Layla's Lovers

Chapter Two: The Future is Bright

A warm breeze blew in from the open window in the room Jaxon had been moved to. On it, a peculiar scent drifted in, stirring Jaxon awake. He cracked open his eyes and, for the first time in weeks, he felt a small surge of strength. He slowly sat up and stretched as he disconnected some of the annoying wires he had been attached to. For the first time, Jaxon took a good look around the room he was in and immediately knew this must have been his mother's room when she was a child.

His mother was busy getting the packhouse back up to standards, which meant all of the packhouse was under construction. Jaxon and the variable guests from Charlie’s pack who were coming out to help with all the new efforts, were staying in the old Beta house. The house where his mother had grown up.

Her scent still lingered faintly all over the home, even long after her parents had died and the house had been boarded up. The details of their deaths were never spoken of but everyone knew it had to have been Greyson.

“Do not go into Alpha Jaxon’s room. Do you hear me, Layla? If you cannot listen, you will go back to the pack with your brothers and your father, got it?”

The voice was the very familiar Luna tone of his Aunt Charlie. Jaxon chuckled to himself as memories of her using that same tone on him surfaced in his mind.

It had been so long since he and Corey had been separated from the pack, yet it felt like no time had passed at all when they were all together.

In the few hours a day that Jaxon managed to stay awake, Anna and Charlie told him all kinds of stories about their pack and what had been going on in the years he had been gone. He learned that Charlie, who was only his Aunt by choice and not by blood, had given birth to twins soon after magic was released and then again to another boy a few years later.

Jaxon couldn’t wait to meet them all. From the stories his mother told him, they were all a handful on their own, just like Jaxon had been, but it was the little girl, Layla, who reminded Anna the most of Jaxon as a pup.

“I won’t go in there, Momma! I promise,” shouted a little girl as she trotted up the stairs to the second floor of the old Beta house.

Jaxon surmised that Charlie must have brought her daughter back with her when she returned from a quick trip home. Alpha Jamie had left and in his place he sent Beta Julien to start retraining the remaining warriors in Jaxon’s pack. The plan was for Jaxon’s pack to be an outlying unit for Jamie and Julien's security company. This would give the pack some cash flow quickly and, given all of Greyson’s paranoia, defense and security were about the only two skills the pack really had left.

Jaxon disconnected his IV and stood on wobbly legs, using the wall as a support for a moment until he regained his balance.

He slipped on a set of his clothes he found in the closet, no doubt put there by his mother, then sat back down on the bed to tug on his work boots and lace them up.

The room and hallway were completely silent. So much so that Jaxon was certain the little girl must have gone back downstairs. 

Once his shoes were tied, he stood again and walked to the door. He pulled it open quickly but jumped back, almost falling to the floor, as he took in the creature in the door frame. 

“I thought all Alphas had superior senses?” giggled the little girl, clearly undeterred by Jaxon’s shock.

Jaxon’s heart was still racing as he took in the sight of her.

She had to be Charlie’s daughter, the unruly wild curls and brilliant green eyes gave that away immediately. So she had to be around 8 or 9 years old, but she was very small. She wore a green longsleeve dress with leggings underneath and a pair of very muddy, tiny work boots. But her looks and resemblance to Charlie aside, it was the fact that she had wings and was hovering off the ground so high that her eyes were inline with Jaxon’s, that really stunned Jaxon to silence.

“Can you talk?” she asked, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes in a way that reminded Jaxon so much of Julien.

Jaxon cleared his throat, “uh yeah. I can talk pup. Why are you at my door?”

Jaxon couldn’t fight the grin that was forming on his face as he noticed the rebellious energy that seemed to encompass this pup. From her tone to her muddy work boots. It was clear to him why his mother said she reminded her so much of Jax. 

“Because I felt like it and I'm bored. This pack is boring. But I'm not a wolf, so don’t call me pup!” the little girl replied.

“You are Charlie’s daughter, are you not? She is a wolf, so that makes you at least part wolf,”

“Nope, I'm all fae. My brother got all the wolf, and I got all the magic,” she answered with a huff.

Clearly, someone was not pleased with how that worked out.

“What is your name?” Jaxon asked.

“Layla,” 

“Well, it's nice to finally meet you, Layla. I’m Jaxon, but you can call me Jax,” 

“Momma said I have to call you Alpha Jaxon,” Layla replied.

“Well, then you should listen to your mom. She is kinda scary when she’s mad, from what I remember,”

“Are all Alpha’s afraid of my mother?” 

Jaxon couldn’t hold back his laughter at that, “Yes, I believe they are,” 

“ That's so stupid! Alpha’s are supposed to be tough Jax” Layla said as she crossed her arms and furrowed her brows, “I’m not afraid of her!” 

“Maybe you are an Alpha,” Jax said with a broad smile. This little girl was every bit as sassy as he knew his Aunt Charlie could be and it brought him joy to finally meet her.

“Do you want to eat? I can feel the noodles momma is making are almost done. Wanna race!?” Layla replied.

She can feel the noodles? Jaxon thought to himself. He made a note to ask her about that later.

Without waiting for Jax to answer, she dropped to the ground and her wings disappeared as if they were never there to begin with. She darted from his room to the stairs so fast, Jax could barely track her with his eyes. Layla shot a look over her shoulder at him and, with another adorable giggle, shot down the stairs.

Jaxon was left standing there, in even more shock than he had been when he first opened the door and saw her with wings. He drew in a deep breath, preparing to take his first walk in weeks, when he realized the scent that had come in on the breeze earlier.

It was the little girls. Sweet like honey but with a fiery tinge of heat, like the hot peppers Charlie used to grow in her garden.

Jaxon liked the scent. It was calming but invigorating in a way he had never experienced before.

He took the burst of energy the little girl seemed to have given him, and made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mother, Charlie, and Layla were setting the table for lunch.

Layla smiled at him as she pointed to the seat beside hers, “You sit here Jax,”

“What did we talk about Layla?!” Charlie said as she spun around to face her daughter.

“It’s alright Luna, I told her to call me Jax if she wanted to,”

“I’m warning you, give her an inch and she will take a mile,” Charlie said with a shake of her head.