Page 104 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“She’s not gone. She’s working with a witch and knows how to mask herself.”

Layla’s eyes widened. He hadn’t had much time to teach her about their world but he wanted to believe Layla was resourceful enough to discover things on her own once she left the hideout. Or that her mother would step up for the first time in her life.

“Yes, this witch can do that,” he stated, answering her unasked question. “Someone could walk right up to the front door, and you wouldn’t know they were there if you didn’t know what to look for.”

“But... But they can’t get past the boundary, can they?”

“I don’t think so. It’s been hours since Gavin called. I don’t think Amber would have missed her chance for payback if she could have got in before we arrived.”

He’d still felt the magic of the wards when he’d crossed the boundary. Layla was safe, at least for a while longer, but he knew he had to get her out of there. He had no idea how Amber had tracked Layla down in the first place, and that was worrying him more than anything else. The witch had found a way to get into his territory, she could find a way to get past the hideout wards, too.

“You don’t think so?” Layla asked, lifting her brows. “That’s not very reassuring.”

Layla put her hand over her stomach, and a frown marred her face. Again, his chest tightened. She looked so protective of the child in her belly that Diedre’s words returned to haunt him again. But Layla was logical. She understood that she was not yet equipped to take care of a pup. She would give him up because it was the right thing to do.

“Don’t worry about that right now. I have my best men hunting her; she’ll be caught by sundown,” he promised. “I just need you to tell me what you heard. Gavin’s account was too vague."

Layla sighed and looked out of her window. She had a view of the backyard from her room and of the woods beyond it.

“And then what will you do? Are you going to fight again? Because I’m not coming out there to save you again if you get into trouble.”

She said it casually, but for the first time since he’d walked into the room, he sensed a hint of emotion in her. She was worried.

Hope immediately sprang forward, and he shoved it back just as fast. It was a useless emotion. Unless hope could hand him the cure or antidote for his curse, he was better off shutting everything off the way Layla did.

Cain whined and cowered down further.

“I don’t expect you to do anything other than what we agreed. Be careful, Layla. I might think you formed an attachment to me when you knew what our arrangement was.”

Layla looked back at him. There was no emotion in her eyes. None that he could sense. Her face was blank. Whatever he’d felt was long gone.

“How could I possibly form an attachment to someone like you?” Layla said calmly.

And Cain whined again.

“I’ll tell you what you need to know, and then I hope you keep your word and stay the hell away from me forever.”

Brutal.

Cain howled as if their world had ended. As if they had just died a million painful deaths.

How was he meant to last much longer like this?

Chapter 52

Jackson looked away from his brutal mate and tried to focus on the issue at hand.

Making sure he got rid of all the threats to her life was the only reason he was still breathing; otherwise, he would have succumbed to the pain a long time ago like his beast.

"I don't know how far she was, but she was in that direction, past the boundary at the end of that trail,” Layla said, gesturing with her head to the woods. “She was quieter than the men who patrol your packhouse; I had to really focus to make sure I heard right. I might not have heard her if it wasn't for all that dry, long grass. And I know it’s long and dry because of the sound it makes when blowing in the wind.”

It seemed she had kept up with her training. Not for the first time, he wondered how strong she would be when she finally came into all her power. When he was dead and gone, would his mate still be the Queen she was meant to be?

“We caught her scent on the breeze, but I don’t know how far that would have travelled to get to me. She seemed too far away for me to catch her scent. Maybe I imagined it."

He’d thought he’d imagined it at the hotel, too. But he wouldn’t ignore any clues again. If he had hunted Amber that night, maybe she wouldn’t have found Layla.

At least he had something to go on now. The dry, long grass gave him a better idea of where to look. Most of the land around them was full of trees and shrubs, but there was a field near the nearby pack’s territory that they used for their strategic advantage when they had conflicts. Amber must have been very confident to venture that close to it.

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