Page 7 of The Alpha King's Fate

Was she supposed to talk about what he was feeling? He knew she could sense all of it, but would it be an invasion of his privacy if she spoke about something he hadn't opened up about yet? If she told him he had to stop beating himself up over Micah?

Most of the time, Jackson was fine. They laughed and screwed like there was no tomorrow. But other times, he fell into thisdeep well of guilt, grief and depression that she couldn't pull him out of.

“Do you want to watch a movie? It’s still too early to sleep.”

“Who said we’re going to be sleeping?” Jax asked with a grin, looking down at her.

His mood lightened a little, probably because he knew what he was doing to her with all his heavy emotions. But she decided not to call him out for trying to hide them. He would talk when he was ready. They had their whole lives ahead of them, after all.

She was his mate. It wasn’t like he could leave her, anyway. She just had to be patient.

Chapter 4

Layla stood in the shadows of the trees and watched one of the younger trainees stop and listen to his surroundings. He wouldn’t find her. She had this part of her gifts down; she could do it without effort.

The boy lowered to his haunches and tilted his head. He was listening to the vibrations in the air, the sound of breathing, a heartbeat. Anything at all so he could pass through this stage of his training. At least he would get a chance to advance. She was just stuck there.

It was also supposed to be a test for her to make sure she kept practising her skills. She wanted something more challenging than playing around with the kids in the woods. They must have forgotten that she’d killed enemy wolves with her bare teeth in her human form. And she was the one who’d got that witch who’d plagued them all. Or it was precisely the reason they kept giving her these stupid exercises because she was beginning to suspect that no one wanted to spar with her. Brit would probably get further ahead in her training once she started.

The young trainee rose and started walking again. The warrior in charge of the session claimed the young man already mastered how to sneak up on the enemy, but it sounded like a herd of elephants was trampling through the forest to her ears.

She had an unfair advantage. It was why she needed to find a better way to train. Jax was the only one she could go one-on-one with, but maybe it was time she asked her mother. Her mother knew of the dangers out there; she would teach her if asked to.

Maybe it was time to finally bury the hatchet and rebuild their relationship properly.

When the boy walked out of the woods to tell the trainer he failed, she sighed and slipped out of the shadows that engulfed her. She didn’t bother masking her scent or any sounds she made as she marched out of the woods.

“Can I move on to weapons training or something else?” she asked.

The trainer lowered his gaze, and it exasperated her. That was another reason they didn’t train her as hard as they prepared the others. She was their Luna, and her mate was an overprotective bastard.

“Um... I’ll see what Alpha Jackson says...”

She sighed and walked away before he spewed any more words that would ruin her mood.

The man once told her he would bring her back to the packhouse and train her when she thought of running away from the Hunters. Now if he wasn’t the one doing it, no one else was allowed to.

Still, that was a problem for another day. She had Brit to worry about that day.

Hope was in the lobby when she walked into the house. The toddler’s face lit up when she saw her, and she ran into her arms for a cuddle.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” she said as she kissed her daughter on the top of her head and then balanced her on her hip.

Hope’s hair was growing fast, and the bright red made her stand out the same way she had stood out when she’d been younger. She suspected Hope was like her, but with her father’s genes, she had no idea what was in store for her child. But she knew Jax would have to let Hope train like the others. He couldn’t give any special treatment to either of them just because they were his.

“Morning, Miss Layla.”

She smiled and walked across the lobby to Faith, who’d offered to babysit Hope so she could talk with Brit.

“Morning, Faith. Are you just about ready to leave?”

The semester break hadn’t started yet. Faith only came home for the birthday and memorial, but there were still a few more weeks until they broke off for the summer.

“Yeah, we’re leaving later this afternoon,” Faith answered as they started to walk together to the kitchen. “Mum’s already crying like I’m not going to come back.”

“She misses you when you’re not here, but don’t worry. Hope and I look after her.”

The woman in question was busy giving orders as the morning rush began. Grace’s face lit up like Hope’s when she saw them,and she came toward Faith to embrace her. They had the type of relationship she hoped to have with Hope when she was older. The kind she wished she had with Rebecca.

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