79. Chapter 79

Chapter 79

T he air was knocked out of her lungs as Layla landed in a heap in the field. Everything hurt. Jackson had been pounding into her for hours.

‘And not in a good way. How the hell are you getting worse at this instead of better?' the voice in her head said.

Since Jackson had marked her, that voice had become a more permanent feature in her head. She'd been able to shut it off before, but now it was impossible. She was constantly arguing with it and losing focus, and her ability to control her emotions was also on the fritz. Her moods were yo-yo-ing worse than when she'd been pregnant.

"You're distracted."

She lifted her head with the bit of energy she had left and looked at Jackson, who was glaring at her from the other side of their makeshift ring.

"I'm tired," she corrected. "Let's take a break."

"We can't, Layla," Jackson growled. He marched across to her and helped her to her feet. "You pissed off the Circle, and I pissed off the Wicked Witch. It was fine when our sins were going to die with us, but they'll be coming for us. And don't forget the Hunters can—"

"I get it," she cut in.

It had been days since his birthday, and Jackson's panic had set in the moment Brax pointed out that they were celebrating too early. She looked over at the man himself, who had sat through her training from the moment she had started. His scrutiny was making her uneasy.

"I'm taking a break," she stated.

"No," Jackson growled.

She pulled her head back and frowned at her dear mate.

"No?"

"You haven't trained your whole life like everyone else. You don't know_"

"No?" she repeated.

Jackson shut his mouth as if he'd only just realised what he'd said. Since he'd marked her, her stubbornness had ramped up, too. She hated being told what to do.

"Yes," Jackson finally said through his teeth.

She shook her head and walked over to the weird Alpha to pick up a water bottle from the table set up next to him.

"So you really grabbed a Circle member by the throat?" Alpha Brax asked.

She looked at him as she drank her water and wondered how much she could tell him. Everyone knew she was different, but no one had yet to ask her for details about what had happened with the Circle. She didn't know if she could explain it, even if they did.

"I'm sorry. I'm just curious by nature," the burly Alpha chuckled. "You have nice hair. Is it a family trait?"

"Stop fishing, Brax," Jackson said as he grabbed a bottle of water.

"I'm not. I'm just getting to know my Queen."

"The party's been over for days. When are you heading back out?" Jackson asked.

"When I find my unicorn," Brax stated with a smirk as he lay back on his elbow and stuck a blade of grass in his mouth.

She gave Jax a questioning look before she decided she didn't really want to know. As long as he wasn't killing everybody as he had the night his pack had been hexed, it didn't matter how long he stayed.

She left the men talking and headed towards the nearest trail into the woods. All the training fields were full and she even sensed a few wolves training in the forest with Dylan. Everyone in the pack was expected to prepare for whatever came next. If anything came at all. They had thwarted the witch at every turn, so she probably was angry, but how long did someone go before they admitted defeat? It had been almost a year since Jackson brought her to the Packhouse. Wasn't the wolf tired by now?

‘She was patient enough to wait years since Jackson killed her mother,' the voice in her head pointed out.

She found a quiet spot and sat on the ground, leaning against a tree trunk. She could feel her muscles already healing from her gruelling sparring with Jackson. He probably would have killed her already if she weren't part wolf. She massaged her thighs and daydreamed about a soak in the tub at the end of the day. It was the only time Jackson wasn't a drill sergeant.

‘He still is.'

The voice in her head laughed at its own immature joke, once again violating her thoughts. She ignored it and put her head back against the tree.

She'd just had her last sip of water when her mother walked out of the woods beside her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I overheard Brit's guards talking about what happened at Jackson's party," Rebecca said as she sat down uninvited and hugged her knees. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't need to tell you anything."

Her mother looked away from her and looked down at her toes. She was naked—there weren't any human houses she could sneak into and steal clothes from. Rebecca had probably run from Brit's home. She couldn't wait until she could shift, too. Visiting Brit would become more manageable.

"Was that why Jackson wouldn't mark you?"

Her mother knew too much for someone who lived in the shadows.

"I have to get back to training," she said as she stood. "Everything is fine, as you can see."

"It's not fine. There's something in the air, Layla."

She sniffed and tried to sense any threats in the woods. There was only the pack training in it, and the warriors on patrol hadn't given out any alerts from the gate. Just how strong was her mother to sense anything like that? Or was she just panicking the way Jackson was?

"We'll deal with it if it comes. Maybe you should go back and watch over Brit? There are too many people around."

Brit said Rebecca had ‘visited' her a few times already. She'd known her mother would try to move too fast with her more receptive sister. Rebuilding their relationship wouldn't happen overnight as it had with Brit.

She'd just started to walk away when the air changed.

It always changed when things were about to get fucked up. That sudden shift. The vibrations in the air.

No one else was in or around the territory besides the pack, and she couldn't see or smell anything. Looking back at Rebecca, she saw her looking up at the sky with worry. She followed her gaze and saw nothing but clear blue skies.

But wisps of black clouds drifted across, and those had her senses tingling.

"It's too late. She's here."

The wisps became bigger. There was nothing natural about them.

"What do you mean it's too late? Get out of here," she said.

"We're surrounded. It's... It's worse than before; I won't be able to leave."

It took her a moment longer to sense what her mother felt as the darkness rolled across the sky. People were coming from every direction, heading right for their territory.

She started to run back to the training fields when she realised that her mother meant she would be trapped in the woods with whatever was coming. Maybe she would never forgive her mother, but she didn't want her fighting whatever that was by herself.

"Come with me," she said as she took her sweaty t-shirt off and threw it at her mother.

With her sports bra on, she didn't wait to see if Rebecca would follow as she ran out of the woods.

‘Jackson!' she shouted in her head.

But when she reached the field, they had already stopped training to look at the black clouds rolling across the sky. Jackson stood with Alpha Brax, his shoulder tense and his fists clenched at his sides.

When he looked at her, he knew what they had feared was coming to pass. The Circle couldn't be responsible for those clouds. The witch had come to finish the job.

"Go to Hope," Jackson called out.

She didn't need to be told twice.

As she ran towards the house, she saw Brax's gaze following something behind her and knew her mother had followed. His fascination was unmistakable on his face.

The house was a hive of activity. They had been making lunch, but now she heard them running around, switching everything off in preparation for a fight.

She took the stairs two at a time until she reached the second floor. Though she didn't sense her mother behind her, she knew Rebecca was close as she rushed into the room Faith used when she was looking after Hope. The young girl was looking out of the window at the darkening sky.

"Do you remember what you need to do?" she asked Faith.

"Yes. I have to hide with Hope, and if anything happens to you, I'll find my way to your sister's," Faith answered. "Is it the witch? Has she hexed another pack to attack us?"

She opened up her senses to track the enemy. She could hear the loud thudding of wolves as they ran through the forest, but there was something else that she couldn't quite read. Their steps were almost too silent, and they moved through the trees quicker than any of the wolves she had seen before.

"More than one pack," Rebecca whispered.

The blood drained from her face. She looked at her baby and Faith and then the woman behind her. The only other person she knew who could essentially disappear under anyone's nose.

"You have to take care of them," she told her mother. "You have to find a way to get them to Britney until I come for them."

Could she trust her mother now? She had no other choice. Jackson expected her to stay in the house with Hope, but she knew there was no way she would let him fight alone.

"I'll protect them, Layla," Rebecca answered, stepping towards Faith and the window. "But you should come with us. I think she means to kill everyone here."