“I’d like to be…”
“So would I, but I’m being realistic.”
Keiran pouted in the darkness. “No, you’re being Prince Moody.”
“Oh, god,” Jace groaned, rolling his eyes. “And here I thought I’d finally found the one person who doesn’t think I’m moody.”
Keiran giggled. His nose crinkled when he did that. Jace leaned in and kissed it to make it smoothen out again. “So, you know that everyone calls you that?”
“Please. That was my mother’s pet name for me. Everyone else got it from her.” Despite his grouchiness, he couldn’t help but to smile slightly. “It’s like part of her still lives on, in that way.”
A light touch on his shoulder was all it took for Keiran to convey his sympathy. “I don’t think you’re Prince Moody most of the time. You can be a little obstinate though. And brooding.“
Jace gazed at the man who shared his bed. He might call Keiran his boyfriend, if he was a normal member of society. Or they might be called lovers. He wished they could use a simple word like that to describe themselves, but the only one he could think of was “scandalous.”.“What do you think it means, Keiran?”
The omega stayed quiet for so long that Jace thought he might have fallen asleep. “I think it’s bad.”
Wasn’t expecting that.
“Why?”
“It’s like… the calm before the storm. When everything is forming but nothing’s happened yet.” Keiran’s voice grew quieter. “Like when I had a good day with Abigail before Pa sold me for pocket change.”
Far from being angry, all Jace felt was sorrow. Sorrow for Keiran, but perhaps even more so for that foolish man who couldn’t recognize what was right in front of his eyes. “Do you ever miss her? Your friend?”
“I do,” he whispered. “I wish I could see her again without having to go back there. She always thought I could do good things.”
“You did, and you will.”
“Good night, Jace.”
“Night.”
I should mention this to Don. I wonder if we can summon that girl somehow.
The next day was business as usual. Keiran had been at the castle for several weeks now, and he really was a valuable asset. A new pair of eyes, a nonjudgmental ear…
Even Don, forever unimpressed, seemed to be developing the same grudging fondness for Keiran that he had toward Jace. However, that wasn’t enough to spare them the disapproving looks that came their way whenever they acted too familiar in public .
One such look pierced Jace straight through from behind as he ate lunch with Keiran. He was feeding the omega different types of pudding and forcing him to guess the flavor. So far, he’d only succeeded with guessing banana cream.
“Hello, Don,” he said, as casually as possible while slipping a spoonful of blood pudding between Keiran’s lips.
The omega gagged and politely spit out the mouthful into a napkin. “Where did you get vomit pudding? Oh. Uh, hi, Don.”
“Hello,” the dark-skinned advisor said stiffly. He fiddled with his clipboard, as he usually did when distracted. “I’m glad to see that you two are enjoying yourselves.”
“What do you need?” Jace asked. He wasn’t in the mood to be lectured silently. People called him the moody one?
“I have just been informed by your secretary that your next meeting has been canceled.”
Which one was that?
“Oh, the one in the city? That’s a shame. Keiran hasn’t ever actually had time to explore the city.”
“And he would not have had time during an important meeting,” Don said, shortly. “Your next appointment is with the council in two hours. Enjoy yourselves, but try to do so in a different manner than you normally do.”
The moment he was gone, Keiran turned toward Jace and peered up into his eyes. “We aren’t going to do that, right?”
Jace scowled. “Of course not. I’m the prince. No one tells me what to do. It just so happens that you haven’t had much of a chance to explore the castle either.”
“That would be because I’m always busy following you around and looking at your…” A servant passed by with a cart, humming to himself. Keiran snapped his mouth shut so quickly that his teeth clicked.
Jace stood. “That sounded painful.” He chuckled and took Keiran’s hand. “Let’s go out to the rear grounds behind the castle, shall we? It’s a nice day for a walk.”
