Layla's Lovers

Chapter Four: It's Always When You Least Expect It

Eight weeks later and it was finally the night of the mixer- and the eve of Jaxon’s 30th birthday.

The packhouse was full, as was Anna’s house, the omega’s house, and all the training lodging.

Once word spread that Jaxon was finally going to host a mixer, everyone wanted an invite.

Alpha Preston, Alpha Eric, and a handful of other allied pack Alphas were in attendance with cohorts of their unmated warriors.

Both Alpha Jamie and Julien were set to arrive just before the start, having sent their warriors ahead of them. They were flying in from Germany so they would be coming via helicopter.

Something to do with Layla, who had just graduated from an art school there. Jaxon didn’t pay attention to the details as his mother and Charlie were discussing them the day prior. All he knew was that Layla was in some sort of trouble- again. Nothing too serious or Charlie would be the one retrieving her, but still, to have both your Alpha AND your Beta fathers show up to collect you; she must have done something big.

It was rare for Charlie, Jamie, and Julien to all leave the pack at once, but for his birthday and his pack’s first big mixer, they had decided to all come.

Jaxon had spent some time training Charlie’s sons, Leo and Logan, but he rarely saw much of the fiery little fae that was their big sister Layla.

She was always in and out of trouble, so the few times a year he visited Jamie’s pack, she was usually grounded and confined to the packhouse while Jax would stay with his warriors in the training compound. 

He had been on a mission when she threw her big 18th birthday party and he missed seeing her off before she ran off to Europe for school, so it had been 4 years since he had seen her. 

Jax smiled as he remembered the first time he met her back when she was only a pup, but refused to be called a pup. 

“Alright Alpha! You better be wearing what I bought for you! Jenny and I took a whole week to decide on that suit!” Gabriel said as he walked into Jaxon’s open room.

“Tres bien! You clean up well Jax!” Gabriel added with a bright smile.

Jaxon loved Gabriel like another brother. When Nikolia first told Theo and Jax that he had found his mate, Jaxon was a little worried about who it would be. Nik was the first with a mate, so it was the first big change their group had to make since adding Theo. But Gabriel was an angel.

Nik had been nervous about bringing him around at first, not knowing how the pack would react.

Alpha Greyson had killed or kicked out any same-s*x mated pairs, so it was uncharted territory- but his worry had been for nothing.

Jaxon and Theo were easily won over by Gabriel’s cooking alone. His personality and kindness were simply a bonus.

“Are you sure this is not too much?” Jaxon said as he tugged at his tie.

The whole suit was some sort of expensive Italian material with just enough texture to break up the black on black of everything. His shirt was equally as expensive as were his tie and shoes. All gifts from Gabriel and Theo’s mate, Jenny. 

“Goddess no! I wanted you in maroon but Jenny talked me down from that- this is just perfectly you. Trust me!” Gabriel said as he rolled a lint brush across his shoulders.

Jaxon tugged at the tie again as the knot of it was just too close to his throat. He was already feeling suffocated and the party hadn’t even kicked off yet.

“If that is going to bother you all night, let's just lose it now Jax. It’s your birthday and you’ve already sacrificed your comfort enough buy allowing this mixer,” 

Jaxon gave Gabriel his saddest puppy dog eyes in response, which elicited a hearty laugh from the Frenchman.

“I swear Jax, how you don’t have a million mates by now I just don’t understand!” Gabriel replied as he helped Jaxon untie the knot of the tie and slid it off.

“There, now brush your hair and let's get you to the party!” Gabriel said with another award-winning smile.

“Uhhh, I kinida already did brush my hair,” Jax said sheepishly.

“Oh Goddess, just when I think I've got you and Nik trained you go and surprise me!  Nevermind, bed head in an all-black Armani suit can’t not look good on you! Let’s go birthday boy or you’re going to be late to your own party!” Gabriel said as he ushered Jax out of the room.

Once they arrived and all the introductions and welcomes had happened, Nikolai and Theo kept a steady stream of whisky flowing to Jaxon. They knew the best way to get him to relax would be to get him good and buzzed. Maybe he might actually take their advice and take one of the visiting shewolves to bed that night. Although they knew the chances of that happening were slim.

It’s not that Jax didn’t like a party or didn’t like f*****g pretty females- he liked both of those things quite a lot. Just not when all his coworkers, pack members, and family were watching him as the star of the night.

Sure enough, as predicted, every unmated shewolf in the room was salivating over Jax. Turns out Gabriel was absolutely right- Jax could really make bed head work for him.

Anna and Charlie were drunk wine and in tears of laughter as Jaxon tried his best to be polite and not too awkward as the females flaunted their bodies all around him, hoping he would suddenly jump up and claim one as his mate. 

His sisters, however, were not amused. They spent their whole night tripping and pranking all the desperate shewolves when they weren’t looking and while Jaxon found it hysterical he would have to have a talk with them about not pranking guests- but that could come later. 

Jaxon was finally starting to relax as the whisky burned warm through his blood. 

The party had been going for a good hour and a half by the time Jax heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. His eyes lit up as they shot over to Charlie, whose smile confirmed, Alpha Jamie and Julien were arriving.

