Chapter Thirty-Two

Christopher

When I come to, I hear my name being called with Celina lying limply in my arms. Horrified, I find my canines are sunken into one of her freshly marked claims. I retract them quickly and realize that it’s Ruben calling my name.

My mind is reeling, trying to catch up. I had just marked Celina and I was still riding that high. While she showered, I had gone out to tell Ruben the good news. I was about to tell him when we noticed someone on the security cameras by her car. We went to wake up the others, and then I was going to go get Celina. The elevator bell went off and before we knew it, all of us were being attacked by high-powered lycans. Poor Xander didn’t stand a chance, since even I was struggling with them.

We didn’t smell them, and we had foolishly trusted in the security of this building. We only had a few hours left in this god-forsaken city, and, consequently, let our guards down. I failed her. I didn’t save her from the man that is hunting her. Not even my marks seem capable to stop him. He knows what he wants, and that is Celina. When a lycan has decided they want something, nothing short of death, will stop them.

He’s dangerously strong, and if I hadn’t received her mark, I doubt I would have been strong enough to fight him; without it costing me my life. How is he so much stronger than when we first met? Was he just toying with me? Did Celina cause too much damage? That pain in my ass lycan, Leroy, mentioned he saw evidence of other fights. Perhaps he had exhausted himself getting to Celina.

“Chris,” Ruben snaps, waving his hand in his face. “First off, put down the girl before you break her.” I look down and realize that my hands have shifted and my nails are digging into her skin. I let go quickly, grateful I hadn’t punctured any skin. I lift her and cradle her in my arms; using her scent to calm me. Rajin would rather die than hurt our mate, but I still don’t want to shift and risk hurting her.

“Now, set the girl down,” Ruben says calmly, “then you can fill me in on what happened.”

The idea of no longer touching Celina is enough to make me flinch. “No, I’m okay.”

“Tell me what happened.”

My mind is still trying to slow down from all of the adrenalin. “I heard Celina cry out for help, and that lunatic lycan freak was centimeters away from biting her. I shifted in midstride and tackled him fully shifted. We fell out of her window and landed in a dumpster. I landed on top of him and got a good amount of damage on him. He managed to get a claw across my face, so I had to pull back. By the time I could see clearly, he was already gone.

“I raced back into the lobby as soon as I could, but those assholes’ force stopped the elevator. I had to make the front desk do a manual override of the elevator, and I sent them to check the garage wiring.”

He raises his eyebrow, seeing all the damage that has been done to me for the first time. We both were so focused on Celina, and trying to figure out what happened, that we never looked to see if the other is alright. Ruben has deep lacerations on his chest, neck, and stomach, but they’re minor for him. For me, I have deep wounds all over my body, and my facial lacerations are still open, but no longer bleeding. I can feel her blood and smell it. Thank the goddess that monstrosity didn’t bite her.

Ruben takes a deep breath. “And how did you explain…well this,” he asks as he gestures toward me.

“I told them I slept walked,” I snap; irritated by his question. “They saw them breaking in and have already called the police. It’s being picked up by one of the wolves from the clan here.”

Ruben takes a breath of relief, “Good because this would be awfully hard to explain.” He checks his phone and grimaces. “Looks like we’re missing our flight.”

I take a deep breath. “Call Dad, and have him send the private jet. Tell him everything.”

Ruben raises his eyebrow, “Dad will have security on you tighter than what he has on Celina. Are you sure?”

I glare at him as anger rises in my chest. “I better not see them, and if one even steps close to my mate, I’ll slaughter them. Today has only proven what we already know, no lycan can be trusted.”

Ruben and I look down to see two sons whose parents are on the Council. Another is on our Board of Relations. As far as we know, he has no living relative. I don’t know the other two. “Arrest Councilman Geoff and Councilman Leopold. Tell them their sons are dead.”

Ruben nods. “What about the other two?”

“Do you know them?”

It’s after a minute that he speaks. “They’re among some of the lycans that have gone missing. Both are of the lower ranks.”

“So they’re kidnapping lycans as well,” I muse as Rajin paces inside of me; pure rage beginning to course through me. The only reason I’m not shifting again is because of my Celina’s weight in my arms. “I will see to it that every rogue beast is beheaded at a public execution.”

“That’s a given,” Ruben says as he takes a visible step back as my aura seeps out of me, the weight of it starting to crash on him. He’d be submitted if I was directing it toward him; though I can see his neck straining. “Still, you need to calm down. You’re going to hurt someone. I can see the hair on your arms starting to come in.”

