Page 172 of The Alpha King's Fate

“How could I forget that, Jackson? You defied the Circle’s order and dared to put your hands on me. And now everyone else will pay the price,” Alpha Lincoln growled.

She must have missed something. They came to the territory while she was away? And Jax laid a hand on Lincoln, even knowing they were already in too much shit with them?

But whatever happened made Lincoln angry enough to kill them all. Why else would they bring assassins?

“Stop doing Cole’s dirty work and start doing your job,” Jax snarled. “There are children here.”

She searched around the room until she found who she was looking for. Brit had Hope in her arms behind Jax, and she looked terrified.

“Ah, yes. The children. I’m sure they will learn their lesson here today. The ones that survive, anyway. The Circle is bigger than all of us; we must obey the rules,” Lincoln said. “We are not the same. No matter what you are and what you did, we will never be the same.”

“You’re talking too much, Lincoln.”

The voice in the doorway behind her wiped the smile off Lincoln’s face. A few whimpers went around the room as something oppressive filled the room. She didn’t have a wolf, yet she could sense the evil in the man who walked in.

The man stopped once he stood beside Lincoln, and the two Alphas faced each other. Alpha Cole. The man Jax warned her never to cross. From where she was standing, it looked more like a standoff. It took only seconds for Lincoln to lower his gaze. If they were equals, would Lincoln submit to Alpha Cole?

Or was Cole so powerful that he could do whatever he wanted, despite their rules?

Cole walked further into the room and slowly looked around.

“Maybe we should have waited,” Cole said. “You guys worked so hard the last few months that I feel a little bad doing this now. I should have let you celebrate your achievements first.”

“If you’re here for me, let the others go and fight me man to man,” Jax growled.

What? No! Her heart hammered more, and the wave of dizziness returned. She would have passed out if she stood upright under her own steam.

Cole turned and smiled at her. He'd tied his long hair back as it had been the first time she saw him, but he didn’t have glasses on this time. His eyes were startling. One blue and one green, and the coldest she had ever seen. A shiver went down her spineat the evil reflected in them. He must have noticed because his smile widened.

And just like that, she knew the stories Jax told her about the Circle were true. They were very capable of killing a whole pack to suit their agenda. They wouldn’t spare the children.

“We meet again, Layla,” Alpha Cole said. “And it appears what I heard is true. You’re nothing but a wolfless bitch now.”

There were gasps in the room. She looked at the group of people behind Jax and saw the expressions on their faces. The wolves who had just returned had not yet heard her fate. How many of them expected her to save them?

Tears filled her eyes. She looked away from the judgemental looks to stare at her feet. What a queen she turned out to be. She’d condemned all of them.

“What are you doing here, Cole?” Jax growled.

“Alpha Cole!” Cole snarled, his eyes darkening as he turned back to Jax. “I’m glad I don’t have to endure your insolence any longer.”

“If you want to prove you’re stronger than an Alpha King, release me and fight,” Jax growled again.

Cole laughed.

“I don’t have to prove anything. I’m not here to get my hands dirty. I can just kill you like that and be done with it.”

He must have done something with his magic because Jax grunted, and his shoulders tensed. A vein popped up at the side of his neck as he strained against it. His eyes started glowing as if he was trying to shift, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. And then, in the blink of an eye, Jax was on his knees.

The Alpha King was on his knees in front of the Circle.

“I’ll make it painless for everyone else but not for you, Jax. We can’t have people like you in this world. You go against the natural order of things and cause chaos,” Cole said. “Our world is in chaos because you decided to fight the Hunters. Humansare very close to discovering the real truth about their world, and what do you think would happen then?”

Cole flicked his wrist, and a loud snap echoed in the room. She didn’t understand what happened until she saw Jax grind his teeth and his arms fall to his side, hanging uselessly.

“No!” she cried.

“Oh, don’t worry, Layla. You’ll join him soon,” Lincoln laughed beside her.

---