27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

L ayla was a bag of nerves when Jax stopped the car in front of the packhouse. It had been so easy for the Circle to separate them, and it would have been just as easy for them to kill her. She would never have been able to defend herself the way Jax had done.

She would have been the cause of Jackson's death.

She was his weakness.

Useless.

Even the wolf that had come to her aid and given her confidence that they could rescue Faith had abandoned her without telling her what the hell she was supposed to do.

She got out of the car without a word to him and rushed up the front steps. Dylan was already waiting there with Gavin, and they didn't look like they'd slept since she'd last seen them. She could cut through their anxiety with a knife.

"Have you learned anything else?" she asked them.

Both men didn't answer her directly. Instead, they looked behind her at the man coming up the steps. Jax was an emotional void, but she could never completely escape knowing how he felt. His anger and pain were muted, but they were still there.

She deserved that. First, she'd hit him and then she'd almost got him killed.

"Alpha Chase, Alpha Braxton and Alpha Ryker are waiting in the conference room," Dylan said to Jax.

Before being briefly looked up by the Circle, that would have pissed her right off. Everyone respected her, but they completely overlooked her when it came to pack issues.

She lowered her head and walked into the packhouse. The sound of children playing reminded her of their guests. They had been scared when she left, but it sounded like they were running around all over the packhouse now.

If Faith had been there, she would have been running around with them, helping them to feel more comfortable.

The men walked into the house after her and headed for the conference room. She bit her lip and headed to the stairs. She had only gone up one step when she looked back and watched how the men looked at each other as they mind-linked. They would keep whatever was happening away from her as they always did.

But that would drive her crazy. This wasn't about a rogue that had come too close to the territory or issues other packs had for their king to deal with.

This was about Faith. The girl who'd been there for her from the beginning, even if they'd had a bumpy start. The girl who'd held her hand when she'd given birth to Hope while grieving for Jackson.

She owed it to her to find out everything, even if she couldn't do much to help. The least she could do was find out what they were up against.

She turned and followed the men down the hallway. When Gavin started to close the door behind him, his eyes widened when he saw her. She didn't blame him. She had never once been invited to any of the meetings, so she didn't know if women were even allowed there. But she walked in anyway and saw the visiting Alphas already on their feet with their heads lowered as they greeted their king.

Chase saw her first. His smile was warm as he lowered his head again, and for the first time in a while, someone was happy to see her.

"My queen," Chase said.

The other Alphas turned to her and lowered their heads, too, but Jax didn't look back. He'd probably already known that she'd followed them. He sat at the head of the long table and looked up at Dylan.

"You look tired, Your Majesty," Ryker said, coming forward and blocking her view of Jax. He took her hand, crossing the boundaries Jax had set for him without a thought. "Did something happen? Did the Circle hurt you?"

She expected Jax to growl at how close Ryker stood to her, but there was nothing. Not a sound.

Ryker loomed over her. She'd gotten used to seeing the scars on his face that he didn't scare her anymore, but she still didn't completely trust him after what he'd done to Jax. Still, she had to do the mature thing and make sure everyone got along for the sake of all their packs.

"I just heard about the summons when I got here," Alpha Braxton said, coming to her other side. "Since you're standing here, I take it, it all went well? I knew they wouldn't touch you; you're too valuable."

And that was what Brax had always believed. He'd taken to visiting more often so that he could catch a glimpse of the red monster that had shocked everyone else with its appearance.

"You should have called me, my queen," Chase said. "I would have been close if anything—"

A loud bang cut him off, and they all turned to look at Jax with his palms flat.

"You can fawn over your queen another day," Jax said calmly, contradicting his almost violent action. "Shall we get on with this?"

"Yes, Alpha," Dylan said, pulling out the chair on Jax's right.

Ryker pushed him out of the way and smiled at her as he gestured for her to take the seat. Dylan went to sit next to her, but Ryker took that seat and grinned at him. The pack Beta's jaws clamped together as if restraining himself before walking around to the other side of the table.

