Page 33 of Pretty Kitten

She then turned to the Alpha.

“You need to contact me the moment your patrol spots them, and we know I don’t come in until you’re all standing in this lounge, in a circle. After that, we’re flying blind. I will do my part, but in the meantime, it’s up to you to survive this.”

Just before she passed the threshold, Ace stopped her, calling, “Wait.”

The two women had barely spoken to each other in the three hours Tria had stayed and everyone could feel the tension between them.

“You have no reason to help us. I want to trust you, but this…this is wagering our child’s life.”

Tria considered the words, before nodding.

“Yes, I understand how you may need some reassurance, given that everything is at stake for you, and I have nothing to gain in offering my aid. But three years ago, before you joined this pride, your mate took in Niamh. I do owe you a great deal for that. So, if it is of comfort to you, you have my word. When you call, I will come and I will do exactly what I said I would. I swear it on the River Styx.”

On that note, she was gone.

Those last few parting words felt heavy, although Clari didn’t understand why.

“I’ve heard that before; or read it in a book, maybe. That’s a vow to the death; I mean, if we said it, it wouldn’t matter at all, but in Greek mythology, nothing is as binding.”

Ace turned to Niamh.

“You better tell me your friend is Greek.”

Chapter 21

The End

The tigress approached silently, but Daunte felt her; more importantly, he smelled her.

“Perfumed shower gel, really?”

Clari shifted back to her human form before cursing out loud.

“Dammit! Can’t you just tell me what I’m not supposed to do, so I can surprise you once? Just the once.”

To his surprise, the day after Tria had left, she’d asked about potentially being trained.

“I need to be able to hold my own if there’s a fight coming. No way am I sitting in the middle with the kids.”

“That’s exactly where you will be,” he’d replied. But he had to relent on the second part. “However, I think we’ll all breath much easier if you had some basic training under your belt. We’ll start tomorrow.”

If he was honest, Clari was a quick learner. Very quick. Her instinct was to let her animal take over during fights which meant she’d had no technique, but a lot of speed, strength, and dirty moves. Jas had given her technique on top of that.

But his mate hadn’t wanted to stop there, fully intending to drive him insane. As soon as she could hold her own, she was asking, “I’d like to start patrolling with you guys.”

Yeah… that was a no. Never. Not in a million years. Non-negotiable.

But when he’d said just that, she played dirty, and took sex off the table until he stopped being – her word – “unreasonable.”

“Clari,” he said, “they’re coming for you. To kill you. So, no, you’re not going to the front line. Especially not since you can’t move quietly to save your life.”

Hence why she was now attempting to prove that she could.

She’d gotten much, much better over the last week – but he wasn’t going to relent on this.

“I’m supposed to be Beta female, and patrolling…”

“Is the Enforcer’s job. I wouldn’t be doing it if our pride wasn’t so small, and if…”

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