“What the fuck happened to you on your date, man?” Josh jokes as I walk through the door, but the minute he looks at the blood covering all my clothes, mixed in with the dirt, and the fury on my face, he quickly turns serious. “Where is Adelaide?”
“Taken by Graves. He had fuck knows how many hunters distract me while he took her. I thought he was there for both of us, but he only wanted her. I fucked up,” I admit, remembering the sight of Graves’s hunters picking up Adelaide’s passed out form and taking her away as I fought the hunters trying to kill me.
“What did you just say?” Rick growls, storming down the stairs, and Mich appears in the room, right in the middle of Josh and me.
“Adelaide is at the base and in trouble, we need to go. Now!” I demand, holding my hands in fists at my side.
“We can’t raid the base alone. Not when he is expecting us to,” Rick growls. “Fuck! I hate to say this, but Mich, go and get the kings and my stepmum.” Mich nods and disappears, he doesn’t need to be told more than once.
“Did they hurt her?” Rick demands, walking until he is right in front of me and placing his hands on my shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
“Yes, they hurt her, and I’m fine. One of those shock collars knocked her out,” I tell him, remembering the heart-tearing scream that left her lips before she blacked out. I desperately tried to fight my way to her, but there were too many of them. By the time I killed the last of them, it was too late. They had taken her. I’m a fucking idiot.
“I’m going to get the weapons. Think of a plan,” Josh tells us, and he walks straight up the stairs without looking back. The air next to us shimmers for a brief second before they appear. Queen Winter, King Atticus, King Dabriel, King Wyatt, King Jaxson and Mich all appear in a line together, looking downright terrifying even to me, and I’ve known them years.
“Rick, what has happened? Where is Josh?” Queen Winter demands, rushing to Rick and pulling his tall frame into a tight hug. Queen Winter looks about our age, but she is about ten years older and pregnant. I’m shocked the kings let her come here, but from what I remember, Queen Winter always did what she wanted.
“Josh is fine, just upstairs, and there is this girl—” Rick starts off and quickly gets cut off as Queen Winter’s eyebrows shoot up as she looks up at Rick.
“What girl?” King Wyatt asks at the same time King Atticus asks. King Wyatt crosses his arms and glares at King Atticus, who only smirks. “Why have we not been told of any changes to this mission? This isn’t a game, boy.”
“With Winter…” Rick starts off, and Queen Winter steps back, crossing her arms over her little bump that you can see under her blue vest top.
“If you say because I’m pregnant—” she starts off and no doubt is going to tell him that her being pregnant isn’t a reason for us all to risk our lives, but Rick cuts her off.
“Wait. Don’t get mad. We don’t have time for this,” Rick growls, shaking his head. “She could be my mate. In fact, I’m nearly certain she is, and Graves has her. I can’t let her die. I need your help…please.”
“Mate?” King Jaxson mutters. “We need to have a long chat, Freds.”
“Congrats, kid!” King Atticus says, holding a hand up for a high five, and everyone glares at him. “Not the time, alright I’ll save it for later.”
“Atti, go back to the castle and get the royal army ready in ten minutes,” King Jaxson growls. “And bring me my sword.”
“I’m coming with you as well,” King Dabriel says, and Atti places his hand on King Dabriel’s shoulder before they both disappear. Josh runs down the stairs, two bags of weapons in his hands, and he drops them on the floor.
“Get in here, man,” King Atticus states, pulling Josh into a reluctant man hug just before Queen Winter gets to him, pulling Josh into an embrace as well. I look away when they start speaking quietly. I ignore them all, and grab one of the bags of weapons, picking it up and dropping it on the sofa in the lounge. I open it up and pull out my favourite swords, flipping them around in my hands. We are going to get her back, or I won’t ever stop until she is safe. I know he wants her for something, so he won’t kill her yet. If he kills her—
“What happened exactly?” King Wyatt asks, stopping my train of thought and stepping to my side. I don’t answer him straight away as he starts going through the bag of weapons, pulling out the ones he doesn’t want and dropping them on the other side of the sofa.
“I got distracted. They must have been waiting, and now she is gone,” I explain.
“I didn’t mean tonight. What exactly has been going on with this girl, and why have you all kept her a secret from us?” he asks.
“She just turned up and turned our lives upside down,” I admit. “Thinking straight hasn’t been a thing for us recently.”
“Women tend to do that,” King Wyatt lightly chuckles, his eyes drifting to Queen Winter before coming back to me as he picks a heavy sword up. “Does Rick know you’re in love with his mate?”
“No,” I admit.
“Secrets cause problems, and sharing does work if you can all be honest. You have all grown up together, don’t lie and fall out because you won’t talk about how you feel,” King Wyatt tells me. “Make sure you tell your family the truth.” I don’t get a chance to reply to him as he walks away, and I look over to see Rick watching us closely. I’m well aware he could have heard our conversation from this distance, but he doesn’t react in any way, so I doubt he did listen in. Rescue Adie first and then deal with our feelings later.