the way all the others had, but she still didn't want to see Brit hurting.

It was probably the most miserable party she'd ever been to. The guys manned the barbeque and drank beers while she attended to the baby and tried to cheer Brit up. She even allowed her to have a beer to mark her eighteenth. But as the night grew closer, she got sucked deeper into her depression. Her wolf side was taking it as hard as she was. Though she was still unsure what the best option for Brit would be, her wolf side was certain Brit was meant to be with her.

"Come dance with me."

She looked up to see Jackson had come to stand next to her chair. He looked carefree for the first time since she had met him. There was a smile on his face, a beer in his hand, and he was wearing casual shorts and a t-shirt as if he wasn't a King or the owner of a five-star hotel. And he looked nothing like the man she had seen kill Zach and his friends right in front of her.

She wanted that. She wanted to forget her worries for a moment and create memories that would last a lifetime.

With a smile, she handed the baby to Brit and took Jackson's hand. He helped her up and then led her closer to the speakers before he turned around and pulled her into his arms.

"Relax," Jackson whispered.

She met his gaze and got lost in his eyes. It wasn't that Jackson was free from all the worries; she could see all of them in the depths of his icy blue eyes. But he had put them in this bubble away from all the shit so they could do this.

Get lost in each other's eyes. Spend hours in the pool or lounging in the sun. Read. Hours lost in each other's bodies.

He had done all that for her, but she still couldn't shake off the feeling that the worst was still to come.

Jax put her hands on his shoulder and started to move. And she became lost in the moment. Maybe it was a good thing that Brit didn't have a wolf because she wouldn't have to feel so strongly. She loved Jax with an intensity that took her breath away, and she knew when she had to leave him, she wouldn't survive. It wasn't normal.

She plastered her body against his and tightened her hold on him. The ever-present tingles licked her whole body as they swayed to the soft music. She lost track of time as she allowed herself to dream that this was what her life would be like forever.

Only when she felt the tingles at the back of her neck did she stop moving and look back at the woods.

Her mother was there.

"Invite her over," Jackson said.

Was he crazy? Her eyes widened as she turned back to face him. They were not at that stage yet. She couldn't sit down with Rebecca and pretend everything was okay.

"You might need her," Jackson said.

"Not today!" she hissed.

Jackson sighed and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Maybe not today. It could be tomorrow; it could be next month. If anything happens to me, I want you to have someone to turn to who knows what's going on," he said quietly.

And that serious look was back on his face. She wanted to believe it was because he'd just been reminded of the trials ahead of them, but her instincts told her otherwise. That wasn't the first time Jackson had spoken like he expected them to separate.

Her chest tightened as she turned back to look at the woods.

"Sure. Why not? Let's invite Mother dearest to this wonderful party," she said tightly before walking towards the trees.

Rebecca came out from behind a tree trunk wearing a different dress, one that looked expensive, but still barefoot.

"I don't want to intrude," Rebecca said.

"I find that hard to believe," she said. "Where did you get the dress?"

Rebecca smoothed down the silk of the silky green summer dress that brought out her eyes even in the dying light. Her mother looked like some sort of ethereal beauty. If those were the changes Brit had seen in her, then no wonder she suspected something had happened.

"Someone left their dry-cleaning in their car while they were carrying groceries in," Rebecca smiled. "I haven't worn anything pretty in..."

She didn't want to hear the sob stories. She turned to walk back to the party and saw the guards had abandoned their drinks and were alert. Their confusion was understandable; she couldn't sense anything from Rebecca, so she must have masked herself.

"Mum!"

Brit stood and set Hope down in the bassinet they had brought out before she rushed to meet them. It was the first genuine smile she had seen on her sister's face in days, and that broke her heart.

Standing with Brit and Rebecca, she could see why Jackson believed Brit wouldn't turn. She and her mother dwarfed the delicate-looking girl.

"I didn't know you were coming," Brit said.

"I didn't want to miss any more birthdays," Rebecca said with a smile.

"Do you want a beer? Or something else?" Brit asked.

"A beer sounds good."

Brit smiled back and rushed to the coolers. Despite her sister insisting she didn't want anything for her birthday, she had gone crazy shopping online to try to find the perfect present. But it seemed her mother was still the best present.

She could understand why Brit would accept her back so quickly. She hadn't been the one who'd had to drop out of school. She hadn't been the one who'd gone hungry so her sister could eat. She hadn't been the one to work herself to the bone in dead-end jobs. But it still hurt to see Brit brush all of that aside.

Half an hour later, Rebecca seemed to have settled in as if she had always been part of the group. Layla's mood sank even lower.

She looked up at the full moon in the sky and then at Brit, who was busy telling her mother about some of her friends at school, clearly unaffected by its pull. The four warriors had already succumbed; she could sense them running in the woods. But Jackson didn't seem affected. And to think about it, neither did she. The moon had never been anything other than the moon, even when all the weird things had started happening to her.

"Shall we head to bed?" Jackson asked.

She was snuggled next to him, sitting far from Brit and Rebecca. She hadn't joined the conversation but wasn't ready to leave Brit alone. What if she somehow convinced Rebecca to take her along?

"I'm not yet tired," she answered.

"I think Hope is ready for her bed," Jackson said.

"Can I hold her before you take her in?" Rebecca asked.

Her eyes were so hopeful. She shook her head but could sense Jackson's emotions, so she knew that Jackson wouldn't have a problem with that. She stood quickly before he made a decision that would piss her off further and picked Hope out of her bassinet.

"No, sorry. It's way past her bedtime," she told Rebecca. "Goodnight, Brit."

Jax sighed as if he had expected a different answer but stood and followed behind her after bidding them a good night.

She had just started going up the stairs when his phone rang. She turned back, worry replacing her confusing feelings about Rebecca. It was the middle of the night on a full moon. The pack was supposed to be out running, so that meant something had happened.

Jax was tense when he put the phone to his ear. She opened up her senses so she could eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yes?" he answered.

"It's Diedre," Dylan said on the other end. "You should come home."