Page 17 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

Besides, she had her mother following her. She would be fine.

He looked away from the wolf to look at Layla and found she was looking at him as if she had seen an alien.

“Your time is up. Let’s go,” he growled and started walking back where he had come.

“Wait!” Layla said, scrambling off the rock. “Can you...? Did you...?”

He didn’t answer her, but she didn’t chase after him as he had thought she would. When he looked back, Layla was facing the wolf and had her head cocked to the side as if she was listening.

Was she? Could they mindlink even though Layla was only half a wolf? What else could they do?

The images of that girl and the little boy running towards Layla came back to him. They had spoken as if they had shared something and bonded. Surely Dylan hadn’t gone against his wishes and let Layla out during the attack?

His fists clenched as his gaze remained on the mother and child.

She could have died! Again! What the fuck was wrong with people? Why did everyone always do the opposite of what he said? If those wolves had got their hands on her, Cain wouldn’t have differentiated between the Red Moon Pack and his own. He would have obliterated everyone.

“Do you want me to drag you back to your cell?” he snarled.

The wolf and his mate turned to face him, and the red wolf’s hackles rose as she snarled and lowered her head.

He felt the energy change in the air. Rebecca’s anger stung him like someone had lashed him with a silver whip. He stepped back as the emerald eyes started to glow, and her teeth seemed to extend as she advanced on him. He stood perfectly still, waiting for her first move.

He blinked, and then she was gone.

Whether she had disappeared or moved too fast for his eyes, he couldn’t tell. He immediately understood why red wolves were considered to be so dangerous. Rebecca was gone, but he could still sense her emotions. She was pissed off that he had put her daughter in a cell, and all her rage and fury would have made a lesser man reconsider his actions.

“Didn’t you hear me the first time I said it, Layla?” he growled before he turned away. “Let’s go.”

If Rebecca was pissed off that he was angry with her child, then she could find him and say it to his face. She was the one who had abandoned her children and left them in the care of a useless human. When Layla found out who she was, she would go beyond rage. Good luck to both of them when that happened, but he was staying the fuck out of that.

This was his territory, and all traitors belonged in a cell, regardless of who they were.

“Are you serious right now?” Layla asked as she caught up with him.

“About what?”

“You saw that! I know you did. That wasn’t my imagination,” she stated.

“I don’t care what you saw. I have things to do; I shouldn’t even have come out here with you.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Ungrateful little...

“I’ll remember that next time.”

“Can you stop and just give me some answers? What the hell was that? What’s happening to me?”

Again, the image of her covering her ears came to his mind. He’d known her hearing had heightened but it must have improved even more since their time together. Wolves instinctively knew how to focus their hearing but half-bloods tended to struggle with that.

But it was happening too soon.

The noise from the activity around the packhouse grew closer. Layla slowed her steps. He glanced at her and saw her unconsciously raise her fingers to her ears. Her head lowered, and her anxiety returned. Was it because she could hear everything they were saying about them? Or was all the noise unbearable?

“Focus on one sound,” he said. “Just one thing until everything else fades into the background.”

If she had been anyone else, he would have walked away without saying a word. He cursed the bond again as he came out of the woods and looked at all the tents. He shouldn’t have been worrying about Layla but his pack. They had buried their dead under the full moon the previous night, so the biggest tent had been moved. It made it more evident that there was a part of them missing.

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