They were going to die in the fancy hotel. Layla was sure of it. And Jackson had been right that she couldn’t defend herself. Even though they were in the middle of all that danger, her wolf still hadn’t reappeared. Jackson’s arm was around her middle, and his legs entwined with hers, something she was grateful for after he’d told her they could snatch her out of her bed. He’d been reluctant to hold her at all, which hurt. But she had to try to put all of that aside until they got out alive. She’d kept some of the floor lamps on despite her perfect vision. The bed was behind a solid wall, adding a little to her sense of security. It was a false sense of security. The only other time she sensed so much evil was when she had come face-to-face with the hunting party. There didn’t seem to be many people inside the hotel, but she could sense several outside, stepping carefully through the underbrush quite a distance from the hotel. They were either the hotel security or people sent

Layla sensed the darkest, most oppressive aura pressing down on her as they walked down the hallway. Several cars had arrived since she had woken up, but she could feel that the new arrival was different. Darker. The cruellest. When they entered the lobby, her muscles stiffened involuntarily as she looked towards the hotel entrance. Hotel staff were lined up on either side of the doors as a limousine stopped just outside. Someone rushed to open the car door, and her heart skipped a beat as she waited to see who would come out. Something in the back of her mind told her that, somehow, her life was about to change forever. She was about to come face to face with evil. Perhaps the face of the person who’d tried to have them killed while they were sleeping. A man in a dark suit and sunglasses stepped out of the car. He brushed imaginary lint off his jacket and straightened his clothes before looking up. Though the sunglasses hid his eyes, she felt he could see through her. And tha

Layla stopped banging on the door and screaming when there was no response. She turned and leaned against the door to look around again. The room felt even smaller. Her throat started to close up, making it harder to breathe. Was she still at the hotel? Did Jax know where she was? “Breathe, Layla,” she gasped. Her knees gave out, and she slid to the floor. So much for being the queen, the woman worthy to stand beside Jackson. She couldn’t even get out of the room. Jax had been right—she was not ready. She was a liability and should never have come with him. If she had left when she’d wanted to... Pain lanced through her chest, but she forced herself to breathe through it. She had to think. She was still alive, which meant Jax was also alive. He would move heaven and earth to find her. Her heart calmed down as her panic started to dissipate. She pushed her fear to the back of her mind and focused on her link to Jax. ‘Jax?’ No response. She couldn’t even tell if he could h

Layla was a bag of nerves when Jax stopped the car in front of the packhouse. It had been so easy for the Circle to separate them, and it would have been just as easy for them to kill her. She would never have been able to defend herself the way Jax had done. She would have been the cause of Jackson's death. She was his weakness. Useless. Even the wolf that had come to her aid and given her confidence that they could rescue Faith had abandoned her without telling her what the hell she was supposed to do. She got out of the car without a word to him and rushed up the front steps. Dylan was already waiting there with Gavin, and they didn't look like they'd slept since she'd last seen them. She could cut through their anxiety with a knife. "Have you learned anything else?" she asked them. Both men didn't answer her directly. Instead, they looked behind her at the man coming up the steps. Jax was an emotional void, but she could never completely escape knowing how he felt. His a

There 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 helpfu