Jaxon managed to covertly slip away from the party by distracting the shewolves with Theo’s unmated brother, Mark, just long enough for him to get out the back door.

He jogged the half mile from the back of the packhouse to the empty field where the helicopter was slowing approaching to land.

Jaxon smiled a wide, goofy grin as he spotted Alpha Jamie and Julien both sitting in the front seat of the helicopter- because only those two could causally know how to pilot their own helicopter. 

Just as the landing lights flicked on, the side door flew open and a very dainty figure jumped out.

Jax couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but before his mind or his wolf could process, his feet were moving. He sprinted full speed and got to the drop point of the figure just in time to be knocked flat to the ground. 

It was Layla.

She opened her wings at the last possible second to stop her fall, but not fast enough to avoid collision.

She slammed into Jaxon at speed and the two rolled a few feet before finally stopping.

Jaxon groaned in pain.

“What the hell Jaxon! I have wings you i***t!” Layla shrieked from on top of him.

Her thick curls were full of the field grass and there was smear of dirt on her cheek, but she was otherwise unharmed.

Jaxon, on the other hand, was bleeding profusely from his nose.

“I think you broke my nose” Jax said through his hands which were now pinching his nose, trying to keep the blood from getting on Layla’s white dress.

She sat up and straddled Jaxon’s torso. Unbothered that the hem of her dress was dangerously close to showing the world what skimpy underwear she had on under it. 

Jaxon felt an immediate surge of heat pulse through him as he felt her body shift against his as she leaned forward and pulled at his hands.

“Let me see- yup. That is one really broken nose. Why did you run up to me?! I was going to be fine! I HAVE WINGS!” Layla shouted at Jax.

But Jax was too lost in the green of her eyes to hear a word she was saying.

The little girl he remembered and the woman straddling him now, could not, in any universe, be the same creature. There was just no way.

“I might be drunk and you were falling- I had to catch you,” Jax finally managed to mumble in response.

Layla rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh.

“f*****g males- Hold still,” Layla muttered as she lowered her face to his. She was so close, Jax could feel the heat of her breath on his lips as she touched her forehead to his. At the point of contact, Jaxon felt a familiar warmth spread throughout him. The same warmth that he remembered from when Charlie had healed him after he became Alpha. 

Layla was healing him.

Her warmth continued to flow into him like a shot of adrenaline straight to his heart. He could feel his nose reforming and taking its correct shape, yet he felt no pain. Only pure ecstasy as Layla’s spicy-sweet scent filled his senses along with her magic.

Jax closed his eyes and drew in a long deep breath- through his nose. His eyes opened finally to a semi-worried, very annoyed Layla still sitting on top of him.

“See, all better. Next time don’t get into my landing space and I won’t have to heal you, dumb ass!”

With that, she shoved off his torso and stood up. Fixing her dress and pulling grass out of her hair in a huff.

The engines of the helicopter finally shut off and Jax could hear Jamie and Julien rushing over to them.

“LAYLA! GODS DAMNIT CHILD. WHY MUST YOU ALWAYS DO THAT!? YOU COULD REALLY KILL SOMEONE, YOU KNOW THAT!” boomed Julien as he reached Jaxon and knelt down beside him to inspect the damage.

“Relax pops, I have already healed his pretty little nose. Your precious Jaxon is just fine. Drunk, but otherwise fine,”

“Layla- tone,” Jamie said as he walked up to Jaxon’s other side.

“Sorry about this Jax. I'm sure a broken nose is not what you wanted for your birthday,” Jamie added as he helped Julien haul Jax up to his feet. 

Jax stumbled for a moment but Julien steadied him until he was back on balance.

“Let’s get you back inside and cleaned up before your mother and Charlie come to kill us all for keeping you away from the party,” Julien said with a chuckle as he hung his arm over Jaxon’s broad shoulders. 

“And you young lady, are going to behave or so help me, I will lock you in one of the new holding cells Jaxon just installed, just to test them out. Understood?” Jamie said to Layla in his full Alpha tone.

It had very little effect on her since she had no wolf, but she knew when he used it on her that she had reached her father's limit. 

“Okay, Okay. Call me Diana for the rest of the night because I am about to be a f*****g princess just for you dad!” Layla replied with a dramatic curtsy.

She then turned and stormed off towards the packhouse with Jamie in close pursuit behind her.

Julien laughed and shook his head, “I swear Jaxon, find a way to never have a daughter. But also, make sure you have a daughter. Got that kid?” 

Julien took a step to move forward, following Jamie and Layla who were now several yards ahead of them- but Jaxon didn’t budge.

“You good, Jax?” Julien asked.

His concern was growing in his tone and on his face as he dropped his hand from Jaxon’s back and swung around to stand squarely in front of him. His hands were on Jaxon’s shoulders and his eyes were slightly glowing as they surveyed Jaxon, looking for more injuries.

But the moment his eyes locked with Jaxon’s- Julien knew exactly what was going on.

Jaxon’s eyes were shifting back and forth between the pale blue they normally were and the black and red of his Alpha wolf. 

Jaxon and his wolf were fighting inside his mind. Struggling to take and keep control.

