29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

T here were holes in the arms of the chair where she'd gripped the fabric too hard to stop herself from going after Jax. She was a coward.

On the ride to meet the Circle, Jax had admitted that he thought something was wrong with her wolf. There had to be for her to have been so aggressive with him, even before she'd slapped him. She shouldn't have made things worse by asking him to go and leave everything behind to protect Hope. Now he thought she was the type to abandon their child easily. He'd been rightfully angry, even before they'd messed things up with the Circle.

And then what did she go and do? She'd been like a wolf in heat, further distracting him from what was important— saving the missing wolves and preparing for the Circle's next move. She couldn't face him again so soon after that. She'd let the Alphas deal with the logistics of mounting a rescue and only help once they had a plan. Her senses were superior even without her wolf's aid. She would find a way to be helpful and bring Faith and Rebecca home.

Until then, she would stay out of Jax's way.

Besides, she was still torn about whether she was still angry with him or feeling guilty about what she'd done.

Her role wasn't just Hope's mother; she was capable of more than that. She hadn't raised Brit alone by being just her mother figure. She had been her protector, her defender. Her rock. She had been the one who'd suffered through all the bad things so Brit wouldn't have to.

She could be Hope's mother and still shoulder the burden of the pack.

Even if she was wolfless most of the time.

She sighed and looked outside again. Her thoughts returned to Faith and Rebecca. Her heart ached when she imagined what the Hunters were doing to them. They were cruel bastards; Faith and Rebecca would be suffering.

‘Evacuation procedures! This is not a drill. First group out in half an hour.'

She pulled herself out of her thoughts when Jax's voice rang through her head. The pack had been anxious before, but a full panic started at those words. It thickened the air and made her feel sick to her stomach.

It was happening.

What she had been afraid of was finally happening while she still had no control over her wolf.

Her conflicted thoughts flew out of her head as she shot to her feet. Britney was still fast asleep, so she kept her steps quiet as she rushed out of the room. By the time she got downstairs, Omegas were taking supplies out of the pack house in boxes. All essential, non-perishable things had been loaded up on the planes months before, and only the perishables had remained.

She'd had no idea just how much money Jax had until he'd built several bunkers and camouflaged them in the depths of the forest before storing military-style jets inside them. Teams had been assigned to make sure the runways remained clear for take-off. Even the safehouses they were going to had been stocked and warded, and only a select few knew where those were.

She was not among those people, but that wasn't something she had worried about before.

Now Britney— who knew nothing of their ways— would be among the first group, and she wouldn't know where they would be.

Warriors rushed into the house and headed for the hall to start organising their young guests, who would be among the first to leave. After all the children, including those who'd not yet shifted, the older wolves would go in the second group. She wouldn't see Brit again until everyone in the pack had evacuated safely. Brit would be stuck with the pack elders who were more set in their ways and not too welcoming of humans and half-bloods.

She felt sick again as she watched the organised chaos in the lobby. Before Faith had gone missing, she would have asked to go with them. Her wolf was unreliable at best; she would only be a liability if she stayed to fight. But now... the idea that she needed to rescue Faith and Rebecca had been stuck in her head since the day before—an idea put there by the beast that had once again disappeared.

But they didn't even know if the plan was going to work. What if the safehouses were closer to the Hunters' bases, and they were sending everyone off to their deaths? What if something happened and she never saw Hope again?

Jax walked into the lobby with Dylan at his right and Gavin trailing behind. When her mate noticed her, he walked over to her at the foot of the stairs, his gaze probing because he could probably sense her panic. Or was he trying to figure out how she felt after they'd spent the night together?

She looked away from his gaze to look at her bare feet.

"I've had intel that the Hunters are returning to the hotel," Jax said.

Her head shot up. Jax never updated her on anything related to his duties as the Alpha. She didn't know what to make of that, especially considering he hadn't welcomed her in the meeting in the first place. Was he throwing her a bone just because they were stuck together for life?

"How reliable?"

"I don't know. I fired almost everyone from the hotel but left someone there to keep me updated. She sends regular updates that have checked out so far, so I don't want to ignore her message. She's worried because she hasn't seen Andrea since then and thinks they will come for her, too," Jax said. "I've had to send a scout team to check it out even though I didn't want to. But it's the right move now. If it's not the Hunters, the Circle will come for us. We have to get all the children away from here."

