Page 49 of Renegade Kings

The sunlight was only just touching the windows when my eyes finally opened. My body felt like I’d run a marathon and gone ten rounds with someone the size of Tank.

Slowly slipping out from the tangle of limbs, my feet met the cold tile of the floor, and I stretched, hearing the audible pop of my spine as I did. I couldn’t help but look down at the beautiful woman at the centre of the bed. My mate. It felt so right that I couldn't believe I’d made it this far in life without her.

I could feel Alyssa’s bond at the centre of my chest like a comforting warmth, reminding me she was mine. Beside it, each of the guys sat. A pride. It was almost like we’d been working towards this our whole lives without even realising. But something was still missing.

Damon.

He should be here. He should be a part of this.

It didn’t feel right to let this loneliness and pain flow over me when I was standing over the others. I didn’t want to taint what had happened here with my grief over my brother. So, I silently stalked across the bedroom, slipping out of the door and into the sitting room instead.

As soon as I was two steps into the room, I paused. The lion went on full alert as a scent reached me that didn’t belong.

Someone had been here while we’d all been sleeping. If the scent hadn’t been enough, the new tray of food on the table and the bundles of clothes were definitely enough to give it away.

I moved to the main door, testing the lock and finding it locked. Whoever had been inside had a key, which troubled me even more. No one should have been able to come inside here without us knowing. We shouldn’t have let our guard down enough for them to get that close to our sleeping mate.

The lion inside me roared out his rage. It echoed around my mind, building my agitation even higher. With it came a need to hunt, to remove the threat to our mate and our pride.

My hand gripped the handle of the door and I was moments away from ripping it open and giving into my urge when a noise behind me had me turning, bracing for an attack. Only it wasn’t an interloper. It was Alyssa, leaning against the bedroom door with a silly grin on her face.

I moved towards her without a second thought, pulling her into my arms and kissing her as the lion purred in happiness at having her close.

“I thought you were asleep.” The lion was pissed at me for having woken her, and the furry fuck was practically pouting at me.

“I was. But then I felt your anger through the bond and I wanted to make sure that you were all right.”

If he could have, I had no doubt the lion would be clawing at my mind in punishment right now, and I pointed out to him that this was actually his fault as well. “Mate should be asleep,” he grumbled.

I wasn’t getting used to that anytime soon.

It was strange enough knowing that he was always present, watching, assessing. But to actually hear his thoughts as well, it would take a lot of getting used to.

“Someone was in our rooms while we were asleep,” I told her, knowing that she would have already realised the same thing.

Now that I said it aloud, I could see how ridiculous I was being. It didn’t stop the lions need to hunt them down, though.

“Get mate back to bed, then hunt,” the lion grumbled, not willing to let it go.

I shook my head gently, willing him to the back of my mind, and he slunk back into the depths, not happy about being denied.

Alyssa smiled again, slipping out of my arms and going to investigate the things that had been delivered. She seemed fairly happy to see it all, reaching out and grabbing some of the bread without giving it a second thought.

As she raised it to her lips, my hand darted out, slapping it out of her grasp and the bread tumbled to the floor.

She slowly turned to look at me, one eyebrow raised, and I knew I was about to get it full force if I didn’t explain myself quickly.

“It could be poisoned,” I pointed out, realising the lion was still more in control than I’d realised. “We don’t know where it came from or who brought it,” I tried to reason.

Alyssa looked amused. The little smile on her face made her all kinds of cute and that had the lion obsessing over something completely different to poison and betrayal. Then she pointed at the tray, or more specifically, the note from Rhidian that sat on it.

“It could still be poisoned,” I grumbled.

I didn’t trust that fucker. I was convinced he knew more than he was telling us, and until he could prove that he was without question on our side, there was no way I’d let him near Alyssa alone.

Knowing that I might be bordering on the ridiculous, I quickly picked up another piece of bread and shoved it in my mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing. There. Now we’d find out if poison was going to be a problem and it finally appeased the lion enough for him to back off and let me feel like myself again. Or at least whatever this new version of me was supposed to be.

Alyssa laughed, sitting down on the seat behind her and then patting the cushion for me to join her. “Are you quite done with all your male posturing?”