Page 152 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

And then, with a speed similar to his, she shifted.

It was like looking at a slightly older version of Layla. The shock made him step back as the naked woman stepped forward.

“What did you do to her?” she hissed.

Her anger was like a force that made him step back again. Not out of fear. Rebecca Carlisle wasn’t masking herself, so her emotions hit him in the face. It was a lot to unpack, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

“Nothing. She’s fine. But you need to tell me what’s happening. She’s changing, and I can’t tell if she’s going to shift or I have to prepare myself for a bigger fight than I imagined,” he answered quietly.

The woman’s intense green eyes narrowed on him as if she was reading him the way he was reading her. Could she do that? Were her strengths the same as his?

“You’re going to have to fight either way, Alpha Jackson,” Rebecca said. “So why does that matter?”

“I need to be prepared. I need to make the right choices.”

“All you need to do is protect my daughter. That’s the only choice,” Rebecca said as she turned away.

“Wait! You can’t go yet; you haven’t told me anything at all,” he said as he stepped closer to her. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do.”

Rebecca turned her head to speak over her shoulder.

“My daughter has had several mental breakdowns over the years because she doesn’t understand who she is. Tell her the truth and let nature take its course.”

And then she disappeared again through the trees, taking any trace of herself with her.

The truth? How the hell would he do that when he didn’t know what that was?

Chapter 80

“Ihave to go out for a little while.”

Layla didn’t even look at him; he wasn’t sure she had even heard him. After going through her heat, they were supposed to be closer than before, but there was a canyon between them.

“Layla?”

She seemed to snap out of whatever she was thinking and gave him the fakest smile he had ever seen.

“Hmm?”

“I have to go out,” he repeated.

Her eyes widened.

“Oh, that’s today?”

He frowned at her odd choice of words. He hadn’t mentioned anything about going out to her unless she was referring to his promise to take her to see her sister. Maybe that was what she needed to step out of it.

“I mean, you’re going out today?” she asked.

She perked up a little bit. After her mini-breakdown when she had beaten Amber up, she had become distant but completely calm. And her emotions had become difficult to read. It was almost as if she was channelling her red wolf traits and masking her feelings.

After he spoke to Chase, he was taking her out of there.

They could make a weekend out of it, and he could also observe her sister. He had been positive the wolf gene had skipped her, but since he had discovered what their mother was, perhaps her wolf was still hidden. That would fuck up everything up. It would be down to Layla to prepare her sister when he was gone.

Prepare her for death or becoming part of the pack; he wasn’t sure yet.

“I won’t take too long, and I’ll have a surprise for you when I come back,” he promised as he stood.

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