58. Chapter 58

Chapter 58

T hey were going to kill everyone?

Like fuck, they would.

Layla was within his reach, and they thought they could keep him from her?

There were no windows, so it was pitch black in the building. It may have made no difference to the Hunters blocking his path because of their superior vision but for Layla...

‘Layla, where are you?'

‘Outside the warehouse. They've locked everyone up in cages but can gas us all in seconds. I won't be able to save them all.'

Cages? He'd been furious before, but the thought of his mate in a cage brought a surge of violent emotions that made him shift instantly. His mate in a cage? Like an animal? They tortured her and treated her so inhumanely.

Cain lowered his head, ready to plough through all of them.

‘Are you hurt?' he growled. ‘I smell blood.'

A lot of it. He already knew none of that blood was Layla's, but he had no idea what the hell was happening. If she was caged, where had the blood come from?

‘No.'

‘Can you break out of your cage?'

Just saying it made him want to rush forward and chew his way through the Hunters to get to her.

‘I'm not in a cage. I'm outside the warehouse, in the hallway. They're blocking the door.'

His limbs weakened. Everything he imagined washed away as he latched on to Layla's voice and her emotions. The pain he felt outside wasn't because she was injured.

His relief was palpable. Had she escaped? Did the Hunters let her out to set a trap for him? It didn't matter whether it was a trap or not; there was nothing on earth that would stop him. Not even the threat of the whole pack being decimated.

‘Remember that time at the Circle's trial when the assassin came into our room?'

There was a pause and then a burst of relief.

‘Yes.'

‘Do that, Layla. Come to me.'

‘Okay,' Layla whispered.

He stood still and waited. Layla hid him at the hotel, but she became an expert at hiding in the shadows long before that. The darkness was her domain, just as it was his. But still, there was dread in the pit of his stomach as he tried to sense her movements. One wrong move and the wall of Hunters would turn on her.

The only indication she hid from the Hunters was the whispers among them as they were ordered to find her. Their footsteps were light when they spread out, but he couldn't hear Layla. He could only feel her. His body tensed in anticipation as he sensed her just around the corner.

And then she stopped, just beyond his reach.

‘Hunters are blocking my path. I can't get any closer.'

Would Fate be so cruel? Bring her so close only to snatch her away from him again?

‘I'll attack them. When they come for me, use the distraction. Squeeze past them until you get to me.'

‘Wait! I can't squeeze past them,' Layla said quickly. ‘I shifted.'

Had she? It had been so long since he saw her beautiful wolf. The dangerous wolf that took on a witch full of dark magic. She could fight her way through without his help, but he wouldn't take any chances with her life. Even though they were linked, he had more combat experience and a small army behind him. He had a better chance of surviving.

‘Shift back and wait for my signal—'

‘I'll fight from my side, and you fight from there,' Layla cut in.

‘Layla—'

‘I have my mother with me. She's too weak to shift or fight. Meet me in the middle, Jax. Please.'

Rebecca was captured? Layla worried about that, and he'd dismissed her fears. He'd been a dick instead of trusting her intuition. He was still trying to process that when he heard the Hunters at the back start to scream. It was a long hallway; if he didn't join in and get to her quickly, the Hunters she evaded would attack her from behind.

Without another thought, he lunged forward and attacked. These Hunters seemed better trained than the ones he fought at the gates. Silver daggers came out of nowhere, and one stuck in his side before he could evade it. Another brought a silver chain from behind him and slung it over his head. The Hunter pulled and brought him down, giving his friends enough time to stab him again.

Fuckers. He would not let them kill him or his mate in the process. He rolled away from the daggers and got back to his feet, but the pain in his side didn't stop. There was something wrong with the blades. They'd laced them with something.

‘Jax!' Dylan mind-linked.

‘Stay back! Stay away from the weapons; there's something wrong with them.'

Before he could explain, the Hunter pulled on the chain again, dragging his back towards them. He dug his heels in, but it was like trying to pull a train going in the opposite direction. What the hell were they feeding these Hunters?

