Page 64 of Pack Nightmare

“Okay? Layla, I’m fucking amazing! Are you kidding? This is the best thing that could happen. Mom and I are finally free of him!” She laughs giddily, and relief washes through me.

“Great, then I’m glad. Is everyone else okay?” My whispery tone forces her to lower her voice.

“Yeah, we’re all fine. Well, the other guys got away, but we know who they are, so we can make sure they never come back.”

I nod. “Okay, that works.”

The squeal of tires draws everyone’s attention to the parking lot entrance, where a tiny blue Toyota comes screeching in sideways.

Roxanne throws open the door and runs toward me, brandishing the spelled silver knife and glaring around us for the threat.

“Where is she? I’ll kill that bitch right now, witch or no witch!”

Derrek speaks up. “She’s gone, escaped before I could catch her.”

Roxanne’s appraising gaze lands on Derrek, then she looks to me in question.

“He saved my life,” I force out loud enough for her to hear.

“It seems a lot happened besides a homecoming dance in the last hour,” she raises one eyebrow, and I emit a whispery giggle.

“Just a little.”

“Roxanne?” My uncle’s voice is hesitant, unsure. He and a few of the other people that were meant to be attending a ball tonight stride out of the trees.

My beta’s posture immediately stiffens, and she straightens herself to her full height. “If you think you can just come waltzing back here after disappearing in the middle of the night, you’ve got another think coming. You’re not the alpha anymore and there’s nothing to keep me from giving you a piece of my mind. You selfish, pompous, ass-”

Her angry speech is cut off when my uncle reaches her, wrapping his thick arms around her body and dragging her mouth to his. In a split second, she melts, her brown fingers stroking his pale cheeks as she kisses him back, and my heart flutters in my chest for her.

Abruptly, she pushes back. “Don’t think that makes up for anything,” she warns him with her sternest voice. “I’m still the beta and you are barely a member of this pack any more. I can issue you a command to scrub the toilets, or mow the lawn, or-“

“I’ll do anything you say, my dearest,” he purrs with a kiss to her cheek. “So long as you let me stay.”

“Well, I mean,” she replies, flustered. “That’s really up to the alpha.”

Uncle Dom’s eyes turn in my direction, and he nods solemnly. “I know I have a lot of explaining to do, Layla. I’d be grateful if you’d hear me out.”

I stare at him for a minute, as if weighing my options. Then I answer, “Okay. But it’s Lilliana.”

Chapter Thirty

Layla

Naturally, the one big event the last two weeks were leading up to—the dance—is ruined. We all trudge into the beautifully decorated space, filthy, bedraggled, and weary, and the caterers stare in absolute shock. Roxanne speaks swiftly to the DJ, who puts on a mellow playlist akin to elevator music and disappears. Instead of rushing the dance floor, we pile into the chairs artfully arranged around a few tables. The caterers pop up more tables and chairs, and as other people arrive still beautifully dressed for the dance, they’re filled in on the night’s events.

The guys, Derrek, Roxanne, my uncle, and I have claimed a table, and that’s when the entire story comes out.

The moment my uncle realized the curse had transferred from him to me, he booked it directly to Pack Montrose. Apparently, unbeknownst to anyone else, he’s been secretly in contact with someone there for years. He, like I, was convinced there’s more to the curse and our pack feud than they led us to believe. As alpha, there was very little he could do. Freed of that constraint, he set out to figure out a way to break the curse for good.

Dom blended in with Pack Montrose, under the guise of being a lone wolf, who left another pack further south. He got a job—in a hardware shop of all things—and kept to himself as much as possible, trying to work his connections and find the answer.

He was in town one day and saw Derrek, recognized him from LA. Shocked, he immediately yanked him into an alley and demanded to know what he was doing and what was going on back here. Derrek admitted everything, but also that he knew Azalea wanted to kill me and was keeping tabs on her. His plan was to be there when she eventually made her move.

They coordinated, and as I had never officially banished my uncle—this was apparently a thing I needed to learn to do—he could get them both into our pack territory, and follow Azalea.

“So wait, the pack territory is protected, right?” I ask, confused. “I thought that meant no one but pack can cross it?”

“Yes, and no. Anyone who has not been specifically banned can cross it without help. When they enacted the safeguards, they issued a blanket ban for any descendants of Derrek’s great grandmother. That includes him and his cousin,” Dom answers.

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