Page 52

"You can't go with me; none of you can." Alfred said for the umpteenth time, looking back at the two huge men walking behind him.

The sizes of these men have always been scary to him—he would have been cowering at being crowded by not one of them but seven if he wasn't so worried about his daughter and her mate's safety.

"We are not sending you to the lion's den unprotected. Besides, we gotta be there to save them." Alphose said stubbornly, "I don't care what the plan should be. I'm going with you."

Degar sighed, running a jerky hand through his long, dark hair. "The human is right, Alphose."

They were at the Wild Forest. Fortunately, after so much scanning, calculation, and calls to some changelings in the human world, they finally got a location out of those number codes Alfred provided.

They'd made a plan to work with, but apparently, Alphose was still having a hard time accepting the plan.

"The human is right." He repeated.

"I don't care, Degar. I sincerely don't care." Alphose growled through gritted teeth, anger banked in his eyes.

Alfred glanced helplessly at the one called Degar, knowing that he was the only one that could talk sense into the big, raging man beside him.

Degar moved closer to Alphose, and placed a conforming hand on his shoulder, forcing the cougar Alpha to look at him. "I am just as mad as you are, Alphose. We all are. Look around you,"

Alphose did, staring at the faces of the other Alpha that insisted to going to this rescue with them. There's Adanel, Rodarh, Asissy, Morose, and Ratinus. They all looked as angry, as tense as he felt.

"None of us is happy about it, but if you really think about it, you'll know it's the best thing to do.

" Degar continued, "Onaries is a traitor.

There's every possibility that he's right there with the humans, keeping our King and his mate captive.

He's not just any Alpha, but an elephant—only the Alpha King's sense of smell can compete with their damn noses.

If he smells us, everything is ruined. Everything. "

"He is right," Rodarh admitted, "I'm an elephant too, so I know.

If our Alpha scents us at all, we've ruined everything.

Let's just go with the plan. We take Alfred to the human world and towards the location, waiting as many miles away as possible to avoid being seen or smelled.

Alfred goes in there and tells them that he's still the Hector they know.

He'd been held captive by our King for years which is why he'd gone off the grid, but when our King brought Simon Blackwell in and killed him, he was finally able to escape, and he found the location because Simon gave it to him.

He is there to take his revenge on our King for holding him captive all these years.

That will fortify his story, making it seem very real.

Once they buy it, our man is inside. We wait for his signal. "

"What if he doesn't get the opportunity to signal to us?" Alphose countered, "What if they don't trust him, so they keep a close eye on him? What if they don't believe him and send him away? What if they kill him? "

"I am willing to put my life on the line for this. We have to try. We don't have much choice here." Alfred persisted.

"We can't just go bursting into that place.

If Onaries scents us coming, they can kill the King, or Ismena, or both, just to get to us.

Or worse, do something to harm them just to force us all to enter the damn cell too.

We have to be patient and go with the plan we have.

We wait for the damn signal. If it doesn't come after twenty-four hours, then we look for the next step. " Degar explained.

Adanel spoke up then, looking at Alfred.

"If you can't find a way to signal to us, then find a way to help our King.

Get him the keys to the damn cell. If he isn't so badly injured, he can escape from there all on his own.

He did it eighteen years ago. He can do it again.

He only needs a little help, so you help him.

..the same way you did in the past; the damn keys. "

Everyone was nodding to that. It makes sense. If Alfred is unable to signal to them, he can help the Alpha King get out.

"That's an excellent idea." Assisy seconded out loud.

"Yes. Tell him to make a Summon Howl as a signal to us when he gets out, and we will be right there." The Rat Alpha added.

They all supposed that notion. The anger and frustration bled out of Alphose then. "Okay, alright, I agree. Let's do this."

"They have been at it for hours. Hours!" Cronus exclamed incredulously. "He lets her rest a bit, then he's up again, taking the woman. Are you sure you didn't drug them after all? "

Beloca was so focused on the beaker he was studying before he heard Cronus's voice. He lowered the beaker to the table, turning to face the man. He shook his head, "I didn't drug them yet."

Cronus scoffed, "I mean, I know his appetite is insatiable—his sexual tales are legendary amongst our people—but his mate? Hell, how does she keep up with him? He's practically going at it like a beast, relentless like a male on a mission. I lost count of how many rounds he has gone."

"That's a good thing for me. Maybe it's because he really doesn't want his girlfriend drugged. I don't know. But I don't care. They are doing it. That's all that matters to me."

"You are really clueless, aren't you? Do you really think our King is doing you any favors? Onaries was right. She IS healing him. It's all for him to heal, dammit!"

"You sound panicked. Why is it bothering you so much? He will never be able to get out of there." Beloca smirked confidently.

Cronus was not convinced. "I suggest you gas them or drug them—anything at all, I don't care. Just do something."

Beloca rolled his eyes, "Not this again."

"You really don't understand, do you? You do not want to risk a healthy Wolfaraine Daminor Throne on your cell."

"I can't afford to drug them now. I don't wanna risk the woman's life.

From the test I did after the second drug we injected her, she's already running a very high fever.

Also, there's an anomaly in her blood that's seriously battling our drugs.

