Page 55 of Cruel Mate

“Thank you so much,” Layla said, battering her lashes a little as she dropped down onto a nearby tree stump. She made an effort to exaggerate her gratitude and her relief, rubbing her feet and calves as if they were sore.

“Sir, we shouldn’t stay out in the open like this,” one of Christian’s men warned him. Layla struggled to stop from growling at him, recognizing him as the man whose balls she’d injured during the first attack in Pine Valley.

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Christian demanded, and Layla saw even more of the old Christian, the one who was always right and didn’t need to be told anything.

“Where are you planning to take me?” Layla asked, and when Christian turned on her, she cleared her throat and lowered her gaze innocently. “What I mean to say is, how far is it? Because at this rate, I’ll only slow us down. I don’t have the energy I used to.”

When she looked up at Christian again, he was looking back at her with suspicion.

Biting the inside of her lip, she said, “I don’t want to be caught out here any more than you do.”

Christian’s expression turned from suspicious to curious.

Maybe he really was as easy to manipulate as he had always been.

“Surely, with all these men we’d be better off finding somewhere to lay low? Somewhere we can defend if the need arises?” Layla suggested. “There’s no way we can get far enough on foot to get away from pack territory before Jack and the others come looking.”

Christian dropped down into a crouch in front of her, his eyes level with hers. He stared at her without blinking as he asked, “Why would you suggest something like that?”

“Because she wants us to get caught!” old no-balls growled. Layla ignored him, though she’d have liked to claw his face off for getting in her way. If he didn’t shut up, her plan might not work. She had no way of knowing whether Christian would believe her over his men if it came to it.

“If I wanted that, don’t you think I’d have made you drag me out of pack territory kicking and screaming?” she demanded, shooting a glare at the man. “I seem to remember putting up a damn good fight the last time we met.”

She had to bite back laughter when she saw the way he closed his legs, as if he remembered all too well the injuries she had left him with.

“Layla’s not stupid, Gary. She’s always been loyal,” Christian told his man. Gary looked back at him with suspicion clear on his face.

“How can you be so sure?”

Layla held her breath.

Christian didn’t answer him. Instead, he looked to Layla again and asked, “What exactly did you have in mind?”

Layla held her tongue a moment, hoping to appear thoughtful. Then, she leaned forward and whispered into Christian’s ear, “Remember how much fun we used to have at granny’s old cabin?”

The way Christian quivered suggested he remembered very well. Layla struggled not to cringe at the memories. It was the very place where he had taken her virginity all those years ago, the place where they’d had their first argument, the place where he had first hit her. There were so many bad memories there for her, and yet the night she had spent there with Zander almost made up for them.

Though all he had done was tend her wounds and encourage her to sleep, he had shown her more kindness in that single night than anyone had in her entire life.

“I remember,” Christian breathed out. “Why there?”

Layla glanced back over her shoulder, pretending to listen for followers. When she looked back, she offered him a twinkling eye. “Nobody else knows about it. We’ll be safe there if we cover our tracks well enough.”

“She’s lying!” Gary protested, and Layla’s heart sank. Her entire plan rested on this single moment, on the split-second decision that Christian was about to make. If he didn’t go along with her plan, she wasn’t sure what she would do.

By the sounds of all the fighting she’d heard before Christian had called off his pack, her own needed a while to recover and regroup before they came looking for her. And besides, they had to realize she was even gone before that could happen.

There was only one thing she could do. Sucking in a deep breath, she reached out quick and grabbed Christian’s hand. Taking him by surprise, she looked him dead in the eye and said, “You have to believe me, Christian. I don’t want to go back there. I can’t. Jack was even more of a brute than Karl ever could have been. Just look what he’s done to me.”

She placed her hand on her swelling stomach, showing the ring that Zander had given her as a wedding band. It was a simple gold band, nothing fancy, but she knew there was an engraving on the inside, their initials forever marked side by side. Zander was with her, even now. He was still alive. She could sense him. She just had to buy time.

And though it killed her, she could see Christian was buying her every word. She just had to reel him in. “He married me off and mated me to his beta to force pack allegiance. He’s doing it with all his men and all of our women. We have to help them. Just think how much stronger our pack could be if all your men had mates of their own.”

The spark in Christian’s eye told her she had him. Power and strength were all Christian had ever cared about.

His gaze darkened as he asked, “What about what you said yesterday? You rejected me.”

The way he cringed almost made Layla feel sorry for him. It was almost too painful to speak, not because of him, but because she hated what she was about to say. “I lied. They forced me to. They said they’d kill you there and then if I didn’t. I had to act loyal to the mate they chose for me, but it's you, Christian, it’s always been you. Please, you have to believe me.”

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