76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

J ackson wasn't too worried about Hugo's threat.

Since Diedre had started feeling better, she had been working hard to remove all the traces of dark magic around their territory. Her well of magic seemed to run deeper, even though it was not yet fully replenished. Warding the whole territory had been beyond her before Layla had healed her.

But all the entry points had been fortified. Her magic wasn't as it used to be, it was stronger. Nobody would enter through his gates without his permission. Even if Diedre's magic didn't work on him and Layla, it had to work for the rest of the pack. Right?

He was more worried about what the hell Layla was doing there. She should have been home with Hope and the others. Especially since he'd already warned her that the Circle was worse than any Hunter she would ever meet.

Layla seemed intent on breaking all his rules.

He was about to tell Hugo they had wasted their time when he sensed the rage rising in his mate.

It was so dark it felt like Cain's fury. His beast liked to rampage and cause havoc when his emotions got the better of him. Except now, when even faced with the threat outside his gates, Cain still acted like a drugged-up or drunk human. If he shifted now, he'd probably lick the Circle's faces and roll over.

Seconds later, Layla's arm shot through the gate, wrapping her fingers around Hugo's throat. She lifted him off his feet even though she was shorter than him. And then she started to squeeze.

Damn it. It was Cain all over again.

The clean-up team, a mix of witches and wolves that Hugo had brought, rushed forward, their hands ready as they started to chant. He noticed the doors of the car that Hugo had come out of open, and Lincoln stepped out with a look of fury on his face. He seemed to have recovered well from the time he'd almost killed him. And they seemed to have replaced their Third because another young wolf stood nervously next to their car.

He put his hand on Layla's shoulder to get her attention but she was already lost in her rage. Exactly like Cain did.

"Layla!"

One dead Circle member was terrible enough. Hugo's arms alternated between flailing, trying to move the fingers locked around his neck and trying to push away from the bars that Layla had shoved his face into.

"Layla, release him."

She turned her head to look at him. He'd never seen that much fire in her eyes. And they were glowing. Beautifully. Even with the snarl on her lips and her teeth showing, he had never seen her look so beautiful. Her anger called to the darkest part of him, the messed-up part that enjoyed his depravity. And her sheer strength...

It was turning him on. Fuck. Maybe he had a fetish for psychopaths now.

He barely registered when the Circle started to attack as he held Layla's gaze. The woman who had given up her life so she could be with him. He couldn't undo that, but Cain was right. No one had ever loved him so much that they would lay down their lives for him. That was his job as Alpha and King.

His hand moved from her shoulder to sink into her silky hair. She looked like a flaming ball of fury with all that red and green. One phrase about killing the people she loved, and she was ready to burn the world down.

The next second he had his lips over hers, and he could taste all the darkness she was ready to unleash. She was like a feast for his soul. One he had only weeks to devour. Maybe they would be together in the afterlife, together forever in death.

"Stop this madness!"

The urgency in Lincoln's voice pulled him away from the sensory feast. He sighed against Layla's lips before he pulled away from her.

Hugo had passed out. His heart was barely beating. All the elemental attacks against his wards fizzled out without doing any harm, and Lincoln was busy trying to pull his Second from Layla's grip.

Layla seemed to come to her senses at the same time because she threw Hugo back, and he landed in an undignified heap in front of his car. Finn's replacement rushed to him and carried him into the car, where he stayed instead of coming out to join the others. He could already tell that the new Finn wouldn't last very long on the job, either.

"What have you done to her? What sorcery is this?" Lincoln shouted, his eyes on Layla.

He looked down at the woman who had given herself away.

"Just take your people and leave. I think we're done here."

Lincoln's anger grew.

"I have been too lenient with you, King Jackson. You are not above the Circle!" Lincoln growled. His eyes were glowing as his anger rose. "I don't have to evacuate the women and children. You can all die in there like the vermin you are. Your bloodline causes nothing but trouble; I will end you all today."

