Page 126 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

But he still lay there and soaked in his mate’s essence. Still touched her. Still listened to the sound of her breathing.

When she finally opened her eyes, he looked straight into the emerald eyes of the woman who owned his soul and felt complete. Despite all the shit he had done and all the shit he knew he had to do to make sure she was protected after he died, he saw her feelings in her eyes. Unhidden. Pure. Raw.

His half-blood was attached to him, too.

Her eyes widened, and she lifted herself off his chest.

“You’re awake!”

He gave her a weak smile as she touched his forehead and checked the dressing on his side.

“I’ll get you some water,” she said quickly, turning to her nightstand where a jug of water was.

He tried to sit up, but he didn’t have the strength to lift himself for more than a second. Layla noticed but didn’t comment. Instead, she leaned over him to hug him to her chest and lifted him while she put more pillows behind him. He didn’t have to ask her to be careful of his wound.

Once he’d had a glass of water, his throat felt better. Layla had put some distance between them but she was still close enough. Was she not scared of him anymore? Maybe he’d been too quick to assume her human side didn’t want to be close to him.

“How long was I out?”

“I don’t really know. I made it two days before I passed out,” Layla said with a frown.

Two days? He was surprised Dylan hadn’t taken the chance to drag her away from him when he’d been unconscious.

“You stayed up that long for me?” he asked with a smile. “Thank you.”

“I had to. You said you have the best doctors, but it didn’t look like that to me,” Layla grumbled.

Dark magic was hard to fight. Diedre’s magic hadn’t worked the night he’d got bitten, so he’d already known, even before his whole world went black, that she wouldn't have been able to heal him. But he could explain that to Layla. He’d already revealed his nature, he couldn’t tell her anything else that could cost her her life.

“Well, I’m grateful you were here to care for me instead,” he said.

He used all his strength to move his hand and put it over her knee. Layla didn’t move away even though he was sure she felt the sparks.

“Are you okay? I dumped a lot on you before I passed out.”

Layla looked away. Her emotions were all over the place and his head wasn’t right enough to make sense of them.

“We’ll talk about that later. I think I need to get you into the tub,” she said as she moved his hand away and slipped off the bed. “We smell kind of ripe.”

“We do,” he chuckled.

Layla paused and looked back at him. She looked shocked for a minute before she carried on walking.

“I don’t think I’ll make it that far, Layla. I’ll have to wait until I’m stronger.”

Layla stopped again and looked back at him. As she inspected him, something flashed in her eyes but he still couldn’t pinpoint what it was. The dark magic had messed him up beyond anything he had ever known. He could already feel himself healing, but it shouldn’t have happened that slowly.

“Your friend Dylan practically lived here for days. I can call him to help me—”

“I'll call someone. Run the bath; he'll be here soon.”

Dylan had been salivating when he'd discovered the truth about Layla’s nature. Maybe he hadn’t acted on it because he’d been more worried about his Alpha on the brink of death. If he decided to do it now that he was healing, there was no way he could defend Layla.

But he should have known Dylan would come anyway after he mindlinked Micah. His Beta came into the room first with pure relief plastered on his face, so much that he felt like an asshole for growling in warning.

“Jax?”

He didn’t answer. Dylan lowered his gaze and then looked at the bathroom door, where the sound of the running bath filtered through.

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