Page 151 of The Alpha King's Fate

Jax’s large hand covered hers, and the spoon stopped knocking against the side of the mug. He turned her to face her and gently put his hand on her forehead.

“You’re burning up,” Jax said with a frown.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, pushing his hand away.

“No, Layla. You’re really burning up. We need to get you to a hospital.”

The second he said that, something slammed hard against the trailer and made her jump. The trailer shook, and then the lights flickered briefly before everything went black. The generator was out.

She saw nothing. Her heartbeat didn’t calm down as she looked around in the darkness. Her head became foggy and her breathing harsh. She reached out for Jax, but her fingers swiped across the empty space.

And that was the last thing she remembered as her knees buckled and her eyes closed.

Chapter 67

Was Layla completely human? Her pulse was weak, and she felt like a furnace, even against Jax’s naturally higher body temperature. But she was shivering as if she was stuck in the snow naked in winter.

He pulled the blankets higher and tucked them under her chin even though she would likely start sweating again, and he’d have to take them off. She hadn’t even stirred since she’d fallen, even though the trailer was shaking and the storm was still raging outside.

Was the Hunters’ poison still in her system? Was it killing her? He shoved that thought out of his mind the moment it popped into his head. There was no room in his head for thoughts that would break him.

He pushed a strand of her fiery red hair out of her face and put his hand under the covers to hold on to one of hers.

“This isn’t how things were supposed to go tonight,” he whispered. “Wake up, Layla.”

The door opened, and Gerald walked in with another bowl of water and a battery-operated camping light. He placed the things on a small table beside the bed and then sat on the other bed.

“They said the weather’s too bad for the ambulance to come out here. I doubt they would have come even if it wasn’t,” Gerald said. “They said to keep on top of the fever until it breaks.”

“Her temperature is too high! We don’t know what made her pass out. What if...”

He let his words trail off. If he said his fears out loud, it would tempt Fate.

“I’ll take her there myself,” he decided.

He started to pull the covers off her again when Gerald put his hand on his arm. The room was so small that Layla’s father didn’t need to reach far.

“Did you drive here?” Gerald asked.

“No.”

“Then the only transport we have is Layla’s old car, which hasn’t started in years. It’s the most unreliable piece of shit in Wolfdale, and it’s sitting in water.”

“Then I'll carry her.”

“A tree trunk just hit the trailer. There’s a foot of rain outside, and it’s still going higher. Carrying her out in that will only make her worse. Let's see if the medicine we gave her will help her first before we do anything drastic.”

Wait? How was he supposed to wait while he watched Layla suffer?

“Let's give it an hour,” Gerald urged.

He let out a frustrated breath as he put the covers back over Layla’s shivering body and sat on the floor beside her bed.

“She’s never been sick before,” Gerald mused. “She was always taking care of me, not the other way round. Now I have to wonder if that was because she’s...”

He looked back at Gerald when he stopped talking.

“I told you never to speak of that.”

---