Page 20 of Saved By The King's Gamma

“Come on,” I say to the boys, opening the back door. “You can pick whatever you want.”

Oliver hesitates, glancing at Logan before slowly climbing out of the car. He stays close to my side, his eyes scanning the quiet lot nervously, while Logan clutches his hand tightly.

Inside, the store is mostly empty, save for the cashier behind the counter, who barely spares us a glance. Liam grabs a basket and heads straight for the food section, picking a few hotdogs from the heated display.

“Grab whatever you want, lads,” he says cheerfully, holding out the basket. “Hotdogs, drinks, snacks—whatever looks good.”

Oliver hesitates, his eyes flicking toward me as if asking for permission. I nod, offering him a small smile.

“It’s okay,” I say gently. “You don’t have to ask. Take whatever you want.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Oliver reaches out, carefully picking up two hotdogs and handing one to Logan. The younger boy clutches it tightly, his eyes wide as he takes a tentative bite.

“They’re good, right?” Liam asks, grinning as he grabs a couple of juice boxes and adds them to the basket. “Told you. Now let’s find the sweets section.”

Logan nods slowly, chewing quietly as Oliver takes a cautious bite of his own sausage roll. Once Liam has grabbed nearly one of each candy on the shelves, we pay and finally leave. The boys climb in the back and Liam tosses the bag of food over to them, telling them to help themselves. I move to the trunk and rummage around finding a blanket for them for the drive home. Luckily, I manage to find an old one, it has holes but no blood stains, so it will do.

We are ten minutes out when I feel the mindlink open. “Where are you?” the king asks.

“Ten minutes out. What’s up?” I ask.

“I am on my way back home, but further out, I need you to get Azalea and bring her home.” the king tells me and I glance at Liam opening the link enough that he can hear as well. He sits a little straighter when he feels that it’s the king on the other end of the mindlink.

“Azalea?” I ask.

“She ran off with Dustin to go after Abbie. You need to get to her until I get there.”

“Fuck! That fucking idiot should know better than to take Azalea into hunter’s territory at night!”

“I’ll head straight there,” I tell him.

“Which road?” I ask, infuriated that Dustin could be so reckless.

“Highway,” the king answers. That is the worst road to travel on at night. “Abbie?” I ask.

“Perfectly fine. We are seeing her on the weekend. You can come but bring my fucking mate home!” the king tells me.

“I will bring the queen back to you. What of Dustin?” I ask for Liam’s sake. He won’t handle watching him cop lashings or worse banishment.

“Leave him for me,” The king growls, cutting the link.

After speaking to the king, Liam falls silent and I know that’s because of the mention of Dustin in this.

“If the king don’t his beat ass I fucking will, how could he be so foolish,” Liam snarls angrily. He glares out the windshield.

“I’ll try to run interference if I can, but the king didn’t sound happy.” I pull the car over knowing I will be quicker on foot.

“You’ll take the boys to Clarice for me.”

Liam nods, jumping out of the car and switching places with me, I start stripping, getting ready to shift.

I am furious that Dustin has helped her. That shocks me, simply because such actions will have severe consequences. Though at the same time, I am glad for Abbie’s sake.

Yet I also worried for Liam, since he and Dustin are close. I know Liam loves Dustin; I’m just not sure if it is reciprocated. Though how he manages to override his pact oath to protect like that is beyond me; I just can’t see him putting her at risk. The pact to protect our queen will always override everything, which now kind of bothers me because that means overriding protecting Abbie if it comes between choosing between them. Pacts aren’t taken lightly and require the king’s blood and hours of orders forced on us so we can’t break them.

The only one who can break it is the king. He could force us to break it, but that would also be extremely difficult for him to do. We would still run back for her the moment the command would drop. We could also fight the orders if they were specifically putting the queen in danger. Exactly why we all turned on the king when he banished her out of the castle. Most who signed up for it passed out and couldn’t pass the Royal Guard. Only eleven of us made it through the process, two of whom were dead now. It worked similarly to the council not being able to be commanded.

11

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