“I’ll get straight to the point. I need you to have my baby.”
Jackson King watched the girl’s eyes widen as she looked from him to his Beta, Dylan.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get that. I thought you said you needed me to have your baby,” she chuckled.
He could sense her unease the same way he could smell her arousal. She was drenched. Even without a wolf telling her she was his, her body knew it, and he hated that. He hated that he had to fight so hard with his beast to stop it from claiming what was rightfully his. He hated the fact that he had to resort to this. She was half-human! Why would the Moon-Goddess curse him like this on top of everything else?
He’d caught her scent even before he had walked into the hotel days before, and now it filled the entire suite, taunting him, reminding him how fucked up everything was.
“I did,” he answered. “I need a surrogate, and I will pay you handsomely.”
“Um... I’ve just walked into this room to clean. You don’t know me; you don't even know my name,” she said.
“Layla Carlisle.”
Layla looked down at the name tag on her uniform. She covered it briefly before she probably realised it was useless and lowered her hand. But he didn’t need her name tag to know who she was.
“Twenty-one years old. High school dropout. You live in a trailer with your father and sister.”
Layla’s eyes widened, and for a moment, he sensed her anger.
“Have you been stalking me?” she hissed.
Dylan snickered. He gave his Beta a look that shut him up before he returned his attention to the human.
“No, I haven’t been stalking you,” he said, but he could tell he had already lost the momentum. Layla's anger had grown at an alarming rate, eclipsing even the sweet scent of her arousal.
The human stood and smoothed her uniform before she lifted her head and looked him directly in the eye. His beast unfurled, his excitement rippling through him at the thought of accepting his mate’s challenge.
“I don’t know why you two need to ask a stranger to have your baby, but I don’t think I will be right for the job. I wish you all the best, though,” Layla said.
It took him a moment to realise what she meant as she walked over to her cleaning cart and started pulling it out of the room.
This was the problem with humans. Feeling the pull of their bond wouldn't have been an issue if she’d had a wolf. He would have marked her the moment he had found her, and she would have been carrying his pup already.
“Miss Carlisle, can we talk about this? You haven’t even heard what I’m willing to pay.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be your surrogate,” she answered firmly. “I’ll return later to clean your suite.”
When she closed the door, he heard her mutter, “It’s always the handsome ones.”
She thought he was crazy. And she was right—he lost more of his mind the longer he went without a child and the shorter his time on this earth got.
“She thinks we’re gay, Jax,” Dylan pointed out as he sat in the spot she had vacated.
“I got that,” he growled.
“I don’t think she will change her mind,” Dylan said. “I don’t understand why you can’t pick someone from the pack and be done with it.”
He would have had many children already if it had been that easy. Goddess knew how much he had tried. But Fate had messed that up for him, too, and made sure only one woman could carry his children. Only one woman could save them all—his mate.
“I told you why.”
At least as much as he could. Dylan was not only his Beta; he was also his only friend. Keeping the truth from him was essential. Keeping it from everyone was crucial. It was bad enough that they would have to accept his heir from a woman who was as useless as a human, but he could deal with that better than the panic that the truth would cause. He had no time to soothe anyone or deal with the packs that would circle his territory when they realised he was about to die.
As the Alpha King, the repercussions would be astronomical.
“I doubt any of our pack would assume they are the Queen just because they have your child. They can do a blood oath—”
“Dylan, please,” he sighed as he stood and walked towards the drinks cabinet.
It was still morning, but fuck it. He needed something to calm and stop himself from going after the human. To prevent himself from pinning her down and marking her while he buried himself deep inside her body.
He closed his eyes as he tried not to imagine what that would feel like, but it was all his wolf wanted and all he could see.
Every wolf he’d ever come across dreamed of being lucky enough to one day meet their mate, but he couldn’t understand why anyone would think this was a blessing. It was torture!
“Okay. Pick another one if that girl doesn’t want to do it.”
Cain growled in his head, ready to attack Dylan for even suggesting that, but he shoved his wolf back and focused on his drink.
And just like that, his mind returned to a place he didn’t want to be. He didn’t want to think of touching Layla or tasting her. He didn’t want to remember the scent of her arousal.
Four days since he first caught Layla’s sweet scent, he was already acting like a lunatic.
