Page 157 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“The last time we spoke, you had a day to tell me your decision, Hugo. I take it this is it? You’ve decided none of us will live?”

She whipped her head around to the man Jax called Hugo and saw the smirk on his face. None of them would live, as in her and Jax, or the whole pack?

“It was decided that you caused too many problems for the rest of us. There hasn’t been a hunting party in Wolfdale in over a century, but you’ve led them to your doorstep. You know the rules. We will let the women and children relocate, except for this human. You have half an hour before we come in. Don’t even think about telling them to escape because we still have control of the wards you graciously allowed us to put around your whole territory."

She figured out what had changed in her too late. It was the rage.

It reared up in her too quickly, like a fire in her soul. It was unlike any anger she had ever felt before. It consumed her until nothing else was left but the need to see the man bleeding at her feet.

She reached through the bars of the gate and grabbed the man who threatened her family and her pack by the throat with no thought of the consequences. She had to kill him. She had to kill all of them.

Chapter 76

Jackson wasn’t too worried about Hugo’s threat.

Since Diedre had started feeling better, she had been working hard to remove all the traces of dark magic around their territory. Her well of magic seemed to run deeper, even though it was not yet fully replenished. Warding the whole territory had been beyond her before Layla had healed her.

But all the entry points had been fortified. Her magic wasn’t as it used to be, it was stronger. Nobody would enter through his gates without his permission. Even if Diedre’s magic didn’t work on him and Layla, it had to work for the rest of the pack. Right?

He was more worried about what the hell Layla was doing there. She should have been home with Hope and the others. Especially since he’d already warned her that the Circle was worse than any Hunter she would ever meet.

Layla seemed intent on breaking all his rules.

He was about to tell Hugo they had wasted their time when he sensed the rage rising in his mate.

It was so dark it felt like Cain’s fury. His beast liked to rampage and cause havoc when his emotions got the better of him. Except now, when even faced with the threat outside his gates, Cain still acted like a drugged-up or drunk human. If he shifted now, he’d probably lick the Circle’s faces and roll over.

Seconds later, Layla’s arm shot through the gate, wrapping her fingers around Hugo’s throat. She lifted him off his feet even though she was shorter than him. And then she started to squeeze.

Damn it. It was Cain all over again.

The clean-up team, a mix of witches and wolves that Hugo had brought, rushed forward, their hands ready as they started to chant. He noticed the doors of the car that Hugo had come out of open, and Lincoln stepped out with a look of fury on his face. He seemed to have recovered well from the time he'd almost killed him. And they seemed to have replaced their Third because another young wolf stood nervously next to their car.

He put his hand on Layla's shoulder to get her attention but she was already lost in her rage. Exactly like Cain did.

“Layla!”

One dead Circle member was terrible enough. Hugo’s arms alternated between flailing, trying to move the fingers locked around his neck and trying to push away from the bars that Layla had shoved his face into.

“Layla, release him.”

She turned her head to look at him. He’d never seen that much fire in her eyes. And they were glowing. Beautifully. Even with the snarl on her lips and her teeth showing, he had never seen her look so beautiful. Her anger called to the darkest part of him, the messed-up part that enjoyed his depravity. And her sheer strength...

It was turning him on. Fuck. Maybe he had a fetish for psychopaths now.

He barely registered when the Circle started to attack as he held Layla’s gaze. The woman who had given up her life so she could be with him. He couldn’t undo that, but Cain was right. No one had ever loved him so much that they would lay down their lives for him. That was his job as Alpha and King.

His hand moved from her shoulder to sink into her silky hair. She looked like a flaming ball of fury with all that red and green. One phrase about killing the people she loved, and she was ready to burn the world down.

The next second he had his lips over hers, and he could taste all the darkness she was ready to unleash. She was like a feast for his soul. One he had only weeks to devour. Maybe they would be together in the afterlife, together forever in death.

“Stop this madness!”

The urgency in Lincoln’s voice pulled him away from the sensory feast. He sighed against Layla’s lips before he pulled away from her.

Hugo had passed out. His heart was barely beating. All the elemental attacks against his wards fizzled out without doing any harm, and Lincoln was busy trying to pull his Second from Layla’s grip.

Layla seemed to come to her senses at the same time because she threw Hugo back, and he landed in an undignified heap in front of his car. Finn’s replacement rushed to him and carried him into the car, where he stayed instead of coming out to join the others. He could already tell that the new Finn wouldn’t last very long on the job, either.

---