Lowlander Silverback (Gorilla Shifter Royalty 1) by T. S. Joyce

group. I have the genetics for it, but Fiona decided on my fate, like she decided yours. She’s going to kill me for refusing her. Rhett doesn’t mind killing, though. He’s made for it.”
    “Who,” Kong asked low. He already knew the answer, but he wanted Kirk to say the vile thing Fiona had ordered. “Who?” he roared.
    Kirk’s eyes went vacant as he stared at the door from which Layla had disappeared. “Mac.”
    The room faded around him, and his vision settled to a pinpoint on Kirk’s broken eyes. Someone was grabbing his arm.
    Kong.
    “Kong!” Aviana said, clutching his wrist. “Go to her!” Tears were rimming her eyes as she searched his face. Tiny, dark-haired Aviana. Brave little raven for getting this close to him right now.
    His animal roared inside of him, rattling his head and throwing the worried faces around him into uneven vibrations. Kong stumbled forward, lurching toward the door.
    Layla. She would be alone now.
    He bolted for the parking lot and revved the engine of his Camaro, then slammed his foot on the gas and spun out of there, spraying gravel behind him. Saratoga’s dark streets passed beside him in a blur and, in minutes, he was slamming on the brakes in the Tender Care parking lot. Layla’s car was planted at an angle on the curb, her door still open and the engine still running. Kong reached inside and turned it off, then shut her door gently.
    The second he stepped through the entrance, he could hear Layla weeping, and asking, “Why?” She chanted over and over she hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t walk in that room and see her destroyed like this. But if he didn’t, who would? Who would be strong for her when Mac wasn’t around?
    Kong’s face crumpled the second he walked past the nurses who were crying outside the door. Layla was sitting on the bed, legs curled under her as she cradled Mac’s head in her lap. He just looked asleep. Layla’s shoulders shook with her weeping, and every word that came murmured from her lips sounded like heartbreak. Kong leaned heavily against the door frame and closed his eyes. Her pain was his fault. He’d known the risk, and he’d pursued her anyway. Sherri stood beside him, gripping his shoulder and wiping her eyes. “It was fast. He just stopped breathing after he took out the tube.”
    Bullshit. He stopped breathing with a pillow over his face. Rhett had probably smiled as he suffocated him.
    Because of him.
    Because his fucked up world had collided with the peace Layla had managed to find. After everything she’d been through, she’d been happy with Mac. She’d had as normal a life as she could, and now it had been ripped away from her because Kong had tainted her. He’d put her directly in the crosshairs of Fiona and Rhett, all because he couldn’t just let her be.
    Some mate he was.
    Beaston had said his duty was to make her happy, but this was all he was capable of. Ruining her. Every heartbeat hurt, every movement of his muscles as he sat in the chair next to her and watched his mate break. It took an hour before she’d cried herself out, and when she lay spent, Kong picked her crumpled body up in his arms and strode from the room before she could see the nurses pull the sheet over Mac’s face. And as he walked Layla through the front door, something deep within him broke. He could feel himself changing from a cellular level outward. He no longer gave a shit about consequences. This was where the winds of change turned to a fucking hurricane. There was no more cowed Kong, trying to please everyone so that the people he cared about didn’t get hurt anymore. He was Kong, dominant death-bringer silverback who had been pushed too far.
    Hurting him was one thing, but his people had hurt his mate.
    And now they were going to pay with rivers of blood.
    ****
    Layla closed her swollen eyes against the moonlight that streamed through the window of Kong’s Camaro. All of the crying had