Page 9 of Renegade Kings

The others were having pretty much the same reaction.

Maddox and Ryder would have just as much of a problem with this as I was. We were soldiers. It went against all of our training to allow ourselves to be disarmed when we were in enemy territory. And then we had the added difficulty of the animals we had inside. They wouldn’t roll over and accept defeat no matter what territory we were in. It didn’t matter. It was all ours, hers. And we’d defend it.

My gaze locked onto the man in front of me. He was nothing. Weak. I could easily bring him down. My mouth watered just from the thought of it, and I stepped forward as the urge to hurt him took control.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me. I knew it was her without even turning around. The wolf inside me settled immediately and I could feel something inside me reaching out for her. Something that wrapped around my insides like a winter’s breeze and, for a second, I thought it would break free.

“Stay with me.” Her soft voice flowed around me and the wolf settled, withdrawing into the background, knowing he wasn’t needed.

We weren’t ready for him yet.

But soon.

She reached around me and pulled the sword from my hip before handing it to the man I was still slightly fantasising about ripping apart. The satisfaction of seeing him take it but then quickly back away was enough to stay as me for now.

Alyssa’s hand slid down my arm, and she threaded her fingers through mine. It was almost like she knew she needed to hold me back. To keep me contained.

Okay, maybe I was getting slightly concerned about this now.

When I looked around at my brothers, I found their eyes on me. I couldn’t decide if it was concern or envy lingering in their gaze.

Tank wasn’t even paying us any attention. He was solely locking in on Rhidian. I could see the tremor running through him as he clenched his fists at his side. He was closer to the edge than I’d been, but she’d come to me first. Leaving her mate’s side.

“He needs you more than I do,” I said, nodding in Tank’s direction.

It felt strange to push her back towards him, and yet it was completely natural. Alyssa’s hand tightened on mine in response.

“He’s okay. He’s still got the bear under control.”

“How can you tell?” He looked like a man on the edge to me, but it was more than that. He’d been a shifter his entire life. I almost wanted him to lose control, to prove that I wasn’t the weak link in this chain.

“Because if he didn’t, Rhidian would already be a little pile of torn up meat on the ground.” She shrugged like she hadn’t just admitted that her mate would pulverise the man in front of us. The man she’d only days ago called a friend. And now she seemed so unphased by his potential death.

I looked at her then. Closer than I had since the day we’d met.

It wasn’t that she didn’t care. If you paid enough attention, you could see the pain in her eyes. Especially when her gaze flicked to Fizzle and the subtle wince she had at the betrayal that no doubt flooded through her.

But that was the thing. Alyssa was filled with so much pain that even this newest betrayal didn’t make a difference. She’d already hit the limit of what she could feel.

So it was time that we tried to lift some of it from her shoulders.

“Fizzle,” I barked. “You need to explain, and you need to do it fast.”

“I can’t. Not here. But if you’ve ever trusted me, you need to do it now. The Spring Court holds all of your answers.”

“Answers? You were so adamant that we had to leave this place, Fizzle. Why change that opinion now?” Alyssa asked, like she couldn’t stop herself.

She didn’t just sound curious; she sounded angry. It made me want to wrap her in my arms and protect her from it all. But that wasn’t what Alyssa needed. She needed to fight. That was who she was. All this time, Alyssa had been hiding in the human realm, and it had smothered absolutely everything that made her who she was. Now that we were here, now that she was back where she belonged, that spark inside her that made her want to fight was smouldering again. And soon, it would blaze in so many beautiful ways.

“I didn’t think you were ready. I don’t think I wanted you to be,” Fizzle admitted. “This is where everything changes, Alyssa. There’s no stopping it once you do this. No escaping for a second time. This is the point of no return, and part of me still wants to drop to my knees and beg you to go.”

An icy shiver swept down my spine.

What exactly were we about to walk into, and how were we going to protect her from it?

Chapter 5

Alyssa

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