Page 164 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“Stop fishing, Brax,” Jackson said as he grabbed a bottle of water.

“I’m not. I’m just getting to know my Queen.”

“The party’s been over for days. When are you heading back out?” Jackson asked.

“When I find my unicorn,” Brax stated with a smirk as he lay back on his elbow and stuck a blade of grass in his mouth.

She gave Jax a questioning look before she decided she didn’t really want to know. As long as he wasn’t killing everybody as he had the night his pack had been hexed, it didn’t matter how long he stayed.

She left the men talking and headed towards the nearest trail into the woods. All the training fields were full and she even sensed a few wolves training in the forest with Dylan. Everyone in the pack was expected to prepare for whatever came next. If anything came at all. They had thwarted the witch at every turn, so she probably was angry, but how long did someone go before they admitted defeat? It had been almost a year since Jackson brought her to the Packhouse. Wasn’t the wolf tired by now?

‘She was patient enough to wait years since Jackson killed her mother,’ the voice in her head pointed out.

She found a quiet spot and sat on the ground, leaning against a tree trunk. She could feel her muscles already healing from her gruelling sparring with Jackson. He probably would have killed her already if she weren’t part wolf. She massaged her thighs and daydreamed about a soak in the tub at the end of the day. It was the only time Jackson wasn’t a drill sergeant.

‘He still is.’

The voice in her head laughed at its own immature joke, once again violating her thoughts. She ignored it and put her head back against the tree.

She’d just had her last sip of water when her mother walked out of the woods beside her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I overheard Brit’s guards talking about what happened at Jackson’s party,” Rebecca said as she sat down uninvited and hugged her knees. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t need to tell you anything.”

Her mother looked away from her and looked down at her toes. She was naked—there weren’t any human houses she could sneak into and steal clothes from. Rebecca had probably run from Brit’s home. She couldn’t wait until she could shift, too. Visiting Brit would become more manageable.

“Was that why Jackson wouldn’t mark you?”

Her mother knew too much for someone who lived in the shadows.

“I have to get back to training,” she said as she stood. “Everything is fine, as you can see.”

“It’s not fine. There’s something in the air, Layla.”

She sniffed and tried to sense any threats in the woods. There was only the pack training in it, and the warriors on patrol hadn’t given out any alerts from the gate. Just how strong was her mother to sense anything like that? Or was she just panicking the way Jackson was?

“We’ll deal with it if it comes. Maybe you should go back and watch over Brit? There are too many people around.”

Brit said Rebecca had ‘visited’ her a few times already. She’d known her mother would try to move too fast with her more receptive sister. Rebuilding their relationship wouldn’t happen overnight as it had with Brit.

She’d just started to walk away when the air changed.

It always changed when things were about to get fucked up. That sudden shift. The vibrations in the air.

No one else was in or around the territory besides the pack, and she couldn’t see or smell anything. Looking back at Rebecca, she saw her looking up at the sky with worry. She followed her gaze and saw nothing but clear blue skies.

But wisps of black clouds drifted across, and those had her senses tingling.

“It’s too late. She’s here.”

The wisps became bigger. There was nothing natural about them.

“What do you mean it’s too late? Get out of here,” she said.

“We’re surrounded. It’s... It’s worse than before; I won’t be able to leave.”

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