59. Chapter 59

Chapter 59

W as she dreaming?

Layla followed Jax out of yet another room, leaving destruction and bloodshed in their wake. Her head was a mess, but somehow Nia was holding everything together. Maybe her wolf had always kept things together, with all that shit they'd gone through growing up. But how could she fight like that when everything inside her was falling apart?

How was Jax standing in front of her in the hellish place she'd thought she would die in? After watching him decimate their enemies, her hope they would make it out alive grew. Who would have thought that, after growing up in the slums of Wolfdale, she'd see so much bloodshed? That she would be a murderer?

That she would like it.

Watching Jax rip apart the enemy was like watching an artist at work. His movements were precise, smooth, and so quick that the Hunters couldn't keep up with him. His red eyes matched all the red on the walls and the floor, and his teeth... She shivered when he dispatched the last Hunter in the room and turned to face her.

It was their bond. What else could make her feel so hot at a time like this? This time it wasn't just Nia enjoying the bloodshed.

‘We're almost there. We'll be home soon,' Jax said through the mindlink.

It was a lie. The base was still full of Hunters despite how many they went through to get close to the warehouse. But she would gladly fight them all. Being kidnapped and caged destroyed any compassion she may have had. Hunters didn't deserve to live. A switch flipped in her head, and she remembered her rage. It was like a yo-yo, shifting from one emotion to another.

She was torn between the euphoria of being close to her mate again, the murderous rage she felt for the Hunters, fear and anxiety for the wolves in the cages and the sorrow of losing Nia. Her mind was breaking.

She stepped over a body and followed Jax out of the room. They cleared all the Hunters blocking the way back to Faith and the others, but she sensed many others close to them.

"Do you really think that you'll make it out of here alive, Miss Layla?"

The Commander's voice echoed in the hallway through some speakers, but she didn't react to it. He'd been making threats since the wolves started hunting them, growing desperate each time. Could the Commander see them? He had cameras all over the warehouse—he must have them everywhere else, too.

Could he see what she was doing to his people? Could he see her bloody footprints? The thought brought some comfort to her. The Commander would die by her hand; she wanted him to anticipate what was coming. And who she was coming with.

She kept her gaze on the grey wolf in front of her, bigger than she was and more terrifying. The Commander would be shitting his pants. Jax had more experience on the battlefield, so she didn't mind that he took the lead, especially since she didn't train to fight as a wolf. If they survived, she never would.

But she must have been doing well because she sensed Jax's pride. Which other woman could say her boyfriend was proud of how well she killed someone?

The scene at the circle's trial paled to what they just did.

But there were still too many Hunters to deal with. She sensed many returning when the Commander called them back, which was good because she wanted to kill all of them. But it was bad because they all reinforced the numbers around and inside the warehouse. She could taste the wolves' fear in the air and sense their anxiety growing. How many of them would not make it out?

‘Focus.'

Nia's voice quietened some of her doubts as they followed the stench of the Hunters to the warehouse. All around the base, she heard the echoes of battle and the howling of wolves. The second Jax issued a command, they spread all over the warehouse. It was pretty impressive. They branched off as if they had always fought together. As if they were one pack.

The last hallway was just in front of them. A sense of dread filled the pit of her stomach.

‘How big is the warehouse?' Jax asked when they turned.

They stopped almost immediately because a sea of Hunters stood blocking the way. They filled the length of the hallway, standing shoulder to shoulder and not even a little unsettled when they saw her and Jax.

‘Big. They have cages piled on each other, and even if we get in there, most of them won't be able to defend themselves.'

‘Gavin?'

The last time she saw him, he was passed out from the pain.

‘Alive.'

The speaker crackled before the voice echoed again.

"I've worked for this for years. Do you think I don't have a contingency plan?" the Commander said.

He was bluffing. When he made her bite the guinea pig Hunter, he explained his plan to the others who gathered, and most of them seemed surprised. They had no idea what their leader was plotting, what he was doing to their peers behind closed doors. She hoped that meant the sick experiments were contained to the Commander's base.

"We have rounded up the wolves we encountered in town. They're here with me. Come a little closer, Layla."

So he could see her.

"At the push of a button, I will end all of you. I don't need you anymore."

