Page 28 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

If the circling vultures didn’t destroy them first.

“Just take me back to my sister. I don’t need to be here.”

He shook his head and threw the bloody napkin onto his plate before he stood up. Who’d explain to Cain that his mate didn’t want to be with him? That wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have today.

“Others are waiting to eat. I made them wait so you would be comfortable, but that was obviously a waste of time. Let’s go.”

He turned to Layla at the door and caught a brief look on her face as she straightened and started to follow. Behind her on the table, the missing knife was glaringly obvious. That was two knives that she had now. Unless she managed to cut someone’s head off, neither would do anything for her except to piss someone off.

But he was all for whatever she needed to do to feel safe, so he turned away without a word and walked down the hallway towards the entrance. The packhouse was open to whoever needed it, but besides his warriors, most people ate and slept in their own homes. Except for this morning. Curiosity about Layla had spread, and the lobby was crawling with people. It meant he had to introduce her sooner rather than later.

His pack lowered their gazes and parted for him to pass. Looking back at Layla, he saw the disbelief on her face. Submission was obviously not in her vocabulary, so it was a good thing she was human. She would have made a terrible wolf and probably gone rogue during her first shift.

“The car is outside,” he said to her.

Layla went ahead of him, cautiously walking past the group of people and keeping her hand near her back pocket. Her heart was still hammering, and a cloud of fear followed her like perfume, which meant Cain was still on edge. She was making him too volatile. He would have to sort this out before she got pregnant because it wouldn’t be good for the baby. And it wasn’t good for anyone else in the pack.

Not because he feared he would become like his father. No, Dylan shouldn’t have put that seed in his head. There were no similarities in the situations at all. He wasn’t losing his mind; he was fighting the mating bond.

They made the short drive to the hospital in silence. He could have taken her back to Diedre, but he wasn’t ready to have that conversation with the witch yet. Layla chose to sit in the back, and her heart calmed as they went further from the packhouse.

Maybe because she was planning her escape. He could see her eyes in the rearview mirror, so he noticed how she looked around and catalogued everything like she was planning an escape route.

He parked the car outside the hospital and looked in the mirror again.

“Do you know that Wolfdale has one of the largest wolf populations in the world?” he asked casually.

Layla met his gaze in the mirror.

“Yes,” she answered.

“I think it’s because there’s a certain understanding between the beasts and humans, and as long as one doesn’t mess with the other, there’s some peace. We’re right in the middle of several packs, Layla. Wolf territories. Please stay in the compound for your safety and your sister’s.”

Layla stilled as if she had realised she had given herself away.

“I don’t think we’ll be here long, and then hopefully, we’ll have a baby in nine months,” he continued. “You’ll be reunited with your sister soon enough.”

“The doctor will inseminate me today?!”

She sounded scared again. Her heart returned to its loud pounding, and she looked around again like she was ready to bolt.

“It’s not the doctor who will inseminate you, Layla.”

“Then who will?”

“Me,” he answered easily.

“If you think I’m going to do some weird turkey baster shit, then I have news for you, Jackson King,” Layla said sternly.

He looked away from the mirror to open his door so she couldn’t see his expression. But Cain didn’t have a problem rolling around with laughter in his head.

“We will discuss that later,” he said as he got out of the car. “Hurry. We have a busy day today.”

Very busy. They were going to make a baby.

Chapter 16

Layla watched the nurse place a bandaid on her arm to stem the bleeding from the needle. It had little cartoon characters like it was meant for children. Was this a children’s hospital? Why had Jackson brought her here?

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