Page 63 of Possessive Alpha

My eyes return to his face and, seeing the tension there, I realize being here can’t be easy.

“Doesn’t it bother you to be down in this cave after your accident?”

“It’s manageable.” There’s a tension in his jaw that I’m not used to seeing.

So it’s not good.

“Ty…” I breathe.

“You were here, and I was getting you out.”

“What makes it manageable?”

He slows, tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, and says, “I’m looking at it.”

This man. I sigh. This man owns my heart completely.

I wrap my arms around him, press my face against his throat, and let him carry me out of this cave, never wanting to let him go.

We emerge from the cave into a late evening sky.

“Is this the same day?” I ask Ty.

He stops dead, and I wish I hadn’t said a thing.

“How hard did they hit you?” His expression is utterly blank, but to my relief, the tension in his face has slowly been lifting as we made our way out of the cave.

Enough to knock me out and probably scramble my brain.

“Pretty hard,” I admit. “But I’m okay. Promise.”

He gives me a hard kiss on the lips. “I’ll have a look at your head when we get back, okay?”

I don’t reassure him again. I smile instead. “Okay.”

Jackson has Layla, Quinn, and Pierce digging a hole for Seth’s body a few feet from the cave. As we approach, Jackson gives me a long look and Layla, a small smile that I return. “You okay?”

Now that Seth and Cody are dead? More than good.

I nod. “I’m okay.”

His eyes shift to Ty, and his amiable smile slides down his face as the sun disappears into the horizon. “The other one?”

“Dead,” Ty confirms.

“Good.” Jackson turns to Layla. “Take Quinn and grab that body. It needs burying. Deep. We don’t need or want anything digging up bones a few months or years from now.”

Right now, he’s all alpha. Not a hint of a smile stretching his lips.

This is the Jackson he doesn’t reveal often. It’s why some shifters don’t stay in Dawley, and it’s why some do. He’s an alpha who would fight to keep you safe.

And it sounds like he intends to make Layla one of his enforcers.

Clara is here.

I hadn’t thought she would be, but I spot her beside a tree several feet from the cave, arms wrapped around her middle. She would have wanted to come after me, but there’s no way Jackson would put her at risk if she told him what Seth and Cody were here to do.

I take one look at her tear-stained face and turn to Ty. “Please put me down. I need to speak to my sister.”