by JL Madore
“You just keep your eyes on the road, soldier man. Don’t you worry about what’s goin’ on in the back.”
I roll my window up and look at Doc and Keyla in the mirror behind me. “Is Jaxx really going to start something up while we’re driving into the fringe or is he messing with the guy?”
Keyla snorts. “Oh, he’s probably already naked.”
“With Lukas in the truck?”
“What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you? They’re insatiable and have no threshold for modesty or propriety.”
“At least he warned Lukas to keep eyes front,” Doc says, chuckling. “We could’ve used a few of those warnings over the past four months.”
Rhylan chuckles. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to pass the travel time.”
“Sleeping is another,” Keyla says, lying down across the seat and resting her head in Dillan’s lap. “It’s been a long, emotional day. I’m going to close my eyes for a little bit.”
Doc gets her all cozied in and brushes her hair back with such a look of adoration in his gaze it feels too intimate to watch… and yet, I do. Watching the two of them loving each other fills my heart with hope.
One day soon, ‘love’ might be a word we all can share. And as wonderful as it’s been so far, I’m looking forward to that.
Keyla
I wake sometime later and the world is in darkness. I’m still lying on the seat of the truck but Doc is gone and the only other scent in the vehicle with me is Rhylan. His breathing is slow and steady in the seat behind me, but his scent says he’s anxious.
Shifting up to sit, I stretch and look around. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the Travon fringe in Granite Ridge. Hawk and Lukas are in negotiating weapons for us. Doc and Creed are stretching their legs and taking a piss.”
“And you got stuck babysitting?”
“Mostly they want me to stay out of sight.”
“Would people here recognize you? Is your brood from the fringe?”
“Not from around here, but yes, my brother and I are recognized often. The Silverwing twins carry a bit of celebrity. Our family is well known in Travon.”
I hear the sadness in his voice and smell the acrid bitterness of his scent. “I’m sorry life turned on you.”
“It is what it is.”
As crappy as things got for Kotah and me at times, we never lost our place in society. Sometimes we wished we weren’t royals but after seeing the damage done to Rhylan and Vikarus, I’m glad we didn’t get our wish.
“Well, you’re in good company. In this mating and this family, what happened before means nothing. The only thing we’re interested in is moving forward as a solid unit.”
With that in mind, I push up on my knees and lean over the seat to kiss his cheek.
Rhylan recoils and shifts to the other end of the back seat. “Uh… sorry. I don’t think you want to do that, Princess.”
I frown. “Kiss your cheek? It’s hardly scandalous. We’re mated to the same man and one day soon, I’m hoping the four of us will be a united quadruple.”
He swallows and shakes his head. ”I think we should just be friends and allies.”
“Friends? I think the chemistry between us is already beyond friendship.”
“How about friends with sexual tension?”
“Why do you want that?” I chuckle. Then it hits me. Him turning down those women the other night. Backing away and trying to get that girl out of his pants. “Oh… are you gay?”
“What? No. How’d you get there?”
I climb over the seat so there are no barriers between us. “Maybe that’s the real reason you were turning down those girls in your suite the other night. If that’s the case, you can tell me. I meant what I said. You’re safe with us, no matter what.”
Reaching forward, he shifts on the seat and pulls me to straddle his lap. His hands squeeze my hips before running a hot trail of tingles as he strokes a line up my sides from my hip to the swell of my breasts. Taking a detour inland, he finds the tightened nipples pushing against the fabric of my shirt and captures them between his fingers and thumbs.
The gentle tweak of him squeezing sends a rush of damp heat to my core and his body responds with a blast of arousal.
I suck in a breath. “So, not gay then.”
“Definitely not gay.”
As much as I want to lean in and start something hot and wet with him, I ease back and rein in my wild side. “Then why do you want to keep it friends between us? It seems you had no objections moving forward with Doc.”
“I had a lot of objections but needed to feed.”
“But the two of you seem good now.”
He nods. “Yeah, Doc’s cool.”
“He’s also great with his mouth.”
The flash of light in his eyes is playful and sweet. “I found that out.”
“So, you claim Creed as your own and you enjoyed getting to know Doc sexually. Why am I the exception?”
“I just think… I don’t want you to find out things and think I took advantage. There are things I need to talk to you about. Things you need to know but I wanted to talk to Creed first.”
“If they are things I need to know, why speak to Creed first?”
“Because I barely know you. I’m not sure how to talk to you or how you’ll welcome what I’ve got to say.”
I take his hands in mine and offer him an open smile. “You said there are things I need to know, so just tell me.”
He swallows and shakes his head. “I think I should wait and talk to Creed first. You’re his female and I don’t want to ruin things.”
“I’m bound to three males, yourself included. As you get to know me, you’ll find out what I hate most is being treated like a royal flower. I’m not that girl. If you’ve got something to say to me, say it.” My words come out harsher than I intend but his rising anxiety is upsetting my wolf.
I release his hands and grip the front of his shirt. I’m still straddling his lap and for some reason, I feel like I’ll need to hang on for this.
