Page 88 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part One

He walked towards her slowly even though everything in him was pushing him to hold her tight and promise he would never let anyone hurt her again. But that was a promise he couldn’t keep, and Layla would hardly let him touch her now after how disappointed she had been with him.

“I heard you didn’t eat.”

“Not hungry,” Layla answered.

Her whole body screamed for him to leave her alone, but he couldn’t. He needed to be close to her, and he knew she did too, even if she didn’t understand why.

“Lunch will be here soon,” he said as he walked over to the sofas and picked up a remote control. It had been a long time since he’d watched television.

“What are you doing?”

Layla’s tension rose, but he didn’t spare her another glance. He would stay here and not crowd her. Maybe it would help them both process the events of the previous day.

“Just hanging out. I have nothing to do today.”

Layla didn’t say anything else. He didn’t know how long he sat there pretending to watch program after program in silence. He ignored Dylan and Micah’s constant updates because something inside him wouldn’t let him leave Layla alone. Diedre brought them lunch and dinner, with the little extra kick he had requested, and another protective spell in a ring. A ring of all things. When he gave it to Layla, he was sure she would think he was crazy because it looked like an engagement ring.

He pocketed the ring and forced Layla to try her dinner, the same way he’d had to force her to try her lunch.

He was just starting to think about how they would navigate bedtime when Dylan mind-linked him again.

‘Alpha, the Circle is at the first gate and asking for permission to... uh... set foot on your land?’

Chapter 47

Jax looked over at the woman still sitting on the bed, in the same spot she’d been in all day. She was in no state to be put through anything else.

Those fuckers. They should have listened to him.

‘Keep them at the gate. I’m coming.’

He stood and stretched, paying attention to Layla’s emotions. At least she’d gotten used to him being in the room; she hadn’t flinched at any movement for a while.

“I’m going to check on a few things before I sleep,” he said as he walked over to her. “You should get some rest.”

He didn’t like the look she had in her eyes as they followed his movements. She was still looking at him as if he were the enemy, and that was crushing him. He was in an uncharted place with his emotions, stuck somewhere between his rage and his need to protect her. Protect her from his pack, from the Circle, from the witch coming after her. From himself.

Because while he’d had nothing but his thoughts to accompany him, he had realised he was dangerously close to marking her, and that was something he couldn’t allow himself to do. It wasn’t just because he didn’t want to kill the mother of his child. It had nothing to do with his child anymore.

This was all Layla. He didn’t want her to die at all.

He picked up her empty plates from the bedside table and carried them back to pile on his at the coffee table. When Layla still hadn’t responded, he walked to the door.

“It won’t ever happen again, Layla,” he said with his hand on the handle, not daring to look back at her.

When he closed the door behind him and turned the key in the lock, he closed his eyes and breathed. He didn’t want to leave her. Everything in him wanted to be by her side. But the Circle was a danger he couldn’t have around Layla. He’d thought he had got rid of them by telling them she was pregnant, but it would be obvious she wasn’t if they came close enough to her.

But on the other hand, they had asked someone to kill her and then had the guts to show up on his doorstep.

On that thought, he jogged down to the lobby and stripped off his clothes. Perhaps it was time they got reacquainted with Cain.

He shifted the moment he stepped outside and gave Cain the lead. The sun had long set, so no one was on the packhouse grounds except the warriors on duty. The rest of them were on high alert around the pack boundary and would have already sensed the Circle at the gates. Even from a distance, he could scent their magic.

Cain didn’t wait for the packhouse gates to be opened- he vaulted over them and the terrified little boy who was still somehow on gate duty. His beast was the only one large enough to jump that high, and that fact terrified most packs. It meant they were never truly safe from him behind their walls.

When he reached the compound gates, he slowed down when he saw they were wide open. Dylan, Jon and Micah stood beside them with their heads lowered, while Hugo, Finn and Lincoln stood in front of their car, idling with the headlights on.

He could already guess what had happened without Dylan having to tell him. The Circle was allowed entry anywhere they pleased, so the gates would have been open for them immediately. But since Cain had ordered them to stay away, they couldn’t go against his wishes.

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