The first day felt like a gift from the Goddess. He was almost out of time, so finding his mate had given him hope. And then he had seen her. A half-blood. Half-human and cleaning up after everyone else. It felt like a punch in the nuts; he’d wanted to kill someone for this cruel joke. She was not worthy to carry his child; she was not worthy to be the one who saved them all.
But there they were.
There was no other choice.
“Jax—”
“Get more information on her. She’s human. You’ll find many weaknesses I can use,” he ordered. “She’s the one I’ve picked, so she’s the one I’ll have.”
Layla would have his child one way or another, and then he could finally have some peace.
Dylan felt the command in his words and stood up to do as he had ordered. When he sensed his Beta was far enough away from their suite, he picked up his glass and threw it against the wall, smashing it into pieces.
If he told Dylan the truth, he would tie the girl up and offer her to him on a silver platter. But then his child would be a product of rape; that was the last thing he wanted. The child would be his legacy, the only thing left of him on this earth, and would carry his blood. He couldn’t taint the child before he had even conceived them. He was a bastard, but not that much. His child would be the best part of him.
Layla would change her mind. Humans loved money, and this one, in particular, was drowning in debt. Why hadn’t she wanted to know how much he was offering her? He could solve all her problems in a day if she took his offer. That meant Dylan had to find something else he could use.
Something she couldn’t refuse.
The growl came louder in his head as his beast showed his displeasure. But he was in charge here, not Cain. They would do things his way, and at the end of it all, Layla could go back to her life because there was no future for them, even if she wasn’t a half-blood.
‘Find her. Mark her,’ Cain growled.
‘Be patient! She hasn’t got a wolf; she doesn’t even know we exist,’ he snapped as he picked up an entire bottle of alcohol and walked towards his bedroom.
And marking her was out of the question.
He didn’t stay at the Royal Hotel often even though he owned it and it was in his territory, but he was sure Layla hadn’t been around the last time he had been there. Her scent was all over the hotel as if she had marked it. Could anyone else smell it? Did they have that sweet, intoxicating scent turning them inside out? Making them drool? Making them think of nothing else except to claim her?
One thing was certain now. If—no, when—Layla agreed to this, he would get her pregnant and then stay the hell away from her. He’d been hard for days, and her scent had made Cain unstable. He didn’t need that complication on top of everything else. Not when he had less than a year left to live.
Did she have some sign on her head that said she was a pushover or desperate? Layla pushed the cart with more force than necessary until she was far enough away from the penthouse suite and then leaned against the wall. Her knees were still shaking, and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of the man’s words had said or the man himself. It surprised her she hadn’t fallen flat on her face when she’d made her righteous exit. The men were in the most expensive suite in the exclusive hotel; they didn’t need to ask a stranger to help them out. He might have somehow got a hold of some of her personal information, but everyone in Wolfdale knew about her. The kid abandoned by her mother. The kid who’d had to drop out of school so she could work and take care of her little sister because their father was an alcoholic and a gambling addict. That didn’t mean she had no dignity left. She wouldn’t give up a child! Those men thought they could throw their money around like that, and she
“You’re out of your damn mind if you think for one second that I’ll let you pimp me out!” Somewhere between her mother leaving him with two small girls to raise on his own and now, Gerald Carlisle must have lost his damn mind. Completely. “You go with him, or we all die. Simple as that,” her father said. “We don’t have to pay for your mistakes! I’ll take Brit and leave,” she snarled. “Brit is still seventeen, and I’m her father. You can’t take her anywhere,” Gerald said as he stood up again. Her father could be intimidating if he wanted to be. He had never been violent towards them, but she knew it wasn’t because he wasn’t capable of it. She had picked him up from the police station after many bar fights often enough to know the damage he could cause. And she could see the desperation in his hazel eyes as he approached her. “And I don’t see you dragging Brit out of school in her senior year when you want her to graduate,” Gerald continued. “And that’s what I want, too. Britne
Changed her mind? She would never be able to look him in the eyes again, much less carry his child. “No. I’m sorry, I'm almost finished here,” she said as she threw the used towels into the laundry bag and grabbed fresh ones without turning back to them. What the hell was she thinking? If they told Andrea about this, she would fire her before they even finished talking. She’d be stuck looking for another dead-end job to pay the mounting bills and her father’s debt. Her fingers shook as she buttoned her shirt and tucked it in. She was sweaty again, so she’d cooled herself down for nothing. Embarrassed herself for nothing. She redid her hair and took a calming breath before leaving the bathroom. The men were still standing near the door and still looking pissed off. She couldn’t meet their eyes, instead looking down at her well-worn work shoes. “I’m sorry,” she started. “The heat is too much today. I was just trying to—” “Just keep your clothes on. No one else needs to see that
First, a stranger had asked her to carry his child, and then her father had tried to sell her. Maybe she really did come across as a pushover. She wiped the sweat off her brow while waiting outside Andrea’s small office. Andrea was in charge of housekeeping, but she liked to act like she was in charge of the whole hotel. She could have gone to the manager first to ask for more hours, but Andrea would feel slighted and would make her life more miserable. She would even find any little reason to get her fired. That’s why she had to suck up to her even though she’d pissed her off that morning and with the warning from Human Resources. Her phone vibrated in her pocket again, and when she pulled it out, she saw her father’s name flashing on the screen. Her father only called her to ask her for money or to pick up more beer on the way home. Andrea came around the corner talking to one of the other cleaners, so she cancelled the call and made sure she still looked tidy. Sweat dripped d
The car screeched to a stop near the trailer. Layla didn’t bother switching it off as she rushed out of it. Several vehicles were blocking their trailer and the neighbour’s trailers, and several mean-looking assholes stood around. Two of them blocked her way when she tried to run up their short driveway. “Nothing to see here, kid. Get back in your car,” one of them sneered. She assumed the man she had seen that morning was their boss. Why were there so many of them, and why had he returned so soon? Maybe she should have just taken a chance and called the police, but she hadn’t wanted to hang up on Brit in case she could hear what was happening in the background. She was still gripping her phone tightly, but the silence on the other end ripped her apart. “What are you doing? This is my home,” she shouted. “Oh, there’s two of you,” the man said with a grin. “Then, by all means, please go in.” She didn’t stop to think about what he meant as she pushed past them and wrenched the
Layla’s head was pounding. She winced when her eyes opened against the light and tried to cover them, but she couldn’t move her hands. Sounds of a moving car and quiet sobs filtered through her muddled head. And then it all came rushing back. She forced her eyes open again and found her hands tied behind her. Someone had also tied her feet together. They must have thrown her into the back of a van because it wasn’t just her head that was painful. There was something sharp digging into her back. “Layla?” At the sound of her sister’s scared voice, she turned her head and saw her on her side, also tied up. “Shh. It’s okay,” she whispered. But Brit wasn’t stupid. She would know it wasn’t okay. Neither of them knew who this man was and where he was taking them. They didn’t even know if he would keep them together for much longer. Fear filled her and muddled her thoughts even more. Brit was all she had, and she had failed her. “I don’t know what they did to Dad,” Brit whispered. “I’
She was still bleeding. The metallic scent of fresh blood assaulted Jax's nostrils, and the moment he stopped the car in front of the hotel, he shoved the door open and got out without looking back. She’d been hurt, and all his wolf wanted to do was make her feel better. Take care of her as a mate should. The scent had Jax so wound up he had to ball his fists and concentrate on keeping Cain under control. It had taken everything in him not to chase after the last of the men who had taken her from her home and tied her up. He wanted to rip them apart like the others for daring to touch her. He hadn’t lost control like that in a long time. If he gave in to Cain, the demented wolf would do just that. It would take little effort to hunt them down. The attendants opened the hotel's wide double doors the moment they saw him approach the entrance. But he could sense Layla’s hesitation behind him as if somehow this cursed bond had already taken root even though he had no intention of mark
Layla pulled the folder towards her and then looked back at the man. She didn’t even know his name, but he’d offered her this baffling deal. Brit was terrified. Her little sister was trying to act strong but she could see it. Their lives had changed for the worst tonight. Costas would still try to find them and use them. Going on the run was their only option. But she had no money, and as small as it was, Brit's college fund was sacred. She couldn’t dip into it if she had another option. And even if she did, it wouldn’t take them far. “Please sit down, Layla,” the man said. He was right. He was her only hope to save her sister. But would she give a child away to save another? She sighed as she pulled a chair across from him and looked down at the folder again as she sat. The knife she had commandeered earlier was comforting in her pocket, but she sensed it wouldn’t do much good here, or Jackson wouldn’t have let her keep it. “How do you know my name?” she asked. “I looked into