Page 42 of Renegade Kings

“Can we reach her?”

“Not without drawing the attention of the alphas.”

The wolf’s gaze darted to Maddox’s lion, who continued to lie in the grass, his tail twitching back and forth, the only outward sign that he had any concern at all.

Either he didn’t think this was as big a danger as we did or he knew something we didn’t.

The sound of rustling leaves and snapping wood punctuated the air and my wolf tensed, readying for an attack. This was the last thing we needed when our group was so divided, although maybe it would be enough to distract the two alphas from each other.

As I readied for whatever was about to come, Maddox’s lion finally stood and shook out his mane. Was he finally taking this seriously, and why did that freak me out more than reassure me?

But then I watched in confused fascination as vines exploded out of the ground. I’d seen this before, and from the confused look on Alyssa’s face, this wasn’t something she was doing.

In the space of time it took for my wolf to inhale, intending to bark out a warning to Dean, the water from the lake suddenly surged up the shore, collecting into a wave as it threatened to crash down upon us all.

The vines snapped tense and then flew towards Dean, each one coated with vicious thorns ready to tear through flesh.

“Enough!” Alyssa shouted. She threw her hands in the air as her face creased in annoyance.

And everything stopped.

The wave froze over; the vines fell to the ground, lifeless, and she strode between the two alphas like she didn’t have a care in the world.

My wolf sat his ass down, the closest thing to a grin on his face as he could manage. “Mate was always going to be alpha. Men never see these things.”

“You’re a guy,” I pointed out and then panicked. “Oh shit, you are a guy, right? I didn’t become a girl. Am I a girl? Oh fuck, what happened to my dick? Am I getting my dick back?”

The wolf laughed and didn’t answer, so I spent the rest of my energy trying to concentrate on whether or not I could feel a dick. It might not have been the best use of my time, but this was definitely the most important issue for me right now.

Chapter 18

Alyssa

Ithink I was pulling off the whole pretending I knew what I was doing. Or at least with the guys. If Fizzle had been here, he’d never have let me get away with not admitting I had no idea how I did what I did back at the clearing.

One thing was for definite; I desperately needed to start training with my magic again.

Something was different, and I couldn’t put my finger on when it had changed. Had it been when we’d come through the portal? There had been so many occasions when I’d accessed my magic and something unpredictable had happened.

It should have freaked me out. After all, I wasn’t exactly the poster child for normal when it came to magic. I was still having difficulty accepting what I’d done to the guys. Or at least I think I was responsible. I wasn’t entirely sure about that either.

Fuuuuuuuck!

Why was this always the way my life went?

One thing was for sure, though, the guys had definitely changed since going through their shift, and I was surprised they were even still awake considering what had just gone down. Dean and Tank had accessed magic they had no business possessing, not if we were going by the normal rules of this realm, at least.

Ryder bounded into the suite of rooms, looking like a hyperactive puppy as he twisted on the spot, like he was searching for something.

“Someone has been here,” he gasped, not sounding like it bothered him in the least. Instead, he all but sprinted to the fire in the fireplace like it was the first time he’d ever seen such a thing.

We followed him into the rooms. Dean and Tank slunk over to the seats, sitting down and practically pouting as they pointedly ignored each other. The alphas apparently didn’t enjoy getting put in their places—especially when it wasn’t on top.

Maddox, on the other hand, might have changed just as much as the others, but I had a feeling it was because his lion was still riding him for control.

His hands came to my waist, and he jerked me back against his chest as he ran his lips across my shoulder. I shuddered in response, already feeling my toes wanting to curl as he moved to gently bite the lobe of my ear.

“We need to figure out what we do next,” I stumbled out, Maddox throwing me off what I wanted to say as he trailed his fingers down my arms.