Tripp caught my arm and tightened his grip. “No. I want you down in the control room. I have something to show you.”
Doc and I exchanged a wide-eyed look. Tripp hardly ever blew a gasket. He was one of the most reserved SEALs on the team, even as our leader.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Too fucking much to keep track of,” Tripp said cryptically as he set his hard gaze on Doc. “Is he done?”
“Sam can come back later,” Doc replied quickly. “Dane is coming in, anyway. It’s best if you two aren’t here.”
“You’re right about that,” Tripp fired back. “Your father just spoke to Jack. I’ll explain the rest when all of us are in one room.” He marched out, slamming open the lab doors as he did.
I couldn’t begin to think why he would be livid with the Aberdeen sisters.
As if Doc knew what I was thinking, he said, “I’ve only ever seen Tripp that furious maybe twice. Whatever is going on has to be monumental.”
“They’re Aberdeens,” I mumbled.
“And you’re tied to them for eternity, Sam.” He sounded sad.
“Only Layla, man. Only Layla.”
He gave me a who-are-you-kidding look. “I think you and she fit together nicely, and I’ll support you no matter what. But Sam… you know as well as I do that it’s not just Layla. Regardless of whether it’s vampires or humans, a relationship always comes with the person’s family. But—”
“If you’re about to counsel me on what I’m in for with the Aberdeens, I know. Remember, two of them tried to burn me alive.”
Pity colored his expression. “Then let me just reiterate something. It’s ingrained in the Aberdeens to kill our kind. Has been for centuries, Sam. Now, with a kid on the way, your life will be filled with more strife than you’ve ever seen. And while I believe you can handle almost anything, everyone has a breaking point, even you.”
“Do you have some new information I don’t know about?”
“The Aberdeens will never let that kid be born, and it’s not Jack that you have to worry about.”
I angled my head. “Please tell me you’re not about to say something like Layla’s father is alive.” Not that he would scare me, but it would throw a wrinkle into the mix.
Doc pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves. “Jack’s mother. She’s the one who runs the show,” he said casually, as though I should have known.
Regardless, another Aberdeen hunting me or breathing down my neck didn’t matter. Or maybe it did. “Layla has never mentioned her grandmother. My father hasn’t, either.”
Doc nailed me with a grim look. “You’ve only known Layla for a short time. You can’t know everything about her.”
“Why are you making a big deal out of her grandmother, Doc?” Jack had been the star of the show. “And why are you just now telling me this? Or why hasn’t my father?”
“There wasn’t a need to tell you. But now that she’s pregnant…”
Then it dawned on me. My father had been trying to tell me something just before Abbey blew into his room at the medical facility in Boston.“Sam, there are a few things you should know—”But before that, he’d been adamant about her family not finding out about the baby.
My phone pinged. “I better go. Tripp might chop off my head.”
“Sam, make sure you come back. I don’t want Layla in a situation where she doesn’t have any of your blood.”
I didn’t, either.
33
LAYLA
Achill tiptoed down my spine the minute I entered the theater-style room. The last time I’d been in there was with Rianne when Jordyn had been missing.
Jordyn glanced around in awe. “This is a war room? Looks like a great place to watch a movie.”
