Page 148 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

Layla finally looked at him with tears streaming down her face. His heart shattered because there was nothing he could do for her now. Her pain would be constant.

“You’re mine, Layla. And I’m yours. Only I can’t have you. I can’t claim you the way I want to,” he whispered. “The next red moon will indeed fall on my birthday. A month from now, I’m going to die.”

Her sobs started. They came from deep within her and wrecked his soul. Layla slipped off the rock to sit on the ground, hugging her knees and rocking as if it would stop the pain. It wouldn’t stop. Even though he had tried to spare her this by not marking her, their bond was stronger than anything he had ever known.

“You’ve been blaming yourself for all the shit happening, but that’s all on me. When I first caught your scent, I should have walked away, but I thought I could fight it. I thought I could ignore Fate, have a child and walk away.”

Layla’s sobs stopped, and she wiped her face to look at him.

“Diedre said you can fight it. She said I’m the key,” she said quickly as she got back to her feet.

“No. She’s desperate. She can’t accept the fact that we lost—”

“She said you have to mark me. I’ve heard that term before and wondered what it meant. Just do it, Jax. What do you have to lose?”

He brought his hands to her face and wiped her tears with his thumbs.

“Everything. I have everything to lose,” he whispered. “If I give in and claim you, you will die on my birthday, too. I will never risk that.”

“I want you to risk it.”

“Then who will look out for Hope?”

Her face crumpled again as if she had forgotten about their child. It was the bond. It put the mate above all others, but they couldn’t be that selfish.

“I’ve been fighting not to bite you since the first night I was with you. I will never do it, Layla. I won’t kill you, too. The witch I killed had a child, and she’s the one who doesn’t want me to have any of this before I die. She’ll stop at nothing. That’s why I think you should go. There can be nothing else between us.”

Layla sucked in a breath and stepped back from him.

“You want me to leave?”

“I always thought the mate bond was unfair. We didn’t get a choice. I’m pretty sure if this thing wasn’t pulling us together, you would never have looked at me twice.” He paused. "And I would never have looked at you."

He felt the moment her heart stopped. The moment he destroyed the woman he selfishly loved.

His life was over. He could feel it. This was the night he would die, not his birthday. This was the night he would cry tears of blood until his heart stopped beating.

Layla wiped the rest of her tears and looked away from him. Her eyes stopped glowing. The mask returned.

“So you want me to just leave? After everything?”

“Just for a little while. Once I’m gone, the bond will disappear, and it will be like I never existed. You'll be able to find real love.”

His words were hurting him, too, yet he couldn’t hold back now.

“I’ll make sure you're safe until then. Then you can come back here and raise Hope among her people. I’ll explain everything to Dylan.”

“So I'm just supposed to walk away?”

He nodded and then looked away from her. He couldn’t watch her pain anymore, even though she had masked it. It was better this way. The bond wouldn’t get stronger, and she wouldn’t have to watch him die.

Layla turned and started walking back. She was emotionless. Blank. And that broke him wide open. He had never cried in his life. Not when his mother had died. Not when he’d killed his father. But watching Layla retreating brought tears to his eyes that he had no hope of holding back.

"Layla," he whispered.

She didn't stop.

His heart stopped and started several times. Cain growled in his head, his anger at his actions growing each second. So he cut the beast off and cut off the rest of the pack because he knew he couldn't hide his pain anymore.

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