Page 96 of The Alpha King's Fate

“What’s your name?” she whispered.

The girl looked down at her and then back up the aisle.

‘It’s better not to speak out loud, Miss Layla,’ Faith said.

‘But she’s a little girl. Even if any of her pack is in here, she can’t mindlink anyone.’

‘It’s still better that way.’

She looked away from the little girl and felt the weight of everything again. Why did her wolf make her believe she could do something to save them? Her wolf hadn’t known what they were walking into, so why had she believed it so easily?

It felt like forever when some Hunters came to their aisle with food carts. Armed guards opened the cages, and women threw bread and bottles of water at the wolves as if they considered allthe prisoners as nothing more than animals. The wolves waited until the cages were closed again before they snatched their bread and bit into it ravenously.

Bread was never enough for a wolf. They were hunters. Meat and heartier food were what helped their wolves to heal.

But, of course, the Hunters knew that. Just as they knew that everyone would accept the scraps they were throwing into the cages.

She couldn’t help the anger that bubbled inside her.

As they got to her cage, the guard met her gaze and sneered. And then he walked right past without opening it. She knew it was his form of punishment. He’d seen her anger and sensed how much she wanted to kill him.

It took them longer to walk down her aisle as they revelled in torturing her by keeping the bread in her view. The bread on the cart was small and smelled stale, but as the size of the pile dwindled, her mouth watered more. She hadn't eaten before she'd gone after Jax, and now she would go a second day without food.

She was too focused on the bread to notice that more Hunters came in until they walked past her cage. They stopped at the scout's empty cage, and one unlocked it.

Why? To clean it before another victim occupied it? She hadn't thought they would even bother.

It wasn't until she heard the sniffles that she forced herself to move forward and look down.

A little girl.

They'd brought in another little girl.

Her heart grew cold when she saw the little tear and blood-stained face.

And then she felt the heat rising in her body. The white-hot rage.

These Hunters were pure evil. She had to stop them.

Chapter 44

Jax stood perfectly still behind some trees at the back of Irvine’s house. It was almost noon but there was no sign of them. Some of Irvine’s neighbours left for work, while others seemed elderly and content to potter around their little houses all day. He could sense them without moving from his spot.

It was something he had always been able to do. He’d taught Layla how to control and focus her senses, but everything seemed to have gone into overdrive. He could sense things that should have been too far for him. He could smell them, hearthem from miles away. And somehow, he could form a complete mental picture of his surroundings, almost as if he could see it.

It was because of his bond with Layla. His red wolf.

Before all that shit started, he’d been excited to learn what his mate could do as she discovered herself. He never coveted her gifts, but now this link was the only thing keeping him sane. It meant she was still alive.

But for how long? They wanted Layla for a reason. Were they torturing her? Would they kill her, too?

He’d felt a bond breaking. The pain ripped through him so suddenly as he walked back to Irvine’s house after hiding his car. His first thought was that someone had taken Layla away from him, so he’d fallen to his knees in the middle of a busy sidewalk, ready for that breaking bond to take him, too.

But some good Samaritans helped him to his feet, and the pain subsided. When he realised it was someone else in his pack who had died, he felt relief and only a second of guilt. Cain felt no guilt at all. Only Layla mattered to him now.

The second he found her, he would hunt them all down. The Hunters would become the hunted. There was no stopping this now.

His fists clenched but he maintained his focus. He couldn’t afford to be distracted.

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