Page 72 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

‘No! First those girls, and then Dylan and now this? You’re letting everyone shit all over us! We need to fight them!’

The beast was right. Trying to leave a better world for his child had clipped his balls, but there was nothing he could do about that.

‘We can’t start a new war when we already have one hanging over us,’ he told his beast, shoving him back into the recesses of his mind.

By the time he returned to his territory, he was muddy and sweaty. Dylan met him at the gate to the packhouse with his clothes.

“Anything?” Dylan asked.

“No,” he lied. “But make sure everyone stays within the walls.”

“Everyone is already on alert. And we leave before dawn for the meetings; everything is set.”

He nodded as he put his clothes back on and then jogged towards the packhouse. All he had to do now was figure out how to keep his mate bond a secret from the Circle. If they figured out he was dying, he was pretty sure that half of those sick fuckers would be the first to try to take his territory.

Chapter 38

Layla had no idea how long she lay on the bed. Jackson had returned at some point and brought her some dinner before he disappeared again, but she hadn’t touched it.

Was she losing her mind? The growl, the super strength those mean girls had had and the fact that she had been referred to as ‘human’ a couple of times. And the blood on Jackson’s body? She’d seen and heard all of that, hadn’t she? That hadn’t been an episode.

Had it?

She rolled over and punched a pillow. It hadn’t happened in a few years. She’d almost forgotten how frustrating and terrifying it was to be stuck in her head like that. Jackson had already looked at her as if he knew something wasn’t right when he’d brought her the food.

Not that she cared about that. It was probably better if he thought this was one of those ‘defects’ the doctor had mentioned so he could forget about this deal and let her go. But her mind was sometimes a dark place to get lost in. It was always a downhill slope the moment she started seeing things.

But it was no good feeling sorry for herself now. She would likely get worse the longer she stayed here, but there was no way around it. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her thoughts, but she must have slept because when she opened them again, the room was dark, and Jackson was on the bed next to her, looking down at her face.

“You didn’t eat,” he stated as she tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

He was so close she felt his warm breath fan her face. Immediately, her mind calmed down. It would have been terrifying to think of why he had such a strong impact on her if it wasn’t such a welcome relief. For hours her mind had been consumed with the worry that she was losing it, but now it was consumed with Jackson.

He was the lesser evil. Ironic.

“I must have been more tired than I thought,” she lied.

“And that’s all? There’s nothing bothering you that you want to talk about?”

His gaze pierced through her, and for a moment, she imagined he could feel how messed up her head was. But she knew she was just being paranoid again. Just imagining things.

She pulled herself away from her thoughts again to look into Jackson’s eyes.

“Nothing,” she lied again.

Jackson studied her briefly before he nodded his head, but again, she felt he didn’t believe her.

“I’ve brought you something else to eat. Just sandwiches because it's so late. Make sure you eat them.”

He didn’t take his eyes off her. He was leaning over her like a lover would, as if he had been watching her sleep for a while. Had he?

Her body started to tingle the way it had when he had taken her on the table. It wasn’t just his touch anymore; it was his proximity. Whatever was happening to her was getting stronger, and she was terrified of how she would be if she stayed here too long. She didn’t want to become like everyone else here. She didn’t want to start to worship the ground he walked on and call him Alpha.

But another few days of this, and she wouldn’t want to go anywhere. The tingles turned to flames, and her gaze lowered to his lips.

Jackson cleared his throat and looked away from her.

“I’m going to sleep in another room tonight so you can rest.”

---