Page 14 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“Did that girl have to fight?” he asked as he walked over to Diedre’s desk and sat on one of the chairs.

“No. She was saved. A man from the other pack almost... She was saved,” Diedre repeated with a sigh. “She’ll be okay.”

Almost...? His fists clenched. If he could bring every single one of the Red Moon pack members back to life, he would do it and then kill them all over again. Slowly.

“Let’s go upstairs. I have something to show you,” Diedre said after she washed and dried her hands.

He nodded and followed the witch out of the room. She looked much worse than the last time he had seen her. It wasn’t just that the air around her felt different, as if her magical essence had left her body; she even walked differently. She walked like she had aged a little; she was slower and had none of her usual infectious energy.

His worry increased. Diedre was now officially the only person he could trust completely. What would he do if he lost her?

“I need you to go and rest after this,” he told her gently. “I know you were up all night with the doctors; I could hear you.”

“I’m fine, Jackson,” Diedre said with an irritated wave of her hand. “I can’t do anything else right; at least let me do that.”

“I think this is one of those things where you get worse when you overthink and worry about it. You know your magic is within you; you’ll get it back when Fate decides,” he said gently.

“I’m a witch who can’t witch,” Diedre snorted as they reached the first floor. “I like your optimism, Jackson, but I’m not going to give up just because you have.”

And he knew that statement was meant for their current situation as well as her trying to break his curse. But he believed that Diedre would return to her usual self once he was gone and his curse no longer stained his territory.

Just outside the door, Diedre paused.

“She was the worst one,” the witch whispered. “She had lost too much blood, and her organs had started to shut down. She’d been too injured to even heal herself.”

When Diedre walked in, it was to find a young woman with her hair tied back looking out her window. Her cheeks were rosy, and her face was a healthy colour. She looked even better than the wolves who had lined up outside Diedre’s infirmary.

“Alpha,” the woman said in greeting. She lowered her head as they approached.

“How are you feeling?” Diedre asked.

“I heard what you just said, but I feel better than ever,” she answered. “Am I free to go now? My kids—”

“They’re here in the house being taken care of,” Diedre said, “but wait until you have breakfast. We don’t want to rush things.”

Especially considering they didn’t know how she had healed in the first place. He let Diedre do all the talking while he paid attention to all her movements. He couldn’t sense anything wrong. Not a single thing. She was in optimum health, just as she said.

It was the same in all the other rooms. The patients were bright-faced and asked when they could go out to their families. Something didn’t add up. Was it the witch? Had she somehow infiltrated his territory during the attack, and now all these people were waiting for their chance to kill Layla? Had they been put under a spell like the rogues?

But he ruled that out immediately because there wasn’t a trace of magic anywhere, light or dark.

When they had seen the last one, he walked with Diedre to the conference room and poured them both a stiff drink. Once he sat beside her on the sofa, he drowned his shot in one go.

“Something’s not right,” Diedre whispered. “It had to be magic, but it’s not mine. There is someone or something else here within our walls.”

Chapter 9

It felt like weeks when Layla was finally allowed outside, although it was only a day.

She had never felt claustrophobic before, but being stuck in her tiny cell with nothing but her thoughts and guilt was torture.

When Faith led her out to the front of the house, she took a huge breath of the fresh air and felt her body relax.

“There she is.”

“I can’t believe she would show her face.”

“They should have just killed her.”

---