Page 166 of The King is Dead
I leaned in, cupping her waist, letting my lips brush her ear. “I know you didn’t blame her. And I’m sure you reassured her,” I murmured. “We both know she’ll forgive you. You arenotthe problem. You’re loving and protective, and your sister needs those around her who can see ahead for her. So do not fret, Love. We will get through this. We’ll getthemthrough this.”
She sighed, nodding, sinking against my chest and burying her face in my neck.
I couldn’t resist a smile, and dropped my voice to a breath. “And when we do, I am going to take you away from that Palace, strip you naked, and bend you over a bed the size of Theynor if I have to have it specially made. Large enough to throw you bodily into the pillows when you can’t walk after,” I growled.
Yilan snorted against my neck, but I felt the rush of warmth and approval in the bond. She lifted her head and met my eyes with her gaze heated. Until someone moved behind me and her eyes dropped and that burden of unease and outright fear flooded through her.
“Yilan,” I rumbled, trying to make my tone soft, but firm. “God knows what He’s—”
Behind me, a flurry of shouts and snarls rose out of the dark, like a pack of wild dogs had just stumbled on a carcass and were fighting over who got to eat first.
Or like Nephilim fighting over a prize.
62. Visitors
~ MELEK ~
Yilan gasped. My first instinct was that Gall had likely misread someone’s proximity to Istral. We both leaped to our feet.
Sure enough, as I turned, pulling one of my spears to my side, the glow of the campfire revealed Gall on his feet, eyes dark and mouth open in a snarl of warning—and his hand gripped on a spear as well.
Shit. I’d forgotten we armed him for travel.
I scanned the space, trying to figure out who he’d drawn that blade for, who he was staring at and preparing to kill, my mind already turning over how I could help him understand the difference between an insensitive comment and a threat to his mate. Then Gall moved, that blade in his hand flashing as he took a lightening quick swipe at someone.
“Gall!” I barked. “What the hell—”
But as all eyes turned towards me, I realized something was wrong.
Gall was on three-quarter profile to me, Istral standing between us, her hands on her mouth.
I hurriedly counted. The other four Neph—Jann, Hever, Kran and Drek—were all on their feet too, Diadre just behind them, alloff to my left, and all looking in the same direction as Gall while he growled a vicious challenge.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the mists beyond him cleared enough for me to make outtwonew Neph, both half-crouched at the edge of the trees, teeth bared, and prepared to fight.
“Come on, Gall,” one of them muttered. “This place is deadly. We can’t let you stand between us and survival.” The voice was rough, ragged, like its owner was injured or sick, but the steely determination was unmistakable.
Gall shook his head and tightened his grip on that blade. “Fuck off,” he snarled, making me blink. “I’m a warrior now. And you’re not taking her. She’smine—”
I’d seen enough. I roared at all of them to stand down as I tore past Istral and pulled Gall back from the others, whose brows rose in surprise at my intervention.
“What the actual fuck?” I growled, standing between Gall and the two, who I now recognized as Rayan and Norg, two Lieutenants that I liked, but didn’t trust. “What areyoudoing here?”
Norg’s chin dropped a hair and he glanced at Rayan, who sank back a step to let me know he wasn’t challenging. But he didn’t shift his stance, and his eyes were glinting, darting over my shoulder.
“We were coming for Jann,” Rayan said, his eyes cutting back and forth between me and the others. “But this fucking place is going to kill us. And these Fetch are unmated—”
“No, she’s not!”Gall roared.
I threw a hand back to stop him moving, but his breath was tearing in and out of his throat. If I didn’t get this settled quickly, he would snap.
I heard Yilan’s sharp intake of breath, her hurried steps to her sister’s side, and her whispers. The eyes of the two new Neph widened when they recognized Yilan. And I saw Rayan’s eyes drop to her hands, then feet. Because she was unbound.
Shit. We might have to kill them to keep our secrets.
“Eyes on me, you fuckers,” I growled.
They both snapped wary eyes back to me as everyone else went quiet. Mentally, I pleaded with my mate not to choose now to use that sharp tongue of hers.
