Page 98 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“He wouldn’t do that,” I said but couldn’t hide the hesitation in my voice.

“I won’t be able to see you, Sam.” Panic flared in her eyes. “I’ll be trapped in the fucking Alpha House, cut off from everyone I care about.”

A low whine punctuated her words. All her life, all Rynn wanted was to belong to a pack that respected and loved her. The one she’d been born into had cared for her, but only as a political pawn to be traded. The Valatieris were one of the strongest Velesian bloodlines, and her uncle ruled the largest of the Narchis packs. Rynn was basically a shifter princess.

“Hey.” I ran a hand through her shoulder-length, chestnut brown hair. “Do you really think they could keep me away from you?” I snorted. “Better question, do you really think they could keep Cali away?”

She huffed out a laugh. “No, but I wouldn’t let either of you get into trouble for me.”

“Oh, my sweet, sweet wolf.” I shook my head at her. “You don’tletus do anything. If the Alphas are going to treat you this way, then they don’t deserve you. We’ll get you away from them and give you the chance to find a pack of your own choosing.”

“Sam, you ca?—”

I flicked her on the nose again, and she let out a low growl.

“Trust me. Now”—I rubbed my hands together—“any ideas on how we get out of this current predicament? We need to get to Lake Malov and search for the crown.”

She sighed. “As pissed off as I am at Cade and the other Alphas, I think we should tell them. We kind of have to at this point anyway if we want to search that area, and we might need their help down the road. They are a lot of things, but I don’t think there is any chance of them being involved in this. Ryker’s family was killed by wraiths, and he was taken in afterwards by Cade and Bastian. They would never ally with someone who was working with the wraiths.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” I smiled brightly at Rynn. “On the plus side, if you’re wrong and they are working withErendriel and Velika, then we can just kill them and solve your little problem.”

Rynn shot me a wolfish grin. “Always looking on the bright side.”

“This is exactlywhy everyone hates the Moroi,” Bastian said after I’d explained our situation. Most of it anyway—I’d left out anything involving Draven. “The rest of us are just trying to survive in this fucked-up land, and you bastards somehow find the time to discover cursed Fae artifacts and use them to enslave others.”

The ailuran had been his human form when Rynn and I had returned, wearing a pair of loose-fitting pants and nothing else. It was too bad the Alphas were such assholes and I had a high probability of killing them in the future, because every single one of them was hot. Even with the feline disgust stamped all over his face, Bastian was gorgeous.

Standing next to Cade, who was more of a ruggedly handsome type, Bastian looked almost pretty. I thought it might be his eyes. Even in this form, his bright, emerald green eyes had vertically slit pupils, and something about that with the chiseled cheekbones and full lips made him captivatingly stunning.

“No need to drool, Samara.” He finally noticed me outright staring at him and gave me a sinful grin. “I don’t usually fuck Moroi, but I’ll slum it in your case.”

Vail growled, but I just batted my eyelashes at Bastian. “Actually, I was just thinking Rynn should maybe have a go with you before I slit your throat and feed you to that tree that tried to eat you earlier.”

His grin got a little sharper.

“Not helping, Sam.” Rynn sighed.

“Sorry, I got bored listening to him prattle on about howthe Moroi are so awful and the Velesians are so perfect.” I shrugged and then looked at Cade. He was the only one I needed to convince. “My mother believed the other half of the crown might be hidden near Lake Malov. We need to search that area.”

“And if we find it?” Cade’s fingers brushed the scar that ran from his ear down his jawline, the roughly healed, pale tissue standing out against his light brown skin. “If you think I’m letting you walk out of here with it, you’re even more insane than I thought.”

“Careful,” Vail rumbled.

Cade glanced at Vail curiously, but it was Bastian who spoke. “For someone who got drunk with us on more than one occasion and talked about how you dreamed about killing the Harker Heir, it seems a little strange to find you defending her.” His nostrils flared as he inhaled and tilted his head slightly. “Not to mention that we can still smell you all over each other. Pussy was that good, huh?”

Vail took a step forward, but I yanked him back, forcing Rynn to step to the side before I raised a brow at Bastian. “My pussy is, in fact, that good. Dream of me.” Rynn laughed under her breath while I blew him a kiss before turning my attention to Cade. “It just so happens I agree about the crown. At this point, I don’t know which Moroi are working with the Sovereign House. While I can vouch for myself and those close to me, we’re also the ones most at risk of being captured.”

“What do you propose?” Cade asked, his expression curious. He always was the most reasonable of the Alphas as long as we didn’t push him too far.

“We destroy it,” I said. “Something like that shouldn’t exist to begin with.”

Cade studied me for a long moment, and I fixed my features into a pleasant but neutral expression. Something told me he didn’t buy it, but he glanced at Rynn, and somethingpassed in his eyes that I couldn’t quite read. Once again, I wished Kieran were here. He was better than me at picking up subtle cues like this.

“Fine,” Cade agreed. “We destroy it. But I want to see it destroyed with my own eyes.”

“Wonderful.” I dipped my chin in agreement. “Can we head to the lake now?”

“Of course. Follow me.” He turned and set off through the woods. I looked over my shoulder in time to catch Bastian reaching out for Rynn’s arm but yanking his hand away when she snarled at him. Then he stalked off after Cade and we followed after him.

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