Page 50 of Cruel Mate

“I…I can do that,” she said, yawning. She had been doing an awful lot of that lately. Carrying his child was clearly exhausting her, even if she was glowing with pregnancy.

“I’ve got it. You just relax,” Zander insisted, and she huffed as she threw herself back against the mountain of pillows she insisted on decorating the bed with. “What did he say?”

He shouldn’t have asked, but he couldn’t stop the words from leaving his lips.

Layla laid her arm over her face and growled, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Zander gritted his teeth and placed her boots under the bed, kicking off his own before slipping onto the mattress beside her. “Okay.”

Pulling her into his arms, he nuzzled his face into her throat and kissed her. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

“Just hold me?” Layla suggested, and Zander smiled. He could certainly do that. But not knowing what had happened between her and Christian was killing him.

He was only able to hold his silence for a few minutes before he asked, “What can you tell me about him?”

Layla stiffened. “Who?”

“Christian.”

The name was like acid on Zander’s tongue.

“I’m not sure you really want to know.”

Layla burrowed into his chest, hiding her face, but Zander pulled her back and looked her in the eye. “I need to know. You might have information we don’t.”

Layla’s eyes sparked. Clearly, she did.

“Layla, you told me to trust you,” he pointed out, biting the inside of his lip. “How can I, if you won’t trust me too?”

At that, Layla sat up and pulled her knees into her chest, her stomach not yet big enough to stop her from wrapping her arms around her legs.

“I hate talking about him,” she said, and the way she quivered made Zander angry. Whatever this man had done to her, it was bad.

He rested his hand on her lower back and said softly, “I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”

“He was an asshole, plain and simple,” Layla said, and Zander feared that was all he was going to get. Then she continued, “He used to be a member of the pack long before you guys came to town, but he was overconfident and stupid and he challenged Karl at every turn until Karl saw a way to get rid of him without upsetting the half of the pack that might have actually sided with Christian.”

“What happened?” Zander asked, his chest tightening at the emotion in Layla’s voice.

“There, um…there was an incident, a murder, and whether he did it or not, Karl pinned it on Christian and turned the entire pack against him. He was exiled for it, but Christian never gives up on what he wants, and just before you guys came to town, he was trying to worm his way back in.”

Zander could see the pain it was causing for her to talk about it, and he was about to tell her he'd heard enough when she continued, “He and I dated a long time ago. He was always an asshole, but he was also a charmer. And he was…obsessed with me. I was weak and stupid, and well, this pack wasn’t exactly the kind that fights against dominant males getting what they want no matter the cost.”

Zander felt sick. He wanted to tell her to stop, but he could see from the way her shoulders were starting to slope that she needed to release it, she needed to tell him the truth even if she didn’t know it.

“He belittled me and tormented me and…and laid hands on me more than once and…and when you came to town with your, well—”

“Shit!” Zander exclaimed, cutting her off. Anger boiled in his stomach. Not at Layla or even at Christian, but at himself. He sat up and pulled her into his arms. Gripping her chin, he turned her face to his and looked her in the eye as he said, “I’m sorry, if I had known, I never would have—”

Layla cut him off then with a kiss. It was soft and lingering and it made Zander’s heart race.

“Don’t apologize,” she whispered against his lips, her breath sweet. “You couldn’t have known, and besides, who knows? If we hadn’t hated each other so much when all of this began, we might not be where we are now.”

It was an odd thing to think, but just as oddly, it kind of made sense. If she hadn’t been so frustrating to him in the beginning, he might never have taken the time to even look at her.

“Strange, isn’t it?” Layla asked, smiling up at him. “How far we’ve come.”

Zander returned her smile, nodding and running his nose over hers.

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