As the bastard daughter of the Beta, Layla Fabrini has always known her place in the Sanguis Pack. She is used to flying under the radar, but all of that changes when she discovers her fiancé's betrayal with her half-sister. Suddenly, Layla becomes the target of cruel bullying and vicious attacks that almost cost her her life, until the pack’s enigmatic Alpha, Hector, steps in to save her. … My mouth filled with saliva, moistening, and I felt the air around us go taut with a specific type of tension that always found its way into all of our encounters. Not trusting myself to use words, I nodded in answer to his question and a dangerous glimmer lit up his eyes, causing the hairs at the nape of my neck to stand up in warning. “Prove it, then,” he told me, and I blinked. “Excuse me?” “Prove that you mean it when you say you will submit to every command I give you.”
View MoreLayla’s POV“Before I get into any of that, I must first tell you why I say I have been actively dying for the past two decades now,” Malcolm began, tone brisk as he readjusted in his chair using his walking stick while I struggled to keep up with the abrupt shift in conversation.“In your time here, you’ll come to know more on the two categories of abilities in the Crimson Shadow Pack, but the basics are this: There are those who work the Body, and those who work the Mind. Is that clear?”His gaze pinned me, and after a beat I gave a hesitant nod.“Good,” he murmured. “Now, Mind Workers like your mother and Estella are rare. With enough practice, there is almost nothing they cannot make an unsuspecting mind believe, and excluding your cousin, there are two others in our Pack—both from the same family. This is the highest there has ever been in all of our recorded history, and if Elaine were alive, she would make it four, which is unprecedented...”I was still ca
Layla’s POVAs soon as my grandfather’s voice registered in my consciousness and I became aware of his presence, I jumped (quite literally) several feet in the air, almost losing my balance and falling out of the couch I had been sleeping on as a result.Only the fact that I managed to grab the back rest in time stopped me, and in the beat that followed there was a moment of utter silence in which the old man and I considered each other.Then, with no warning whatsoever, Malcolm let out a hearty chuckle and I felt a tingling sensation sweep up the back of my neck and across my face—no doubt making me go as red in the face as a tomato.He looked better; I thought to myself as I listened to him laugh. Much more human at least.Slowly, the feeling of embarrassment slowly dwindled into one of outrage as memories from my second capture in little under a month flowed in. Surely, there had to be some kind of award for this: ‘Most Likely to Get Taken from Her Pack’, if I was being kind.I did
Layla’s POV“So,” Malcolm finished, “What do you say?”Hector hadn’t moved once, but he seemed to know the exact moment I came to my decision because his grip around my waist tightened once more, not enough to be painful, but enough that I felt him beside me.Then his presence flooded my consciousness, and even though I felt a sliver of shame go through me, I knew there was no point in hiding it—my longing to go with Malcolm to his Pack, find out about my mother. Learn about this whole new side to my life that I had never even known existed until tonight.I anticipated the worst, for some reason, but instead of that, Hector’s presence turned… lighter in my mind, accepting my decision without even a single word shared between us.I could feel it even in the way his arm around me loosened, though he didn’t let go of me.He was giving me room to make my decision, and even though I hadn’t had the best track record everything in me told me that this was right. It felt so, so right, and H
Layla’s POVI could hardly believe the shitshow I had just witnessed as I took in the fallen, unconscious form of the Blue Moon heir in the beat of perfect silence that followed the kick.I mean, despite the wild events that’d occurred so far, Xavier getting knocked down by the petite five-foot-something chic with weird mind-bending abilities who happened to be my cousin was not something I would’ve seen coming on my bingo cards tonight.There was no doubt that the only reason she had been able to get an upper hand on him was because of his injuries, but it was still an impressive feat.I was quickly learning that fate really was one fickle sonofabitch, and finally, when I was able to tear my eyes off my friend, my gaze travelled slowly to Ella, who stood off to the side glaring at him still.Her eyes were glassy, wet and red as she rubbed at the raw skin on her neck where she had been choked, masking a slight grimace.When she saw me staring she frowned slightly, but there was no bit
