Page 86 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

“I know I fucked up with Layla, but I’m still your friend. Talk to me,” his Beta begged.

Dylan was already breaking apart before he’d heard the whole story. Once the words were spoken and he couldn’t take them back, the emotions would be harder to handle.

But it was time.

He sighed and gestured for Dylan to follow him out of the room. There was more activity around the house as the pack started to wake up, and his senses told him his mate had woken up, too. His chest squeezed at the thought of the conversation he would have with her later.

He walked into the conference room and headed straight for the drinks cabinet. It was too early for a drink, but it was one of those days. He’d probably go through a whole bottle by the end of the day.

He poured two shots of a very strong mature whiskey and took one to Dylan before he sat on the sofas. Dylan took the seat opposite him. His Beta’s heart was racing, and his grip on his glass looked tight.

“Tell me,” Dylan growled.

Cain unfurled and watched the man he would have given his life for before Layla came into the picture.

“Remember the settlement we attacked the day I became King?”

Dylan nodded.

“We’d got the proof that they were taking human children for whatever twisted things they were doing there, but your father had refused to act,” Dylan confirmed.

That incident, more than any other, had pushed him to finally put an end to his father’s reign. Richard King had been more preoccupied with making his pack miserable than fulfilling his duties as a king.

So on that day, before his father could kill another pack member for what he perceived as weakness, Jackson had killed him and ascended to the throne. And on his very first night as king, he had damned himself.

“We killed all of them,” Jackson recalled. “You tried to spare the women and children, but I...”

“They deserved everything they got,” Dylan hissed.

And the human children? The Circle had been pleased that they were all gone so no one would reveal any details to the human world. Diedre had assured him that they had already been hexed and were not the children they had been before they had been taken. But still...

He had done his first job with the uncontrollable rage and brutality that had cemented his position as king. The Shadow Moon pack had ceased to exist that day because of their heinous crimes, but he had been the bigger monster. Cain had wanted them all gone, and he had done that with no remorse.

“Maybe they did,” he sighed.

“What does that have to do with what Diedre said? Are you looking back at everything you’ve had to do because you’re...”

Dylan couldn’t even finish the sentence without that pain flaring up. Was he going to break when he finally heard the truth?

“On that day, with her dying breath, the Shadow Moon pack witch cursed me to die on my twenty-fifth birthday.”

The shot glass dropped from Dylan’s hand and spilt its contents on the floor. Shock and confusion filled the room.

“That was years ago. It can’t be true,” Dylan said. “Diedre would have...”

Perhaps Dylan remembered their witch’s words and the way she had looked. Her failure was more than obvious.

“A witch’s spell dies when she does. No one knew we were going to attack them, so she couldn’t have had time to cast anything so binding,” Dylan said. “I don’t believe it’s true.”

“There was a blood moon that night. A full moon. And the pack had been dabbling in dark magic for years,” he reminded Dylan. “Nothing is stronger than a curse cast out with the dying breath of a witch who’d already sold her soul.”

Dylan opened his mouth as if to argue, but nothing came out of his lips. The pain returned two-fold, and he hadn’t even told him the worst of it.

“That’s why you’ve been forcing me to take over your duties,” Dylan whispered. “That’s why you’ve been desperate for an heir. And if you mark your mate, she will die with you.”

His brow lifted at Dylan’s words. He’d known about Layla?

“I thought she was just some random girl until the night she threw herself on top of me and commanded the beast from the depths of hell to let me live,” Dylan said. ‘Only a mate could have done that.”

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