Page 133 of The Alpha King's Fate

That she would like it.

Watching Jax rip apart the enemy was like watching an artist at work. His movements were precise, smooth, and so quick that the Hunters couldn’t keep up with him. His red eyes matched all the red on the walls and the floor, and his teeth... She shivered when he dispatched the last Hunter in the room and turned to face her.

It was their bond. What else could make her feel so hot at a time like this? This time it wasn’t just Nia enjoying the bloodshed.

‘We’re almost there. We’ll be home soon,’ Jax said through the mindlink.

It was a lie. The base was still full of Hunters despite how many they went through to get close to the warehouse. But she would gladly fight them all. Being kidnapped and caged destroyed any compassion she may have had. Hunters didn’t deserve to live. A switch flipped in her head, and she remembered her rage. It was like a yo-yo, shifting from one emotion to another.

She was torn between the euphoria of being close to her mate again, the murderous rage she felt for the Hunters, fear and anxiety for the wolves in the cages and the sorrow of losing Nia. Her mind was breaking.

She stepped over a body and followed Jax out of the room. They cleared all the Hunters blocking the way back to Faith and the others, but she sensed many others close to them.

“Do you really think that you’ll make it out of here alive, Miss Layla?”

The Commander’s voice echoed in the hallway through some speakers, but she didn’t react to it. He’d been making threats since the wolves started hunting them, growing desperate eachtime. Could the Commander see them? He had cameras all over the warehouse—he must have them everywhere else, too.

Could he see what she was doing to his people? Could he see her bloody footprints? The thought brought some comfort to her. The Commander would die by her hand; she wanted him to anticipate what was coming. And who she was coming with.

She kept her gaze on the grey wolf in front of her, bigger than she was and more terrifying. The Commander would be shitting his pants. Jax had more experience on the battlefield, so she didn’t mind that he took the lead, especially since she didn’t train to fight as a wolf. If they survived, she never would.

But she must have been doing well because she sensed Jax’s pride. Which other woman could say her boyfriend was proud of how well she killed someone?

The scene at the circle’s trial paled to what they just did.

But there were still too many Hunters to deal with. She sensed many returning when the Commander called them back, which was good because she wanted to kill all of them. But it was bad because they all reinforced the numbers around and inside the warehouse. She could taste the wolves’ fear in the air and sense their anxiety growing. How many of them would not make it out?

‘Focus.’

Nia’s voice quietened some of her doubts as they followed the stench of the Hunters to the warehouse. All around the base, she heard the echoes of battle and the howling of wolves. The second Jax issued a command, they spread all over the warehouse. It was pretty impressive. They branched off as if they had always fought together. As if they were one pack.

The last hallway was just in front of them. A sense of dread filled the pit of her stomach.

‘How big is the warehouse?’ Jax asked when they turned.

They stopped almost immediately because a sea of Hunters stood blocking the way. They filled the length of the hallway, standing shoulder to shoulder and not even a little unsettled when they saw her and Jax.

‘Big. They have cages piled on each other, and even if we get in there, most of them won’t be able to defend themselves.’

‘Gavin?’

The last time she saw him, he was passed out from the pain.

‘Alive.’

The speaker crackled before the voice echoed again.

“I’ve worked for this for years. Do you think I don’t have a contingency plan?” the Commander said.

He was bluffing. When he made her bite the guinea pig Hunter, he explained his plan to the others who gathered, and most of them seemed surprised. They had no idea what their leader was plotting, what he was doing to their peers behind closed doors. She hoped that meant the sick experiments were contained to the Commander’s base.

“We have rounded up the wolves we encountered in town. They're here with me. Come a little closer, Layla.”

So he could see her.

“At the push of a button, I will end all of you. I don’t need you anymore.”

Another bluff. His tone was more subdued. He didn’t sound as confident as when he’d told her to bite him. She was willing to bet everything he still wanted that bite; otherwise, he would have killed them already. The large air conditioning units remained silent. The Commander was willing to let his people die, hoping he could still capture her. Maybe she should have bitten him and then showed him what it meant to be an Alpha the hard way.

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