When she finally looked at Jax again, that coldness she had known for a long time when she'd first met him was back in his eyes. His gaze drilled into her and then Ryker, who didn't seem to care that he was winding his king up.

"Where's Alpha Erik?" Jax asked.

"He left soon after you did, Alpha," Gavin answered.

What? Their parents had left them, and then their Alpha had abandoned them, too. Jax didn't react, as if he wasn't surprised by the news, but her fists balled up in her lap.

"Have you stopped the searches?" Jax asked.

"Yes. All the teams came back after we heard the news," Chase answered.

"Wait. We're not looking for them anymore? We can't do that," she said.

"We can't risk anyone else being taken when we don't know where they are," Jax said.

It was logical, and Jax didn't say it with a condescending tone, but she felt stupid for not realising it.

"Right," she said. "Sorry."

"There's nothing for you to apologise—"

"What did you find out?" Jax continued, cutting off Ryker.

The others looked at each other and then at her, likely realising that something was off between them.

"The scouts that saw the Hunters returned to their pack immediately, but that was around the same time Faith went missing. They had been out looking for a few of their pack members," Dylan said.

"And all of them are still alive?"

"No broken bonds reported," Gavin said.

"I'm still linked to my boys," Ryker said. "But it's strange, almost like it's muted. I can't even begin to track them."

"You can track your pack members?" she asked.

She could find anyone in the pack if she concentrated on the pack link and if they were close enough to her, but she also needed their scent and her keen hearing. Was that something she could learn to do, too?

"Only Alphas can do that," Jax answered.

And again, she felt small.

How was she supposed to have known that when she wasn't included in any of it? She'd been focused on learning what she could do as a red wolf, but she was still almost clueless about the others.

"Right," she said again.

There was a pause that felt awkward. Was she disrupting their meeting? Perhaps they didn't want her there.

"We need some sort of trackers on all our scouts just in case," Chase suggested. "They seem to be taking the smaller teams or solitary wolves. I don't know if that's because they're watching us. Goddess forbid anyone else gets taken, but that should be a priority before we risk resuming the searches. What do you think, Layla?"

He'd taken the seat across from her and looked right at her as he spoke instead of Jax. She felt a ripple of Jax's irritation but ignored it as she had done the entire trip back home. If the Hunters were taking solitary wolves, she had more reason to suspect Rebecca was among them.

"I think that's a great idea."

"Of course you do," Jax said.

She frowned and looked back at her mate.

"What?"

"What do you want to do? Abandon the scouts to that fate just because it's their job? I'm not risking any more people. We'll find another way," Jax said. "Why don't you go and check if Hope and Britney are okay."

Did he...

No, he couldn't be so blatant with it. He wouldn't blatantly imply that her only job was to look after their child.

But Jax didn't look away, and that coldness didn't dissipate. She'd felt awful about what she had done to him and for getting him dragged to a trial, but her fists balled up again. Her frustration and anger mixed with her remorse and guilt.

She bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything when she wasn't sure which emotions would win.

In the end, it was the guilt that won.

She ground her teeth and stood without a word. When she closed the door behind her, two young children raced down the hallway. They skidded to a stop right in front of her, and their laughter stopped. They lowered their heads and started to tremble.

She had no idea what they had heard about her, but the sight of them crushed her. How could they be afraid of someone who was essentially human? Who could do nothing to find their missing parents? She walked past them without reassuring them and headed for the stairs. Hope and Brit could wait a little longer. She needed time to compose herself.

She was halfway up the stairs when she felt her wolf awaken again inside her. Her guilt and remorse disappeared, replaced by the determination she had felt when Dylan had called with the news.

She knew the feeling wouldn't last, but by the time she'd walked into their bedroom, she knew she would still try to do everything she could to bring Faith and Rebecca home. All she had to do was find a way to do it without putting Jax's life at risk.