We lock gazes and Rhylan swallows. “Your father was poisoned to put your brother in power. Sebastian and Laryssa believed the instability of having an ostracized boy prince taking over the realm would leave an opening for Hawk’s father to assume command of your realm. Then, when he was king, Laryssa would have a foothold in the criminal activities that were making him so wealthy and powerful. They had an alliance and were close to completing it when the universe put the prophecy into motion.”
I hear his words and while it sounds like something from an espionage novel and not my life, I smell the truth of his words. “There was speculation… The cook at the palace said she believed Father was being poisoned, but no one believed her.”
“From what I know, they moved slowly to ensure no one grew suspicious. It took years to get it done.”
Hot tears warm my cheeks as I think of the senseless loss. “He wasn’t a great father but he was an incredible king. He and my mother ruled together and no one questioned the course of the realm.”
“I’m sorry, Princess. Things were set in motion long before Laryssa stole Creed’s throne. I only learned about the steps Laryssa had taken in bits and pieces over the past two years, but Sebastian’s agent in the palace had been there for a decade or more.”
“Who was it? Do you know?”
“The royal liaison. It was a woman who acted as their assistant.”
“Raven.” The name tastes sour on my tongue. “Kotah came to me with the possibility and I threw it back at him. Raven was my friend and there was no way I would listen to such lies about her.”
Climbing off Rhylan’s lap, I flop on the bench seat beside him. “Maybe if I had listened Father might’ve been saved.”
“Nothing good comes from second-guessing what is done,” he says. “Trust me. Vik and I tried for years to figure out if life would’ve been different if our father hadn’t stood his ground to keep our mother. What if
he left and didn’t fight? What if he shared her? What if he’d been strong enough to win? The ‘what if’ game takes you around in circles but changes nothing.”
I swipe my face with the sleeve of my shirt. “Don’t tell Kotah.”
“What? Why? I thought you two would want to know and maybe act on it.”
I push my grief down and get my head back on track. “Kotah never wanted to be king. He stepped up because he was forced to and is in a good place right now. With the help of Calli, Hawk, and the others, he’ll do well. There’s less than a decade left on the wildling reign anyway. There’s no need for him to know our father was killed because he was expected to fail.”
“All right. It’s your story to tell. If you want to keep it between us, I’m fine with that.”
I draw a steadying breath and reach forward to take his hand. “What I want to know now is why you thought this would affect how I feel about you?”
“It doesn’t?”
“Did you plot to have my father killed?”
“No, but I was present during Laryssa’s discussions at StoneHaven. I heard the messages from Hawk’s father. I made no attempt to help him or persuade her to not go along with her plans.”
I squeeze his hand. “You give yourself too much credit. If there’s one thing I know—it’s political ambition. There’s nothing a dragon bodyguard could do or say to derail people like Laryssa and Sebastian. I don’t hold you responsible in any way.”
The doors to the truck open and Creed and Doc climb in. Doc hasn’t even sat on his seat before his bear is rumbling off a violent growl. “What did you do, Dragon? Why has she been crying?”
Creed cranks around from the front seat and frowns. “What’s going on, Little Wolf? Are you all right?”
I raise a hand to stop the onslaught. “I’m fine. Rhylan informed me of a few things Laryssa was involved in that affected Kotah and me. My grief is for my father, not myself. It seems she and Sebastian had him killed as part of their plan to destabilize our realm and take control.”
“Oh, babe, I’m sorry,” Doc says, flopping on the seat in front of us and reaching over. So, Adahy was right about the poisoning?”
I nod, tears stinging my eyes once again. “About all of it. Rhy says Sebastian’s person on the inside is the royal liaison.”
“Raven. Damn, that’s hard to believe. She always seems so committed to your family.”
“I don’t want Kotah to know yet. I want to think about how to tell him, so he doesn’t take it personally.”
“Well, he can’t have her on his staff. He’ll have to be told something.”
I run my hand over my forehead and sigh. “I know. I’ll speak with Hawk privately and discuss it with him. He’ll know best how to deal with something like this.”
Rhylan’s mouth quirks up at the side. “You guys give Hawk a lot of credit on things. I thought him taking charge of everything was because he’s an autocratic alpha but you respect the guy.”
Dillan and I both nod. “He’s earned that respect a hundred times over in the past months. As you get to know him, you’ll realize he’s as powerful strategically and intellectually as he is in a corporate setting.”
“True story,” Doc says. “People see wealthy arrogance, but he’s much more than that.”
“I hate to rush this,” Creed says, still staring back from the front of the truck. “The quint is ready to roll. Are we good?”
I nod. “Yeah. Let’s go find your sister.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Creed
Thanks to the visions Honor left for me in the embedding of her traveler bed, I have a strong sense of where we’re going. If the queen’s guards had blindfolded her or covered her head, I wouldn’t be able to track her whereabouts with such certainty.
As it is, I follow her memories and watch for the road signs and landscape markers she took note of so I could track her.
“The address for the factory that supplied the lead panels corresponds to this area.” Rhylan has the back seat reading light on and is going through the folders with Doc. “I have a good feeling about this.”
I’m glad.
