Page 112 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

“You will tell no one.”

Dylan stopped smiling and looked at him with a frown.

“What do you mean?” Dylan asked.

“I asked for information about Layla’s mother. Where she is, sightings, whether she’s still alive. That sort of shit,” he said as he took the last stack of papers from his Beta’s hand. “You won’t tell a soul about Layla.”

Dylan’s shoulders lowered, and realisation dawned on his face.

“You knew,” he stated.

“I’m the Alpha King. I could scent her wolf's blood coursing through her veins a mile away,” he answered honestly.

“Then why?”

“I don’t know,” he lied. “Maybe because she didn’t know who I was. I think she still doesn’t know I pay her cheques every month. Or maybe because she said no, and I felt challenged to change her mind.”

“You’ve put us all at risk to appease your ego?” Dylan asked calmly. “You’re becoming your father with each passing day.”

That one cut him deep.

Dylan knew that was his worst fear, but if they were as close as he’d always thought they were, Dylan would have seen that his situation was nothing like his father’s. He wasn’t losing his mind.

“Maybe you should take the day off. I’ll go get rid of these and meet with Chase alone,” he told his Beta.

He ignored the disappointment he felt from Dylan as he walked out of the conference room and into his office. The first thing he did was walk across his spacious office to the fireplace on the other end. It was too warm to light a fire, but he lowered to his haunches and got it going before throwing the papers in one by one.

For a moment, something heavy settled on his chest. He’d brought Layla into his world, and now the doctor and Dylan knew what she was. He’d put her in danger. Again. In a year, either of them could reveal the secret, and Layla’s life would not be the same again.

He didn’t know how long he watched the papers burn, but a knock on his door pulled him out of his miserable thoughts.

“Alpha Chase has arrived, Alpha,” Jon said when he entered.

He released a breath and followed Jon out of the office. The quicker he dealt with this fucker, the quicker he could return to Layla. Despite her suspicions, her company was still preferable to anyone else’s.

Alpha Chase was in the lobby with his Beta and a few of his higher-ranked wolves. And, to his surprise, Alpha Kendrick stood beside them with his Beta and some ranked wolves. That couldn’t be good.

He stopped and looked back at Jon. Hadn’t he thought to mention that the Alpha who hated him the most was in his house with the man who was supposed to be his ally? This was yet another reason Jon wasn’t fit for his role.

He turned back and nodded at Chase in greeting before he looked at Kendrick.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he said. “You must have driven through the night to make it here this early.”

“I arrived at Alpha Chase’s house last night,” Kendrick answered with a smile that was as fake as anything. “When he told me he had managed to secure a meeting with you, I thought it was better this way to save you some time.”

So they were in contact behind his back. His suspicious mind knew immediately that they had something up their sleeves.

“You still should have told me. I have wards around my property that will work against anyone who tries to cause harm.”

And by that reasoning, Kendrick shouldn’t have made it past them. Was Diedre’s magic really malfunctioning, then?

“I would never even think of it, Your Highness,” Kendrick answered with his head lowered.

He studied the Alpha momentarily before nodding to an Omega waiting unobtrusively beside the entrance. He mind-linked him to have the kitchen set extra places at the table and take some food to Layla before he gave the Alphas his attention again.

“We’ll wait in the sitting room while the kitchen works to accommodate the uninvited guests,” he said to Chase.

Kendrick didn’t like being referred to like that. He always assumed he was so important that the King would call on him, but even his father had never had the snake in his home. When the entourage started to walk down the hallways, he noticed his Beta standing beside the same woman he had been talking to at the hotel, and once again, they appeared very comfortable with each other. It was as if they had been familiar with each other even before the rescheduled meeting.

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