Page 57 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

He didn’t miss the flash of disgust on Dylan’s face, even though it was so quick. He knew it was because Layla was human, but he wasn’t there to fight prejudices he’d had himself until the day he met Layla.

“You will protect her with your life,” he ordered. “Do you understand?”

He had no doubt The Circle would find out, but he had already planned for that. Once Layla was pregnant, they would be the first to welcome her with open arms. If they’d had their way, they would have made him impregnate as many women as possible from when he became king.

“Yes, Alpha,” Dylan answered.

“I’m going to need you to deal with Cassie. Send them all away.”

Dylan looked up with a frown.

“Where?”

“Anywhere. I don’t care,” he said before he turned to walk away.

Cain thrashed around in his head, demanding justice. The beast wasn't satisfied, and honestly, he wasn’t either. But killing members of his pack for hurting a human wouldn’t help Layla in the long run. He’d been right to say his child would pay the price.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Diedre waiting for him by the back door.

“You’ve got clothes on this time. Will you speak to me now?”

He sighed and continued walking until he stopped in front of Diedre.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Diedre,” he said immediately.

“She might be the key. Maybe that's why nothing has—”

“I’d much rather talk about the rogue I killed,” he said. “Maybe we can have that conversation in private.”

Diedre sighed and stepped aside so he could walk in.

“The aura around him was powerful even after he’d died,” Diedre said. “I’m concerned.”

“Can we extend your protection spell?”

“I can’t cover such a huge space,” Diedre said with a shake of her head. “Why was he here? Did you get anything?”

There were several people in the packhouse, and any one of them could listen in on the conversation if they wanted to. Now wasn’t the time to talk, but he would need Diedre’s help. Maybe she could give Layla some extra protection.

Before he could make his request, he heard one of the warriors in the mind link.

‘Six rogues have breached the boundary and are heading at full speed towards the residences in the east. They don’t look right.’

Fuck! Whoever was responsible for this was very determined.

“Protect Layla. She’s in my room,” he said to Diedre as he took his sweats off and ran back out of the house.

He shifted and let Cain take over. The beast was already in the mood to fight; he would take his frustrations out on the intruders. They didn’t look right? He knew what that meant. If he got close to them, they would have the scent of dark magic all over them. He had to get to them before they accomplished what they had been sent to do.

Chapter 31

Cain saw the rogue wolves as they reached the end of the road.

The warrior had been right; it wasn’t just their scent that was wrong. They had shifted into their wolves and were running in formation. Rogues were never that organised. Once wolves left their pack for whatever reason, they usually died within a month if they didn’t find another pack to join. If they happened to come across a rogue pack, they lived longer, but they had no rules or structure. They stuck together out of necessity, but when they went on a hunt, it was each wolf for themselves.

These wolves had their heads lowered, teeth bared, and their ears back as they ran down the streets, one at the front, two in the middle and three at the back. This was a fighting formation. They weren’t hunting for food scraps; they had already run past several houses and not raided anything.

And not only that, they were out in broad daylight. Anyone could smell a rogue a mile away, day or night, but they preferred to hunt under the cover of darkness.

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