Page 63 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

Layla squinted as she looked in the distance. The sliding glass door to the balcony was locked, so she couldn’t go out to look over the grounds, but there was a building she could see through the trees quite a distance away. Dense trees surrounded it; she wondered what sort of person would live there when wolves seemed to roam freely.

She hadn’t heard or seen one since the first night, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still there. Maybe they only came out at night.

Like last night.

She shivered when she remembered the cold red eyes that had disappeared in the storm. She had just imagined that. It wasn’t the first time she had imagined seeing a wolf. Her imagination had always been wild. As a child, she’d thought she’d seen wolves even behind their house regularly before the bank had repossessed it. And a few times at the trailer, too. It was often a sign that she was stressed; right now, she had plenty to be worried about.

Besides, whatever had flown over her had been too big to be a wolf.

She heard the door being unlocked and moved away from the windows quickly. The last thing she wanted was for Jackson to know she was still mapping out the place to make another escape plan.

Jackson walked in carrying a tray full of food. The scent made her mouth water. It had been days since she had eaten properly.

Jackson looked over to her straight away as if he had known that was where she would be. Was she predictable? His gaze went behind her, she assumed to check if the door was closed, and then only briefly met hers before he put the tray on a table.

Like the room she had been moved from, this one had a sitting area, though it was grander. The furniture was huge and comfortable. She supposed someone as big as Jackson had to have huge furniture so he fit in it.

Not once had she felt like a giant freak here. They were all tall. Perhaps that was the criteria needed to join the cult. ‘Must be this tall to ride’.

She snorted and then caught herself when Jackson looked back up at her.

“What?” he asked before taking some food containers from the tray.

“Nothing,” she answered with a slight head shake.

“Something amused you. I haven’t seen you smile since you got here,” Jackson said.

She watched him set two plates on the coffee table and lay out some cutlery. Was he going to eat with her? Was he going to sit across from her as if he hadn’t walked into the room with someone’s blood all over his body?

“I haven’t had much to smile about,” she answered.

“Things got off on the wrong foot, and most of that was probably my fault,” Jackson said as he straightened.

Most of it? All of it had been his fault.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, stretching the material of his dark-coloured sweatpants. It should be illegal for men his size to wear sweatpants.

She looked away from him to the food on the table.

“How about we start afresh?” Jackson said. “Contrary to what you may believe, I want you to be comfortable here, and I don’t want you and Britney in danger when you return to the city. I meant what I said that day. Our arrangement doesn't have to be a chore. I want to enjoy it, too, before... Well, before the baby comes.”

Why did she feel he’d meant to say something else?

“Why don’t we eat before our food gets cold,” Jackson said. “We can go for a walk after.”

Her eyes widened.

“A walk? As in outside?”

“Yes,” he said as he sat on one of the leather sofas.

She sat opposite him quickly, eager to have the meal out of the way so she could see the whole place properly in the daylight. Even though all the residents scared the shit out of her, there was no other way around this. When she reached for one of the containers, Jackson put his hand over hers to stop her. It was a simple touch, yet it felt like he had touched her all over. She moved her hand and put it on her lap.

Jackson cleared his throat and opened the containers before putting food on their plates. She noticed he filled hers first before he put any on his. It looked a little strange watching him do that. He didn’t look like the type to serve anyone, not with the way he liked ordering people around.

When he opened a bottle of water for her, he met her gaze again.

“What?” he asked.

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