Page 83 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

Dylan finally reached him and stopped beside him.

“Fuck,” Dylan whispered.

Because he knew. He knew this was the end of them.

His gaze lowered to Layla, who was still on the ground, frozen in place. His mate. She felt... broken. They had done this to her.

‘Stay,’ he growled in the mind link when the wolves continued to back away.

He told Cain they had to take Layla away from there first, and only then did the beast relinquish his control of him. Layla didn’t need to see what was coming.

His body hummed with all the rage he tried to contain inside him when he walked to Layla. There was a blank look on her face as if she had given in to what had been about to happen. It didn’t look like she could even see him.

“Layla,” he growled.

Nothing.

Her jeans had been lowered to her thighs, and her panties were on display. He could smell the metallic scent of her blood as it dripped from her forehead, and she looked as pale as a ghost.

He’d kill them. There was nothing anyone would say that would change that outcome. He and Cain were in complete agreement on this.

He lowered to his knees and started pulling her jeans back up so no one would see her exposed. A crowd had begun to gather behind Dylan, and the last thing he wanted was to kill all of them, too. It was only when he made contact with her skin that she sucked in a breath and seemed to focus. He felt nothing from her—just a big, emotional void.

His fury blinded him. She had to leave before she saw him lose control.

“Get up,” he growled.

Layla looked around and then quickly jumped to her feet. She backed away from the three wolves who had attacked her as she zipped herself up but stopped when she realised she was surrounded. That was when he felt her emotions. All of them. The fear. The anger. Her heart started to pound as she returned to his side as if she subconsciously knew that that was where she was safest.

“I told you to stay in the room,” he growled.

Layla flinched and started to back away from him, too. He felt like an asshole for talking to her like that when she was clearly in shock, but he could not contain the fury that coursed through his veins much longer. He couldn't explain that his anger wasn't directed at her.

“You have to follow my rules, Layla,” he growled again, gripping her shoulders and drawing her closer so she would look at him and not the men surrounding them.

She was shaking like a fucking leaf in the wind. He’d left her because he’d thought she would be safer. It was all his fault. He’d been too soft with his pack. He’d allowed them to believe they could get away with shit.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Layla whispered.

“You should have listened to me,” he hissed, giving her a little shake.

Layla sucked in a breath again, and he knew he had said and done the wrong thing moments before he sensed her disappointment in him. But the need to kill had a hold on him; he couldn’t comfort her until he had avenged her.

He would paint the whole compound red with the blood of those wolves. Just thinking of that brought his beast even closer, so he forced himself to let her go and look away. He knew his eyes were red. He knew his face had already started changing. Layla needed to understand how dangerous it was for her on his territory but not by seeing him like this. A minute later, and those men would have...

“Jackson!”

He heard Diedre’s breathless voice as she rushed around the warriors who had gathered with Dylan and turned to watch her. And right next to her was Cassie’s friend. The weak link he had banished. The girl who had dared to lay her hands on Layla the first time.

The girl stopped and looked at the three men before she started to back away, and it all finally made sense.

‘Stop her,’ he said in the mind link before focussing on Diedre.

“You were supposed to protect her,” he growled.

Diedre looked at the men and then Layla, and correctly deduced the situation. She was a fucking Seer. Why hadn’t she seen this?

“I’ll take her back inside,” she whispered.

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