Layla’s POVThe introduction—inserted so casually into the already tense situation—left me off-balance, and for a split second I didn’t know what to do. In fact, the white-hot anger I had felt consuming me just moments ago faltered, and I could only blink in astonishment as Malcolm’s smile turned bashful when he saw the effect his words were having on me. As fate would have it the night had more in store for me that I could’ve ever imagined, because while I was still wrapping my head around the fact that the woman—Ella—that had reduced Hector into a motionless statue was my cousin, she piped up.“Estella.”Slowly, I tore my eyes away from Malcolm to look at her. Our identical green eyes locked, but she remained unsmiling as she repeated the name again. It took a moment before it finally set in that she was correcting her—OUR—grandfather.Behind me, he let out a gruff sigh.“By the Moon Goddess, Ella, no one calls you by your full name.”Her response
Layla’s POVI felt Hector’s fingers tighten around mine instinctively in reaction to the words of our newest arrival, and as the sound of Malcolm’s hearty chuckle filled the barren warehouse it was like someone had set drops of ice down my spine. There was an indescribable feeling of palpable dread that seemed to suck all of the warmth out of the room, pressing down on me, crushing, and before I could stop it a small cry of distress escaped me.Then, just as quickly as the feeling had appeared it was gone. Hector and I shared a look first, and a silent agreement passed between us before I turned a level gaze at Xavier, who was already looking at me. The young Alpha’s eyes broke away from mine after a moment, and he locked gazes with my mate. I could see his jaw clench as he breathed heavily, but there was no fear in his expression and on some wordless queue all three of us turned to get our first real look at the woman that’d made such a bold challenge.
Layla’s POVMy grandfather had barely finished speaking before Lea was growling inside me, her lips peeling back in the beginnings of a warning snarl as his words registered in my brain, making me grimace.For a moment it felt almost like something hard had lodged inside my throat, leaving me with a claustrophobic, suffocating sensation that left me in free fall.Usually, I didn’t like to feel cornered, but this was especially true tonight after everything I had suffered through—the humiliating ordeal of getting chained down while Madeline and her men carried out their sick experiments to test out my limits.I wanted to tell the old man to shove his half-baked threat up his asshole, but something in the tone he had spoken in stopped me.Meanwhile, a quick glance at Hector told me that he was thinking of something along those same lines too. I stared at the tightness in his expression when he gazed at Malcolm, and as the disconcerting quiet spread after the declaration, I couldn’t qui
Layla’s POVEven in my sleep, I would’ve been able to recognize the sound of Hector’s gait, the pauses between them, and the length of his strides. How much so the sound of his voice, then?This was my immediate thought as I heard him call out, the sound of my name rolling off his tongue flooding my entire body with both relief and pleasure. For a split second, I almost believed that the entire evening so far was one elaborate fever dream. Maybe I was still in the club, or maybe I was at the Blue Moon Pack house, hungover from drinking something that hadn’t agreed with me.Maybe it was all of the above, and Hector was only calling me now, drawing me out of my nightmare into his warmth and reassurance.It was a comforting fantasy, but it didn’t last long as it got quickly chased away by the flood of panic that followed as it registered that the old man standing just paces away from me—my grandfather, if his claims were anything to go off—did not know these things.To Malcolm, the ap
Layla’s POVIt wasn’t until I started pulling that I realised that the power, which had flowed through me in seemingly endless waves just moments ago, had started receding once it sensed that I was no longer in any immediate danger.The realisation sent a hot bolt of panic shooting straight to my brain as the iron manacles on my wrists and ankles refused to budge, and when this happened I felt the power stutter inside me.In the next moment, I was engulfed by a sense of warmth as the power returned, slowly filling my entire body up. But it was much too late.Jasper had already gotten his hands on the injection, and as I watched him straighten I was surprised to find that I didn’t feel any fear. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but rather, the entire evening up until this point had left me drained, exhausted, and in some pain.Some of my wounds had healed, but compared to the last time with Morgan it felt like a sham job. Case in point: When I struggled, I felt a sharp burning sting g
Marked by the Alpha by Mathieu Fores is a werewolf novel with five stars. Layla Fabrini is a bastard daughter of a Beta. The pack looks down on her and treats her poorly. Adding insult to injury, her stepsister and fiancee managed to betray her. The bullying continued until Alpha Hector came to her rescue. As her savior, Hector wants Layla to dedicate her life to him. Can she do this to at least protect herself? Or is this an opportunity to find a better mate who will cherish her?