Page 63 of Mated To The King's Gamma
“Just like that bitch, Marissa! Just gotta stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!” I hear an angry voice. The mindlink opens, and the last thing I hear is Kyson’s panicked voice when someone grabs the scruff of my shirt, fisting it below my chin. Is that Tanner? The figure lifts me before I see his fist fly toward my face, and darkness swallows me.
I swallow, my tongue feels thick in my mouth, and my arms hang limply by my head. I turn my head, peering around to find myself upside down over Tanner’s shoulder, and we are deep within the woods. The mindlink goes crazy when I hear shouting in the distance and smell the smoke from a fire somewhere.
The stables are on fire, and I hear people shouting. Tanner curses and mutters, trudging through the woods, and I remain silent when I hear his phone ringing.
‘Kyson!’ I murmur through the mindlink, barely able to hold a conscious thought. My head is pounding like a drum, my skin laced in goosebumps from the dropping temperature.
‘Where are you, Azzy?’ he rushes out.
‘Woods. Tanner,’ I murmur. My consciousness wanes, and I feel queasy and so heavy as I sway with each step he takes.
“What else did you expect me to do? Just meet me at the tunnels! The plan can still go ahead! The hunters are already on their way. This changes nothing!” I hear Tanner yell at someone on the phone before darkness sweeps over me once again.
26
Everyone frantically searches for Azalea, Tyson, and Tandi as Cedric and I pull up. Trey is in a panic because he can’t feel her through the sire bond, and I can’t feel her through our mate bond, either.
Cedric and I race toward where we can see smoke. I had been trying to force the mindlink, failing to reach her, when all of a sudden, I suddenly feel her pain. I almost run the car off the road as the pain smashes through our bond. Despite leaving the entire guard here except for Cedric, trouble still found us, and they weren’t enough to protect her.
Now, all I can think about is finding her. I order Damian, Gannon, and Dustin to find Tyson and Tandi. The compulsion from the oath has them frantically caught between their queen and their mates and children, something I may have to reconsider. Azalea would be devastated if their desire to help her overruled that of Abbie and Tandi or their children.
“Fire! The stables are on fire!” Trey points to the stables. I can hear Damian shouting orders through the mindlink while I’m trying to reach Azalea. It’s utter chaos.
“Where is Tyson?” Gannon asks, grabbing my arm. I see Abbie race across the lawns toward the stables, screaming for her son. Guards are using hoses and buckets, trying to put the fire out. I run through the back doors of the stables. The trapped horses inside their stalls buck and try to break out as the flames draw nearer, licking up the walls and roof.
Liam frantically rips the stall doors open, letting the horses out. Dustin calls out for Tyson, who I can hear crying. The smoke is so thick and the heat so intense the closer we get to the front of the stables. Black billowing smoke spews out, making it difficult to see, and the fire rages as the doors bang in the wind.
“Got him!” Dustin yells before rushing past me, but I can’t see Azalea anywhere or pick up her scent with the smoke. Dustin rushes out with Tyson in his arms. I cough and choke on the smoke while checking the stalls for Azalea when I feel her wake. The mindlink flickers weakly as if she is trying to reach me.
‘Kyson,’ she murmurs through it. Her consciousness is weak through the bond, and I can feel how much pain she is in my own head, throbbing along with hers.
‘Where are you, Azzy?’ I rush out, knowing she won’t be conscious for long.
‘Woods. Tanner,’ she murmurs, and I can feel her slipping away from me.
‘Stay with me, love. Hold on. I need you awake so I can find you,’ I tell her, but the link dissolves no matter how much I try to hold on to it.
‘Get to the woods! It’s Tanner!’ I scream across the link and hear the howls of the Landeena guards outside as they take off through the woods in hunt of their queen.
“On it!” Liam yells out from somewhere outside.
Liam and Trey rush off the moment Trey feels that sliver of her consciousness, trying to follow his sire bond. I attempt to navigate my way out of the enormous stables when I hear Damian’s voice.
“Tandi!” Damian screams out as he rushes into the stall across from me.
“Kyson, help me!” Damian yells as I am about to run for the door to go after Azalea. With a growl, I move to help him find her top half trapped beneath a trapdoor. He opens the lid, and I rip her out. The trapdoor falls heavily to the ground with a loud thud.
“Tanner, your gardener. He took Azalea,” Tandi gasps as I hear the cracking of the tin roof above us. It is going to cave in any minute, and we need to get out of here.
“Larkin is down there!” she gasps, choking on the smoke. I pass her off to one of the guards, who is helping free the horses. He quickly takes her and runs out with her. My vision burns as the smoke gets thicker. My lungs wheeze with each breath.
“The old tunnels. And I think I figured out who was supplying the Wolfsbane to that witch!” Damian growls as I look into the trapdoor. Larkin wriggles on the ground, shackled by rope and silver chains that I can smell are doused in Wolfsbane.
“Don’t just stand there. Help me!” he chokes out. Damian grits his teeth, and I know he believes if he let him die, all his issues would be solved.
“I need to find Azalea,” I tell him. I couldn’t care less for Larkin right now when my mate is in the woods somewhere. Shifting, my vision adjusts, and my hearing strengthens as I shove out the doors and run for the forest.
I can hear every crunch of the twigs and leaves, even over the raging storm. Sniffing the air as I run, I pick up her scent in minutes, along with the savage sounds of fighting. Bursting through a thicket of trees, I find Azalea unconscious on the ground.
