Page 145 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

“I don’t understand. Heat? Like an animal?”

“Like a wolf.”

Layla lifted her head, and there was horror in her eyes as she looked down at him.

“Am I changing because I’m sleeping with you? Did you do something to me?” she shouted.

He felt her panic, but only faintly because he couldn’t focus enough to concentrate on anything other than his emotions. But her words got him thinking. It was the bond that was making her react like this. Once he was gone, would she return to her usual self? There was no point in telling her what she was now. She would spend the rest of her life worrying when it was out of her control.

“Maybe,” he lied. “You’ll be okay once we separate.”

And the pain shot through his again.

“But why... I’m human. I shouldn’t be able to do all this,” Layla said weakly before she dropped down again. Her hair fell onto her face, and she didn’t bother to move it away.

He used all his strength to lift himself to his shoulder and looked down at the exhausted woman sprawled next to him. He pushed the hair out of her face and studied her. It was becoming his favourite pastime. He’d already memorised every inch of her body, but the changes she was going through amplified something different every day.

Like now, her emerald eyes were brighter.

They had glowed the entire time she had fucked him within an inch of his life.

“It’s because I claimed you. Because you’re mine,” he admitted as he brushed her hair from her face. “I did this to you, Layla.”

“What do you mean I’m yours?”

If anyone had been within earshot, they would have known the significance of his words. The Alpha King had been given a half-blood for a mate.

“It means that were it not for all the shit I’m going through and everything I have to do, I would have done everything differently,” he sighed.

Would he have, though? If it wasn’t for the child he wanted, he would have run far away the second he had caught her scent and realised who he had stumbled upon. He would have made sure not to spend any time in her presence so her scent didn’t get embedded into his very soul. Not becoming his father or being weakened in any way by someone else had been his top priority.

But Fate was proving impossible to fight. All his plans had been based on the belief that he was stronger than anyone and would not succumb, but he knew better now. He would have gone back eventually and claimed her.

“What shit are you going through? Are you in trouble?”

Layla rose to her elbow and put a hand on his chest. He felt the usual tingles, and his body reacted as if his tank wasn’t empty. He had nothing left to give her.

But he also felt her worry. He saw it on her face. Besides Diedre and the witch who wanted him dead, no one else knew what he’d had to carry for years, and he had no desire to tell them until the last moment.

But his mate... The bond blossomed, and all he wanted to do was whisper all his secrets to the woman who had been made to help him carry them all.

“I am,” he whispered. “I’m in big trouble, my little mate.”

He smoothed her furrowed brows and gently traced his fingers along her face.

“But I’m the Alpha King. My life is not my own. It’s my job to bear it all while I make sure everyone else is safe.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

His poor mate.

He put his arm around her and lay back down, bringing her against his chest.

“You’re doing it now. Despite how all this came to be, you’ve been a great comfort to me. And when the time comes, you’ll go back and do anything you want with your life, but you’ll think of me often. You won’t forget me, Layla, and I’m finding that’s consolation enough,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.

They remained quiet for a while as he fought back the sleep. Layla was still worried, and he was wired to soothe her whenever she needed him to. He couldn’t sleep until she was okay.

“What’s an Alpha King?” she whispered.

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