She rolled her shoulders back. “For fuck’s sake. I was so absorbed in the conversation, I didn’t hear him. I’m sorry.” She skirted by me before I could tell her it wasn’t her fault.
I should’ve been more aware.
“Jack, it isn’t what you think,” Jo said.
I held in a snort. It was precisely what Jack thought. I had no idea how she would convince him otherwise. Her supernatural mojo wasn’t firing on all cylinders, which meant she wouldn’t be able to compel him. But that wouldn’t matter. Jack never went anywhere without taking a dose of the family’s potion to block creatures like Jo from fucking with his mind.
“The hell it isn’t,” Jack yelled. “Layla Aberdeen, turn around and face me.”
The hackles on my neck stood at attention. He sounded eerily like my dad had when I’d gotten into trouble. But this was far more than any trouble I’d been in as a kid. This was war, life, and death—at least to the Aberdeen family. It was bad enough my mother confessed on her deathbed she had vampire blood running through her veins. Equally, if not worse, my father supposedly had dated one—Kendra.
The exit door in the galley was calling my name, but I still couldn’t move. The wordrunblared through my head, and that little voice in the back of my mind grew louder and louder with each breath I took. I wasn’t one to bolt, but the bomb I’d just dropped wasn’t one to stick around for. I didn’t know what Jack would do with this shocking revelation, but I was confident I’d burned the hair in his ears.
Holy fuck and more fucks.
“Layla,” Jack bit out as his teeth knocked together like a snapping turtle.
I inhaled as deeply as I could, and the area around me spun like I was on a merry-go-round. If I wasn’t cast out of the family before, I was now. I could never step foot in Montana again.
But it’s only Jack you have to worry about. Ray is dead. The Aberdeens are diminishing in number.
Not exactly true. Jack Jr. would slide into his father’s seat at the helm. He was the oldest of my ten cousins. Ray’s two boys and two girls weren’t of legal driving age yet, although his oldest, Shelby, was probably close. Despite their ages, my cousins could carry on the family business for generations to come, which meant they would hunt me until I was fifty feet in the ground.
Jack growled through a sigh.
“Jack, please sit,” Jo said. “Your pulse is severely high.” Her concern for my uncle was jarring since Jack’s brother and son were responsible for Sam’s kidnapping.
“Get out of my way, vampire!” Jack shouted.
Jo didn’t need to fight my battles. I could handle Jack, though my stomach protested, as did theboom, boom, boomof my heart punching my ribs. In addition, I didn’t want him to croak like his brother.
I spun on my heel and shook the cobwebs from my brain. “I’ve got this, Jo.” My voice didn’t sound as confident as I intended it to come out.
Jo wavered as she regarded me. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
I wasn’t afraid of Jack, and I didn’t think he would be as brainless as Ray and hurt me with Steven, Tripp, Jo, or Webb nearby.
“My niece will be fine with me,” Jack said to Jo.
I nodded at her. I appreciated her concern, but Jack and I needed to talk.
“I’ll be in the hangar with the others,” Jo said as Jack gave her room to pass.
I fisted my trembling hands inside my jacket pockets and stayed rooted to the spot near the bathroom.
Jack gripped one of the leather seats halfway down the aisle, looking defeated, angry, and confused.
“Where did you go when you rushed out of the hangar earlier?” I asked, hoping to lessen the tension between us.
He stuck out his chin. “That’s not important right now. Are you pregnant?”
My insides were a ball of tangled knots, but I had to own my shit. Whatever happened from this minute forward, I was ready for it, or I prayed that I was.
4
LAYLA
My gaze drifted out the window. “Does it matter whether I am or not? You’ve already cast me out and made your judgment.”
