AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Touch her like that again and you’ll face a proper challenge, understood?”
Dillon nodded his agreement, and I groaned silently as I saw the impish glint dancing in his eyes, knowing that he wasn’t done being a smart ass.
“Alpha,” he called as Liam began to turn away. “You feel that fire in your belly?”
Liam narrowed his eyes at him, folding his arms across his wide chest. “Excuse me?”
Dillon grinned wider and struggled to stand before answering. “All those emotions I just stirred up. They feel good? Because we all need to feel them again, so you’re welcome.”
I braced myself as I expected Liam to answer the cocky words with violence, shock flooding through me as Liam suddenly released a breath of laughter.
“You’re a little shit,” he said, a grin curving his lips as he shook his head at Dillon in exasperation.
The beta returned the smile and shrugged lightly as the pack began murmuring their own reactions. “You know it.”
The wind suddenly picked up, whipping strands of my hair around as Noah released me with a possessive kiss beneath my ear. The sky above was darkening rapidly now, the oncoming storm approaching faster than I had expected, and I walked purposefully past Liam towards the fire pit.
“Come on, we need to talk before the storm hits,” I called, heading for a spare seat in the centre and huffing at Liam as he beat me there and pulled me down into his lap instead.
“You let him touch you without consequence,” he breathed into my ear, making a shiver run down my spine. “So you can damn well deal with me manhandling you right now.”
I hummed in answer but didn’t argue, distracted as my gaze caught on a pair of bright green eyes across from us. I hadn’t seen much of Zeke in the last week, growing more and more frustrated as he expertly avoided me. Anytime he was nearby, he shut down any attempt to speak to him, refusing to give me more than the essential responses before disappearing again at the earliest opportunity.
I sighed as he dropped his gaze away yet again, focusing instead on the reason we were gathered.
“Thank you for coming guys,” I called, pausing to let the pack fall into silence before continuing. “It’s been a tough week, I know, but we think its time to consider the next steps. The Queen said herself that she’s coming for us again, so we need to make a plan.”
Liam wove his fingers through mine and squeezed supportively, happy to let me lead. It was a heady feeling, seeing even Vella and Shae looking towards me with respect, and I realised that I truly, finally felt like I belonged here.
“Firstly, you need to know everything,” I continued, dragging in a deep breath as I made myself comfortable on Liam’s lap. “My past, what we were doing when we were away, and the truth about the prophecy.”
I watched the shifters around me exchange glances of wary confusion, but no one spoke, so I kept talking until the light was low and distant thunder was rumbling. There were no secrets now, they had only caused more harm than good anyway, and we needed to work as a unit and fully trust each other if we were going to figure this out in time.
A stunned silence fell when I finished, falling quiet and waiting as I watched them absorb it all. Movement caught my attention and I looked towards Vella, inwardly groaning in dread as she slowly raised a hand in the air.
Her words surprised me though.
“So what do we do now?”
I cocked my head at her. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged slightly. “Well it seems pretty clear from the prophecy that you can save us, so how do we help?”
I blinked at the sincerity in her expression, stunned that she wasn’t fighting back at all after everything she had done to make my life difficult. Thankfully, Liam noticed my confusion and stepped in to answer.
“Well, we need to find the third stone, then work out how to use them.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I have no idea on that last part.”
Saffy grinned at me from where she sat beside her parents. “One step at a time, Cor.”
“So what did you say? Its with her treasure?”
I glanced at the speaker, finding Raul stood with his hands on his hips.
“No, she said with the things she treasures the most,” came an answering voice, Berry stepping forward confidently and catching everyone’s attention. “Right?”
Noah nodded. “That’s what I was told.”