Jax walked closer and took her hand. The sparks shot through her body as they always did.

‘I'll send Josh and Diedre with Hope and Britney. Gavin will go, too, with the second group. Don't worry about them,' he said in her head.

She nodded, but the lump in her throat wouldn't go away.

"I'll go and get Hope and Britney ready," she whispered.

She turned to walk back up the stairs but Jax didn't let go of her hand.

"Layla," Jax said. "What you saw at the hotel... What I did to those assassins... I didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared," she answered quickly.

It was the truth. It was her reaction that had scared her. There'd been a hunger inside her, a blood lust that had been just a fraction of what she'd felt when she'd shifted the first time and her wolf had made its first kill.

The wolf loved the sight of all that blood. She'd loved the sight of all the dead vampires. She'd wanted nothing more than to join Jax in killing everyone in the room. Only the thought of getting home to rescue Faith had held her back.

As much as she wanted to be able to shift again, she was afraid her wolf was a bigger monster than Cain, and when it returned, she wouldn't be able to control her. Just thinking about it made her nauseous again.

"Right," Jax said, letting go of her hand and stepping back from her.

Had she done something wrong?

"I'll stay out of your way," she promised. "I'll take Hope to Britney's room and help her pack something."

Jax turned back to his Beta and Gamma without another word, and it was almost like the previous night hadn't happened.

But there was no time to worry about that. When she rushed to Hope's room, an Omega was already pulling Hope's packed bag out of the closet. Hope ran around with one of her dolls, oblivious to what was happening. Her little girl. The future of their pack. Would she be the one to change the world? Would she even reach adulthood if her parents kept messing up like this?

"I'll take her to my sister's room and meet you by the plane. Go and get ready," she instructed the motherly wolf.

Hope turned at the sound of her voice and ran into her arms for her usual morning kisses. The little girl squealed, unaware of the danger she was in. The danger she would always be in.

"Shall we go and see your aunty Bitty?" she asked the little girl, to which she got another round of excited squeals.

Britney was awake when they walked into her room. Her sister stood at the windows with her hair wrapped in a towel after a shower.

"What's going on?" Britney asked.

"We're evacuating."

Britney's eyes widened as she turned to look at her.

"I told you this wasn't a game, Brit."

"What else was I supposed to do? I thought you were in trouble," Britney whispered.

It was unfair to get angry at her sister when she would probably have done the same thing. She had less than fifteen minutes to teach her sister how to fake it until she made it. Any other lectures could come after they were all safe.

"Everyone knows I didn't get to tell you much since you came, so they won't be surprised that you don't know anything. But if they ask, you have to tell them you hear a voice in your head. One voice," she whispered as she walked to stand in front of Brit. "That's your wolf. Sometimes your wolf will have feelings and urges of its own, and that will feel strange. You'll—"

"Wait. Why are you speaking like you're not evacuating with me?"

She handed Hope to Britney, and her chest tightened.

"All the children are going first. I'll be there in a few days," she said with a smile. Could her sister see through it? "Can I trust you to look after your niece?"

"Layla! You can't leave me alone with these people," Britney hissed.

"They are your family now, too," she said. "And you'll have Josh and Diedre with you. I trust them."

"But you said they can kill me," Brit said.

Brit hadn't been as scared when she had seen her before going to bed, but the young girl's fear reared up again.

"That's why you have to make sure no one suspects you are still just human," she said as she took her sister's hand. "That's the only thing you have to do. And don't look them in the eyes, or they'll think you're challenging them. I can't teach you everything because I'm still learning, too, but you're smarter than me. I know you'll figure it all out."

There was a knock on the door, but she had already known he was coming.

"It's open."

The door opened, and Jax walked in. Their gazes met briefly before he looked at the girls.

"I came to see Hope before they go," Jax said.

Hope had already demanded to be put down and ran across the room to her father. Jax's face lit up as he picked up his little girl. Anyone looking at him wouldn't know how much pain he hid as he rained kisses on the little girl and blew raspberries on her cheeks.

"The cars are ready. It's time, Layla," Jax said.

And the smile he had on his face faltered a little. Jax closed his eyes as he hugged Hope and buried his face in her hair.

Maybe he could feel it, too. That thing in the air pressing down on them, that feeling like nothing would ever be the same again. Was this the end of their pack?