Page 121 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

Jackson sat back in the chair and stretched his long legs out.

“Does it hurt?” she asked quietly. “When you shift like that.”

“Only the first few times. Our bodies adjust to it quickly.”

“So my baby...”

He nodded, confirming her suspicions.

“And I’ll never see him?”

Jackson’s gaze lingered on hers for a moment before he looked away. That was his answer. No, she would never see her child. A sharp pain she hadn’t expected lanced through her heart as she sat back.

“I’ll take you back as soon as the child is born, just as we agreed.”

“But will my child be safe here?”

“This will be the safest place for him. He’ll be one of us.”

Again, he only confirmed what she had already guessed, but it still hurt. Inexplicable feelings rushed through her body when she thought of everything she would miss in the child’s life. She recognised that a part of it was jealousy. Jackson would get to experience everything while she would have only her imagination.

Even if she bought a house as Jackson had said she would be able to do, or finished her education and got a better job, a chunk would always be missing from her heart.

“You’re not pregnant yet, so we’ve got plenty of time to get used to all this. And I’ll teach you how to stay safe here and when you get back home.”

He could tell whether she was pregnant or not? She was about to ask if he could tell her more about a werewolf's physiology when she noticed the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He looked much paler than when he sat down and much more tired.

“Jackson? Shall I call Diedre?”

He grunted and wiped his forehead.

“I think I just need to sleep. I haven’t been getting much of that lately.”

His eyes were already drooping, and the sweat was already back on his face. Did werewolves get sick? Jackson looked like he was on the brink of death.

She stood and went over to him to put a hand on his forehead. He was burning up! When she stood back from him, she could feel the heat from his whole body as if he were a furnace. She looked down at his face and then the dressing on his side. That wound looked infected, so she was willing to bet that was the cause. He should have gotten antibiotics for it the moment it happened. The wolf that had bitten him hadn’t looked healthy at all.

His head lolled to the side as if he had passed out, making her heart pound hard against her chest. Without waiting any longer, she ran towards the broken door and down the long hallway.

“Dylan!” she called out as she ran down the stairs. “Diedre! Someone help us.”

Before she reached the stairs, Faith came out of one of the hallways with a frown on her face.

“Where’s Dylan?” she asked urgently. “Jackson passed out. He’s injured.”

Faith’s eyes widened before she rushed to unlock the front door. And then Dylan pushed in and ran up the stairs as if he had already heard her. She didn’t question it as she rushed back up the stairs behind him.

By the time she reached the bedroom, Dylan had already placed Jackson on the bed and had removed the dressing. He looked shocked to see the infected bite.

She was shocked, too, because it looked a lot worse than it had when she had seen it only a little while ago.

Chapter 64

Two days.

Jackson had been out for two days.

Layla placed the wet cloth on his forehead again and then studied his unconscious state. He looked like he was just sleeping, and his features were softened. So many emotions swirled inside her that she couldn’t make sense of any of them.

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