8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

L ayla couldn't relax as she watched the videos playing simultaneously on the screen.

The last time she was at this house, Jax told her it was entirely off the grid. He hadn't once mentioned that he had a room hidden behind the pantry where he could communicate with people without any problems with the network. It was probably how Gavin warned them about Amber when they caught her scent before Hope was born.

She couldn't stop her foot from bouncing as she sat next to Jax at a desk full of computer screens and software. The scene with her father was hard to watch. She had assumed he had gotten into that filthy state when he'd been locked up in the security room, but he went into the hotel like that.

Filthy. Spouting bullshit. And repeatedly asking for her by name.

Everyone in the lobby tried to avoid him as if he was diseased. He showed everyone that he was from the other side of the tracks, the side that all the clientele would turn their noses at. And they could see that mess from six different angles. The cameras in the lobby captured every humiliating detail.

She'd looked away at that part and hadn't pushed Jax's hand away when he put it over hers to comfort her. There was a bigger issue to worry about now than how she felt about her mate interfering with her tumultuous relationship with Gerald.

Once security personnel took Gerald to the back, Jax slowed the video down so they could look at every face in the lobby.

"We're looking for two, maybe three," Jax explained. "Since we can't sense them from the video, read their body language. They tend to be rigid even when not on duty. Shaved heads—"

"I remember."

How could anyone who ever met a Hunter forget what they looked like?

But the longer she looked, the harder it was to tell. What if the Hunter was a woman? Did they keep their hair short, as well? Or, like in the military, they put their hair in sensible styles that wouldn't get in their way?

Jax sped the footage up, and hours after security detained Gerald, she saw herself bursting through the doors coming out of the staff area. Her head was lowered when she took a few steps and stopped.

"I... did you see anyone?"

Jax rewound the footage to moments before they came out and enlarged the first of the screens. The camera pointed to the front door. The lobby was a little busy as some people checked in and others headed to the restaurant for lunch, but she saw no one suspicious. Jax moved to the next screen, and once again, she only saw the people sitting in the sitting area in the lobby.

"Could they be wearing disguises?" she asked out loud.

"No. Hunters are set in their ways. They'll be in a standard dress code if they're working or taking a break there. Like the human military."

There was no one suspicious on the second screen, either.

She sucked in a breath on the third screen when she saw a young man speaking on his phone and smiling as he stood by the elevators. His hair was shaved close to his head, and he had a muscular build, but he was wearing smart-casual clothes: a button-down shirt and a pair of dark jeans or trousers.

The elevator doors opened, and another man came out, smiling at him. And like the first guy, he'd shaved his head and was muscular. Both men put their phones away and embraced before walking out of the shot.

Jax paused that screen before he played the angle from the staff doors again. The two men walked past just before she came out of the doors.

They hadn't even looked at her.

The weight on her shoulders lifted as she breathed and sat back.

Jax played the scene from another angle, and they watched the two men heading toward the restaurant. They watched themselves head out of the hotel, and the two men didn't come out of the restaurant to follow them.

"A date?" she asked.

Jax stopped the video and sat back.

"I didn't think they were allowed any relationships," he said with a thoughtful frown.

"They must be allowed to. You said they've been born that way over the years, so they must procreate."

She found it hard to imagine anything so evil could feel something other than hate for another human being.

She felt all the tension leaving Jax's body as he sat back and looked at her.

"A date. I almost had a heart attack over a fucking date," Jax said, and then his lips curled up before he burst into laughter.

It had been so long since she heard that sound from him that she watched him for a moment. And then the laughter bubbled up inside her, too.

There was nothing funny about the fear she'd had. Nothing funny about the thoughts of leaving Jackson and Hope so she could live as her mother did. But finding out that she had worried for nothing was such a relief, so much so she couldn't help the hysterical, cathartic laughter.

She was still laughing when Jax pulled her to him until she straddled his lap.

