Page 32 of The Alpha King's Fate

‘Where are you going?’

‘I have work to do. We’ll talk when I get back.’

He got into the back of one of the cars without another word. He didn’t even look back.

And that hurt more than anything else she felt that night.

Chapter 15

“We’re here.”

Jax finally noticed his surroundings and realised they had already stopped at the Crimson Valley territory gates. He’d been stuck in his head for hours but it was time to put his emotions aside. Layla would be there when he got home; they would fix this mess once and for all.

“Why aren’t they opening the gates?” he asked with a frown.

Maybe he should have asked why he couldn’t sense anyone at the gates. How would they keep anyone safe if there was no one to patrol and alert them of intruders?

“I’ll call them,” Dylan said as he pulled his phone out.

While his Beta ordered the gates to be opened, he rolled down his window to understand what they were up against. There was no scent of magic in the air, light or dark. There should have been a little if the pack had protective wards.

“Do they have witches in their pack?” he asked.

Since he’d been cursed the day he’d taken the throne from his father, he’d been too messed up to keep up with such details. He hadn’t given much of a shit about anyone else except his pack. Many small packs in his territories didn’t believe in mixing species and therefore didn't rely on any covens to keep them safe. Those packs would have a problem with Layla being their queen. He already had them on the top of his list as potential threats.

But the Crimson Valley pack kept to itself, much like Braxton did. Or rather, much like Brax did before he discovered Layla and Rebecca weren’t myths after all.

“They did the last time I checked,” Dylan answered.

“There’s no protection here.”

Dylan alerted the rest of the warriors to remain vigilant as the gate slid open. A young boy, about thirteen or fourteen, opened the gate, not a warrior. He didn’t look capable of dealing with intruders if there was an ambush. How the hell was Erik running things in his pack?

“They’re sending kids to the gate?” Dylan asked when the boy waved them through.

When both of their cars drove through, the boy closed the gate again and locked a heavy chain to secure it. But that chain wouldn’t stop anyone—not a witch and certainly not a Hunter.

The boy turned and ran into the woods beside the gate, leaving them alone.

“We’re not staying here tonight,” he stated. How did Erik let his territory become like that? The security was non-existent, and he didn’t sense much activity even further in.

The car rolled slowly through the compound, and it looked abandoned. It felt abandoned. The Crimson Pack hadn’t built homes as his pack did over the generations. Instead, they lived in mud and wood structures without electricity or running water. They preferred to live in their wolf forms most of the time, so those things were not important to them. It was only the packhouse that they made an effort with, and as they drove closer to the sprawling building, he sensed only a few people inside.

The pack was small, but not that small. Where was everyone?

A man he recognised as the current Alpha came out of the double-storey building. Alpha Erik. The older man had lost some weight since he last saw him, and his hair had turned grey. Wolves didn’t age quickly until they reached a certain age, and even then, the process depended on how strong their wolf was. An Alpha like Erik should have looked younger than he did.

A warrior opened the door for him, and he stepped out of the car. Erik lowered his gaze immediately. He sensed defeat all over the Alpha.

“Welcome, Your Majesty.”

“Alpha Erik,” he greeted, and then he looked around.

Small faces peeked from behind the curtains in the packhouse and the trunks of the trees surrounding it.

“What happened here, Erik?”

“My warriors went out to look for the missing scouts, Alpha,” Erik answered.

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