Page 78 of The Alpha King's Fate

He almost put the phone down when the warrior spoke again.

“Alpha. I don’t know how to tell you this, but...”

His heart immediately dropped to his stomach. Cain had been stewing over having to run away from a fight, but the beast stopped his silent treatment and stood to attention.

“Did they find you? Were you attacked?”

“No, Alpha. But... Miss Layla... Our Luna came to find you.”

His whole body went cold.

“What?! Who let that happen? Why was she allowed to leave?”

Cain immediately tried to take over him. The phone cracked in his grip as his claws started extending.

“She ordered us not to follow her. She’s been gone for hours.”

Hours...

Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

The phone snapped in his grip, and the human immediately started shouting about paying for a new one. He dropped the pieces and ran out of the office without looking back. Layla... How could she? His heart was pounding as he felt for his connection with his mate.

The moment he was in the woods, he stripped out of his sweats and shifted, giving Cain free rein.

He should have thought of that. He’d assumed he would be back by Layla’s side before she woke up, but the moment things went wrong, he should have remembered who he mated. Layla always ran head-first into any battle, whether to protect the pack or to try to save him.

But she was terrified of the Hunters and knew no one was allowed out of the territory. Why would she try to find him?

The distance back to the woods near the hotel was only half an hour if running at full speed but he broke his record. He’d been much faster since he marked Layla, but something else drove him. Fear mixed with rage. Cain’s darkness. He had no control over his emotions as his huge paws thundered on the ground and his large body snapped branches, leaving a clear trail for anyone who wanted to find him.

The hotel looked quiet when he watched it from a distance. The heavy aura from the Hunters was gone, but that was impossible. They wouldn’t have just left after what he did to them. They would have set out hunting. He didn’t sense Layla in the hotel, either, and their bond was still muted even though he had to be close to her. He couldn’t even feel her general direction as he should have been able to do as her true mate.

His mind started to shut down at the thought of what that could mean.

‘Find her,’ he growled to Cain.

Cain was already moving, lowering his head as he searched for Layla’s scent in the woods. Maybe she was waiting for him. Perhaps she didn’t get too close to the hotel. The Hunters would have been looking for him; she would have sensed them. Maybe she ran in the opposite direction, leading them away from the territory as she did during the last hunt.

‘So where the fuck is she?’ Cain shouted. ‘If she was here, we’d have found her already!”

He wanted to throw up.

He couldn’t breathe.

His heart pounded against his ribs, trying to crack his chest open.

They had her.

No.

No, he wouldn’t think like that. He was alive, so that meant Layla was still alive. He would find her. He would take her away and protect her from his enemies, as he should have done from the beginning.

‘You’re doing it again. You’re fucking shutting down instead of saving our mate,’ Cain growled, and then without waiting for him to reply, the beast turned back towards the city. ‘I’ve told you several times that I will not let anyone fuck with what’s mine. I’ll get her back myself.’

He didn’t argue. He was still trying to push back that thought that was trying to undo him. What if...?

Cain was about a mile away from the edge of the forest when they caught it. Layla’s sweet scent. She was there!

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