I take a deep breath to calm myself. “I have nowhere I can put her down, Ruben. There are five bodies on the ground, and the counter is barely big enough for her to sit on now.”

Ruben rubs his face. “Get her dressed, we’re heading to the airport. I’ll have Dad have his personal doctor meet us there. Celina can hold on, and I don’t believe the others have internal injuries. If the police have already been called, the clean-up crew should be here soon. We’ll talk about it later when you’ve had a chance to calm down. Clean and dress the princess, I’ll watch her so you can get cleaned up. While you clean her up, I’ll wake her brother and friend.”

Still stewing in my fury, I nod. Gently, I go and lay Celina on her stomach on the blanket that is still sprawled out. After having cleaned her up and changing her, I allow Xander to sit with her, while Ruben is still trying to wake Leroy. He’s covered in bruises and his face is swollen, but he still watches over her with his fists clenched together.

When I change into a pair of jeans and a grey v-neck, I go and sit next to Xander. “Are you doing okay?” I ask him, finally settled enough to think around my anger.

He shakes his head. “Why did they attack us? We were about to leave. Celina was almost safe. How did they even know we were leaving?”

I give a hard sigh. “Unfortunately, her arrival has been highly anticipated and publicized when my father started preparing for both of your arrivals.”

“Why would he do that?” Xander groans. “They knew she was leaving, so they took the last chance they could before she’s surrounded by guards.”

I can’t argue with that, but I can’t blame my father on this one. “Anytime a member of a Royal Family comes to visit another is a big deal. Especially when one had partially marked the other.”

Xander looks at me with a tired and frustrated look. “Yeah had. I see you marked her.”

I put my hand up, “I had her full permission, and I waited for her to accept me.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?”

“I was going to tell you but we got a little sidetracked.”

Xander laughs and finally relaxes his hands. “No kidding. Some honeymoon.”

A hard laugh escapes me, “Yeah.” I look at my amazing mate, just wishing she’d open her eyes. “I shouldn’t have left her alone.”

“She was attacked in the shower,” Xander says as he stands up. “Even if you were still hooking up, they still would have shown up.” He looks over at her with anger in his eyes. “They always show up. Ever since we were sixteen, she’s always had these types of idiots after her. I used to be able to protect her. Now I can’t even stand my ground more than five minutes. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her lose against someone, and this is the second fight against him. I don’t want there to be a third.”

“I’ll do my damndest to make sure there isn’t.”

“Who is this creep anyway,” Xander growls.

“I have no idea, but he seems to know Celina.”

“No, he seems obsessed with Celina. I’ve never seen a lycan get this deranged over someone he has chosen to be his mate.”

Anger flares back to life inside of me at the word mate. She is mine and no one else. Why does it seem that everyone wants to take my mate away from me? No one, including that menacing lycan, will take her from me. Who is he, and what makes him think he has any claim to the throne or my mate? If he comes near my mate one more time, I’ll see to it that he doesn’t even have a nose to smell her scent with.

“Neither have I,” I say while I look at my sleeping mate. I can’t keep talking about this, or Rajin will become too angry to control once more. I won’t be allowed near her once shifted, especially since my beast keeps trying to mark her. “Get cleaned up. We’ll leave soon for the plane. My father is sending the jet.”

Xander nods while I pull Celina into my arms. I bury my nose in her hair, inhaling her scent to keep me sane. After a few moments, I have soothed my beast enough to allow me to pick her up. I cradle her in my arms and try to be mindful of the wounds on her back.

Worldlessly, we leave with Xander in front to block Celina from view, and Leroy and Ruben covering her from the side. We take the rental, aware that they likely have Celina’s vehicle being watched for.

Mercifully, we make it to the airport without incident and only have to wait a few hours or so for the plane to arrive. I hold my mate in my arms the entire wait, and glare at anyone who looks at us for a second too long while we are taken to a private lounge.

Ruben gets up and starts pacing as he continuously texts someone on his phone. I assume it’s our father; judging by the amount he’s swearing.

“What is it,” I growl after ten minutes of watching this.

“Our Father in his nonexistent wisdom, has decided to host a ball in honor of our will be Crowned Queen of the Beasts, and give her the title of the Crowned Princess of Beasts at a corrination ball next week.”

Rage fires through me as I glare at him. “Why?”

“With all the negative attention our dear Celina seems to be drawing, he wants to give her an official title as soon as possible.”

“Again, why? I’m not due to be crowned for almost a century. That freak is going after Dad’s title, not hers. He doesn’t care about her title, so it’s not going to change anything. If anything, it’s only going to make her mateship more enticing.”

“I don’t know, but Dad’s invited everyone, including your ex.”