Page 94 of Destined Dawn

“Yeah, the way they move!” he says, oblivious to the death stare I’m giving him.

“But,” Stone says, dropping down on the other side of me, “I bet they had to spend hours and hours of training to get that good. They’re certainly not naturals like you are, Miss Blackwaters. Plus,” he adds, nuzzling his mouth against my neck, “not … nearly … as … brattish.”

“Is it any surprise if I do, on occasion, act like a brat when you come back singing the praises of other women?”

“How are you feeling?” Azlan asks, cutting to the chase. No interest in our flirting.

“Better,” I say. “But,” I eye them all, “we can’t stay here. We can’t stay here in the West.”

They all stare at me, clearly taken back at my sudden change of mind.

“Why not?” Tristan asks, alarm spilling over his face. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing has happened. It’s just … You know what the prophecy says. What I’m meant to do. I can’t stay here living a life of luxury,” I point back towards the bathroom, “while your dad is out there hunting Winnie and probably all our other friends. And stars knows what’s happened to Winnie’s grandma and Ellie and–”

“Okay, okay, sweetheart,” Azlan says, pacing towards me.

“But we only just arrived. There’s still so much to understand. So much to learn,” Spencer says.

“There’ll be time for that later. Right now our friends are in danger. You said yourself there might not be any weres left by the time Christopher Kennedy is finished. Can you sit back with your feet up and let that happen?”

“No,” Spencer says, his jaw tightening.

“You wanna go, little rabbit,” Renzo says, holding out his hand to me, “we can go right now.”

I’m sitting in a dressing gown, hair soaking wet, dripping water all over the cushions. Is he serious?

“Not right this second!” I say.

He shrugs and drops his hand. “Okay.”

“I need to talk to my dad. Find out if he’d be prepared to help us.”

“You want to start a war?” Stone says, frowning.

“Not if we don’t have to. There might be another way to,” I swallow, “remove Tristan’s dad from power.”

Tristan snorts as if he believes only a full scale invasion will do it.

“I’m going to go get dressed and then I’m going to talk to him,” I say, already marching towards the bedroom.

“We’ll come with you,” Stone calls out.

“No,” I say, “This is a conversation I need to have alone.”

33

Rhi

Somehow I manageto navigate along the maze of corridors, stopping outside the Black Prince’s door some minutes later. It’s imposing and grand and all of a sudden I feel very small and very alone.

It doesn’t matter that there’s a supposed prophecy written about me. It doesn’t matter that fate has bonded five powerful men to me. It doesn’t even matter that I’m the lost daughter of some prince. I still feel exactly like I did those first few days at the academy. Like a nobody. Like I don’t really belong or fit in.

I square my shoulders. Tough shit. Time to put my big girl panties on. Winnie is hiding out there somewhere, Ellie is suffering who knows what at the hands of her uncle and I dread to think what’s happened to Rosa.

I knock on the door with a firm fist. I may feel afraid but I can do a good job at not showing it.

There’s a long pause and for a moment my heart drops. He isn’t there. This is going to have to wait. I’m starting to turn away when a voice from within calls: