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)
Kain deflates noticeably. He seems to have forgotten all about the killing-me-in-front-of-Azlan plan. I don’t think that was ever actually his plan. I think that was merely the echoes of Leonidas, a plan he thought he should have, rather than one he truly held dear.
“I am alpha now, brother.”
“No, you’re not,” Azlan says, striding forward. “I would have been here sooner, but you sabotaged the ships.”
“No, I didn’t,” Kain seems confused.
“Yes, you did. The wiring was frayed.”
“Not by me.”
“Growler damage, probably,” I say from the cage. “Classic Growler damage, they really like copper, so they go for wiring.”
Azlan looks at me briefly, and as I expected he is quite furious with me too. Then his gaze locks back on Kain. He will not take his eyes off Kain, who is the prime threat in this situation.
I watch with anticipation as Azlan comes up the stairs, looking taller, stronger, and more handsome than ever. He does not so much as spare a glance for the dad rug he steps on in order to reach me. The cage is locked, but he does not bother looking for a key. He puts his hands on the bars of the cage and I watch as my alpha mate bulges with muscularity and wrenches the bars of my cage apart in his massive hands. Azlan drags me out to hug me more tightly than I have ever been hugged.
“Tell me you are okay,” he murmurs in my ear.
“I’m okay,” I tell him.
“You are in so much trouble,” he intones gruffly.
“I know,” I whimper back.
“I captured your mate!” Kain attempts to sound badass, but it doesn’t really work now that Azlan has me in his arms. Azlan holding me might be the only reason Kain is still alive.
“Skol, Nyan, guards, get this pretender off my throne,” he rumbles.
True authority cannot be denied when it is perceived. The guards who followed Azlan and his brothers in recognize his natural claim to the throne without needing any further argument. Azlan is known as the oldest living son of Leonidas, and his energy is so much more stable than Kain’s.
“No!” Kain shrieks as they advance on him. “I am alpha! I killed Leonidas! Respect me! Respect my authority!”
The guards do not respect it, not even a little bit. He is dragged off, his fancy golden armor clanging with a particularly hollow sound against the stone floor.
“I’ve got you,” Azlan says, reassuring me and nuzzling me with his big, warm face. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
“Have to be honest, I don’t think I was ever in danger,” I mumble back.
“What? How can you say that? Look at the cage. Look at the….”
“You need to talk to your brother,” I tell Azlan. “He’s not just evil.”
“I have no desire to speak to Kain. I came for you.”
“I know, but he’s acting out because he’s sad. Deeply sad. The kind of sad that makes you kill and stuff your own father, sad. He’s not okay.”
“I am well aware he is not okay. I am worried about you, Ava. As usual, you seem to have forgotten you exist. You have been kept in a cage for days. You have been subject to humiliation, fear…”
“He didn’t touch me,” I reassure Azlan. “He just wanted a captive audience, and he wanted to show that he was clever. He’s like a cub in a full-grown body. Everything he wants and desires are just basic things we all need.”
“Captive madness,” Azlan muses, giving me a searching look.
“Come again?”
“It is when a captive begins to identify with her captor so she can survive.”
“I’m not mad,” I say. “And yeah, maybe I do understand Kain a little more now, but there has been enough death and rejection. Too much of both. Your brothers need you. Your whole fucking world needs you, Azlan.”
“And I need you,” he says, nuzzling me.
“You’ve got me.”
“Do I? When you put every waif, stray, and psychopath before your own wellbeing? Am I ever going to be able to be certain that you have not run off in the night to save some wayward soul against my wishes?”
“I guess you’ll just have to make me a mother so all that nurturing, rescuing energy has somewhere to go,” I suggest with a smile.
“Yes,” Azlan agrees. “That is a very, very good idea.”
“As soon as the females are freed and returned to their cubs, of course.”
“Of course,” he says. “I know you couldn’t possibly enjoy being ravaged into submission if you did not first know you had put the world to rights.”
“You’re the same as I am,” I say. “Kain told me all about you, how you saved him and the other lost, dumped boys. How you suffered to survive, how you built the pride lands from nothing…”
Azlan is carrying me away now, out of the Den and back to the ship. As I speak, he lets out a series of soft and occasionally deep growls.