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That scared the ever loving shit out of me, but before I could respond, doors somewhere close by banged open. The walls shook with the force and then angry stomping came right for us.
“What is the meaning of this!” Aamori’s voice boomed. She strode into the hall and her battle leathers squeaking with each step. Right or wrong, I couldn’t get the social media sound out of my head of the shoes squeaking over the gymnasium floor.
Really poor timing, Isolde, I scolded myself.
Yunez and the rest of my beautiful mates came in at her heels looking completely unbothered.
“I tried to explain to you, Aamori—”
“No!” She spun around, fisting her hands down by her ass as she bent forward. “I won’t listen to you this time, Yunez. After the secrets you’ve revealed, I don’t know that I can take your word for anything. The people of Fennina deserve better!” She dragged in a deep breath and turned back around to face us. If her eyes were weapons, I would have been gouged on the spot. A slow brutal death.
“Aamori,” Rand said softly, stepping forward and bowing low at the waist.
Oh shit, that was right. She wanted my man.
Hell to the no, lady. I started to step forward but Sage stuck his fingers in some of my spandex holes and held me back.
Immediately, Aamori’s expression softened. “Rand. Are you about to spew lies to keep your secrets?”
“No. I want to share with you why we came here.” He stepped forward, and she softened even more, the bitch. When she didn’t interrupt him, he continued. “We got word that the other Mazza was here. In fact, one of her mates had broken away, unbeknownst to us. When we caught up with her, she tried to take our Mazza. We chased her off but needed time for recovery.”
Damn.
I blinked.
That was the truth and so far from it, I couldn’t quite comprehend that he was actually going to get away with this. With the truth!
“The other Mazza?” Aamori asked like she wasn’t sure she was asking the right question.
“Yes. The other Mazza. She works for the Fiasla realm, and we’ve learned she rules her mates with an iron fist. She stabbed one through the chest right in front of us. We do not know if he lived.” He pulled in a breath. “And it seems my father has died by an unknown hand, and my mother led her people here to attack. She believed his death was by our hand. It was not.” Rand bowed his head, signaling that was all he had to say. Some of his inner turmoil showed through his body language and my heart, along with Aamori’s, hurt for him.
The freaking woman fluttered her hand around her throat and nodded. There wasn’t one single follow-up question to test his validity. I narrowed my gaze on Rand. Was he using his Manno mojo to subdue her?
I wanted to be pissed if he was, but I also wanted to fuck his brains out for saving our asses.
“You would put your life on your word?” She gazed at him with wide, twinkling eyes. Theon just rolled his. He must be used to his mother’s antics.
“I swear it.” Rand lifted his head but clasped his hands in front of him.
“Well,” Yunez said as he stepped forward, clapping his hands and doing his famous head toss. “Now that that is settled, I believe we were strategizing the war. It seems we need to catch up on exactly what Lavi was doing as well.” He walked over and pulled Rand into a quick, but gripping hug. “I am sorry, my fellow mate, for your loss. And it saddens me we do not have time to let you grieve.”
“I’m fine.” Rand sounded awfully choked up for being fine. “We need to take down the Fiasla realm so we can move on with our lives.” His words were so quiet, I think we were the only ones to hear him.
Yunez nodded, released him and addressed the room. “Let us continue our discussions in the morning. Especially now that my mates have done you a service, Aamori.” He gave her a pointed look. “Leaving your house unprotected could have cost you.”
She stiffened but didn’t say anything else.
The room started to empty, and Yunez came over to place his hand at the small of my back, leading us away. I glanced over my shoulder just before we passed through the hall doors.
“Mother! Stop this. You can’t let them walk out like that.” Theon’s voice rang through the hall.
We stopped, and Yunez tugged me back inside with the others at my back.
Theon waved his hand in front of Aamori’s face as if she was in some kind of trance. She wasn’t. She couldn’t have been. Even though I’d had the random thought that Rand could have used his Manno mojo on her, I didn’t actually believe it.
“What?” She snapped, but her tone was weary and irritated.
Instead of responding to her, Theon snapped his fingers at their guards along the wall. “Take them to the dungeon. When we’ve sorted out a plan for Fennina, then we can let them out.”
