Thirty-Seven
AZALEA
“Liar! You are not that whore’s son!” Trey growls, and Peter flinches as Trey goes to get up. I grab his arm, and it ripples under my hand just as Liam moves so quickly, he knocks the air out of my lungs, getting me out of the way as Trey shifts. Liam shoves me out the cell door, the guard grabbing me before I can fall, and Liam also shifts, pinning Trey to the wall.
“Calm down!” Liam snarls while Trey’s eyes are on Peter, who whimpers in the corner, cowering away from him. I swallow, petrified, and my heart races as I watch Trey’s nostrils flare, his face savage, and a deep reverberating growl rips from him, challenging Liam, who returns it with a deafening one. Their auras clash and batter one another, and are both potent and deadly, the testosterone in the room making me dizzy. I have to fight the urge to run to my mate, not liking the charged energy after days of only being under Kyson’s calming calling.
“Choose wisely, Trey. I was coming around to not hating you. Challenge me, and you go back on my shit list,” Liam warns, his tone ice cold and threatening.
“Trey?” I plead, and he looks at me. He puffs out his massive furry chest before shoving Liam who barely moves. Afteranother tense moment, Liam releases Trey, who storms out of the cell and down the corridor.
Liam shifts back, standing in his naked glory before glancing around at Peter before looking at me.
“What the fuck was that about?” Liam says while I stare at the roof, still recovering from being knocked to the ground after my recent injury.
“Liam! Pants!” I squeak, not knowing where to avert my gaze without seeing that monstrosity between his legs.
“Oh! Sorry, my Queen, forgot you have only seen the King’s twinkie,” Liam says, clicking his fingers at the guard who chucks him a hessian bag. Liam holds it up and looks at it.
“Fucking pants, moron! What will I do with this? Have a potato sack race?” Liam asks. The guard rushes off, returning minutes later with shorts, while I stand awkwardly staring down the corridor. Once he has pants on, I turn to look at him. He is standing over Peter, who looks up, even more terrified than before.
“Now you’ll tell me why Trey just fled,” Liam says.
Peter looks at me before looking up at Liam. “I… I don’t know, I barely know him,” Peter stutters.
“You’re asking the wrong person. Let’s find Trey, but first, I want to go to town,” I say, and Liam turns to face me, but my eyes go to Peter.
“I want to speak to your grandparents,” I tell him.
“They didn’t do anything! I swear! They aren’t part of this,” Peter begs, his eyes widening as fear graces his face; I’m not sure if he is scared for them or of them.
“I just want to speak to them,” I assure him, though he doesn’t deserve the reassurance. Yet, it’s hard for me to comprehend Peter the boy in front of me, and the Peter that stabbed me as the same person.
“What? Why?” He says, looking at me petrified.
“Because if I am going to convince Kyson not to kill you, I need the information to back my reasoning.”
“My Queen, Kyson won’t let him live after what he did, and I wouldn’t recommend telling him otherwise,” Liam says. I chew my lip.
“Would you let him live?” Liam asks, and his aura slips out with his outrage at my idea.
“He is a child. I don’t forgive what he did, and he will be punished, but I won’t let Kyson kill him. That is for the Moon Goddess to decide. If I choose it,” I tell him. Liam growls, clearly not agreeing, but I turn my gaze to Peter.
“I want your address, now,” I tell Peter. He rattles it off, and I nod. I go to leave, only to pause and turn back to him.
“If you’re lying to me, I will let Kyson decide your fate. I never made your mother leave. Kyson did. After he woke up to her trying to touch him in his sleep,” I tell Peter. He gasps, clearly shocked by this news. Obviously, not all news gets around the castle or maybe it was kept from Peter since he is a child.
“Mom always had a thing for him,” Peter admits, and I nod, not knowing how to reply.
“She shouldn’t have done that knowing you were his mate,” he adds.
“No. She shouldn’t have but this is your chance, Peter. If you are lying, tell me now because if I leave here and find out you lied, I won’t stop my mate from killing you,” I tell him.
“I’m not lying. You can command me, though sometimes it doesn’t work,” Peter says, glancing nervously at Liam, and I look at Liam, who returns his gaze.
“Pardon?” Liam asks.
“Your command, it hurts but doesn’t affect me as badly as the King’s,” he shrugs.