The grounds resembled more of a gigantic garden than anything else, gardeners roaming here and there with shears to prune a wayward branch or two from the hedges that had been shaped into a variety of animals, prey and predator alike. There were fountains as far as the eye could see, each one surrounded by benches and flower beds. Here and there, trees dotted the landscape. Most of them bore fruit, branches laden with their offerings, while others were studded with nuts. A pleasant breeze blew in from the east, and that was why he didn’t catch the scent of the attackers until they were already upon them.
Jace reacted upon instinct as no fewer than 15 animals leapt out of hiding from behind a huge fountain to the right. He thrust Keiran behind him, snapping off a command. “Don’t move!”
The omega froze, fingers clutching at Jace’s wrist before dropping away.
The animals were all prey. Jace scented that now, though their different smells mingled so thickly that he couldn’t pick out individual species. From the thick pool of scent behind the fountain, they hid for quite a while. Not a single one of them wore a castle uniform, and he didn’t recognize their faces.
“Greetings,” he said, as casually as he could. “Pleasant day, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps for you,” one amongst them hissed between clenched teeth. “Taking a leisurely stroll while others suffer and toil 18 hours a day just to afford housing.”
A threat then. Keiran was right.
“If you have a problem to be discussed, you can send a representative up to the castle and we will arrange a time to talk about the matter at hand.” Jace readied himself.
“I think we’ll talk now,” the same man hissed. His green eyes blazed with hate. “I am the representative, and I have a message for you, prince. You had better be ready for war!”
The cry became a powerful bellow as the man transformed into a massive buck with an impressive rack of sharpened antlers.
“Run!” Jace said. “Go fetch the Guard! Hurry!”
Keiran raced away, barking frantically. A handful of the attacking shifters, another deer—a doe, rather than a stag—and two horses set off in pursuit; Jace just had to hope his lover was faster.
And then there was no time to hope at all as he fought for his life.
Predator society taught that prey animals were weak, but Jace didn’t exactly feel confident as he faced down more stags, a buffalo, an elephant, and still more fearsome creatures who were all technically prey. What so many people forget is that predators contributed to the natural order of life, picking off the small, the weak, the old, and sickly so that better genes were passed on to the next generation.
And none of these creatures were small or weak.
Jace lashed out with his paws as the green-eyed deer stampeded toward him. A resounding crack resonated up toward the sky as one antler snapped clean off at the base where he struck it. Small droplets of blood spattered his face, and then the heavy body of the stag slammed into him and bowled him over. Hard, sharp hooves struck his body again and again, kicking him across the ground like a child’s ball. By the time he got to his feet again, pain stabbed him from inside.
Ribs bruised. Maybe broken.
He couldn’t attack them head-on when he was so outnumbered. It became a game of evasion, leaping and dashing in short bursts to keep from being gored to death or trampled again. When he could, he clawed out or bit at an errant limb or tail, but he was tiring and they weren’t being injured enough to slow them down.
His breath coming in terrible, ragged gasps that burned his lungs, Jace shoved himself up into a mas
sive leap and came crashing down hard on the back of the elephant. The huge grey beast reared up on its hind legs, trumpeting deafeningly. Jace sank his nails and fangs into thick skin, clinging desperately.
The elephant crashed down onto all four feet again and brought up its hind legs.
No!
His grip slipped and he fell, landing hard on his side. This time when his ribs broke, he heard it.
He heard nothing else for a long time after that, pain buzzing in his ears and eyes, blocking out all else as the animals took turns hitting him. When it stopped, he hardly knew it had until he found himself staring up at the sky with the green-eyed shifter grinning down at him. A mad glee glistened from deep in those eyes.
Metal glinted from something nearby, but he couldn’t turn his head to see it.
“You know what? You won’t live to see the war,” the deer shifter said. “I have you right here and you couldn’t even put up a fight. Screw waiting around. Your father won’t last another year. Hell, word is he’ll die any day now. With him gone and with you gone… prey will rise.”
The metal thing came into Jace’s view, though blood clogged his eyes. He recognized the shape and the way the object was held.
