Rhys rolled his eyes, but gave another wave of his hand for her to keep going.
She caught her lip between her teeth, then drew in a steadying breath. “Oh, you don’t think that’s funny? I guess I won’t need to share my stovetop s’mores with you. More for me.
“I’m so proud of Kyla for jumping right into a normal life. That used to feel like an impossible dream, but I’m not so sure anymore. Hard? Yes. But not impossible. I miss dancing. I miss teaching. I want those back in my life.”
There. A creak on wood. Barely audible, but it was there nonetheless. So quiet and distant, if she hadn’t been straining to hear, she never would have known it was there.
Thank all the gods in the sky for her wild… mate. Her wild mate.
The butterflies in her stomach had nothing to do with whatever danger lurked outside her door.
“Let me get on those snacks,” Rhys murmured, pulling the curtain to the side just enough to peek through. Bright silver eyes flipped to her face. “What else do you want?”
“What I want…” she continued. “You know, a wedding was never my childhood dream. I wanted the scar. That mark shows that you belong. Not to someone, though I’m starting to understand that possessiveness. I wanted to know I belonged with someone.”
He was on the move again. He didn’t bother concealing his steps until he reached the kitchen, then again went light and slow to the back door. He twisted the knob and cracked it open, then slipped into the darkness.
Sage wiped her palms on the bed and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her inner lioness crouched down, tail lashing. The cat didn’t like Rhys out of sight, or on some mission to track an unseen foe.
They’d come for the pride too many times. Why couldn’t they just leave them the hell alone?
“Cubs would be nice. One day. I still have so much work to do on myself, you know? I don’t want to jump whenever the cub cries out.” She shot a worried look toward both doors. It felt wrong for anyone else to hear her hopes, but she wanted Rhys to know every last one. He’d lost too much. She’d been hurt and scarred. Together, they could rebuild. “I want to be as happy as Trent and Hailey, as Kyla and Lindley, as all the others. That’s my plan.”
The door banged open with a roar. Rhys and another male staggered through as Sage backed herself into the corner, drawing the blanket over her chest. She shot wild eyes at Rhys, then to the other lion. Something about the face tickled at her memory, but the recognition slipped away as the fight spread through her living room.
They twisted and stumbled, throwing punches anywhere they could land the blow. A sharp crack sent blood spurting from the other man’s nose, but a hard jab to the stomach doubled Rhys over. One wheezing breath was all he needed to slam his shoulder into his attacker’s stomach and topple him to the ground.
“Go!” Rhys shouted at her. “Get the others!”
Sage wrapped the blanket around her frame and dashed out into the night. “Lin!” she screamed, reaching for the first name that popped into her head. “Lindley, hurry!”
Lindley’s door banged open. Trent’s was a close second. Dash appeared, too, and then there was a roar in the distance as Seth picked up the call.
“Inside!” She pointed for her door. “Rhys caught someone!”
They streamed past her in a hurry, but Rhys greeted them at the door. He shoved the other lion in front of him, letting him trip down the stairs and fall into the dirt.
The asshole pushed himself up to his knees. Gold churned in the eyes he swept around the group. “There she is,” he taunted. “Daddy’s little whore.”
Rhys snarled. He planted a boot in the small of the lion’s back and kicked him down to all fours. “Try again, fucker.”
Sage forced herself to keep still. Fiery rage rolled off him and raised goose bumps up and down her arms.
“Rhys,” Trent snapped in warning. He turned his head slightly to take in Sage, then nodded to her den. “Why don’t you go get dressed. We’ll take it from here.”
Sage dropped her eyes to the thin sheet she wore around her frame. When she raised them again, she found the consortium lion leering at her.
Her lip curled in disgust. Asshole. She wanted to dash up the steps, but she raised her chin and marched instead.
Her hands shook as she dropped the sheet to the bed and quickly dressed. Frustration laced through her heart and her head. She wanted to disappear.
No. She cocked her head as her lioness circled through her, hissing and snarling at the empty bed, the disheveled sheets, and the lion who’d disturbed the scene. Not her. They were the ones who needed to disappear.
It’d be so easy to stay inside and away from the trouble. So easy to pretend there wasn’t an interrogation being prepped right outside her window. So easy to let them win.
There’d been a time when that lion’s look would have sent her cowering. The threat he represented, too, dumped cold fear into her veins.
No more. They’d made her hurt and forced her to shed tears too many times. Her family had been ripped apart until only the rotten, bad parts remained. She’d been beaten, scarred, and kicked down to her lowest.
Sage clung to the brush of fur in her head. She was a damn pride princess. She was done being afraid.
By the time she returned, the rest of the pride had gathered. Every male, including a freshly shifted Seth, kept an eye on their prisoner. He’d been bound with duct tape and sat in the very center of all the dens, but didn’t show any signs of concern. That rattled her more than anything else.
What the hell did they have planned?
“How the fuck did he get so close?” Rhys demanded as she stepped close to her pride.
“Distractions. I caught two near the main road. They ran before I could bring them down,” Seth growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
“They’re testing us,” Trent ground out between clenched teeth. He fixed a glare on the lion. “Better see what he has to say.”
