Page 155 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

How could she think she could go against a beast like Jackson? This was too risky. He would find her before they even left the forest.

The door handle rattled and made her jump. It was too late. She couldn’t back out now.

“It’s me,” Dylan said quietly.

She sucked in a breath and rushed to the door. Her heart started to pound so hard she was sure Jackson would come crashing into the room like he had done the day he had shown her his real face.

“He locked it,” she called back.

“Stand back. We don’t have much time.”

She did as she was told, and then a second later, the door frame cracked as the door was shoved open. Dylan stepped in and looked around quickly. He was topless and breathing hard like he had run to get to her. His heart beat harder than when he had cornered her downstairs to make this deal. Scared. He was terrified.

And that only made her second guess everything again.

“Let’s go,” he growled as he turned back to the door.

“Wait,” she said quickly. “My sister?”

“I’ve already made arrangements for her in the city. I’ll tell her where to go once we’re moving,” Dylan answered. “Now move. I have to take you to the edge of the forest and come back to the compound before Jax returns.”

She quickly picked up the backpack with everything she had brought with her and followed the werewolf. Dylan’s heart grew louder the further they walked from the bedroom, and she wondered if he could hear hers, too.

There was no one in the lobby when they walked down, and Dylan quickened his step as he headed towards the hallway that Monica had led her down when they had beaten her up. Her steps faltered. She had been too trusting then and had ended up in that position. Hadn’t she learned her lesson?

Dylan looked back at her and frowned when he noticed she had slowed down.

“This is your only chance,” he whispered before he gestured with his head for her to follow.

Her only chance to go back to how she had been. Her only chance to get her sanity back. He was right.

She hurried to catch up with him and faltered again when he opened the door to the basement. The last time she had been down there, no one had heard her screaming. Or they had, but they just hadn’t wanted to help her. What would happen this time when Jackson wasn’t around? Who would save her?

Dylan put a light on, and the place where she had almost died was illuminated. Images of those girls assaulted her mind. She didn’t want to be in that position again. And she didn’t want to be in a situation where she would be overpowered and pinned down again.

“I have to do this,” she whispered before she walked down the steps into the basement.

Dylan had already crossed the room and was waiting at an open door. When she approached him, she saw the next room was a multi-car garage. There were so many cars that showed just how wealthy Jackson was if she had doubted that before. Dylan walked over to a rough terrain SUV with tinted windows and unlocked the car.

She walked to the passenger seat, but he shook his head and pressed a button to open the back. There were boxes and bags in it labelled ‘The Royal Hotel’, and the smell made her scrunch her nose. Was it cheese? The stench was worse because she had been able to pick up the oddest scents lately. Would it stop the other wolves from smelling her?

Dylan pushed her and she stumbled forward.

“We have no time. I can’t keep speaking to you; they’ll hear me. Hide in there if you want us to make it out alive,” he whispered again. “I’ll let you out when we’re at a safe distance.”

She took a deep breath and got into the back before she changed her mind.

Because she could feel she was on the verge of changing her mind. That part of her that didn’t want to leave Jackson was getting louder than her common sense. It reminded her that the red wolf had said she would be safer with him. It reminded her of how gentle Jackson had been with her despite what he was. It reminded her of that look in his eyes when he made love to her—as if she was the only woman in the world for him.

And it reminded her of how she felt when he was in the same room, that pull towards him, that feeling that nothing else mattered except being with Jackson.

But none of it was real, and none of it was normal. She was just a baby-making machine to him.

When the trunk closed, and she was stuck in the darkness, she put her hand on the pendant again. Everything would be fine. She would be fine.

The car started moving, and her heart began to beat faster. Her heart started to hurt more. It felt like something was trying to pull her back so she wouldn’t hurt Jackson’s feelings. But would it hurt him? Or would he just find someone else to replace her?

The thought made everything unbearable, and tears started falling down her cheeks unbidden. Like the time Jackson had been unconscious, she was aware that her feelings were contradictory. Her mind was twisted; if she stayed any longer, it would be twisted beyond repair.

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