Page 61 of Cruel Mate

Though, Zander noticed, they made no attempt to retrieve Christian.

Chapter 24 - Layla

“You know I could have delivered this message on my own, right?” Darwin said as Layla and he made their way through the streets of Pine Valley, headed for the alpha’s house.

“I know,” Layla said, placing her hand on his shoulder affectionately. “But this feels kind of personal after everything that has happened.”

She shrugged and dropped her arm, laying her hand on her stomach. It had only been a couple of days since she had been rescued from Christian’s clutches, yet she felt huge. Before long, she would be welcoming her first child.

“Are you alright?” Darwin asked, pausing. He gripped hold of Layla’s forearm, forcing her to stop, too. “You don’t need to rest, do you?”

“No, I’m fine. I was just thinking how this will probably be the last message I deliver for a while. Maybe ever.”

Darwin’s eyes widened, his mouth dropping open. “Seriously?”

“I can’t exactly be a messenger and a mother, can I?” Layla said, raising a brow. “Besides, I have a mate now, too, and he’s beta of the pack. That’s bound to come with responsibilities all its own. And I have my garden too.”

“So you’re finally going to do it, huh?” Darwin asked.

“Do what?” Layla asked, scowling back at him.

“Turn that garden of yours into a business like you always said you would when you finally put down your messenger bag,” Darwin said, poking Layla in the shoulder. “I always told you that you should. That lavender lemonade of yours would sell like hotcakes.”

“I’m sure my garden is worth more than lavender lemonade,” Layla chuckled and nodded. “But yeah, Zander said I should too. And, well, I guess I’m not quite so eager to be putting myself in danger as I used to be.”

“I get that,” Darwin shrugged. “Besides, you know your bag will be left in good hands.”

He reached out and pulled Layla’s bag right off her back.

“Hey!” she protested as he undid the zip and reached inside, rummaging past her seed packets to the little false bottom where she kept the important letters. “Just because Zander told me you finally learned to stick up for yourself during the battle doesn’t mean I won’t still kick your ass!”

“In that state,” Darwin chuckled, glancing down at her stomach. “Don’t make me laugh.”

At that, Layla clipped him upside his head and growled, “Don’t think I can’t box your ears still, little cousin.”

“Hey! Alright, alright!”

He held out the letter to her and smiled. “You do the honors, then.”

He gestured her to the building they had stopped next to, and it was only then she realized they’d stopped right outside the alpha’s house.

Layla glanced down at the letter in her hand and then shook her head. “No, I think it's time you made yourself known to the Pine Valley alpha. You will be taking over, after all.”

She held out the letter, already knowing all it contained. The news of Christian’s death and the intel they’d gotten that one of his cousins had already taken the lead of what remained of their pack would be hard for the Pine Valley pack to swallow. It had been bad enough for Layla and the Nightstar pack. Christian was ruthless, but some of the members in his family were even worse. And after the deaths that had occurred during the battle, there was no telling what might come next.

“Are you sure?” Darwin asked. Layla nodded.

“My time is at an end. It’s your time now.”

When she saw the spark in Darwin’s eye, she knew she had done the right thing. Ever since his victory fighting alongside his pack during Christian’s attack, he seemed like a whole new wolf, and she knew he was going to be just fine.

Besides, she was itching to get right back to Nightstar and Zander’s waiting arms.

“Go right ahead,” she said, gesturing her little cousin in for his very first audience with Pine Valley’s alpha.

Darwin’s pride at his first solo delivery was enough to make Layla smile all the way back to the Nightstar border, but when they got there, she stopped immediately. The sense that they weren’t alone in the woods overwhelmed her almost as soon as she stepped over the scent line that marked the boundary.

“What’s the matter?” Darwin asked, raising his brow.

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