KAI'

ce two men, my Beta and my lead scout emerged from t

n my arms. I saw the recognition hit them in

fixed on the blood-soaked silk. "Is that... is that no

my voice cutting through the trees. "She was discarded.

hat

ble reason, I moved before I could think-blocking him. Deep inside my chest, m

t me. He had never seen me protect a stranger,

s. "Secure the perimeter," I commanded, masking the grow

el asked, his brow furrowed. "Have you forgotten s

fting her higher against my chest. Her head fell back against my shoulder, her soft hair brushing against my neck. The contact sent another jol

her my tool. One that I intend to use to dis

ots treading heavily on the earth. I didn't care if the

t the best healers waiting at the gate. If she dies before

used, though I could fee

he bond. I could feel her pain as if it were a dull echo in my own nervous system. I

utiful^^ I heard my w

eautiful women. Now shut i

deny her beauty, Malakai. Hers comes with innocence, g

rd to reconcile this broken creature with the woman who had stood beside Greenwood at the Solstice Ball, looking every bit the queen. I had seen her from a

here. And I hated the way my heart hammered agai

into my home because I need her. So dead every idea

I blocked him off. I did

people gathered in the courtyard, their murmurs rising like a tide as they saw what I was carryi

ir Alpha's scent was the least most

ugh the center of the courtyard, my

in the clatter of the gates closing behind us. "I'll decide if she is wort

over to the waiting healers, but as their hands replaced mine, the loss of contact felt like a deep, excruc

to fists at my sides, and squeezed

s of my beta, the other guards and the healers on me, wa

silenced them, before hurrying out an

above us. I could still feel her. Even through the stone walls, even through the dista

he shadows. "She is a means to an end.