Another bluff. His tone was more subdued. He didn't sound as confident as when he'd told her to bite him. She was willing to bet everything he still wanted that bite; otherwise, he would have killed them already. The large air conditioning units remained silent. The Commander was willing to let his people die, hoping he could still capture her. Maybe she should have bitten him and then showed him what it meant to be an Alpha the hard way.

She came out from behind Jax, and behind them was the cloud of darkness that followed in their wake as commanded. Just knowing they were there made her skin crawl.

"Come into the warehouse, Layla. Alone. Come and see what I'll do to these little girls before I do it to you."

Jax growled and lowered his head. A burst of his rage mixed with hers through their bond, and another unbridled thought crossed her mind. Was it the last time she would be connected to him like that? Would their bond break when Nia was gone?

Would Jax be free to mate with someone else?

‘Focus! No one will mate with anyone if you get Jax killed here.'

She shook her head to clear it and latched on to Nia's voice again, anchoring herself back in the situation.

‘I can't do this,' she whispered to Nia. ‘I can't concentrate.'

‘Then leave it to me. Let me show you why they fear you, Layla.'

The air shifted, just as it had at the hotel. Nia stepped closer to Jax, and for the first time, she saw a reaction in the Hunters' eyes. They looked right through her, and she knew immediately that the shadows in the darkness were messing with them.

But she couldn't control it. Once again, she was just a passenger in her body, but she welcomed it. Nia was more capable than she was of dealing with a monster like the Commander.

‘Good girl,' Jax whispered. His wolf licked Nia's face, and a frisson of pride washed over Nia. It seemed she liked being called a good girl.

‘Are you ready?' Jax asked, turning his attention back to the Hunters.

She took a breath and lied, ‘Yes.'

Jax's wolf met her gaze as if he knew that was a lie. But whether she was ready or not didn't matter. She looked back at the hounds following her like loyal puppies.

‘Attack!' Nia commanded.

She accidentally commanded people several times, but Nia knew what she was doing. With that assurance, she gave up all control.

The hounds hurled past them and ripped into their previous masters. They were effective killing machines and probably the pride of the Commander. She could imagine him watching how easy it was for them to bring a wolf down and deciding he needed to give Hunters the same ability.

Gnashing teeth. Snarls and growls. Screams as Hunter after Hunter went down. They didn't back down or run. They took their weapons out and fought the creatures they created, just as they were trained to do. Like the heartless, soulless bastards they were.

She walked through the carnage as the hounds cleared the way until the warehouse door was right in front of her.

‘Let me go in first,' Jax said.

He shifted instantly, and his hand was on the door handle before she could warn him to prepare him again for what he would see.

The door slid open with the same loud sound that tortured the wolves' senses when the Hunters came in to get one of them. The stench in the warehouse hit them first. There were no words she could use to describe the smell of dead or dying wolves who lived with their waste for months; or the smell of burning flesh from the ones who succumbed to their exhaustion or torture of the Hunters. Jax stepped back and froze, his nose flaring.

And then the sound of weapons being cocked echoed through the warehouse.

"Mr King. It's so good of you to join us," the Commander said. "Please come in."

As if he wasn't shitting himself. She could smell the Commander's fear when Jackson walked in. All the Hunters' fear.

And then, when Nia stepped in behind him, larger than life, the fear turned to terror. She sensed the Commander's disappointment mixed in with all of that.

Nia looked around the room slowly. Hunters were down every aisle of her former prison, their weapons trained into the cages. And they had gas masks on.

"I guess you really are useless to me," the Commander sneered. He was the only Hunter without a mask. His expression remained neutral despite his accelerated heartbeat. "Stupid girl. Such a shame. What a magnificent beast you are, and you've just thrown it all away for nothing. You'll still die here today.'

Jax didn't look back at her, but his worry burned through their bond.

‘The fuck does he mean?'

"It doesn't matter. I have taken everything I need from you already. So now you can join your friends," the Commander said, throwing what looked like the CB radio he'd used to taunt her over the speakers.

The Commander stepped back, and only then did she see what was behind him.

Faith was on her knees and gagged with weapons pointed at her, and on either side of her were the two young girls. The second girl wasn't crying anymore. Her eyes were just as dead as the others.

Nia raised her head and met the Commander's gaze. A deep growl filled the warehouse just before a red haze covered her vision.

If her fate was death, then so be it. She would drag the Commander to the fiery pits of hell piece by bloody piece.