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My beast presses me, urging me to move, to do something, and show her how I feel.
So I do the only thing I can think of and stop thinking, letting my instincts take over.
I release her hand and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her into me and leaning down to once again press our lips together. The first time I panicked, I thought I was crazy, but this time I’m paying attention. I feel her gasp for air a second before she melts into me. Her arms wrap around my neck, one of her hands tangling in my hair.
Fuck, no wonder my brother kisses her every chance he gets.
This isn’t my first kiss. I’d kissed a few girls when I’d taken them out; I really had tried. But this is the first one to make me feel something and want more. The first one with what I hope is the last person I ever get to kiss.
She pulls back what feels like too soon. Though judging by my screaming lungs, it wasn’t that fast. Her cheeks are pink, the same way they were with Pike earlier, and I’d bet mine aren’t much better.
“What do you say we keep looking for some answers to all this crazy shit, together?” She holds her hand out to me with a smile, and I take it. My own smile so big my cheeks ache, but I can’t stop.
“Always.”
The sound of the kingdom’s alarm startles me from my reading. I’ve only ever heard them once before, on the night that haunts my dreams.
Panic threatens to overwhelm me, as if I’m back in that moment, running for my life alone in the forest with only Garrett’s voice in my mind pushing me forward.
I’d been so sure I would die that day.
I probably should have.
As unruly and unknown as my powers might be, they saved me.
They saved so many people.
Knowing that helps me push the panic aside, along with the fact that I can guarantee the guys aren’t just going to sit around while people are in danger.
No, Garrett is the future king, and it’s not like the rest of them are known for sitting around when they can help. If they were, we never would have been friends. They were there for me when they didn’t even know me and had no reason to care, but they did anyway. I’m not sure if it’s an instinct they have from being Alphas or just who they are, but I won’t let them face danger alone.
I can’t.
Nothing can happen to them.
I might not remember my past before I washed up on the shore all those years ago, but I know enough to know it’s not great. I can feel the ache inside of me from time to time as if I carry the scar on me, even if I don’t know where it came from.
My feet carry me from Garrett’s room, down the long hall, to the grand staircase without thought.
It’s strange. With my memories back, I know this castle like the back of my hand. I know Garrett, Darian, Rosalynn, the staff, and the kingdom, but it’s not the same. The kingdom is a bit bigger, having grown over the years, and while the castle’s layout hasn’t changed, little things have. New paintings, different carpets down the halls, and a new fountain out in the gardens.
It’s nothing major, but enough to remind me that I’ve missed years here. It’s a strange feeling to have a place that feels like home while simultaneously not. It’s like someone took two versions of me and smashed them together, and now I’m trying to sift through the pieces to make myself whole.
I hear the guys before I see them as I round the corner to the great hall. Excitement fills me at the thought of seeing them. They might drive me crazy with their hovering, but I can’t deny that being apart from them is strange. The time I spent here without them keeps coming back to me, and I know that I’d rather them with me, driving me nuts, than not here. I pick up my pace and almost slam into one of the guards who stands with about thirty others spread throughout the hall.
I’d been so focused on the guys that I hadn’t even heard the guards, not that there was much to hear from them. They stand at attention, awaiting orders, as Garrett and his mother discuss something near the head of the room.
It’s funny, her throne sits not ten feet from her, yet she chooses to stand and speak with her son. She’s never been one to sit and command or rule from the castle. When we were younger, she was often out and about, in the garden, visiting the villages, and even going out to the fields to check on the farmers. Nothing like the queens in stories I read in my childhood.
I sidestep the guard and make my way toward them; he doesn’t so much as spare me a glance. It seems they took Lyle’s threat to heart, not that I blame them. He’s pretty intimidating when he wants to be.
Well, not for me, but I can see how they might think he is.
“I don’t think you should split up. Why don’t you send the guards to the smaller village, and you boys take the larger one? You’re all alphas between the six of you. Your odds are better together. The guards should be more than enough for the village to the east, it only has about two hundred people. He will have sent the bulk of them to the northern village as they have close to a thousand there.”
The guys stand around them, listening as the queen explains. It’s strange seeing Lyle default to someone else. He’s usually the one who takes charge and keeps us in line. Regardless of Garrett’s status, they still butt heads all day long, but with the queen, he’s quick to fall in line.
I’m not sure if that says something about her or about him. Regardless, if he had to pick one person to listen to, she would probably be the best.