“Long live the prince.”
A howl sounded through the air. The deer shifter fell to the side, knocked away by a canine form. But, it was too late. The high, sharp crack of a pistol echoed through the air an instant before.
Compared to everything else Jace felt right then, the bullet hitting his shoulder might as well have been a playful swat from Keiran. But, judging from the hot wetness that seemed to almost instantly soak his entire body, it was a lot more serious than that.
He caught only one more glimpse before his eyes closed. Keiran’s terrified expression, and the chaos of a battle just over his slim shoulder.
Chapter 13
“Guards!” Keiran screamed, desperate. The shifters at his back had long since given up on chasing him as he was far faster than they would ever be, fueled as he was by adrenaline, but he didn’t stop running until he actually reached the castle. And now he ran down the hall as a human, shouting at the top of his lungs. Where was everyone? It normally seemed like he couldn’t sneeze without seven people blessing him, but now that he actually needed people around, there weren’t any!
“Guards! Guards, help! Somebody! Please!”
Turning the corner, he pulled in another lungful of air and prepared to shout when someone else slammed into him, knocking him backward onto his ass.
“Hey! What are you doing, yelling like that?”
Keiran looked up to see another young man standing over him, hands on his hips and a puzzled frown on his face. He wore a trainee guard’s uniform.
“Wait,” the man said. His face lit up. “Keiran? Recognize me? You helped me when I was sick on the journey!”
For a moment, he had no idea what this man was talking about. Even when everything clicked, he still didn’t recognize the trainee guard. It didn’t matter. “I need help!” Keiran gasped out, staggering up to his feet. “Please, go get help!”
“What’s going on, Keiran?” the man asked, but the omega wolf already was halfway down the hall.
“Just send guards to the gardens!” he cried over his shoulder.
“Wait!”
Keiran kept running through the castle, screaming and alerting everyone that he could until a big hand clamped down on his shoulder from behind and spun him around. “Keiran, what is it? Where’s Jace?”
He stared up into the eyes of a man with crazy hair. Martin or Marvin or Melvin, whatever his name was. The captain of Jace’s Guard! And more men ran up through a nearby doorway, all of them wearing the Guard uniform.
“We were attacked,” he huffed breathlessly, struggling for words. “In the grounds… behind the castle. Prey animals. Didn’t recognize them.”
“Take us there,” Marvin-Melvin commanded. “Lead us, and then get out of the way once we’re within range.”
Keiran nodded and dropped down as a wolf, charging off through the halls as fast as he could. His legs screamed from exhaustion, but he pushed his strides wider and faster, stretching out his entire body to get just a fraction more speed.
Far in the distance, he saw the havoc near the fountain and bolted for it. A howl of warning sounded from behind, telling him to get back, but he ignored it. The slower alphas fell farther and farther behind as Keiran ran, desperate to see the state of the fight.
It wasn’t good.
A crescent of shapeshifters surrounded Jace, battered and bloody. He had at some point regained his human form, too devastated by the attack to maintain his wolf form. A man crouched over him, mouth moving. Keiran couldn’t hear the words, didn’t bother to read lips because he saw a gun in the man’s hand and knew it was all about to end.
He screamed out a howl, so loud and hoarse that he lost his voice, and tossed himself the last bit of the way. There was no grace in it at all. Tumbling through the air, he slammed into the attacker with the gun just as the shot was fired.
The shapeshifter stared up at him with an expression Keiran had never seen in the eyes of a person before, composed of so many parts he would never be able to unravel it all if he tried.
“You’re too late!”
I know.
What happened next was a blur. Keiran somehow found himself separated from the fight. A member of the Guard clutched his scruff with his fangs, preventing the omega from jumping back into the fray… not that it discouraged him from trying. The rest of the wolves knocked out a few of the attackers, while the others fled during the process.
