2. Welcome Home

Layla sat on the top step at the front of the packhouse, enjoying the silence. The last of the packs were just leaving; her head was already blissfully quiet.

She hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be to get through the memorial. She sighed and looked up at the top floor of the packhouse. Jax saw Chase off and then claimed he had something to do in their bedroom. He’d been alone there for at least an hour. She could sense why. He was still raw. He’d been wide open since the memorial and the run last night. 

She couldn’t comfort him; she’d never felt so useless in her life.

“That was a hard one,” Dylan said behind her. 

That was putting it mildly. She hadn’t known how much it hurt to lose a pack member until Jackson marked her. She felt like she lost parts of herself with each of them, even though she hadn’t known them well. No wonder they all wanted her dead after the first attack. 

“Are you heading out?” she asked. 

“Yes. I need to keep busy,” Dylan mumbled. 

Like the rest of the pack, the Beta hadn’t escaped being pulled into the depression the past few days brought. Her only hope was that everyone wouldn’t start to blame her for everything the way she blamed herself. It was a difficult spot to be in. To be so in love and happy on one side and so depressed and full of regret on the other. 

Dylan started to walk down the steps. 

“Tell Jackson I’m going around the other pack for official visits. I’ll be a few days.”

“What type of official visits?”

“As the King, Jax has to visit all his territories at least once a year to make sure everything is okay. But he’s been preoccupied lately, so I’m going in his place. It will be good to get away from everything for a while.”

She wished she could get away. But the pack needed them there; she wouldn’t become the selfish woman who pulled her partner away from his other duties. 

Dylan opened his car door when the gates opened. Two blacked-out SUVs drove in. The butterflies returned to her stomach. She’d been anxious and nervous for days. 

She stood and dusted her jeans off before walking down the steps.

“That’s today?” Dylan asked with a worried frown.

“Everyone’s gone. It should be okay,” she answered. At least, she hoped so. But she knew things could go sideways at the drop of a hat.

“Maybe we should wait? I don’t know if having outsiders—”

“She’s not an outsider,” Layla growled. 

The cars stopped behind Dylan’s on the circular driveway, and the drivers’ doors opened. Two of the men she sent back that morning for Brit came out and bowed, and then the one at the front opened the back seat door. 

When Britney stepped out, she looked younger than ever. Her sister was terrified as she looked around her, and she couldn’t say she blamed her. She felt the same way the day she arrived. Driving through the forest they had all been taught to fear since they were children had been a big part of it, but now her sister was dealing with issues that would make everything seem worse than it was. 

At least Brit wasn’t going to start a war with her arrival.

At least, she hoped not. 

She closed the distance between them and took her sister into her arms.

“Everything will be okay, Brit. I promise,” she whispered.

She wished she could do what their mother did. She wished she could make people feel better just by being near her. But she hadn’t been able to shift again since that night with the witch, never mind learning anything else. 

“The way you keep telling me that makes me think things aren’t going to be okay at all,” Brit said when she finally pulled back from her.

Brit was going to be the smallest nineteen-year-old there. Was a huge, monstrous beast really going to burst out of her sister? It was worrying. But Jax told her it would be okay, so she had to trust that. 

“I know you’re confused,” she said, linking Brit’s arm with hers. “But let's settle you in first, and then we can talk.”

She looked back at the warriors unloading the cars. 

“You have a lot of things,” she teased. 

“You told me to pack everything,” Brit grumbled. 

All the warriors returned home for Jax’s birthday and the memorial, so they once again hired human security for her while she packed the things she needed to bring. And then, the first thing that morning, she sent the warriors who had looked after her for the past two years to return for her.

She looked back at the men. They had breaks and holidays during that time, and they’d been with the pack while Brit was at university, but she wasn’t surprised to sense that they were relieved to be home. 

“Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of room for everything in your new room,” she smiled at her sister.

“How long am I staying? I have assignments to catch up on before the break.”

Poor Brit. Her whole life was about to change again, and she probably didn’t have a clue just how much.

“Your health is more important. You’ll stay for however long you need to.”

She led her sister up the stairs, and the first person they saw was Josh. The young warrior who’d been sent home after he made a connection with Brit. He was speaking to another young man, but the second they walked into the house, he looked at Brit, and his nostrils flared. 

Brit stopped and tensed, but Josh just nodded before walking out of the lobby.

“Asshole,” Brit muttered. 

She couldn’t stop the grin. Young love. At least Brit wouldn’t have the obstacles she and Jax had in the beginning. 

The man came down the stairs, perfectly composed, as if he didn’t fall apart in the bedroom. He smiled at Brit as he stopped in front of them.

Jax was still Brit’s least favourite person a year after he crushed the young girl’s dreams.

“Welcome home,” Jax said. 

“I won’t be staying for long,” Brit replied. “I’m sure I just need a break from all the stress of my schoolwork, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

She met Jax’s gaze over Brit’s head. 

‘I don’t think she will take this well.’

She looked away from him because she knew what he would say. It was an argument they’d been having since Brit called her on Jax’s birthday.

“Let me show you your room. You’ll love it,” she smiled as she led Brit to the stairs.

‘Use the key.’

‘I’m not locking my sister up,’ she growled in her head. 

‘Just until everyone feels comfortable and we tell Brit—’

“I said no,” she said loudly.

Brit stopped mid-step and looked back at her. 

“I’m... I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll explain everything.”

Shit. She got so used to doing that that she’d forgotten that she’d need to tone things down a little until she could explain things to Brit. Brit was nineteen, but she had been a lot younger and still in school when weird things started happening to her. Thinking she was having a mental breakdown hadn’t been easy, but she had already grown accustomed to it when Jackson brought her to the packhouse. 

Brit was going all in. It was going to be a baptism of fire. Her sister was naturally curious and would probably figure things out herself anyway. But she wasn’t going to lie to Brit. She wouldn’t lock her up so the pack could accept her first. She wouldn’t hide things and make her believe she was going crazy. 

She urged Brit to keep walking and took note of her increased anxiety.

“There’s something wrong with you, too, isn't there?” Brit whispered. 

“There’s nothing wrong with us, Brit,” she answered. “But we’ll speak tonight. There’s a little girl who’s been waiting for you all day; she even refused to nap.” 

The corners of Brit’s mouth lifted. As much as she had been unhappy when she’d turned up to see her with a newborn baby in tow, the two girls became fast friends. It reaffirmed her belief that Brit was meant to be there with everyone else. 

One big, happy family at last.

She opened the door to the room Jax locked her up in during her first few nights at the packhouse, and immediately the little red-haired bundle of energy jumped off the bed and ran to the door. 

“Bitty!”

And just like that, Brit’s anxieties melted as she picked up the little girl and laughed. 

One big, happy family, indeed.

There was nothing that would keep her away from Brit now.