“You don’t need to be here for this,” Rhys murmured at her side. “You can go inside. No one will judge you.”
Sage steeled herself and lifted her chin. “I need to hear what he has to say, the same as you.”
Trent dipped his chin once, then strode for the lion still on his knees. “You’re with Jasper’s crew. Don’t bother trying to lie. I want to know how many and where they’re located.”
“Fuck you,” the lion sneered.
Trent stepped closer and punched him hard enough to knock him sideways. “I wasn’t fucking asking.”
Seth roughly grabbed the guy’s shoulders and set him back on his knees.
“You dumb fucks.” The man laughed low, gaining volume as he let it pour out of him. “Seven prides have you surrounded. All the weeks you spent hoping we just disappeared? The months you had our people locked away? We’ve been waiting. Planning. And now we’re going to take back what’s ours.” He shifted to put Sage back in his sights. “Starting with you and yours.”
“When?” Trent demanded, but the male only laughed.
Another punch killed his chuckle. A second and third left him gasping, but still unwilling to share his secrets.
Sage turned her head away as the questions and jabs and laughs kept up without resolution. More and more frustration dumped into the air until it was the only thing she could smell.
“When?” Trent snarled.
Another grating laugh wheezed out of the male. At a sharp nod from the Crowley alpha, Seth nailed the lion in the back of the head. He slumped heavily to the ground with the rise and fall of his chest the only indication he still lived.
“Come on,” Rhys said quietly, one hand latched on her upper arm. “Let’s go.”
She tried to pull herself out of his grasp. For the first time ever, he refused to back off as she struggled.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lindley muttered, darting in front of them before they reached her porch steps. “What’s going on here?”
Rhys tongued his teeth and dar
ted a look to the others turning their attention their way. He let off a harsh breath, then turned his back on them to speak to Sage as if the others weren’t there. “My father is still in town. He can get you out of here before shit hits the fan. He’ll take you back to North Carolina. Tonight.”
“No.” She finally pulled herself free. “No, Rhys. I’m not going anywhere while the rest of you face off against them.”
“Seven prides! You heard the same words I did. They’re coming for us, Sage. That fight isn’t going to disappear just because we want it gone.”
“I want to stay,” she said firmly. This felt too much like being pushed away again. He did it after he fought against intruders in their territory, then sank deep into his rage and aggression. She couldn’t let it happen again. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I need to keep you safe!” The words whipped out of him as he slammed his hand over his heart. “Call it selfish, I don’t care. I can’t lose you, too, and I won’t be able to fight if you’re here. I’ll be too wrapped up in making sure you’re safe.”
A distraction. He was calling her a distraction, and she wasn’t sure if she should be offended or pleased.
Her lioness settled on something in the middle. Pleased that he needed her, but angry that he thought so little of her own ability to fight.
That nearly brought an eye roll out of her. Fighting would require setting paws in the world sometime over the last nine months. She was still too broken to be of any help.
“Fine.” Sage slashed her eyes away from him, then shook her head in defeat. “I’ll go.”
Trent’s mouth set into a grim line as his eyes drifted to Hailey, then to the lion unconscious in the dirt. He dipped his chin once and gave the order. “Call him. Then let’s get this one to the cave and see if we can get anything out of him when he wakes up.”
Chapter 25
Rhys watched the headlights bounce up the ranch road. Arms crossed, he waited impatiently at the mouth of the barn, hating every second that passed.
This was wrong. All wrong.
The thought did little to calm the lion twitching his tail in his head. The beast wanted to let his claws fly and stay close to Sage. No one could protect her better than them. Putting her in the hands of anyone else was disaster waiting to happen.
Rhys glanced down at Sage. She was just as upset. She hadn’t said much since agreeing to be ferried away, and even those words were short and to the point.
At least they weren’t an outright argument.
“You’re going, too,” Trent growled.
He stood with Hailey at the other corner of the barn, and glared daggers at anyone who stepped near. Not that anyone did so on purpose. The rest of the pride gave them extra room and contorted themselves to keep their eyes off the ruling couple.
Hailey puffed up as big as her small frame would allow. “Like hell I am!”
Trent shook his head firmly. “You’re human, Hailey. Even if you were a shifter, you’re pregnant. You need to get away before the shit boils over.”
“Then let’s go. All of us,” Hailey pleaded. Worry edged into her voice as she swept a look over the pride, then back to Trent, but he was already shaking his head.
“I want this over. Tonight.” A growl rattled in his throat. “They want a fight, they can have it.”
Headlights flashing cut the rest of the argument short and both turned to the new arrival.
Rhys stepped forward as the door creaked open, drawing Sage with him. He offered her a reassuring smile, then turned his attention to his father.
So many not-ideals were unfolding that night. Not an ideal time for Jasper’s lions to wage a war, though that would never be scheduled without objections. Being stalked after taking his mate to bed for the first time, also not ideal. Definitely not ideal to be introducing her to his father so the man could escort her to safety.
Alton let off a harsh breath as soon as his feet touched the ground. “I didn’t think enclave life would be any different than our pride living on our own, but you have the same troubles as any human town.”