Julien turned to follow Jaxon’s tracking stare, just to confirm what he already knew was true. He then let out a long whistle and took a step back from Jaxon.

“Take a breath kid. I know what you want to do, but we like you, we don’t want to kill you, so you’re NOT going to go mark my daughter right now. Got it?” 

Julien’s words didn’t have anything like an Alpha tone, but the flare of blue in his fae eyes was enough to snap Jaxon back into full control over his wolf.

Jax heaved in a few rapid deep breaths and finally turned to break his gaze as Layla finally reached the back door of his packhouse.

‘f**k, f**k, f**k,” Jaxon murmured to himself as he ran his hands into his hair and began to pace.

“Calm down Jax, you’re about to be plenty worked up for a long while, so there is no need to panic about it. What’s done is done. We don’t pick our mates, the Goddess does,” Julien said in his annoyingly calm and level-headed way.

His eyes were still bright blue and tracking Jaxon closely, as they should. Wolves were not at all known for their control when it came to finding, claiming, and marking their mates. There was no way of knowing how Jaxon would react. 

Plus, this was Layla. The oldest daughter of Jax’s bosses, also his chosen family. The pack was led by the two males who already treated him like a son and who had saved him and his mother many times over. 

“I swear- I had no idea until just now, Julien! It’s like her magic just flipped a switch in me- f**k!” Jaxon replied, obviously not able to stop his panic.

This is not what he wanted. Not that Layla wasn’t perfect- she was everything he could ever want and then some. But she was Charlie’s daughter! 

Charlie was his Aunt for all intensive purposes. She wasn’t blood, but she had been like a sister to Anna since the day they met in the grocery store when Jax was still an infant.

Jaxon’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, made worse by the celebratory howling of his wolf.

He couldn’t be mated to Charlie’s one and only daughter- could he?

Jax had started to worry about finding his mate. The last thing he wanted was to lose his mind to the insanity of being an unmated Alpha. His pack had suffered enough under Greyson’s reign- Jax couldn’t put them through more.

But could he claim and mark Charlie’s only daughter!?

His mind was replaying every moment of the last 20 minutes. From the way she recklessly jumped from the helicopter to the feeling of her body straddling his. The way she called him a dumb ass after she healed him. The way her plump soft lips hovered close enough to his he could almost taste her sweetness.

Jaxon’s heart was threatening to explode out of his chest and chase after her all on its own with the way it was beating erratically as his thoughts of Layla grew more and more intense.

He was obsessed. He was entranced. He was in love. 

“Charlie is going to kill me,” Jaxon said as he finally came to a stand still a few feet from Julien.

Julien looked him square in the eyes and burst out laughing. A whole-hearted, tears in the eyes, laugh.

“What is so funny!? Your mate is going to kill me because her daughter is my mate! You know its true Julien!!” Jaxon shouted over Julien’s rolling laughter.

“Kid, Charlie will be so damn happy to finally officially have you as family, if she kills you it will be because she smothers you both with unrelenting love,” Julien finally managed to reply between fits of laughter.

He finally calmed down and wiped the tears from his eyes and returned his arm to hang across Jaxon’s shoulders. He then began to slowly walk them both towards the house.

“Now, we need to talk about the reality of what you’re about to go through because face, well, we don’t mate like wolves do,”

Jaxon immediately halted.

“What! What do you mean!? Is it some weird s**t? Do you have, like, tentacals or something?! Oh my god, don’t answer that! I don’t want to know!”

Julien fell into another fit of laughter as he took in the words and the absolute look of horror on Jaxon’s face. 

Jax’s mind was all over the place and was certainly not capable of filtering out anything at the moment.

When he could finally form a sentence again, Julien shook his head firmly, ‘No you moron. We don’t have tentacles or any other weird hentai s**t you’re thinking right now! I just mean, for fae, it's not usually instant love like it is with wolves. Jamie had to court Charlie for months before she sorted it all out and it took months longer for her to realize that I was her second mate,”

Julien clasped both sides of Jaxon’s head and laughed, “You son, are in for many months of the purest, most brutal torture there could ever be. You are about to feel the exquisite pain of being mated to a fae female who has no idea that you are her mate. And yes, you could just tell her- but knowing Layla, that would only make her resist. Just like I did for Charlie- you need to wait until she figures out who you are for herself,”

Jaxon felt his eyes fall into the same sad puppy dog eyes he often faked to get Gabriel or his mother to agree to things. Only this time, it wasn’t fake.

“But cheer up birthday boy! The pain is worth the wait, I assure you. She is my one and only daughter, so I hate that im about to say this to you, but the fact is, there is nothing better in this world than finally claiming and marking your mate. Just keep your s**t together until she sorts out what you mean to her and all will be fine,”

Jaxon knew he was right about everything- but he also knew enough about Layla to know this was about to be the most difficult mission he would ever take on.

He needed to win over Layla’s love without her feeling trapped. He had to make her see what he was to her, without pressuring her or overwhelming her.

Five minutes of skin to skin contact with her and he was forever hooked. 

He needed more of her. 

He needed all of her.

He needed his mate.