Page 19 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

“This is a dangerous forest,” she whispered. “I can’t... I have to get my sister; I can’t do this.”

Jackson pressed himself even closer, and she forgot her fear. His body was hard and muscular like he’d been sculpted out of granite. And he felt so hot she could feel him through her t-shirt. Her hormones chose that moment to act up again, making her completely forget the danger they were in. Heat spread through her body as she pushed her chest against him. It was like her body had a mind of its own when her hands came up to his chest, and her fingers bunched up his shirt.

She only realised that she’d also wrapped a leg around his waist and pressed her groin against him when she let out a loud, embarrassing moan that made Jackson release her like she was diseased. She sucked in a breath as mortification hit her. He was still angry when he met her gaze. The light from the moon shone on part of his face so she could see the disgust in his eyes.

What the hell had she been thinking? She felt the heat of embarrassment on her face as she looked away from his stony face and prayed he couldn’t quite see her face in the dark. Even though she’d just tried to dry hump a gay man and had seen his reaction, her body didn’t get the memo to stop reacting to him. She clenched her thighs together and kept her gaze down.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“We made a deal, Layla, and I don’t take kindly to those who try to break their word,” Jackson growled. “You’re coming with me. Or have you forgotten that my men are with your sister?”

Bastard! Was he really using a seventeen-year-old to blackmail her?

“You don’t understand... Something doesn’t feel right, and this forest is full of wolves,” she muttered, pushing herself away from the tree trunk. “I know we agreed, but I can’t knowingly put myself in danger—”

“You will do everything I tell you to, Layla. Do not test me. Now get back to the fucking car, or run and let me show you just how dangerous this forest is. Your choice.”

He didn’t wait to see if she followed him, and once again, he left her with an unpleasant taste in her mouth at how he expected her just to roll over and do what he said. But he was right; he had Brit. All it would take was a phone call from him for something to happen to her sister. She’d trapped herself, and all she could do now was play along until she could assess the whole situation.

Slowly, she walked back to the bumpy trail where the car was idling. The back door was still open, and Jackson was back in the front as if nothing had happened. How had he even got to her so quickly?

They drove for another half an hour before the trail evened out and came onto a road in the middle of the forest. She’d lived in Wolfdale her whole life and had never heard of any roads in the woods. Moments later, it wasn’t the road that had her attention but the looming high gates and walls she saw in front of them. It was too dark to make out the full details, but her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her this time. The high gates with some intricate designs opened when the car got nearer.

They drove through some woods and an open field before she saw houses. Rows of houses and... shops? Streetlights were on as they passed, and it looked like a little self-sufficient town. Her jaw dropped as she tried to take in everything, but the car moved too fast.

And before long, they came up to another gate that opened as they approached it. How could something like this exist in the forest, and no one had heard about it? Was this some sort of secret organisation? Had she been right to assume Jackson was involved with a criminal gang?

Then a vast building appeared at the end of the winding driveway. A mansion or hotel, she couldn’t be sure, but when the car stopped in front of it, she felt her apprehension grow. Even the weight of the knife in her pocket didn’t do anything to calm her down.

When Jackson wrenched the door open, she scrambled to the opposite side.

“Get out of the car. You’re bleeding all over my seats,” he snarled.

And then he turned and walked into the building with his boyfriend, leaving her in the back seat. She slid out of the car and looked back at where they had come from. The place was so huge; could she ever escape?

But something flashed in the distance that looked like a set of eyes. A wolf?

Without another thought, she followed Jackson inside and slammed the door behind her. What was this place?

Chapter 11

Jackson had already sent a message to Diedre, the pack witch, through his Gamma, so the woman was already waiting in the lobby when he walked into the packhouse.

“This isn’t right, Jax. You’d have to confine her to her room or the basement because she would know the truth the moment she stepped out of the house,” Dylan said as he followed behind him.

He refrained from rolling his eyes. Dylan had been mind-linking variations of that the whole drive home—he was giving him a headache. But he couldn’t get mad at his Beta for repeating something he had enforced for years since he had taken the throne.

If they were lucky, it wouldn’t take long to get her pregnant and maybe by then, Cain would accept sending her back to the hotel.

“You should have just let her run off. She’s going to be a handful—”

“Enough!” he growled.

It was Cain who made that command. Dylan felt it and shut up, but even with that submission, he still had to push his wolf back down to stop him from going after his friend. He had to get his wolf under control, or he wouldn’t be able to hide the truth from his pack.

When he opened his eyes, he found Diedre staring right at him. She was the only one in the whole place who could do that without looking away despite knowing who he was.

“You don’t look injured to me,” Diedre said.

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