I need all the good feelings I can get because if Laryssa knows we attacked a compound where she had Honor and we don’t find her there, she’ll move her somewhere new and make her suffer for my insolence.
“What about your demon wolf?” Keyla asks from the seat beside me. “You mentioned you think the witch and likely the queen can track you when you’re in your cursed form. Do you think they’re able to track you if you haven’t shifted?”
“I don’t think so.” I hit my indicator and ease off the paved road to head across the dirt tracks of rough terrain. “I avoid shifting into that beast because it steals a bit of my soul every time I do. Something about the magic behind the curse makes me feel less myself with every change. I don’t think they can access the beast if it isn’t activated. Rhy? Do you know anything about that?”
“Not officially,” Rhy says, “but I don’t think they can track you as a man because the times you disappeared, Laryssa was beside herself screaming at us to find you before you disabled the tracker in your back. If she could track you by the curse, I don’t think she would’ve been so crazy.”
I didn’t think so either, but it’s nice to hear. After ten minutes of driving straight out into the middle of nowhere, we come to an old, broken sign for what used to be the town of Magic Springs. “Population forty-four thousand,” I say, reading the chipped paint.
Keyla leans forward and frowns out the front windshield. “I’d be surprised if there is a population of forty-four people out here now.”
“This is what the badlands are about, Little Wolf. Only the worst off and those who can no longer blend with civilization remain here.”
“The perfect place to hold up and not be found.”
I draw a deep breath. “Only, we are here and we’ve found them.”
“And once we have your sister and the two of you get a chance to regroup, we’ll put our heads together to figure out how to reclaim your quadrant.”
“I love how you and your family speak about reclaiming my throne as a certainty. When we reclaim your throne… when we beat Laryssa… when we find the blood witch and break her curse. I’ve never known such optimism.”
Keyla smiles over at me from her seat and the light from the second moon casts her face into silver light. “My father always used to say, ‘A leader must embrace his duty—despite personal sentiment, obstacles, dangers, or pressures from others. To fail in this is to lose the honor of being a male of worth.’ He made Kotah and I memorize that and repeat it to him all the time.”
I hear the sadness in her voice and reach over to take her hand in mine. “I’m sorry about your father. It sickens me that he lost his life in a plot he’ll never know he was targeted in. It’s not right. A male should be able to face his foes.”
She forces a smile. “Agreed. Poisoning him and sneaking around in the shadows of your castle, pitting civilians against royal families… it just proves how weak and cowardly Laryssa and Sebastian are.”
“Thankfully, that’s a moot point where Hawk’s father is concerned,” Doc says.
“Yeah. Still, I want to get back to our realm and get Raven away from my mother.”
I pull off the main road leading into the eerie and desolate town and turn off my lights as we roll quietly down the back lane toward the last leg of the compound. It’s on the outskirts of nowhere and when we get close enough, I pull off the road. Finding some bushes, I tuck the truck out of sight and Lukas follows with his vehicle.
“Rhy, grab some branches and see if you can conceal the truck as much as possible.
“I’ll help,” Doc says.
As they jump out, it’s easy to see a relationship is building between those two. “It seems like we might have ourselves a functional foursome in the works after all. Honestly, two days ago, I never would have thought it possible.”
Keyla’s g
rin lights up her beautiful face. “I’m glad. I didn’t want you to forfeit someone you obviously cared for simply for the propriety of what your realm is accustomed to.”
“I’m not sure how you knew I cared for him. I didn’t realize it until all this crashed around us.”
She chuckles. “Call it women’s intuition. We’re a powerful force, you know.”
“Oh, I know. Growing up watching Honor train to be the Queen of the Amberloq taught me that. Even before her powers transferred, she was a force.”
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens next. I understand the Amberloq lost their leader when your aunt was killed, but what I want to know is where they went and why they haven’t tried to rescue Honor?”
“The Amberloq forces were decimated in the Wars of Power. By the time Laryssa launched her plans against my family, the ancient sect was already lost.”
“Making it that much easier to seize your quadrant.”
“It was a large part of her success, yes. And I’m sure it didn’t help that with the estrangement of my father and his sister, Valorous didn’t live in or near the castle. How can the Guardian of the Throne protect the throne if she’s in another part of the quadrant?”
Keyla sighs. “I’m sorry the fallout of their troubles allowed Laryssa to sweep in and take control.”
“My parents and my aunt lost their lives because of their inability to work together. I’ll never allow that to happen with Honor.”
“And you shouldn’t. Kotah and I don’t always agree but there is nothing I wouldn’t do for him and him for me. I have never doubted that.”
Even in the short time I’ve known the two of them, I’ve seen that. “I know Honor and deeply respect her inner strength. If anyone can bring the ancient order of her guardians back from the brink of extinction, it’s her.”
Keyla straightens. “Then we need to get her back and set her free to do her thing.”
Doc
Lukas, Hawk, Rhylan, and I go through some of the tactical gear we were able to acquire at the black-market swap meet back in the fringe lands. The weapons are weird, powered by pulse cartridges, and are more sci-fi than I’m comfortable with. The night vision goggles, flack vests, and drones are cool and of good quality.