Page 65 of The Alpha King's Fate

Warriors rushed into the house and headed for the hall to start organising their young guests, who would be among the first to leave. After all the children, including those who’d not yet shifted, the older wolves would go in the second group. She wouldn’t see Brit again until everyone in the pack had evacuated safely. Brit would be stuck with the pack elders who were more set in their ways and not too welcoming of humans and half-bloods.

She felt sick again as she watched the organised chaos in the lobby. Before Faith had gone missing, she would have asked to go with them. Her wolf was unreliable at best; she would only be a liability if she stayed to fight. But now... the idea that she needed to rescue Faith and Rebecca had been stuck in her headsince the day before—an idea put there by the beast that had once again disappeared.

But they didn’t even know if the plan was going to work. What if the safehouses were closer to the Hunters’ bases, and they were sending everyone off to their deaths? What if something happened and she never saw Hope again?

Jax walked into the lobby with Dylan at his right and Gavin trailing behind. When her mate noticed her, he walked over to her at the foot of the stairs, his gaze probing because he could probably sense her panic. Or was he trying to figure out how she felt after they’d spent the night together?

She looked away from his gaze to look at her bare feet.

“I’ve had intel that the Hunters are returning to the hotel,” Jax said.

Her head shot up. Jax never updated her on anything related to his duties as the Alpha. She didn’t know what to make of that, especially considering he hadn’t welcomed her in the meeting in the first place. Was he throwing her a bone just because they were stuck together for life?

“How reliable?”

“I don’t know. I fired almost everyone from the hotel but left someone there to keep me updated. She sends regular updates that have checked out so far, so I don’t want to ignore her message. She’s worried because she hasn’t seen Andrea since then and thinks they will come for her, too,” Jax said. “I’ve had to send a scout team to check it out even though I didn’t want to. But it’s the right move now. If it’s not the Hunters, the Circle will come for us. We have to get all the children away from here.”

Jax walked closer and took her hand. The sparks shot through her body as they always did.

‘I’ll send Josh and Diedre with Hope and Britney. Gavin will go, too, with the second group. Don’t worry about them,’ he said in her head.

She nodded, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t go away.

“I’ll go and get Hope and Britney ready,” she whispered.

She turned to walk back up the stairs but Jax didn’t let go of her hand.

“Layla,” Jax said. “What you saw at the hotel... What I did to those assassins... I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I wasn’t scared,” she answered quickly.

It was the truth. It was her reaction that had scared her. There’d been a hunger inside her, a blood lust that had been just a fraction of what she’d felt when she’d shifted the first time and her wolf had made its first kill.

The wolf loved the sight of all that blood. She’d loved the sight of all the dead vampires. She’d wanted nothing more than to join Jax in killing everyone in the room. Only the thought of getting home to rescue Faith had held her back.

As much as she wanted to be able to shift again, she was afraid her wolf was a bigger monster than Cain, and when it returned, she wouldn’t be able to control her. Just thinking about it made her nauseous again.

“Right,” Jax said, letting go of her hand and stepping back from her.

Had she done something wrong?

“I’ll stay out of your way,” she promised. “I’ll take Hope to Britney’s room and help her pack something.”

Jax turned back to his Beta and Gamma without another word, and it was almost like the previous night hadn’t happened.

But there was no time to worry about that. When she rushed to Hope’s room, an Omega was already pulling Hope’s packed bag out of the closet. Hope ran around with one of her dolls, oblivious to what was happening. Her little girl. The future of their pack. Would she be the one to change the world? Would she even reach adulthood if her parents kept messing up like this?

“I’ll take her to my sister’s room and meet you by the plane. Go and get ready,” she instructed the motherly wolf.

Hope turned at the sound of her voice and ran into her arms for her usual morning kisses. The little girl squealed, unaware of the danger she was in. The danger she would always be in.

“Shall we go and see your aunty Bitty?” she asked the little girl, to which she got another round of excited squeals.

Britney was awake when they walked into her room. Her sister stood at the windows with her hair wrapped in a towel after a shower.

“What’s going on?” Britney asked.

“We’re evacuating.”

---