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That was why he hadn’t wanted Lexi to come with them. She wasn’t a shifter. He was sure she could find ways to fight. But not today. Not while he was her king.
Xander and Declan moved past the spatter of rain into the curve of the cave, keeping their senses keen. Xander could already detect Harper, a smell that he had picked up off of Lexi after she had first arrived.
“Over there,” Xander whispered.
He could see the shadow of a person straight ahead, pinned against a tighter spot where the cave began to narrow. He could hear whimpering, and his heart was struck with empathy and rage.
Xander motioned for Declan to stay behind him while he proceeded toward Harper. As he got closer, he could see that Lexi’s vision was completely correct. She had her hands tied behind her back, and her feet were bound. Her mouth was also gagged.
Xander stopped for a moment, hearing Harper’s whimpering, the desperation in the tone of an enforcer was rare to observe. He tried to listen for anyone who could be masking their scent, someone working against the kingdom, some traitor looking for a little cash.
He picked up Harper’s zesty sweat of fear, as well as Declan’s and the other two enforcers. He took another step forward, his feet crackling against the rock.
Harper shot her glare toward him, eyes trying to peer through the dark.
Xander went to her, softly and gently holding out his hands in a non-violent pose. The only light was the faint spill of the moon, which ended at the entrance of the cave. Harper stared at him blankly as he progressed forward, whispering in the dark toward his mate’s best friend.
“It’s Xander,” he said. “I’m here to help you. Everything is okay.”
Harper began to struggle against her bindings when Xander placed a soft hand on her shoulder. He could feel the anxiety surging through her, which wasn’t something he would have ever dreamed someone like her would feel so acutely.
He removed her mouth gag, and she began to spew words. A look of panic struck across her face like a deer in headlights.
“Shh, let me untie you,” Xander murmured.
“Where’s Lexi?” Harper implored.
Xander moved his hands to her wrists and untied the knot. He didn’t want to upset her further, so he spoke in a voice that was as light as he could muster.
“She’s back at the palace. She’s fine. Let’s focus on getting you out of here safely first.”
As Xander untied her bindings, he noticed Harper swaying. His eyes had adjusted to the dark, so he could see her better, more thoroughly, and with that, he saw that her eyelids were fluttering as well. Xander started to think that she had been drugged, as well as beaten. The bindings had been tight around her wrists and left deep imprints. There were bruises that were likely to glisten in the moonlight around her jaw and eye sockets as well.
Clearly, whoever had done this to Harper knew her strength and convictions and was rightly wary of her in her shifter form. But it took a lot of drugs to keep a shifter from, well, from shifting. It concerned Xander deeply.
“Let’s get you home.”
Xander untied her ankle bindings, then scooped the enforcer into his arms. Usually, enforcers were bursting with pride and wouldn’t allow such an insulting gesture. Even if a limb was hanging off their bodies, they would try to walk it out.
But Harper didn’t make a peep. It made Xander even more afraid.
He carried her out slowly, meeting with Declan, who was just outside the edge of the cave. The King of Noblegrace glanced over the enforcer, eyes wide with confusion.
“Is she …” he began.
“Let’s talk at the palace. She needs a healer fast.”
Declan closed his mouth promptly and nodded like a good soldier. They stepped out of the cave and back into the light tapping of rain. The moonlight was the color of the blooming bruises around Harper’s neck.
Xander knew something was going to happen before it did. It was the benefit of not only being king but also a shifter with senses that were finely tuned over decades of solitude. It was the scent of rotting flesh he caught first, his wolf senses firing into overdrive.
“DECLAN!”
The enforcers rushed into action outside the cave, their clothes sliced off their bodies at the moment of attack. The rogue wolves went for the jugular, with the enforcers slightly caught off guard.
“Go!” Xander boomed.
Declan shifted like a flash of lightning. He turned into his majestic wolf form, looking like royalty even as his fangs protruded and his pupils bloomed into dead, black moons. His golden fur shimmered in the moonlight, and he leapt quickly to his enforcer’s aid. He caught one rogue by the ankle, digging his incisors into the bone with fierce brutality.