Still laughing when he started to rain little kisses on her face.

Still laughing when he pulled her t-shirt off and unclasped her bra.

In the back of her mind, she knew that this was just a reprieve. The Hunters would still come for her, but the day hadn't arrived. This was the warning she needed to kick her butt into gear and make more concrete plans for how she would escape.

The laughter started to die on her lips when Jax peppered little kisses on them. When he began to stoke the fire that only he could ignite.

Jax put his arm around her and stood, his attention still on her lips as he set her on her feet. And then his fingers undid the button of her jeans just before he deepened the kiss.

Lost.

She was lost instantly.

In her emotions as well as his.

Despite how much Jax infuriated her sometimes, he could never hide that part of himself from her. The part that belonged to her. The part that loved her to destruction.

When she stood naked in front of him, Jax crashed her body into his, pressing himself against her core with a growl. She knew he wasn't going to be gentle with her. Their relief and combined need brought his wolf to the surface, and Cain loved it rough. Her body shivered in response even as she went up in flames.

Jax released her mouth and set her down in the chair before he ripped his clothes off and knelt in front of her. Her muscles started clenching before he even touched her. He pulled her to the very edge of the chair before gripping her thighs and raising both her legs over his shoulders.

Her heart pounded in her chest when she met his red gaze. It almost gave out when he licked his lips like he was about to feast. And when he lowered his head, she could have died right there.

Maybe it was because of the adrenaline from having escaped death once again, but every cell in her body reacted to the first touch of his lips. To his tongue and his hot breath fanning her heated flesh. She tumbled over the cliff before he did much, but he didn't give her a moment to catch her breath. Jax ate her out until she was a trembling mess, her mind reeling, unable to process anything else.

And when she was completely spent, he lowered her legs and snaked his arm around her waist to pick her up. He swapped their positions in seconds, sitting back in the chair while she straddled him. Jax was hard as steel when he lowered her onto him. He seemed determined to wring out every ounce of pleasure from her body.

She was too shaky to move how he wanted her to, but Jax didn't have a problem doing it for her. Like she was a rag doll, a puppet following her master's will. Her useless wolf unfurled inside her as Jax commanded both of them. The pleasure doubled as she allowed her mate to do whatever he wanted to her body and mind. When she started to fall again, more violently than before, Jax held her down and sunk his teeth into his mark on her neck.

There was no more thought.

Her soul ripped to pieces and then reformed. Wave after wave after wave, it wouldn't let her out of its grasp. Until Jax started to twitch inside her. Until he threw his head back and called her name.

She was still trembling in his arms when she became aware of her surroundings. The chair she had been sitting on was across the room, and the laptop was on the floor.

She lifted her head and met the still-red gaze of the man she loved.

"Don't leave me," he whispered.

"What?"

"Don't even think about it. There's nowhere in this world that you can go where I won't find you."

Her hazy mind cleared a little when she heard his serious tone. She hadn't talked about leaving him but must have given herself away.

"We'll face whatever comes together because I can't imagine not waking up next to you," Jax continued. "Promise you won't leave."

She brought her shaky hand to his face and palmed his cheek. She couldn't imagine such a world, either, but if the Hunters at the hotel taught her anything, there was a chance she wouldn't grow old with him the way he hoped. She would have to go, or they would kill all of them. And even if they got one of them, they would both die, leaving Hope an orphan.

So she said those words anyway.

"I promise," she whispered.

Jax brought his lips to hers in a gentle kiss as if he was sealing the deal. When he lifted his head again, he was already hard inside her.

"Well, since we're here for the night, I think we should take this party upstairs," Jax grinned.

"Hope—"

"Will be fine with everyone at home. Dylan probably has a team watching the hotel already. Let's enjoy what we have together and forget everything else. Just for tonight."

Just that morning, she'd convinced him to take some time away from his duties. But he was right. They were all safe for now, and there would be plenty of time when they went back home to argue about training and her father.