Page 87 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

“Why is she more important than the pack? Than me?” Dylan asked.

‘Because she is my mate!’ Cain shouted.

He almost repeated the beast’s words but held himself back. Now wasn’t the time for any bombshells.

“Because she will give me a child, Dylan. Why do I need to keep explaining myself for you just to do as I ask? While she’s here, treat her like part of the pack. It doesn’t matter what the Circle said or what the rogue said. She’s staying until she gives birth to your future king.”

One of the boys groaned as he came to, diverting his attention.

“Can I take them down now?” Dylan asked.

“No,” he growled before he turned and walked through the dungeon to the stairs. “If anyone takes them down, they will join them.”

He came up through the hatch to find a few warriors on their break from patrols, watching him. The apprehension and fear were thick in the air. These were the men he had been sure would follow him through hell and back, but because of what he had done, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

And yet he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. The bond with Layla had firmly settled even though he hadn’t marked her; he couldn’t deny that anymore. She was the driving force for all his actions. He could tell himself that he would put some distance between them once she was pregnant, but that would be a lie.

He was fucked. End of story.

“Any activity around our borders?” he asked.

“Not from the rogues, Alpha,” one of the warriors said. “We’ve had scouts from Alpha Chase’s pack sniffing around.”

“Nobody gets in without my permission,” he said before he walked out of the guardhouse.

If they hadn’t let that girl, Monica, back in, then this shit probably wouldn’t have happened. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about with the Circle and the witch, he now had to worry about traitors in his pack. Were they even worth doing any of this for if they could so easily stab him in the back?

People kept out of his way as he walked back to the packhouse. The Circle had said his pack believed he’d been hexed. After he’d killed Laken, he was sure that belief had been cemented.

“Jax.”

He only looked at Diedre briefly before he continued walking towards the stairs.

“I thought she was safe,” Diedre said in a broken voice. He could feel her despair without even trying. “I didn’t think anyone in this pack would ever...”

His fists clenched as he went up the first step. No one had ever warned him that the mate bond made people react so strongly to their mate’s distress. Though Laken was dead, the urge to kill everyone was still strong.

“She didn’t eat her breakfast, and she didn’t talk to me. I’m making something else for lunch,” Diedre continued. “Do you want me to give her something to calm her mind?”

He stopped and sighed. If anyone could get rid of that cloud hanging over Layla, it would be Diedre. He just couldn’t bring himself to trust her again so soon.

“Maybe for tonight,” he growled. “I need something to protect her from the pack, too.”

The pendant only protected her from magic; he hadn’t thought he would need to protect her from his own people.

“If you just tell them—”

“Stop it, Diedre,” he growled before he continued up the stairs.

The witch knew better than anyone that proclaiming her as their queen would do more harm than good.

He hadn’t stopped feeling all the emotions Layla was feeling, but the moment he stopped at his floor, all of it hit him again. He’d failed her.

When he walked in, Layla was sitting in the middle of the bed with her knees drawn up. Her eyes met his across the room, and all the emotions he saw in them tightened his chest again.

“Hi,” he said softly.

“Hi.”

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