Page 76 of The Alpha King's Fate

“....leave before the Circle comes to wipe us all out...”

Her head swum. Were they thinking of abandoning their Alpha? The man who risked himself all the time to save them?

The whispers quietened down as she walked down the front steps. She didn’t look at any of them, concentrating instead on putting one foot in front of the other.

“Are you okay, Luna?”

She looked up at the sound of the voice and saw Kelly, the young girl she had rescued from a wolf in the woods during one of the attacks. And her heart broke. Kelly hadn’t had a wolf back then but recently shifted. Which meant she was part of the able-bodied wolves who were supposed to leave last or stay behind to defend the territory. But she was just a kid herself.

Any resentment she’d felt when she heard the whispers disappeared as she took Kelly’s hand.

“I’m okay. Go and help the others. You have to be ready to move the moment they tell you to,” she said with a little smile, and then on impulse, she pulled the girl into a hug.

“I’m scared,” Kelly whispered.

It took Kelly a lot of work to deal with the fact that she was almost sexually assaulted. It took both of them a lot of work. But they had come a long way.

“So am I. But we can still be brave,” she whispered back.

She released Kelly and smiled again as she turned away. She wasn't going to make promises that she couldn’t keep. She wouldn’t say everything would be alright when no one knew the outcome.

“Where are you going?” Kelly asked.

She kept her expression the same as she turned back.

“I’m going to see if anyone needs help. It’s better if we’re all together,” she lied.

Kelly nodded, and when she turned away from the young girl again, her fake smile slipped.

The gate was wide open as more residents filed onto the packhouse grounds. The guard was too distracted to ask her where she was going. He was too distracted to see her slip into the woods and start running. But the guards at the main gate were on high alert. There were more of them than usual, and they were visibly uneasy. They turned around to face her before she even walked out of the woods.

“Miss Layla, you can’t be here.”

She looked up and met Gavin’s gaze. As the man who took over from Micah, it was his responsibility to make sure the warriors knew their duties. And one of their duties was ensuring she remained safe so she wouldn’t jeopardise their Alpha.

But she needed to go to him. She needed to find him.

“Open the gate, Gavin,” she whispered.

“It’s too dangerous. The Hunters are in the city, and we don’t know yet if they will attack us. Please—”

“I said open the gates!” she said louder.

All the guards tensed, and two immediately started unlocking the gates. They seemed to be doing it against their will like the Circle did when she’d told them to leave. Did she command them?

Whatever it was, she was grateful when the gates opened and she ran through them.

“Don’t follow me. Stay here and keep everyone safe.”

“But Luna, we can’t—”

“Do as I say,” she shouted back. “Lock the gates.”

As she ran up the dusty road, she looked back and saw them doing as she asked. She hated that. Who was she to tell anyone else what to do? They were only doing their jobs, and they were right to try to keep her inside. She had no plan and no backup. Even if she fought, she didn’t know how strong the Hunters would be. All she knew for sure was that Jax was out there alone.

Everything inside her was in turmoil. Everything was building up, ready to explode. How could she just sit still when her mate wasn’t home? When the danger was all around him?

Her emotions jumbled up until she felt the unfamiliar ones. The calmness. The sense of control when everything else was spiralling. She knew then that it was her wolf.

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