Page 108 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

The sun hadn’t yet risen when something woke Layla up again.

A howl.

And just like that, everything she had been trying to process returned to the forefront of her mind.

Another howl joined the first. She inhaled shakily and then bit her lips to stop herself from making a sound. Though she had left a big gap between them when she had eventually nodded off back to sleep, Jackson’s arm was around her stomach, and his warm breath fanned her neck where he had nuzzled against her hair.

“You’re thinking too hard,” Jackson said sleepily.

Way too hard. The worst part was not knowing if she had lost her damn mind. If she asked Jackson, what would he think about her? Maybe the better question was why she would care. His opinion of her didn’t matter to her. Not one bit. Especially since he was going to kill her once she gave birth.

Still, there was that horrible part of her... The one reacting to his nakedness and the warmth of his body. The one that felt the tingles when he spoke.

She tried to silence that part of herself to form her thoughts, but it was impossible.

But she still wanted to know. Had she slept with a monster? Was he like those things she had seen in the woods?

“What are you, Jackson?”

She felt his arm tense against her before he moved it and rolled onto his back.

“What kind of question is that?” he asked.

She risked looking at him and met his gaze. How could she look into his eyes and feel like he would never hurt her, and yet she’d overheard the conversation about her future murder with her own ears?

“I think I’m losing my mind,” she whispered.

Jackson looked away from her and then pulled the covers off himself.

“You’re fine, Layla. You went through some traumatic stuff. It’s normal to feel out of sorts for a while.”

She shook her head and looked at the ceiling, too. All she wanted was the truth. What was she up against? And if they were all werewolves, had escape ever really been on the cards? How did you escape something that could hunt you by your scent alone?

“Are you going to kill me?” she whispered again.

Not that she expected him to tell the truth about that, either, but what did she have to lose? The fluffy cloud she’d been on the day before seemed considerably less fluffy now. She knew she would break if someone didn’t assure her that she wasn’t seeing things.

Jackson rolled back over and propped himself up onto his elbow.

“No. Never,” he said, looking into her eyes.

Once again, she felt secure as he raised his hand and pushed her hair out of her face.

“Those are dangerous questions to ask, Layla. Don’t say anything like that outside these walls.”

“I just want the truth.”

“The truth is you can’t run from me because I will find you,” Jackson answered hoarsely as he lightly grabbed her hair. “The truth is you don’t really want to run from me because you feel exactly how I feel.”

He pulled her hair to tilt her head before he brought his nose down in the crook of her neck and inhaled. Like an animal would when it was sniffing its prey.

But still, that action made her shiver, and her body started to burn.

“You’re safe here now. No one will bother you, as I’ve heard you saw for yourself when you went outside,” Jackson continued. “Just enjoy it, and let me take care of you.”

It was like a switch had been flipped. Once again, Jackson’s touch was all she craved, and all her questions melted away. She briefly wondered if he was touching her on purpose just to stop her from asking any more questions, but even that thought disappeared when his hand started to inch lower.

His teeth scraped against her skin, causing an avalanche of sensations from somewhere deep inside her. Jackson hadn’t even really touched her yet, but she was already lost. His hand inched over her chest and lower still.

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