Chapter 48
Kayla
“Put her down; I’ll work on her,” I tell Jackson.
“Not here,” Garrett says. I whirl around, ready to take him on.
“We’re too close to the barrier. We have a plane nearby—” One minute he’s talking to me, the next he’s in the air...
and a wolf. A second ago, there were no vampires.
Now, they’re literally surrounding us. Four wolves fight back.
I grab Jade’s hand and move over to Sherese, but she’s back on her feet.
The wolves encircle us and fight off the vampires, but there are too many of them.
One of them breaks through, and Sherese fights against it.
Jade and I try to help, but we’re not a whole lot of help.
Before I realize what’s happening, one of them reaches for me.
I know how fast they are, and if they get me to the other side, I'm gone again.
The vampire picks me up. “Jackson!” I scream as the vampire throws me over its shoulder.
Jackson’s wolf leaps at the vampire, and we’re thrown to the ground.
His wolf kills it instantly, and I take a breath.
“Thank you.” But his wolf is already moving, preventing more vampires from taking any of us.
It’s a bloody battle, but it ends soon after with four wolves standing.
The remaining vampires are either dead or have disappeared back through the barrier.
I whirl around, trying to account for everybody. “Jade?”
“I’m good,” she says with wide eyes.
I turn to see Sherese bent over. I move to her quickly before Hunter shifts and gets mad at me again. “Are you okay?”
She stands up fully. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“Are you sure?” I ask quickly.
“Yeah.” I start to walk away, but she grabs my arm.
“I still need blood every once in a while when I get too depleted. There’s not much vampire in me anymore but just enough.”
“Do you need more blood?” I ask, worried. “Do we like go get that somewhere? Or do you want mine?” I turn a little queasy at that but try to stay expressionless. “Do you prefer a certain kind? I don’t know what type of blood I have.”
She gives me a soft smile, and Hunter appears behind her. I eye him warily, but he actually almost gives me a smile. “I’ll take care of her,” he says, meeting my eyes.
“Thank you, Kayla,” Sherese says sincerely.
“Thank you for getting us out of there, both of you. Seriously.” Hunter gives me a solemn nod.
“Nobody deserves to be stuck in there,” Sherese says with a vehemence I don’t expect from her.
I suddenly remember Alicia and whirl around. Jackson is right in front of me. “Are you okay?” his voice is so deep.
I blink. “Are you naked?”
“Yes. Are you okay?”
I keep my eyes on his face. “Why are you naked?”
He doesn’t bat an eye. “I just shifted.” He steps closer. “Are you okay?” His words are slow and distinct. “That vampire was rough with you.”
“Can you put some clothes on?”
“Sweetheart,” he growls. “Please answer the question. Are you in pain? Injured? I need—”
I cut off his words. “I'm fine, but I need to heal Alicia and you need to put clothes on.” He growls, but I ignore it. I turn to where Alicia is lying on the ground.
“We’re leaving this area while we still can; my plane is less than a mile away. What are we doing with the vampire?” Garrett asks.
I turn back to Jackson, ignoring the fact that he’s naked...
or trying to at least. It’s very jarring.
But then Garrett throws him a pair of pants, and suddenly all the males are wearing black sweatpants thankfully.
“Alicia’s coming with,” I tell Jackson. He frowns at me.
“Seriously, Jackson.” Alicia’s up in his arms a moment later.
“Let’s move,” Garrett orders. “We need to get in the air.”
“Let me—” I start but don’t finish because Alicia’s eyes suddenly shoot open. She’s out of Jackson’s arms in a flash and standing a few yards from us. I start towards her. “Easy. You’re injured. I’m going to—”
“Stay back,” she warns.
I ignore her. “You’re injured, Alicia. I’m just going to help you.”
“Don’t come any closer,” she warns. Jackson is beside me a second later. She meets my eyes, and I see how dark hers are. “I’m really thirsty,” she says in a low voice.
“We can get you something to—” I start.
“Kayla, stop!” she yells, making me flinch. Her eyes meet mine. “I’m thirsty for blood.” I go still, and I feel the tension rise from all around me. So far none of the wolves have moved on her, but I feel like it’s only a matter of time.
She takes a step backwards. “You’re going to return?” I ask.
She meets my eyes. “Yes.”
My heart tugs in my chest. I know she betrayed me, betrayed Noah, and yet...
she was his babysitter and my friend, I thought.
I remember again the day she saved me. “You saved me that day,” I say around a throat that feels tight.
Another memory comes unbidden to my mind.
“And you brought us groceries that one time when we literally had none.”
For just a moment, I see something in her gaze. A softening, maybe? “You were always too trusting for your own good.” There’s a weariness to her voice.
“Why?” I ask; no, demand. “Why, Renee?” The use of the name I knew her by gets to her; I can tell. “Was it all a set-up from the beginning?”
She doesn’t skip a beat. “Yes.” I knew this, and yet, it still hurts. “I came to kill you, Kayla.” Jackson growls harshly, and I stumble back. Her words feel like a physical blow.
“Why?” My voice is a whisper. She takes another step back, but I stalk forward, shaking off Jackson’s hand when he tries to stop me.
“Why did you kill Cody?” That comes from Sherese.
Alicia’s eyes flash. “Because he was a traitor.” That earns her a growl from Hunter. “Just like Bryce and Hunter.”
I take in the confusion on both Hunter and Sherese’s face.
But it’s me Alicia turns to. “I’ve been in our pack my entire life.
Did any of those guys look at me as their mate?
No. I’ve waited for years for one of them to notice me.
