Page 61 of Renegade Queen

Ryder

Maddox was a fucking lion! I knew he was before this, but then he’d exploded into a lion right in front of me, and I’d seen it with my own eyes.

And holy fuck, it was cool!

I was side-eyeing the big cat lounging on the grass, pretending to be asleep and keeping one lazy eye on Alyssa at all times.

“So, is he going to stay like that?” I asked, the thought not able to stay inside for any longer.

“No. He needs to come to an understanding with the cat. I’ve never seen anyone shift this early before. He hasn’t had time to form a bond with the animal. It might take him a while…”

And then Maddox transformed before our eyes.

It was like the shithead was only doing it to prove Tank wrong. But whatever. It worked. Even if I was currently looking at my brother’s junk.

“Clothes are going to become an issue,” Dean grumbled, rummaging through one of the three packs we had left and throwing a pair of pants at Maddox, who sheepishly caught them and turned his back on us.

His lily-white ass wasn’t exactly any better, and my eyes cut to Alyssa out of interest. The way she bit her lip as she watched him pull them on drew me to her like a moth to a flame.

“You wanna bite it, don’t you?” I joked.

I didn’t expect her to nod dreamily before she shook her head in disbelief at what she’d just done.

The blush that crept across her cheeks was adorable. Especially when Maddox threw a cheeky wink over his shoulder at her, and she knew he’d heard.

“That was intense,” Maddox said, scratching at his back sheepishly.

It was a smart move. Because as he stretched his body taut, Alyssa took an unconscious step toward him, her eyes dancing across the muscles he flexed for her.

I’d never noticed how cat-like Maddox was before until he slunk closer to Alyssa. He moved with a grace I didn’t know he had. His hand slipped to her neck as he circled behind her, drawing Alyssa close to his body as his lips whispered across her shoulder.

It was a move I’d never seen him make. Maddox wasn’t exactly shy, but I didn’t know if he’d ever been this bold with a woman before.

“I can still feel him, just below the surface. And it’s difficult to separate his thoughts from my own,” Maddox confessed as his teeth scraped over her skin.

And I was absolutely rock solid watching them.

Alyssa leaned back against his body, practically melting at his touch, the two of them uncaring of the audience they had in front of them.

This was the plan. This was what I wanted. And I ached to join them.

But something held me back, and it wasn’t something that was coming from me. The wolf inside me made me pause. As he rose to the surface in interest, he took in the sight of the lion before us, seducing his mate, and he fucking loved it.

This was a party we needed an invitation to, though. And I felt it with as much certainty as if I’d thought it myself. Maddox needed this moment to solidify his bond with Alyssa, to see that she would accept him no matter his form. There would be a time for us to join them, but it wasn’t now.

So, even though I didn’t want to, I turned away and gave them the only semblance of privacy I could.

Tank was rummaging through the packs, cataloguing what we had, completely uncaring about the show happening behind me. Only Dean seemed transfixed by them. I watched as his fists clenched and released at his side. For the first time since this whole thing had happened, I saw it in him. When he reluctantly pulled his gaze away from the couple behind me and met my eyes, I saw the flash of something different there. The gold hue that hadn’t been in his iris before almost seemed to glow, and I knew without a doubt that it was his wolf looking out at me.

I approached him cautiously. My own wolf, knowing not to push him at this moment. When I reached his side, Dean reached for me. He clung to my sleeve as he pulled me closer and cautiously dipped his head forward before breathing in my scent.

When he moved away, he nodded and turned his back, moving to help Tank in his task.

I was confused as fuck, even if my wolf was happy with whatever that just was. When I pulled myself together and opened my mouth to ask what had just happened, Tank spoke before I even had the chance.

“Pack looks after pack,” he said gruffly, pulling a package of food from the bag and tossing it my way. “It’s the animal's need that you’ll have to get used to.”

I unwrapped the thick bread and cheese he’d given me and took a cautious bite as I tried to understand what he was saying.