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Layla is clearly doing her best to avoid dropping her gaze below my belly button as well. “Something tells me that was not supposed to happen. What the hell was that?”
She didn’t answer my question, but she may as well have. The anxiety rolls off her in waves, and the instinct to comfort her is strong.
“Why don’t we go inside? You can get dressed and we’ll… figure out some way to cover ourselves. Then we can talk about everything.”
“You know, everyone keeps promising they’re going to tell me everything, and then shit like this happens and I get noanswers.” Her tone is sharp, commanding, and apparently forgetting her nakedness, she props her hands on her hips. “I want answers,now.”
“Layla,” Jared speaks up gently. “There’s no more alpha compulsion on us, keeping us from speaking. That means there’s nothing preventing us from telling you everything now.” His voice grows shaky, and I watch his jaw clench. Obviously, I’m not the only one struggling not to ogle our naked mate. “But standing here in the cold, naked, is probably not the best way to do it. The staff will be back soon, too,” he hints.
“Fine,” she turns and pushes open the antique door, leaving it ajar for us to follow. “I’m taking the elevator. You all can take the stairs. Feel free to grab some towels or whatever—just no naked junk on my furniture.”
The house is still brightly lit, probably with the expectation of continued celebration after the run. Layla stomps off toward the elevator nook under the stairs, and the three of us just stare at her naked backside as it retreats. Her wild, dark hair falls to her mid-back, just above the spot where her waist narrows and her hips flare out again.
She may be tiny, but she’s got curves.
“Erm,” Jared clears his throat as she walks around the corner out of sight and we regain some semblance of brains. “There’s a linen closet just over here that should have some bath towels.”
We follow him through the kitchen into a storage room of sorts, and he pulls three large, fluffy towels from a closet that tie around our waists before heading back to the stairs.
I say a silent prayer of gratitude than I didn’t have to ascend the stairs without the towels. I’m close with my brothers, but there’s no need to seethatside of them.
When we reach Layla’s suite, the door is open but her bedroom beyond is closed. We all take our seats and wait for her to emerge, not sure what to say.
Jared takes the first stab at it. “That was… different.”
Milo snorts. “Yeah, I’ll say.”
“I don’t understand. What just happened?” I look between the two of them, wondering if they caught something I didn’t.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Milo’s voice is tight, barely restrained, fury rolling from him in waves. “As soon as Lex manifested, she released Dom from the curse, and the asshole took off.”
“But that’s not how it’s supposed to work, right?” Jared’s dark face scrunched in confusion. “I thought that only happened spontaneously after the previous alpha died. Isn’t she supposed to become alpha on the lunar eclipse? Why would it suddenly happen as soon as she manifests?”
“Best I can guess is that Dom was a stand-in, never really meant to be alpha. You know how weak he was. He could barely hold the pack together and it was tearing him apart. That’s the reason there’s been so much unrest as it is. So as soon as there was a legitimate alpha back on pack soil, the magic took over.” Milo scrubs a hand over his face. “But you’re right, this is totally fucked. Because she’s not ready, she doesn’t have the alpha voice. You saw it. If it weren’t for Roxanne, they would’ve torn her apart.”
“Well, that just means we have three months to get her ready to take over as alpha,” Jared says, brimming with positivity. “At least we still have Roxanne. She can’t hold the entire pack at bay, but as beta, she has some ability to influence until Layla is ready.”
“Yeah, the only problem is that with Dom gone, the curse has fallen to Layla,” I groan, slouching in my seat. “And since he took off, it’s gonna be on us to explain it to her, like everything else. We’re not exactly Harridan descendants, we know piss-all about the fucking thing.”
Layla’s voice is sharp and clear, freezing me to my seat instantly. “What did you say about a curse?”
* * *
Layla
* * *
“What did you say about a curse?” I demand again, glaring at the three guilty faces in my living room.
They’d been waiting for me, harmlessly chatting, and I was sitting on my bed, trying to dispel the icy shivers that hadn’t left my body since the attack in the woods.
But I couldn’t resist eavesdropping, especially since they had shown an unwillingness to be completely honest with me on more than one occasion. I know they said the alpha command held them back, but I don’t a hundred percent buy it.
“You’d better come sit, Layla. We don’t know everything, but we’ll tell you everything we can. I promise.” Milo’s gaze is firm and sincere, and no trace of duplicity pings my instincts.
Sighing, I cross from my doorway to the big cozy chair and drag the furry blanket over me, pulling my knees to my chest. “I’m listening.”
“According to our pack history, people who shift into animals have been around since the dawn of man. It helped them survive the elements, find resources, coexist with other animals. Eventually the ability to shift was lost by most humans, and small pockets of shifters banded together in secrecy, carving out special places, protected by magic.