And then a stupid human female comes along who doesn’t even like Bryce, nor deserve him; and he takes one look at her and falls for her.
He’s a bigger idiot than I ever realized.
” Hunter growls low in his chest, but it doesn’t faze her.
“And then Hunter chases after a vampire! Enough was enough!”
“Cody did nothing,” Hunter growls. “And you killed him.”
“Cody was the biggest idiot of you all. He was chasing after a human female in town!”
“That’s why you killed him?” Sherese asks quietly.
Alicia’s eyes burn into mine. “I’d been approached by Rizo.
He confirmed what I already knew—that my pack was infected.
The males were no longer the leaders they needed to be.
He told me what he could do for me, and I became a vampire.
I came after you, the next healer on the list. My plan was to find you and eliminate you and then move on to the next one.
But you,” her eyes darken, and she takes a menacing step towards me.
Jackson tries to push me behind him, but I don’t let him.
“I watched you and your brother before I ever made a move. That day, in the parking lot, I should have just let you be. But I couldn’t.
You were a good person. I saved you instead of killing you, and then I told myself I was just getting close to you until I could do the deed.
” She finally looks away. “I never was able to do it.” She sighs.
“You were the first person to be kind to me in months, and somewhere along the way, I decided you didn’t deserve to die. ”
“Just to be beat up by my uncle and taken by vampires,” I say, anger in my tone.
Alicia scowls. “No. That was supposed to be a gift for you. I knew he would kill your uncle the second he showed up,” she says, nodding at Jackson.
“But like the idiot he is, he showed up late.” I swallow hard, feeling bad; but I don’t a second later.
“I had to turn you over to the vampires; they left me no option in that.”
“There’s always an option,” I tell her.
She smirks. “Spoken like a true optimist.” She takes another step backwards.
“Don’t go back to the vampires,” I try to convince her. “They already hurt you once; they’ll do it again. Go with us.”
She laughs, but it’s cold. “And you don’t think Bryce won’t kill me the second he sees me, or this guy?” She nods at Hunter. “Or any member of our pack? Stop being delusional, Kayla.”
Her words sting, but I ignore it. “Don’t go back to them,” I try again.
She shakes her head. “Kayla, I would kill you in a heartbeat if I got thirsty enough, simply so I could drain all that delicious blood from your body.”
I blink back tears. “Stop.”
“And then your little brother would be next.”
I shake my head as a tear drips down my cheek because I know what she’s doing.
Jackson’s rumbling next to me, and I can feel the restraint it’s taking for him to stand next to me.
Jackson looks over at Hunter. Suddenly, Jackson grabs me and turns me into him, burying my face in his chest. “Don’t look. ”
“No!” I scream into his chest, but it’s too late.
I already know. I try to pull away, but his arms band around my back and neck.
He doesn’t hurt me, but his hold is too strong for me to break.
I beat against his chest. “No!” A sob rips from my throat, and then my legs give out.
I’m up in Jackson’s arms a moment later.
“Let’s move!” Garrett orders.
I try to look over Jackson’s shoulder, but he won’t let me.
“Stop!” I shout at him. “Put me down!” He ignores my demands, even when I pound on his chest. I finally stop fighting him as a sob rips through me.
I know it’s not rational; I know she killed someone.
But my heart doesn’t care. She protected me, she watched Noah for me day after day, she bought us groceries...
she was my friend. I realize somewhat absently that Jackson is moving really fast. “Is Jade with us?” I manage to pull myself together to ask.
“Garrett’s got her,” Jackson says. He says nothing else, and I drop my head back onto his chest, completely depleted.
We must approach the airplane because Garrett starts giving orders.
I ignore everything around me. I’m aware of when Jackson steps into the plane.
I hear his deep voice speaking to someone, and I hear a male voice I recognize respond to him.
But I tune all of it out. “Set her down right here, and Sage and I will look over her.”
I feel myself being lowered, but I don’t open my eyes. I just feel numb and really tired. Somebody squeezes my hand, but I still don’t open my eyes. “It will be okay, Kayla,” a female voice I think I recognize says. But still, I keep my eyes closed.
Sometime later, maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour, the male voice speaks. “She’s all yours.”
I keep my eyes closed as strong arms lift me and hold me against a familiar chest. I breathe in Jackson’s scent.
A few seconds later, he lowers me to what feels like a soft bed.
I still don’t open my eyes; I can’t. He pulls my shoes off, but I don’t move.
And then the bed dips, and I feel movement behind me.
He pulls me gently into his arms, and my back is pressed against his front.
I hold myself stiffly. “I saw the look you gave Hunter. You told him to kill Alicia. You may not have said the words out loud, but he got the message.”
He owns up to it. “I did. I knew she still meant something to you, and I didn’t want to be the one to do it.”
“But why?” my voice cracks.
“What she said was true,” he says quietly. “The Phoenix Pack was never going to allow her to live; she killed one of their own. Besides, she wasn’t truly remorseful, and she couldn’t be trusted.”
“Yeah, and now she’s dead,” I bite out.
“She is,” he admits. “And now, you’re safe and so is Noah.”
I shake my head. “I want to be alone,” I manage to get out.
“I know.” I wait for him to leave, but he doesn’t.
“You’re still here,” I point out.
He leans forward and kisses my shoulder.
“I am.” His hand strokes down my arm. “One of the things I’m finally learning is that I can’t do life on my own.
I thought I could.” He sighs. “Turns out, I can’t.
” He pauses a moment. “You can’t either, Sweetheart.
So, I’m going to be right here. You can be mad at me; you can even hate me. But I’m not leaving.”
And that’s when I fall apart.