Page 4 of Renegade Kings
“That… that… human tried to murder me!” Fizzle yelled, spinning back to Ryder but tripping over his wing instead.
The irate owl gryphon quickly shook out his fur as best as he could, but from the pissed off expression on his face, there was no way Ryder could escape this unscathed.
“I didn’t try to murder you! I saved you!” Ryder indignantly crossed his arms over his chest, a look of outrage crossed his face. “I wasn’t going to abandon you to The Endless.”
“I can fly, you imbecile!”
“Yeah, well… I didn’t think of that.”
I didn’t want to be the one to point out that Ryder had done the right thing, mainly because I’d faced Fizzle’s wrath before, and I wasn’t exactly keen to experience it again.
“Fizzle… Fizzle…” The two of them were locked in a stare off, and I knew things were about to get bloody. “FIZZLE!”
“What! Can’t you see that I’m about to flay the human?”
Ryder reeled back in shock, perhaps not realising how close he was to actual bodily harm right now. I could have sworn I’d already warned him about this, but maybe it was a lesson he needed to learn in person.
“I need you…” My voice broke, and it was all the evidence that Fizzle needed to break away from his vengeance and come to my side. “I need you to look around and tell me if we’re where I think we are.”
Maddox and Ryder hauled their exhausted bodies off the sand and staggered closer. Exhaustion was practically rolling off them in waves, and now that the adrenaline surge of nearly losing Dean was fading, I was feeling it, too.
I felt Maddox’s fingers brush against mine as he passed, going to check on his friend. Ryder stopped at my side, looking at me with concern, even if he did make sure to keep me between him and Fizzle.
My old friend glanced at the lake, the trees, and then up at the sun before he tilted his head to the side and scented the air.
“Nymeria gives what you need when you least expect it,” he told us cryptically, and my stomach soured.
I didn’t need this.
I didn’t need to be back in this place so soon.
“I need you to say it, Fizzle. I don’t think I can accept that it’s real until you do.”
Ryder looked around like he was searching for something to fight. His arm came around my waist and he pulled me protectively into his embrace. Sound behind us had me glancing over his shoulder, and I saw Tank and Maddox trying to keep Dean down on the ground.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” he growled. “Can’t you see she needs me?”
“You’re on the verge of collapsing from blood loss, and minutes ago, you were actually dead. You need to stay down and stop fucking about,” Tank snapped. “She’s not alone. Trust us to have this,” he added more quietly, even if I could still make out the words.
I wanted to go to them. I wanted to drop to my knees and lose myself in the men that meant so much to me. To distract myself by fussing around Dean until I annoyed him so much that he did that sexy frustrated growl like he couldn’t contain the annoyance inside him any longer.
Instead, Fizzle’s words breached that illusion of peace, forcing me to face the one truth I desperately didn’t want to admit.
“You’re home, Alyssa. You’re back at the Spring Court.”
Chapter 2
Maddox
My fists clenched in Dean’s shirt as I tried to force him to stop being a stubborn ass and to also process what we’d heard.
The Spring Court?
I looked around like I expected something to jump out at me. It was unfairly beautiful here. It should have been some kind of hellscape. Something that represented the horror of what Alyssa had endured. Instead, we were on a peaceful sandy lakeshore; the sun glinting off the calm lake waters as the shade of the luscious trees protected us from the rays.
This was the type of place where you’d want to bring someone for a romantic picnic, not the site of a massacre that still haunted the woman I loved.
I didn’t even baulk at the idea of loving her. The man I used to be was long gone. If I could even call myself a man anymore. I could feel the lion inside me pacing at the idea that Alyssa could be in danger. That she shouldn’t be in this place.