Layla whined, and then the scent of her blood filled the air. He froze. And then his mind snapped. It emptied of everything except the one thought that had kept him going since the Hunter took Layla. The darkness washed over him and settled. He grabbed the chain around his neck and yanked it. The Hunter, who hadn't budged before, came flying over with the chain still wrapped around his hand, and a second later, he lay in pieces.

A trance. A frenzy. Whatever it was made him stronger and faster as he laid waste to his enemies. He didn't stop until only one Hunter stood between him and his mate.

And when that Hunter fell, he looked up and saw his red wolf—blood-stained, snarling and the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Cain walked around her slowly, sniffing her and licking her wounds. He rubbed his body against the wolf he had only mentally bonded with but never met. They became whole again. The rage he and Cain carried melted away as their mate returned where she belonged. His head cleared, and his heart started to beat normally again.

Though the red wolf rejected him many times, with her slap and her aggression before she was kidnapped, she also claimed him many times.

He shifted and put his arms around the wolf, taking his turn to be close to her. His fingers ran through her thick fur before he gripped it and held on, anchoring himself. Her scent wrapped around him, and he inhaled, finally restoring the piece missing from his heart.

‘I didn't think I'd get to hold you again,' he whispered in her head.

‘Me either. I thought they caught you,' Layla answered.

He stood back and looked into her emerald eyes. They were different. Sadder. Perhaps that was to be expected after her ordeal, but a ripple in their bond told him there was more to it.

‘Layla?'

‘We still have work to do,' she whispered. ‘Our people are half dead. He's got children in here, Jax.'

He stepped back and sucked in a breath. Children? He knew of the Hunters' cruelty and that they spared no one. But because of Hope, the thought angered and scared him more. He had to rid the world of such a threat.

He looked back at the others still in their wolf forms with their hackles raised because they sensed all the danger still around them.

"They have our people in cages," he said.

As he had known, anger rose in each of them.

"They have our children."

Growls and snarls filled the hallway as the wolves approached, ready to finish the fight.

"Tell the others to make their way back. And then finish this."

"Wait. I want to show you something."

He looked behind Layla to see Rebecca leaning against the wall. He rushed over to put his arm around her for support and felt her bones digging into him. She looked terrible, and she felt as weak as a newborn pup.

"What did they do to you?" he hissed.

"That's not important right now. We're outnumbered, but I think there is a way to even things out," Rebecca said, still as bossy as before as she pushed his arm away and turned back the way she came.

Layla followed without question. He looked back at the others who were only holding back because he was their king. With half the wolves out in the town diverting the other Hunters, there was a high chance that many wouldn't make it out alive, no matter how angry they were. If there was a chance he could prevent that, he needed to take it.

"We attack on my command," he told them. "Stick together."

A minute later, Rebecca and Layla walked through a doorway marked as restricted. The door was bent outwards with bloody handprints all over it. Layla's scent was all over the room, so he didn't need to think hard to figure out what happened. He already knew before he saw the bodies on the floor and stepped through the puddles of blood.

But what made him pause were the hounds.

The first time he saw them up close was when the hunting party came to his forest. They were rabid, snarling monstrosities that would have ripped him apart on command. He cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out what he was looking at. They were the same hounds, alright. But they looked like pups. Kittens.

They sat at the back of the cage, and a few whined when Layla walked in front of them.

Rebecca pressed something on the wall, and all the glass doors slid open.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled, stepping in front of Layla despite her still being in her wolf form.

But the hounds didn't move. They didn't even look up.

‘We need a bigger army,' Layla said quietly. ‘Now we have one.'

"Why aren't they attacking us?"

‘Because the Commander is one sick bastard,' Layla responded.

"This is what they were doing here. Making these things and more recently, they turned one of their own," Rebecca said.

Shock reverberated through the room. A turned Hunter? That was impossible! In all the accounts and stories passed down from the packs, nobody ever turned into a wolf, Hunter or otherwise. That changed things.

He looked at the other wolves and realised Chase and Dylan shifted. Chase walked cautiously to the open door, and the hounds didn't even look at him.

"This is so fucking messed up," Chase said. "We can't just sit back anymore. We can't let them do this. Not at this base or any others."

"Then let's go and end this. Let's burn this shit to the ground," he growled, walking back to the door.