Page 63 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

Rebecca didn’t stop walking. He’d been surprised to see her out of the woods in the first place as if she had known he was coming, but now her eagerness to leave without saying anything again made him angry.

“She won’t ever want to see me again now. I’ve been able to watch and protect her from a distance, but now she knows...”

“So you’re just going to abandon her again? Did you see her? Did you feel her rage? Did you see her eyes?” he growled, getting ahead of her and blocking her path.

“I didn’t think it would happen so soon,” Rebecca whispered.

“You didn’t think what would happen so soon? Stop talking in riddles; I don’t have time for this.”

“She’ll be fine,” Rebecca said. But she didn’t say it with much conviction.

She looked back at the house, and he followed her gaze. Layla had gone back into the packhouse but he could still feel her rage as if she was breathing down her neck. The doctor had said she had to be stress-free, and this situation was anything but that.

“She’s not going to last two minutes out there.”

“So keep her here. She’s safest with you; you know that.”

“She’s not going to be here much longer,” he hissed. “She will be alone, and all the Hunters and the Circle will descend on her. She has no clue what’s happening.”

Rebecca took a step back. He could tell his words had shocked her.

He was so used to seeing wolves naked that he hadn’t looked at her like that, but it suddenly occurred to him that this would be a first for Layla. What would his poor mate think about him standing with a naked woman?

He kept his eyes on Rebecca’s face in case she could still see them. Part of him desperately wanted to go and check on her, but he had been waiting for this moment for months.

“What do you mean she’s not going to be around?” Rebecca whispered. “She has to stay. You’re the only one strong enough to be by her side, and she’s having your baby!”

Her voice rose at the last part.

“Oh, does the thought of a child being abandoned upset you?” he asked sarcastically.

“I had to leave,” Rebecca hissed, and for a moment, he felt the same rage he could sense in Layla. “I had brought Hunters to our doorstep. I had to protect my girls.”

“You could have gone back.”

“And said what? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I shift into a monster? I’m sorry that some nasty assholes might come and slit your throats in your sleep if they find me? My face is plastered in Hunter bases all over the world,” Rebecca hissed again. “I can’t walk in the streets because their surveillance might pick my face up. The only thing I could do was stay in the shadows and make sure my girls remained safe.”

Layla’s rage increased, as did his urge to return to her. He knew she was listening to every word. He grabbed his hair and turned away from Rebecca when his frustration gnawed at him. What the fuck was he supposed to do? He could understand where she was coming from. Hunters didn’t mess around, and Layla didn’t understand that yet. But Layla had been a child forced to become a parent to her younger sister. He could only imagine what that would have been like.

“Just tell me what I’m supposed to do,” he sighed, turning back to her.

“Stay with her, Jackson. By any means necessary. It took me years to get the hang of things, and I still got caught. But she’ll be safe here with you.”

“Just tell me what things I have to help her with.”

It would do no good to say that he wouldn’t be around. Layla was projecting so much that he was sure the others had already figured out something was wrong. He didn’t want their conversation overheard.

“Everything.”

“That’s not an answer,” he growled.

“She’s a wolf, Jackson. You know what that means. Just teach her the basics,” Rebecca sighed.

He took a step back and wondered if he’d heard right.

“You mean she’s a half-blood,” he corrected.

Rebecca met his gaze. Her green eyes showed so much sadness that he knew the answer without her having to explain herself. And if he was honest, he had already started to suspect as much. Layla was already too strong to be just a half-blood.

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