Page 48 of The Alpha King's Fate

She shifted only once, but that didn’t mean she had to lie down and die without a fight.

She closed her eyes against the whirling darkness and focused. She shoved the fear away as Jax taught her, and her heart rate lowered. A spark of anger shot through her. Who the hell did these people think they were to threaten her family like that? To make them live in fear their whole lives just because of what they were?

That spark turned into a flame.

Her fists clenched as she opened her eyes. The darkness was still overbearing, but she’d trained for this. It was no worse than the darkness in the depths of the forest, and she’d mastered that before she had even known what she was.

The sound of Jax’s rapid heartbeat acted like a beacon. She knew he wouldn’t calm down until he knew where she was.

She took a breath and focused on him. The whirling shadows slowed down until they stopped, and when she lifted her hand, the inky tendrils slipped through her fingers like wisps of smoke. And then they wrapped around her as she became a part of them. With her other hand still on the solid wall, she stepped forward, and the shadows parted for her. Her foot didn’t make a sound, landing lightly as the shadows cushioned her feet.

She’d felt let down with her training but had forgotten how far she had come since the beginning. The darkness was her domain, and she could do things within it that others couldn’t.

She lifted her hand again towards the sound of Jax’s heartbeat, and the shadows parted again. And this time, she saw Jax’s large frame still in front of her and standing perfectly still. But he had moved quite a distance from her. She was right to assume they were trying to separate them.

‘Don’t move. I see you.’

Jax’s shoulders relaxed, and his heart rate started to lower. She took another calming breath before slowly removing her hand from the wall, watching as the darkness immediately engulfed it.

‘They’re in here, Layla. Be careful.’

He was only a few feet in front of her, but it felt like the longest distance she would ever travel. One step. Two. The shadows licked her skin; she could feel them as if they were tangible. By the fifth step, Jax was within reach. He breathed a sigh of relief when she grabbed his shirt and put her arms around him.

Jax reached back with one arm, holding her against him as the rest of his tension faded.

The shadows around her started to wrap themselves around him. Jackson lifted his hand, watching the smoky tendrils as she had. That was new. She’d hidden from him a few times during their training but hadn’t known she could draw him in.

She drew in his scent and tightened her hold on him. Their hearts beat in sync again, and the sound was gentle and soothing.

It took her a moment to realise she could see the rest of the room even though the lamps were still off. And Jax’s scent was as strong as ever. Everything seemed to be restoring itself.

Jax tensed at the same time she did. There was someone else in the room.

Over by the sliding doors that led out to the patio and gardens, a hulking figure stood. Red glowing eyes and no heartbeat. And he seemed to be looking around the room as if he couldn’t see them. They hid in the very shadows that were cast to hinder them.

‘Don’t let go of me,’ Jax said in her head.

As if she would. Whatever that thing was was something she had never come across before. With her senses restored, she couldn’t even smell what it was. How could it be alive without a heartbeat?

Jax took a step sideways, and she followed. The thing didn’t track their movement. With a bit of light coming through the glass wall, she realised it was a man who was as big as Jax. Would he fight as well as Jax did? There was something very off with him, and she didn’t want Jax to go against him.

A few seconds later, Jax had them back against a solid wall on the other side of the bed. The man started to move, and his steps didn’t make a sound against the wooden floors. He walked over to the spot where they had just stood and continued to look around the room. His lips curled into a snarl, and the longest, sharpest canines she had ever seen showed between his lips.

What the hell?

The man walked around the whole room, even feeling along the bed. And then he just disappeared.

The sound of the door slowly sliding open made her look around Jax to the door, and she saw the man slip out and start closing the door again. And then he was gone.

He hadn’t disappeared; he just moved faster than her eyes could track. She was fast, but she had never seen anything move like that.

‘What the hell was that?’

‘An assassin. The Circle sent a vampire to kill us.’

Chapter 22

Jackson watched the morning light start to spill into the room. He shifted his weight slightly to get more comfortable against the headboard, and Layla’s grip tightened around his torso as she burrowed into his chest.

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