Page 27

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I woke up to Liam shaking me. I am still in the limo and jump, startled, glancing around before realizing the king was no longer in the car with me.

“You wanna get inside? The king went on a warpath and had Ivy escorted out of the castle,”

“What?” I asked, scrambling to undo my seatbelt. When I fail, my claws slip out, and I slice it, shoving past Liam and moving toward the door.

“What happened?” Liam asks, but I don’t have time to explain. “Is she safe? Did he hurt her?” I ask Liam, marching inside the castle.

“Her hand was busted up pretty badly,”

“He hurt her?” I snarl.

“Dustin said he didn’t intentionally. He is with her,” Liam tells me as I turn for the stairs to find Abbie screaming at the guard and Clarice trying to calm her down.

“Abbie, wait. Dustin won’t hurt her. They can’t hurt her,”

“She already is fucking hurt! I want to go with her. Let me fucking pass,” she growls, and I watch her eyes glow.

What in the fucking madness is going on?

I have never seen her raise her voice at anyone, but right now, she looks like a cornered animal about to attack.

Clarice grips her arm, yanking her back when she tries to shove past the guard, who looks like he doesn’t know what to do.

But I know if she gets too loud, he will be forced to remove her from the castle.

“Liam!” I growl. This isn’t something I have time for. It will be up to him to deal with her. Yet the moment I speak the word, and she hears my voice, she turns to me. Relief floods her features, and she rushes over.

“Tell him to let me pass, the king… he had them take her, Gannon,” she says, glaring back at the guard. She turns around to face me, and I press my lips in a line. Her eyes scrutinize my face for a second, and she takes a step back from me.

“You already know,” she says.

“Liam just told me; I will handle it,”

“Tell the guard to let me pass,”

“I can’t do that,” I tell her, knowing doing that could cause more drama for Ivy.

“Yes, you fucking can. You’re third in command, are you not? Tell him to take me to her.”

“I will handle it. I will bring her back into the castle. I need to speak to the king first.”

“Fuck the king, that bastard—” Liam clamps his hand over her mouth as my heart sputters in my chest at her words. She threatens the king and she will have every guard on her in seconds.

“Shh, Abs,” Liam whispers to her. I grip her shoulders, trying to calm her down. It’s one thing trying to get Ivy back in the castle. The king has no ties to Abbie besides Ivy, and if she steps out of line, I know he will have no problem kicking her off castle grounds.

“She’ll be fine. I will stay wherever he sent her if I have to,” I tell her with a sigh. The strange bond they share, I don’t think I will ever understand.

Both girls are almost mute, obedient, and terrified of their shadows half the time, yet will risk their own lives for each other without hesitation. I hate seeing Abbie like this. It’s almost as if she needs Ivy like she needs air to breathe and vice versa.

Her entire body shakes with her rage and fear for the girl. Her nostrils flare as she glares at me, her eyes flicking between hers and her wolf side.

“I will take you to her, but for now, I need to help calm the king,” I tell her, stepping away from her. I head for the stairs, fucking livid.

“What do you want me to do with her ?” Liam mindlinks

“Make sure she doesn’t threaten the king and get herself killed,” I tell Liam.

I make my way to the king’s quarters and shove the door open. The moment I do, anger courses through me. He gave me his word he would speak with Damian first. If he had, this never would have happened. He turns to face me the moment I walk in, and he snarls, which only angers me more. How could he?

Does he not realize how lucky he is to have a mate that fucking wants him?

To have his mate at all. Mine was dead and buried in the fucking woods, and every day I have lived with that.

Every day for nearly twenty years, I wished I could take that back; the pain she caused me was better than the hollow, empty feeling her death left behind.

I wished I could take back what I did back then, and he was making the same damn fucking mistake.

Only his reasoning was fucking ridiculous.

She didn’t hurt him; she did nothing to him.

For twenty years, I lived in torture until Abbie came along. He kills her or breaks their bond, there is no coming back from that. He just couldn’t control his damn temper and seeing that made me lose mine.

“Where is Ivy?” I demand while looking around the room, his hand’s fist by his sides, and I growl at him when he sneers at the mention of her name.