Rhys looked sharply at his father. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“A fire broke out on the other side of town.” Alton’s brows pinched his nose. “At least, that’s the direction the fire engine turned. Must have been some injuries, too, with the police and an ambulance shooting off after them.”
Alarm bells blared in his head and he whipped around to lock eyes with the Crowley alpha.
“Shit,” Trent snarled. Gold swirled in his eyes. “We need to move. Now!”
“What’s going on?” Alton asked.
Trent didn’t answer right away. He punched in a number on his phone and pressed it to his ear, pacing back and forth as he chanted, “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”
When no one answered, he jabbed a finger at Colette and Dash. “I can’t reach Ethan. Try the others. If you can’t get them, run. They might have been hit already, or they’re being distracted away from the main fight.”
Solemnly, they both nodded. Phones were pressed to their ears even before they turned away, jogging for Dash’s truck.
Other preparations swung into motion. Kyla scrambled onto the roof of the barn with a set of binoculars with orders to give them a shout if she saw any movement. Seth started his circuit by sprinting toward the dens to check for activity before circling back to the barn.
“Let’s go,” Rhys murmured, touching his hand to Sage’s back.
Trent held up his hand before they could move, then marched for the barn. “Hailey! I need you out here,” he called.
“What’s happening?” Alton asked again.
“That fire you’re talking about? I’d bet everything it’s serving as a distraction. They’ll hit us first before making any moves on the town.” Rhys looked down at Sage, then turned his attention to his father. She didn’t show fear on her face, but the sour stench filled her scent. “Until then, we’re on our own and you need to go.”
Sage disengaged and walked back to where her bag was waiting. Clothes mostly, though he’d tucked the lion and lioness carvings inside when she wasn’t looking. If things went sideways, he wanted her to have the reminder of how powerful she could be on her own.
Alton stepped up next to him. “Let me stay. I can help.”
Rhys watched Sage for a moment longer, then turned to his father. “What you can do is get her to safety. She’s everything to me. She needs to live.”
Even if they didn’t.
He’d failed a woman before. This time, he’d make sure she lived.
Emotion flashed in his father’s eyes. He released his arm and took a step back. “You have my word.”
Rhys nodded, then strode for Sage. He wrapped his fingers around her wrist to spin her to him. His heart heaved as he yanked her close, crushing his lips against hers in a kiss as furious as their first. She threw her arms around his neck to hold him tight. He pressed against her, feeling like a solid wall that would forever keep her safe and secure.
Except he wasn’t. He couldn’t. He might not ever see her again.
His lion roared and slashed at him, but he forced himself to take a step back. This was right. Seeing her out of the territory, away from the danger, that was what a good mate did. He’d fight to the very end, but he needed to know she was okay.
“Rhys,” she called out.
He turned, an eyebrow raised.
“I’ll be waiting for you to tell me it’s safe to come home.”
* * *
Cool, autumn air washed over Sage and left her shivering and exposed even after the SUV door closed her off from the elements. She didn’t like being separated from the others, Rhys especially. They’d become her family since Kyla orchestrated her search and rescue. She’d never felt more loved and accepted in her life, and to cut herself off from them made her stomach turn.
Temporary, she told herself. Only temporary. Only until Jasper’s consortium of prides found themselves turned
into dust.
If the Ashfords were summoned.
If the numbers didn’t overwhelm.
If everyone survived, minds and bodies intact.
They were several miles down the road when Alton broke the silence. “You and my son, eh?”
Sage twisted away from the window and peeked at the man in the driver’s seat. Alton Chapman, Rhys’s father, didn’t take his eyes off the road, but she felt watched nonetheless.
Rhys took after him in build—both were big, sturdy men. She’d yet to see his lion, so she didn’t know if Rhys got his rare, white coloring from him or some distant relative down the bloodline. His eyes were the same, too, even if they weren’t the exact color, they pierced right through her.
“Me and your son,” she said with a small, shaky smile. “He’s been everything I needed.”
“I suppose he told you I came here to entice him back home?” At her nod, he snorted. “Well, you tell him to consider the offer rescinded. I don’t want to see hide nor hair of him in my territory. It’s clear he’s exactly where he belongs.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely.” Alton nodded. “You know, even as a cub—and I’m talking young, barely old enough to walk—even then, he was fiercely independent. Asking for help was always the last resort.”
Alton glanced at her, and she had the feeling he was taking the measure of her very character. She fought the urge to fidget, suddenly nervous he’d find her unworthy. Stupid, she knew, especially in light of his contentious relationship with Rhys, but there was also the sliver of hope that she could be part of a family that wasn’t trying to murder one another.
“It’s hard to imagine Rhys as anything but who he is now,” Hailey murmured from the back.
“For you, sure,” Alton agreed. “You’ve only known this version of him. I’ve seen the tender side when he has a good woman in his life.” He took in Sage with another glance, this time offering her a warm smile. “He asked for help keeping you safe. That’s big for him. You must be very important to him.”
Savage Exile: Lion Hearts Book Five Page 17