I don't wanna do anything reckless till I've run more tests. "

"The gas then. Use the gas, put them to sleep, take her blood for more tests, and drug the Alpha King really well...overdose him if you must. I don't care. Just don't leave him all healthy and healed up. "

"Alright, alright, I will do that. Just stop freaking out already. Once I'm done here, I'll gas them. Is that okay now?"

Cronus finally took a deep breath.

Beloca shook his head. These animals are way too scared of this damn leader of theirs. It's really starting to irritate him.

"Where is Anaconda?" He asked.

"He left an hour ago. Said he needed to take a break from this place or some dumb shit like that. Said he'll be back in a few hours."

"Alright, go back and keep an eye on our prisoners. I need to concentrate here. I'll be out soon."

"What about your superiors? Have you heard from any of them yet?"

"No, I haven't received further instructions yet, but I've sent in the report already. I'm sure I'll get a response by tomorrow."

Cronus nodded, "I'll be going back to work tomorrow. I've stayed off long enough. I don't want my subordinates to get suspicious of my absence."

Beloca was all too happy about that. It's tiring to be with the animals all the time. If he had his way, he would put them all in a cage, dissect their damn brains, and study all the freaky wires they were made off.

Fucking animals.

"Wolfe..." She breathed against his neck, her voice barely audible.

"I know, honey." She doesn't need to say it. He knows she has reached her limits.

Frankly, she did two rounds ago, but she'd held out because that's who his mate was. A selfless woman who will do anything for him.

Wolfariane’s heart was filled with love for this woman.

Finally, he could put a name to his intense feelings for her. He would do anything to protect this woman. He would kill for her. He would die for her. That was how much he loves her.

He was barely moving inside her now, as exhausted as she was. He'd lost count of how many times he'd taken her, how long had passed. He let her rest in-between, but eventually, he'll reach for her. And she will come willingly.

Every bone in her body has turned to water. It's as if he was holding liquid in his arms. Her eyes were barely open at this point, his cock had lost most of its erectile, but it was still hard enough to be inside her quavering depth.

"Ismena?"

"Mmh?"

"I love you so much," he whispered to her ear.

Like she was just electrocuted, Ismena jerked and let out a soft, long moan as she slipped into another orgasm that shook her to the very depth of her core.

Finally, blessed finally, he said those words to her.

She'd always known he loved her, but he'd never said the words to her. 'Cause she never wanted to make him uncomfortable, she'd swallowed her own declaration every single day until she was almost choking on them .

"I love you too. Oh, my love, I love you so so much...!" She cried, "...so so much!"

It felt so good to finally say it.

As darkness winked before her eyes, she repeated the words.

As she heard his deep growl as he poured deep inside her, she repeated the words.

And even as she slipped into unconsciousness, she only had six words come out of her mouth;

"I love you so much, Wolfaraine."

A few minutes later, he still watched her, stark love in his eyes. He was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, but he fought that sleepy fog as much as he could.

He can't afford to sleep. He has to stay awake to protect her.

But no matter how much he said the mantra in his head, he could feel himself giving in to sleep. Unable to fight it any longer, Wolfaraine let down his guards and allowed nature to take its cause.

But not before he managed to do one last thing; he shifted to the form that was closest to the surface.

As his mountain lion emerged, his last thought was filled with concern. Hopefully, his cougar will protect their mate instead of hurting her.

Long after the male slept, the huge cougar lay there, staring at the little human lying beside it. The cougar growled softly.

Then the big animal shifted closer to the human female and curled its body protectively around her, shielding her completely away from the world.

It licked her forehead twice, "Mine," it growled.

Afterward it laid its head above hers, and just as exhausted as the male, it went to sleep.

"Holy motherfucking fucker," Cronus froze as he stepped in through the door with Beloca and saw the sight behind those silver, metal bars.

"What the fuck," Beloca watched, fascinated, "A lion. I've never seen a lion that big in my entire life."

"A cougar, you dumbass. The King-Cougar..." Cronus whispered its name as if he was scared that the animal would wake if he called too loud. He almost choked on his fear.

"Fascinating. It's protecting the woman." How can a woman in her complete senses be dating such a beast? An animal. A freak of nature.

"Well I need to take her blood to run some tests. I'll gas the beast." As he said, he was already on his way to the switch hanging off the wall.

"No!" Cronus's hand shot out. and he grabbed the man, "Are you mad!? You can't gas the King-Cougar, you will only succeed in waking it up! Are you insane!?"

"I don't understand you, Cronus. You were the one nagging me to gas him, now I wanna do it, and you're holding me back?" Beloca's voice dripped with irritation .

"That was before he took this form, dammit!

That is his feral form! I don't know if you know what that word is, but in our world, it's a word to fear!

As a feral form, it has absolutely no control.

It only tastes for blood and death and will stop at nothing until it kills us! " Cronus whisper-screamed emphatically.

Beloca rolled his eyes, "So, what are you suggesting?"

"I say we wait for now. Come back later." He paused, "Words are, it hates humans very much, doc. If it wakes up and scents you and this lab, it will stop at nothing to break through tha t cage and devour you. I'm outta here, doc."

"Wait, wait!" Beloca began, but Cronus had already disappeared through the door they came in from.

"Jesus Christ. What sort of coward is this?" Beloca grumbled.

He glared at the syringe in his hand and stared, longing at that cage.

Frankly, he was tempted to gas the damn cell, go in and draw the blood he needed.