76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

J ackson had never experienced anything as excruciatingly painful and devastating yet overwhelmingly satisfying.

He had spent days fighting his beast while getting Layla through her heat. Every time he had latched onto her neck, something had got through the fog in his head to remind him that the bite would be a death sentence for Layla. It had been enough to make him let go, but only barely.

He'd been too weak to bite her in the end anyway.

This hadn't been his first experience with an unmated female's heat, but it was the first that had depleted all his energy completely. The first that he had felt himself. It wasn't supposed to be like that. The men tended to the women for a day or two, rested for a couple of hours, and then returned to their full strength.

They didn't lie down for a whole day, unable to move.

They didn't feel the burn in their body as if they had bathed in a fire for days while their bodies were so thoroughly and shamelessly used.

It was because he hadn't marked her. Everything would always be extreme if he didn't seal the deal and let their bond settle.

"What the hell was that, Jackson?"

He focused on the woman lying beside him on the cool balcony floor. He had no idea how long they had lain there but had watched the sun rise above them hours ago. Now it bathed Layla in its rays. Her hair was a tangled mess, and she smelled of sex, sweat and him. She was sticky and dirty; her lips were swollen and bruised... the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

"Heat," he answered.

Things had changed. If her wolf side was already this strong, he had to tell her what her life would be like. She would go through this a couple of times a year.

And once he was dead, she would turn to another man to help her through it.

Cain growled in his head as the pain lashed through them both.

But they had to think about this. They had to make sure she survived by herself and knew how to hide these tendencies when she was back in her world. The Hunters had become more sophisticated with the advancement of technology. One wrong move would have her going viral on the internet, and the Hunters or The Circle would kill her.

"I don't understand. Heat? Like an animal?"

"Like a wolf."

Layla lifted her head, and there was horror in her eyes as she looked down at him.

"Am I changing because I'm sleeping with you? Did you do something to me?" she shouted.

He felt her panic, but only faintly because he couldn't focus enough to concentrate on anything other than his emotions. But her words got him thinking. It was the bond that was making her react like this. Once he was gone, would she return to her usual self? There was no point in telling her what she was now. She would spend the rest of her life worrying when it was out of her control.

"Maybe," he lied. "You'll be okay once we separate."

And the pain shot through his again.

"But why... I'm human. I shouldn't be able to do all this," Layla said weakly before she dropped down again. Her hair fell onto her face, and she didn't bother to move it away.

He used all his strength to lift himself to his shoulder and looked down at the exhausted woman sprawled next to him. He pushed the hair out of her face and studied her. It was becoming his favourite pastime. He'd already memorised every inch of her body, but the changes she was going through amplified something different every day.

Like now, her emerald eyes were brighter.

They had glowed the entire time she had fucked him within an inch of his life.

"It's because I claimed you. Because you're mine," he admitted as he brushed her hair from her face. "I did this to you, Layla."

"What do you mean I'm yours?"

If anyone had been within earshot, they would have known the significance of his words. The Alpha King had been given a half-blood for a mate.

"It means that were it not for all the shit I'm going through and everything I have to do, I would have done everything differently," he sighed.

Would he have, though? If it wasn't for the child he wanted, he would have run far away the second he had caught her scent and realised who he had stumbled upon. He would have made sure not to spend any time in her presence so her scent didn't get embedded into his very soul. Not becoming his father or being weakened in any way by someone else had been his top priority.

But Fate was proving impossible to fight. All his plans had been based on the belief that he was stronger than anyone and would not succumb, but he knew better now. He would have gone back eventually and claimed her.

"What shit are you going through? Are you in trouble?"

Layla rose to her elbow and put a hand on his chest. He felt the usual tingles, and his body reacted as if his tank wasn't empty. He had nothing left to give her.

But he also felt her worry. He saw it on her face. Besides Diedre and the witch who wanted him dead, no one else knew what he'd had to carry for years, and he had no desire to tell them until the last moment.

But his mate... The bond blossomed, and all he wanted to do was whisper all his secrets to the woman who had been made to help him carry them all.

"I am," he whispered. "I'm in big trouble, my little mate."

He smoothed her furrowed brows and gently traced his fingers along her face.

"But I'm the Alpha King. My life is not my own. It's my job to bear it all while I make sure everyone else is safe."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

His poor mate.

He put his arm around her and lay back down, bringing her against his chest.

"You're doing it now. Despite how all this came to be, you've been a great comfort to me. And when the time comes, you'll go back and do anything you want with your life, but you'll think of me often. You won't forget me, Layla, and I'm finding that's consolation enough," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

They remained quiet for a while as he fought back the sleep. Layla was still worried, and he was wired to soothe her whenever she needed him to. He couldn't sleep until she was okay.

"What's an Alpha King?" she whispered.

"I am stronger than all the others because my bloodline is different. So I rule over many territories."

It was a simple way of putting it. There was no need to scare her with tales of who he really was.

"So our child will be a prince or princess?"

Our child. She was doing it again. His heart skipped as she lay against it, making him crave things he couldn't have again.

"Yes."

And when her mood fell, he knew it was because she thought of the child she would have to leave behind and never see again.

"When we've rested, I'll take you back to town so you can visit your sister for a little while," he said.

He would promise anything to stop her from feeling like that. People became surrogates all the time, but never any feelings were involved. Not like this, anyway. She made him feel like the dick that was forcing her to abandon her child.

"I miss her. I haven't spoken to her since..."

Of course. How could he have been so dense? With all the shit happening, he had forgotten that he had taken her phone and had told her she could only make supervised phone calls.

"I'm sorry, Layla. We'll rest and then call her to tell her the good news."

His mate's mood lifted, and all was right in his world again.

Even if he was going to have to deal with more shit for kicking everyone out of the packhouse for however long it had been and then blocking them out of his head. He didn't even know if they were alright. Some Alpha King he was.