Page 60 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

There was no time to waste. She would make a better escape plan if allowed to walk around.

Jackson’s gaze wandered down her body before it met hers.

“There are things going on right now that I need to take care of. I can’t let you walk around by yourself,” he said.

“So you’re going back on your word?”

“You went back on your word first, Layla. You ran from me,” Jackson said in a low, calm voice.

But she could sense something in him that was anything but calm. She took a step back, remembering how he had looked when he had come back in. The air around her sizzled with danger like she was caged in with a dangerous animal. And she was. Jackson was a cult leader who brainwashed young girls, and he was a killer.

Jackson looked away from her. His fists clenched briefly before he walked back to a door next to the bathroom. When he opened it, she realised it was a walk-in closet that was much bigger than the one in her room.

Once he had closed the door behind him, she sank back onto the bed and let out a shaky breath.

She had seen and done a lot in her life in the name of survival, but this was something she couldn’t process. How was she supposed to escape from him?

She was still sitting there when Jackson came out of the room, pulling a t-shirt over his head.

“Maybe a soak in the bath will relax you. All your things are in the closet. I’ll be back in an hour with some food,” he said without looking at her.

“Have you seen my phone?” she asked quickly.

Jackson turned slowly to face her. Gone was the man who made love to her so passionately; he was as cold as ever.

“Given how you put your sister in danger last night, I’ll only allow you supervised phone calls.”

She felt the chill go through her body.

“I was trying to keep myself safe, Jackson,” she whispered. “You can’t punish me for that. I need to know that my sister is okay.”

“Your sister was okay before you went and put ideas in her head. Go and tidy yourself up, Layla,” he said through his teeth before turning away from her again.

And then, once he closed the door behind him, she heard the loud click of the lock echo loudly in the vast room.

Alone like this, she couldn’t help how her body started to shake. She’d never thought of death before, but it was the only thing on her mind now. If she acted without thinking again, the only way she would leave this place was in a body bag.

Chapter 33

“What did he mean, Alpha?”

Jackson turned away from the window that overlooked another training field to face Dylan.

“You know where we found Layla. She’s not a rogue, Dylan,” he sighed as he returned to his seat at the head of the conference table.

There was a pile of business paperwork he had to go over before he started looking at the official reports from the incidents yesterday and earlier.

“I know that. She’s human,” Dylan snorted with barely disguised disgust.

His fist clenched, crumpling the paper in his hand. He had to stop doing that. He couldn’t react to every single little thing someone said about Layla.

“But why would they target her?” Dylan continued.

“I think they’re targeting me. The whole pack probably already thinks I’m fucking a rogue. Maybe whoever is doing this wants to undermine me, somehow.”

“But why?”

He pushed the paperwork away from him and leaned back in his chair.

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