Page 112 of The Alpha King's Fate

He didn’t sound nearly as upset as she thought he would be about her killing his people. He didn’t sound upset at all.

His boots echoed in the empty room until the man stood before her, dressed in a full military uniform instead of the vest he’d worn when she saw him. It was black and full of medals and patches like the Hunters believed they were a real army.

And he had a smile on his face. Like a freaking maniac. Who could smile after witnessing what she did? After what the Hunters did daily?

The chill in her body became solid ice.

This wasn’t good.

“You continue to surprise me, Layla,” the Commander said. “I’ve been watching you since you came, and I was very impressed this morning. You proved that I picked the better wolf.”

“For what? What are you doing here?”

“You’ll see. You’ll watch all of it as it happens. I’ll lay the ashes of your brothers and sisters at your feet.”

“I’ll never help you,” she hissed.

The Commander’s smile widened, and his excitement leached into the air. He didn’t look away from her gaze as he stepped closer, stopping beside the platform, only an inch from her face.

“You don’t have much of a choice, Layla. You’ve already done more than you’ll ever know, and today I will show everyone the culmination of all my hard work. This day has been two years in the making.”

“Whatever you think you’re going to do won’t work. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to rip your limbs off and feed them to the wolves you’ve been starving,” she growled.

“I welcome the challenge,” the Commander grinned.

He brought his face closer, violating her personal space as he sniffed her hair.

“Though I think you won’t be getting out of those so easily. You’ll lie there and take everything I do to you like the pathetic, filthy animal you are. You’ll be my bitch until I have no more use for you. Imagine how much fun we’ll have.”

Her anger surged again without the aid of her wolf. She tried to twist her body to reach him, to bite his nose off and wipe the grin from his face but she couldn’t move. As he said, she could only lie there and take it.

The Commander chuckled and stepped back.

“I have a present for you before we begin,” he said.

There was a sound to her left. Her eyes fixed on the wall as a panel started moving up, slowly revealing a glass wall behind it.

“A few presents, really,” the Commander said.

A panel to her right started lifting, too. She felt the sheer terror coming from behind it as if it were her own. Her eyes widened as they fixed on the glass wall. She saw the feet first. Adult feet and a couple of children.

And then she saw the first face. The little girl she tried to save from the Hunters—the little girl who hadn’t stopped crying since they put her in her cage. Even now, tears streamed down herface. The second face was the older child. The girl who’d stopped crying. The girl who’d witnessed all the death around her that it numbed her. Her eyes stared blankly ahead as if she already accepted her fate.

The third face was Faith.

She sucked in her breath when she saw the young woman she was supposed to rescue tied up against the wall with silver. The room appeared soundproofed because she couldn’t hear Faith’s sobs, and it seemed sealed because she couldn’t smell her blood or sizzling flesh even though she could see it. They hurt Faith. Her face and gown were bloody, and her head hung limply. There was blood in her hair and some dripping to the floor. Faith had been exhausted before, but now the chains held her up as if she couldn’t stand on her own.

‘Faith!’ she screamed in the mind link.

Faith didn’t look up or indicate that she’d heard her.

‘Faith, hang in there. I’ll get you out.’

Faith finally lifted her head. Her gaze was lifeless as the little girl’s as if she finally gave up hope that Jax would get them out.

‘I’ll get you out,’ she repeated.

Somehow. Even if her wolf chose to stay hidden, she would rescue her or die trying.

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