Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
My brothers know better than to lie to me, or they should. I am an even tempered alpha, but waking up to discover my mate missing, one of my brothers gone, and the other two pretending not to know anything about it while clearly knowing all about it, is as close to uncontrollable rage as I have felt in a long time.
“She would not have left the cubs of her own accord. Where is she?”
Skol and Nyan give each other an uncomfortable look before lying to my face.
“We haven’t seen either of them,” Nyan says.
“Then Kain has taken her and must be hunted down. Where would you suggest we start the search?”
I do not really have time for these games. I am not stupid. I can tell when I am twisted up in a plot, and these two should know better than to imagine I can be so easily fooled.
“I don’t know where…”
Skol puts a hand on Nyan’s shoulder and shakes his head. “He knows,” he says. “It’s time to speak plainly.”
“Yes,” I say. “Please do speak plainly. Keeping in mind that my mate’s life is on the line, and if so much as a hair on her head is harmed, I will exact painful revenge on those who conspired.”
“You would not take a mate. You would not bear a cub…”
At first I have no idea what Skol is talking about, but then I understand he is doing what every coward does when faced with his own treachery. He is constructing a justification for his betrayal.
“Kain gave us a choice, band behind him and betray you, or suffer the same consequences as our father. When we learned you were on a distant asteroid, consorting with a human female, it was not difficult to come to a decision.” Skol speaks logically and without overt emotion. He is trying to make me calm by pretending to be calm himself, but I can see the preemptive bristling of his tail and the involuntary arching of his back. He is afraid, as well he should be.
“The same consequences as our father?”
“Kain has killed Leonidas, and now sits on the throne of the Den. The city has bowed before him.”
I am momentarily stunned out of anger by that piece of news.
“Killed Leonidas?” I raise a brow. “I didn’t think he had it in him. He hardly had the wherewithal to best Nyan in battle, let alone our father.”
“He poisoned him.”
“Oh,” I say. “That makes more sense.”
A cowardly means of bringing death, for a cowardly creature. That is why he now has Ava, because she is practically helpless.
“So. To be clear. You betrayed me, and your pride, and you put every male, female, and cub at risk of death because you were afraid of Kain, in spite of the fact we three outnumber him.”
“We thought we were only betraying you,” Nyan says.
“Oh. Well, that’s alright then, isn’t it?”
Again, Skol attempts to explain. “Kain sent his heavies in to take the remaining females only after we departed. We did not know he was going to do that. He is treacherous and cruel.”
“And now he has my mate,” I say. “Tell me you did not know he intended to take her?”
Skol and Nyan both shake their heads furiously. As much as I might like to tear strips from the pair of them, I do not have the luxury of vengeance. I will need their help if I am to reclaim Ava, and I do not want there to be another obvious rift in our alliance to be exploited at a later date.
“You have been cowardly Leonids,” I lecture. “You have brought our very bloodline into disrepute. Leaving a human woman to fight the battle you yourselves refused to take part in. You would rather submit to a threat than subdue it.”
“Pretty word play, but Kain was not giving us any choice.”
“There’s always a choice. I’m going to give you one right now. Throw your loyalty back where it belongs, and we will spare this planet the suffering that comes with a craven creature like Kain on the throne.”
“Do we have to?” Nyan asks the question. He has no guile, and arguably little intelligence.
“No, Nyan. You do not have to. You can continue to be a spineless wretch who blows with the wind, and you can leave Ava, who has always been very nice to you, to be tortured and killed by our sociopathic brother. Oh, and you can continue to watch the cubs starve, when they could be returned to their mothers.”
“Oh,” Nyan says. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”
“I pledge my loyalty, for all is it worth, given the current situation,” Skol says. “I did not know if you would return, and I did not expect you to come back with a mate. The human is not what I would choose, but she has sacrificed herself for our pride as much as anybody, and more.”