Page 61 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“It was easy for you to accept werewolves, but you can’t accept anything else?” Jackson chuckled.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just that...”

She put a hand over her growing bump. She was learning how scary the world was and was supposed to leave her child to face it alone.

“My son will be more protected than everyone else here,” Jackson said. “I can withstand a lot more of it than other wolves. That bite would have killed me if it wasn’t for my blood, and... Well, it would have killed me. Don’t worry about the baby, Layla. He’ll be taken care of and will learn everything he needs to know as soon as he can understand it.”

But did she have to? What if her child could live her life far away from all of this? Unburdened by whatever duty Jax felt for his people?

“I’m going to put away all of this stuff and make sure it’s safe outside. I think we can have lunch in the gardens today.”

Her eyes widened, and a broad smile formed on her lips. Those words washed away all her worries for her unborn child. It had been two months since she’d been stuck in the bedroom and had gone beyond stir-crazy.

“Only for lunch,” Jax added as he picked up the box. “There is still so much I have to teach you. I haven’t talked about the Circle, and they’re the ones who’ll be watching you the most. They’re worse than Hunters, but whatever crimes they commit against us are lawful.”

Jax hesitated at the door.

The smile disappeared from her lips. It had been like that lately. Every time he went out of the room, she felt it. Like something was being wrenched from her body. And every time, she just about stopped herself from begging him to come back, to stay by her side and hold her.

To make love to her.

To bite her.

The voice in her head was so loud, so demanding, that she had to grip the bedding to stop herself from acting out.

“I won’t be far,” Jax whispered.

But he still waited at the door.

The thing in her willed him to come back. Sometimes she felt like there was some string between them, and all she had to do was pull it to bring him closer to her. To make him do what she wanted, despite his cold attitude.

Even though it was the baby he wanted, not her.

Jax groaned, and the sound set fire to her body. He hadn’t touched her in months, even though he had been by her side the whole time. When she wasn’t annoyed with him, her body often reminded her of how explosive their chemistry was.

“I have to go,” Jax growled.

And then he opened the door and rushed out as if she had said anything to stop him. But she felt every step he took away from her. Desperation and need coursed through her body as she lay back on the bed and tried to fight it. Jackson had ravished her just before the scare with the baby but had immediately warned her that nothing had changed between them.

She had to listen. She had to become detached like he was. She couldn’t let her body and the stupid voice in her head decide what she had to do because allowing that would lead to more heartbreak.

But was it just the thing in her head that felt like that? The wolf part of her? She wasn’t sure anymore. Her head was often silent, but she still craved Jackson with the same intensity. She still wanted him back in bed, pretending to play happy families as he had before.

“He won’t be long,” she whispered to herself.

She waited a minute. And then another. Her ears were already open, waiting to hear his footsteps as he returned to her. How pathetic she had become to wait on a man as if he was the air she breathed.

But that was what it felt like when Jackson left her sight for too long. She could already hear her heart beating louder in her ears. She could feel her desperation growing.

Two minutes turned to three.

She knew that lunch was ready because she could smell it. And she knew Jackson didn’t have to go far to know if there was any danger around them. What was he doing?

Three minutes turned to four.

She groaned as she slid off the bed and walked towards the door. Lately, Jackson had been allowing her to walk to the bathroom or the sofa herself but walking down the stairs was another thing.

Still, she couldn’t bear it. She would wait for him at the bottom of the stairs.

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