Page 13 of Renegade Kings

A noise amongst the trees had the guards all reaching for their weapons as they stepped closer to our group. It wasn’t as comforting as it probably should have been. I didn’t trust these men to protect us from whatever it was they were so terrified of. I didn’t trust them to protect her. It had the bear surging for control again and for a split second, I actually thought he’d win. Hair bristled down my arms as the fur tried to roll across my skin, and fangs punched through my gums, flooding my mouth with the taste of blood.

The bear rejoiced, pushing harder as he felt my control fraying. It didn’t help that part of me thought shifting might actually be a good idea. I had no weapons and no training on how to keep Alyssa safe in this form, but the bear would never let anything past him. He’d shred every threat and not spend a second grieving Fizzle and Rhidian, who had firmly moved into the enemy category as far as he was concerned.

And it was that thought that had me pulling back on the shift. Clinging to the human form that would keep everyone around me safe. It had been clear back at the cave that Alyssa considered Rhidian a friend. They shared a past, one forged in pain and mutual understanding. Fizzle was possibly even more than that. She might doubt them now, but that didn’t mean days from now she wouldn’t come to see their deaths as the tragedy they would be and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was the cause.

So the bear had to stay contained for now.

He roared his displeasure into my mind, and the pain was near blinding as it struck my temples. My hands came up to bracket each side of my head as if I thought I could hold him at bay or at least stop the pain from building to where my skull would surely split open. A rampaging bear was the last thing we needed right now.

Alyssa’s soft hand reached for mine as she pulled it away from my head. I hadn’t even realised that we’d all come to a stop until I looked down at her in confusion.

“Not now. It’s not the time,” she murmured, and I knew she was talking to the bear and not me.

He quieted, but I could feel him watching her through my eyes.

This was better. This was easier to manage. If he could contain his rage and thirst for violence, he could at least spend his time watching for danger.

The bear huffed petulantly at me. Even if he could see the point, he’d never accept that immediately removing the threats wasn’t the better idea. But, for now at least, he seemed to concede control to me as he waited at the edges of my mind, watching for when he was needed.

Alyssa’s gaze darted behind me, further up the path we seemed to follow. I could see the unease that had her muscles bunching up, ready for action. Pulling her to my chest, I tipped my head down to brush my cheek against her hair, inhaling her scent as I let it settle the bear inside me.

“If you want to turn back, we can. Their tiny swords are nothing,” I murmured against her hair, knowing only she could hear me.

The others shouldn’t be able to shift until the full moon, but Maddox had managed it once when Alyssa had been in danger before. I was fairly confident he could do it again if a fight broke out now. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dean’s shift would follow as well. The only problem was Fizzle’s magic. He’d overwhelmed us with it once before. So the question really was whether he’d be willing to do it again. He was clearly in on whatever this was with Rhidian, but he’d tried to make Alyssa leave before. Maybe he’d be willing to help her now if she accepted that was what she wanted.

“No. We need to see this through. I want to know what’s happening here and we need…” Her gaze darted to Dean, who bristled at the implication. He didn’t like that he was currently our weakest link. Dean might have been managing his injury until now, no doubt largely in part to his shifter healing, but that didn’t mean he could keep this up. He needed medical treatment, and we didn’t have the supplies to do that ourselves.

Dean glared at the two of us from where he was leaning against Ryder. He clung to Alyssa’s other hand like it was his lifeline, and I couldn’t fault him for it. She gave me a strength I’d never be able to find anywhere else, either.

“Let’s do this then,” I grumbled, turning back to the direction we’d been heading.

Rhidian flinched, his fingers twitching like he was trying to hold himself back from reaching for his sword, and a wicked grin stretched across my lips in response.

He saw us for the threat we were, and there was something satisfying in knowing it.

Alyssa nodded, and we pushed forward, the guards awkwardly mirroring our movements, as relief practically flowed off them in waves.

“It’s not far now,” Alyssa said, more to herself than anyone else.

She still had her hand in mine, and her grip tightened at her words. I knew she was trying to find the strength to keep moving forward and if walking between Dean and me, holding each of our hands was what she needed, she’d hear no objections from either of us.

There wasn’t much room on the path for us to walk in a line and Ryder had little option but to tag on the end as he kept Dean upright.

“Stick to the path,” one guard barked as Ryder’s steps strayed further into the undergrowth.

I frowned in confusion as I looked around us again. I could see how the guard was glaring down at the ground and a thought struck me—it wasn’t something hiding in the forest that was making them so nervous, it was the actual forest itself. Even when the guards strayed from the path, they were carefully picking their way across the ground through areas where the plantlife didn’t grow.

A vine hung from a tree ahead. Caught in the soft breeze, it drifted closer towards us as we went to pass. My hand automatically came up to push it aside, only to have a flash of steel cut through the air above me. I pulled my hand back with a growl, squinting in annoyance at the guard which had appeared at my side.

“You’re welcome,” he snarled. “Now keep your hands to yourself.”

What the fuck was going on here?

Even Alyssa seemed to have perked up at what was happening. Her eyes lit with curiosity as she looked out into the forest again.

When she pulled away from me, stepping across my path to reach for one of the trees, it was the guard my hands snapped out to stop. He didn’t get the honour of touching my mate. Besides, if there was anyone in this group I trusted to know what they were doing in this place, it was Alyssa.

“Alyssandra,” Fizzle warned, but her steps didn’t falter at the name she rarely heard anymore.