It was Layla who reacted first again. She had mastered control over her feelings before, but if he had changed so much after the marking, so had Layla. She would have to learn to control herself again. Or maybe they didn't have to bother now.

Layla slammed her hands against the bars of the gates. They shook from the force as his mate looked directly at the Circle member without flinching.

"Mine. Everything here is mine," Layla growled.

He sucked in a breath at the sound of her voice. It was deeper. It rolled through the air in waves that rippled over his skin and sent a jolt through his body. It was her wolf's voice. That side of her had claimed him first, loved him first, and now she rippled so close to the surface.

The Circle stopped attacking as they all looked at Layla with varying levels of curiosity. And she was a curiosity. There hadn't been a red wolf seen or heard of until recently, and once Lincoln and his buddies figured it out, they would hunt Layla the same way the Hunters would.

"If I see or smell any of you anywhere in my forest, I will hunt you down and rip you apart," Layla continued. "Leave."

The command had all of them stepping back. Lincoln's eyes widened in horror. Yet another wolf who could command him, and she wasn't even an Alpha. Perhaps it was good that Layla was following him to the grave. They would never leave her alone now.

"Leave!" she shouted, and even the warriors behind him stepped back.

Her power was raw, unfiltered, and unhidden. They could all feel what he had spent months teaching her to hide.

"What is this?" Lincoln asked as he stepped back, unable to do anything except what Layla had ordered.

"It's a command from your Queen," he answered easily.

"You mated with the human?" Lincoln gasped.

Another sin the Circle wouldn't tolerate. But Lincoln could tell she clearly wasn't human. It would click soon enough.

"Consider this our emancipation. Stay away from us, and we won't have to come hunting."

He knew it wouldn't be that easy. The Circle was more than just a few people gathered at his gates. They would want to kill Layla, though that job would be done for them on his birthday. But when they realised they had both died; they would swoop right back and get Dylan under their control in the hopes of getting to Hope. They would be more interested in Hope's bloodline than ever. He and Layla had made their pack's situation worse.

Lincoln's anger blasted at him as the Alpha was compelled to return to his car. The engines started going again, and then tyres screeched as they turned around and headed back the way they had come.

He exhaled and looked down at the woman still gripping the bars and watching the cars disappear down the road. She was still in a rage; he had to wonder how close she had come to shifting. Would he see her shift before he died? Would he get to be with his wolf mate the way Cain wanted?

His eyes flashed as his wolf paid more attention to that part of the conversation than anything else that had just happened.

When he could no longer hear the cars, further in the distance than he had ever reached, Layla released the bars of the gate and turned to face him. Her rage was still simmering inside her. If she was anything like Cain, she would need an outlet for it.

"Go and check on things at the packhouse," he commanded the warriors without taking his eyes off Layla. "Your Queen and I have things to discuss."

The wolves around them and those who had been waiting in their positions in the woods started to move.

"We fucked up," he said to Layla.

A muscle in her jaw ticked. Her wolf wouldn't think they had done anything wrong, just like Cain always believed he was in the right.

"I'm sorry," Layla said through her teeth, and he sensed a little remorse. "I couldn't help myself."

She lowered her gaze but he could feel her struggle to get a hold of herself.

"Why did you do that to me, Layla?" he whispered. "How am I supposed to live with myself now?"

She lifted her gaze to him, and all the remorse was gone. Her eyes glowed brighter than before.

"Because I would rather die with you than live without you. It was my decision to make."

And she dropped her mask and allowed him to feel all those things. Her truth.

He had his lips back on her seconds later, unable to resist. They would have to discuss it when she had better control of her emotions. When she was less impulsive.

But until then...

He only made it to the first tree trunk in the woods beside the gates. Their looming death was forgotten the second he ripped her panties off and proceeded to fuck her for the first time as mates, enhanced senses and all. He hadn't thought sex could get any better than what it already was, but as he lost himself in Layla, as he saw the stars and all the rainbows, he had to wonder again if there was any truth in Diedre's words. Was Layla his saviour after all?