Marvin let out a growl of frustration, pelt spiked up wilder than usual. He barked and waved his tail around, sending a few of the Guard after the fleeing shapeshifters. Another was sent running back to the castle to fetch reinforcements, while the rest of the Guard spread out to form a perimeter around the fallen.
Jace lay still in their midst. Keiran smelled blood and a lot of it. The alpha holding onto him was the one sent back to the castle, so he was free to do as he pleased now. But the sight of Jace lying there, shot and half-dead, possibly dying right there, with his body soaked in blood… He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even breathe.
“Hang in there,” Marvin murmured, not looking at his prince but clearly speaking to him. “Help is coming.”
“It won’t come fast enough.”
The alphas turned in Keiran’s direction. Each one seemed surprised that he’d spoken, but no one was more surprised than he was because he hadn’t even meant to say anything at all. But now that he’d started, he couldn’t stop. “Do you see him? He’s hurt! He’s dying! He needs my help!”
One of the Guard looked over toward Marvin, uncertainty in his wolfish eyes. “He’s right, captain,” he grunted. “You should have left one of us behind at the castle in the first place.”
Marvin growled, fur rippling up over his skin before receding again. “We barely won that fight as it is! I needed every single one of you here.”
“Does that include the guy you made hold me back?” Keiran snarled.
Marvin froze, anger and bitterness battling for control on his face. He clearly hadn’t taken that into account. For all that the Guard’s purpose was to protect the prince, they apparently hadn’t actually encountered a situation like this before. They had done their best, and failed anyway. The proud alpha didn’t know what to do, but Keiran did.
“Marvin, you have to let me get near Jace! You should have let me be—I could have been working to save him this whole time!” Keiran strode forward toward the ring of wolves. They were clearly unhappy about their leader’s decision, but they were loyal to him to a fault, still obeying him even though they knew Keiran was right. The omega stared at Marvin, pleading.
“We didn’t need to focus on you in the middle of that!” The wolf bared his teeth. “We all would have died if we had to worry about your scrawny ass!”
And that was all Keiran could tak
e. He pushed right through the wall of alphas, startling them. They flinched away from him instead of reacting aggressively, clearly not having expected him to do that. Marvin held his ground as the omega strode up and jabbed his finger against his chest, glaring.
“This scrawny ass was chosen by Jace because he thought this ass was special!” Keiran barked. “Without me, most of the other omegas on that journey would have died! I saved them because I knew what to do! And I know what to do now, so move your scrawny ass and let me keep my fucking boyfriend alive until an actual doctor comes!”
What the magic word was, Keiran didn’t know. Was it the mention of his feats on the journey, his tone of voice in general, or was it the way he called Jace his boyfriend? Probably that last one, but it didn’t matter because whatever it was got Marvin to back down. He clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he couldn’t argue now.
Keiran sprinted over to Jace and dropped down to his knees, skidding to a stop in his lover’s pool of blood. It hadn’t even begun to congeal yet because more and more of it kept pumping from the ragged bullet wound in his shoulder.
Have to take care of that first.
“You!” he said, pointing to the nearest alpha.
The wolf ran over to him. “What can I do?” he asked, earnestly.
“Take off your clothes.”
The alpha just blinked for a moment before stripping the fastest he’d ever stripped in his life, until he stood there in only his underwear and thin undershirt. “More?”
“No, these are fine.” Adrenaline pulsing through Keiran almost had him laughing at the half-panicked look on the man’s face. “Take your shirt and put it against that bullet wound. Press hard.”
The alpha did so, bunching up his shirt and jamming the ball against the hole. Almost immediately, blood soaked through it and stared to stream between his fingers. “Um.”
“Press harder! Don’t stop!” Keiran demanded. The alpha leaned his full weight against the flow of blood, jaw tensing as he strained. He took the man’s pants and tied the legs around Jace’s body, higher up on his shoulder. He tied them as tight as he could, pulling until he heard the seams tear. As far as tourniquets went, it would do.
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