65. Chapter 65

Chapter 65

I t felt like hours had passed since she hid in her bedroom, but she didn't cry for that long before the raging storm caught her attention. Gerald must have gone to lower the window shutters outside at some point because the room was dark. She couldn't see a thing when she usually wouldn't have needed to put a light on. When they were kids, Brit joked that she had supervision.

She did. Back then, anyway.

Her chest squeezed, and the tears threatened to fall again but she blinked them back. The storm sounded worse than she'd expected. She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself and make sure everything was secure.

Lightning flashed outside and illuminated the bedroom as if it was still daytime. Shock rippled through her when she realised the shutters weren't down after all. Her eyes just weren't what they used to be. Surely humans saw things clearer than that? Or maybe that was what the Commander meant when he'd said she would be neither wolf nor human.

The trailer rattled and shook, and the wind howled outside. It seemed to have picked up speed since she'd got home. Was it a hurricane? Checking the weather report was the last thing on her mind that morning. They were fairly protected in their park, but storms caused a lot of damage, and she'd never afforded to insure their trailer.

But it was now the only home she had.

With a sigh, she forced herself to get up and slowly felt her way with her feet to the door. There were wet boots and a raincoat near the front door. Gerald must have already started securing the trailer, something he hadn't done in all the years they lived there. The onus always fell on her because her father could sleep through a hurricane when drunk. She stopped when she saw him in the living area, taping down the windows. His hair was wet, and there was a frown on his face. He was clearly worried.

The frown left his face when he looked up and saw her standing in the kitchen.

"Coming down harder than I expected," he said as he moved on to the next window,

She looked around and saw that he already secured the kitchen, and a carton of water bottles was ready on the floor, as well as their emergency box of supplies.

"What's left to do?"

"You can go back to your room and try to get some sleep. I just need to do the shutters," Gerald said with a wave of his hand.

Right. Trust the man who'd never taken any responsibility for their shitty home. She shook her head and grabbed the metal crank under the kitchen sink before walking to the door to grab the raincoat.

"I can do it, Layla," Gerald protested.

"I'll feel better if I check everything myself."

Gerald didn't protest again, and the look on his face suggested she disappointed him. But what did he expect? He'd been a horrible person from the time Rebecca left. One short bout of behaving like a father wouldn't change that.

She put his boots on and zipped up the raincoat with the hood up. When she grabbed a flashlight from the side and pulled the door open, the icy rain and wind whipped her face and almost knocked her back. It was a struggle to shut the door again once she was outside. Once again, she felt Nia's loss keenly. Even before her wolf came to life after she'd met Jax, she had been stronger than her family. Now just fighting against the wind drained her. She'd never felt so weak in her life.

Half a human. Did that mean she was now weaker than them, too?

Lightning struck somewhere close to the neighbourhood, snapping her out of her thoughts. The rain was coming down so hard she could hardly see a few feet in front of her.

"Fucking great," she muttered. It looked like it would get a lot worse before it got better. Now she'd have to worry about flooding or branches that might break off from the woods behind the trailer.

It reminded her of the first storm at the packhouse when she tried to escape through the bathroom window. That night ended in wild sex in the woods, but this night would likely end with her mopping up the old trailer. The repairs fell on her over the years; half the time, she'd only been able to patch things up temporarily. If she had any money, she'd bet it all that the roof would blow off before the end of the night.

The flashlight didn't help as she stepped down and checked the anchors under the home. Then she put the crank in position to roll down the first hurricane shutter. It didn't budge. It didn't turn even a millimetre.

Either the shutters were broken or had always been hard to roll down. Maybe she'd just found it easy because of her wolf blood.

Nia made her life easier before she even knew what she was.

She bit her lip to stop herself from crying and put all her strength into the job. Her father would notice that she was taking longer than usual. If he was going to pretend to keep up his clean act, he would come out to check on her. How would she explain struggling with something she had always done? Just because she suspected Gerald knew what she was, didn't mean she would talk to him about it.

The wind whipped her hood off and blew her wet hair into her face, making it harder to see what she was doing. The rain pelted her face and rolled down the front of the raincoat. It was cold. Like someone was dropping ice down her clothes. Even her fingers started to numb from the force she used on the crank and the cold. Did she ever feel the chill before? She couldn't recall. It wasn't even winter yet, but the cold felt like it seeped into her bones.

The crank refused to budge. Frustration welled inside her, and she cursed the shutters as she threw the metal to the ground.

One day without Nia, she could already see she was nothing without her. How would she survive in the world alone?

She would have to, though. She would have to learn how to do it, and in time, she would be able to see Hope again.

Her hair was still in her face when she bent to feel around for the crank. The shutters wouldn't shut themselves, and she had no money to replace the windows. Her fingers closed on something warm instead.

A scream ripped out of her throat as she fell back. Hunters? Did they find her?

She scrambled back as she pushed her wet hair out of her face, looking up at the figure that loomed over her. The rain and the darkness distorted the person before her, and fear kept her frozen in the spot like an idiot. She couldn't hear how loud her heart was beating, but she felt it. The fear stole her voice and her ability to think. She didn't scream again. She didn't run. She didn't do anything.

Did the Hunters already mobilise to seek revenge for what she did to the Commander?

The figure moved forward just as a flash of lightning lit up the sky, and a wave of relief weakened her limbs.

Jax.

It wasn't a Hunter out to kill her now that she was defenceless.

It was the love of her life, standing stark naked in front of her, just as he had done in the first storm.

She craned her neck to look up at his massive frame as he reached for her hand, too shocked to ask what he was doing there. She'd asked for space— which he needed, too— to decide what was best for the pack and Hope. He shouldn't have come to the trailer park when the packs needed him the most.

Jax pulled her to her feet and rushed her to the front door. She was dripping all over the kitchen floor before her head started working correctly.

"What happened?" Gerald asked.

The shutters started rolling down, one by one.

"Who is it?" Gerald asked as he walked over to the kitchen window.

As the shutter rolled down, Gerald paled and looked back at her.

"I'm going to my room," her father said quickly.

If Nia had been around, she would probably have smelt the fear in the air. Gerald closed his bedroom door and locked it, and she wondered again what exactly he saw.

The door behind her opened, and she turned quickly. Only a man like Jax would feel comfortable walking into someone else's house with no clothes on. Heat spread through her when he ran a hand through his wet hair. It was almost as if he was putting himself on display so she would drool over him. It was unbelievable how her body still reacted the same way even though they were not connected anymore.

He put the crank on the surface and met her gaze. Her cheeks heated up because she knew he could tell what he was doing to her.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"I'm moving in."