Chapter 84

84 Lightning Strikes

~ TARKYN ~

Elreth’s jaw flexed. “That’s what they’re trying to figure out. But we’re hoping that your Tribemate, Harth, can show you that you have a male here who understands both your position of strength as a Warrior, and your desire to bring your people through this safely.”

Her mouth twisted slightly on the word and she glanced aside at Tarkyn, but he had made his submission, and he’d been weak. He wasn’t going to give Elreth wiggle room now. Even without his mate being a part of their people, his heart knew that war would only lead to destruction on all sides. Peace... peace was what they needed. And he wouldn’t apologize for working towards it.

Zev looked back at Harth then and the two of them locked in once more. Tarkyn fought against the itching in his skin-too many males, too close to his mate-but he swallowed it back and reached out to her. Could she carry two conversations at once in her mind? He wasn’t sure.

‘What is he saying, love?’

‘He’s listening. I’m showing him how I saw you fight-and how you’ve protected me. He had to take similar action for Sasha when she arrived. I’m trying to let him see what you have in common. I’m showing him that you’re both males of strength and character and-‘

Zev tensed, his hands clenching to fists at his side as he growled. “But he follows that fucking Queen,” he snarled.

Tarkyn’s heart dipped, but before he could speak, Elreth took two pointed steps, right up to the bars. “You’re an Alpha, you know that our role is to take control-”

“No, El-” Tarkyn started, his instincts screaming-torn between taking hold of his Queen to pull her back, and staying close to his mate who was leaning as if she might step closer too.

.....

The guard stepped up with Elreth, awkwardly bringing his spear between her and the bars. Tarkyn blinked, then sucked in a breath to scream a warning, but it was too late.

Zev suddenly wasn’t where he had been. He moved like liquid lightning, but black-bringing death in a blink.

*****

~ HARTH ~

When Zev zeroed in on her again, he was no longer passively listening, no longer regarding her with careful consideration.

No longer letting her control the conversation.

He locked eyes with her, an Alpha to his pack member, and he snarled in her head.

‘I don’t care how honorable the male is, he’s submitted to a female.’

Best

‘But so are you!’ Harth replied quickly. She had to stop herself licking her lips in submission when his eyes flashed with anger. ‘Zev, I’m not challenging you-I just... there are so many similarities here. I... I don’t think they’re like the humans. I think they’re like us. They’ve been frightened by the humans. Hurt by them. And it’s made them defensive. But they’re listening now-‘

Tarkyn nudged her mind, wanting to know what was being said.

She filled him in quickly, sending images in her mind to Zev, even as she described them to her mate-those moments when he’d stepped between her and danger, even danger from his own people-and she flashed that right alongside the moments when Zev had had to protect Sasha from other Chimera.

She felt her Alpha take the hit like a blow to his stomach, flinching inwardly from the memories.

Perhaps that was a mistake to remind him of that. Especially with Sasha and Zan outside. But she was growing desperate. She’d already reassured Zev by showing him everything she’d seen in this Tree City-the few trails she’d been allowed to walk, the cave where they’d slept, the Royal Cave, the scents she’d caught.

They were outnumbered. Greatly outnumbered. He needed to know that.

So she shoveled images and memories at Zev, let him taste the fear she’d felt-and the comfort of her mate stepping between her and the guards. She’d shown his dignity and strength in not revealing the truth of his weakness that first night so that she wouldn’t be risked.

And she showed him fighting their guards when she’d been pulled away that morning when Zan was crying.

Was it really only that morning?

Time seemed to run so slowly in this place...

Desperate, when she reached the end of her memories, she started again, laying her words over the images.

‘He’s a good male, Zev. He reminds me of you-your power and protection. He’s disciplined and strong. And he wants what’s good for the people, not just for himself.’

But then she showed that fight again-and the way Tarkyn had struggled against the guards, imagining something very similar had happened to Zev when he’d been taken.

‘And yet, he’s free, and here I stand, caged again,’ he growled in her head.

‘But not for long-if you’ll just trust him-‘

‘Trust him?’ Zev’s voice rang in her skull, echoing with his incredulity. ‘Trust? Him?’

She opened her mouth, but Zev’s lip curled up in a sneer again. “But he follows that fucking Queen,” he snarled.

Harth’s heart fell to her toes-she could feel Zev bracing himself. But before she could speak, the Queen stepped up to the bars, bristling with anger.

“You’re an Alpha, you know that our role is to take control-”

“No, El-” Tarkyn snapped

And Harth cried out as she saw the plan in Zev’s mind a split second before he moved so quickly she didn’t see his body pass through the space.

She blinked, turning to warn Elreth or Tarkyn, or someone-but it was too late.

She was hit by a whirlwind of dark, lion strength, her arms pinned to her sides and her entire body whipped to the side. And a mere second later, panting with shock, she was placed on her feet, now well out of reach of the bars. But faced with the horror of what was occurring there.

Somehow, with that lightning speed, Zev had taken the Queen by the neck and pulled her straight into the bars, twisting his other arm through them and locking the arm and spear of the Guard next to her in place, using the bars as a brace, with the spearhead pointed directly at her throat. He’d also hooked his ankle through the bars and around Elreth’s, pinning her there, at neck and feet, using the bars to keep them all upright and braced.

The male guard struggled, but his movements made the spearhead jiggle and it scratched the skin of the queen. Zev’s arm bulged, veins and muscles popping to keep the guard there. But he was rock solid because he had the bars to use as leverage.

The Queen had frozen, nose-to-nose with him because of the grip he had on her throat-and that glinting spearhead quivering, its tip scratching the skin right above her jugular, raising a single bead of blood.

Their eyes were locked.

“Take control?” Zev whispered menacingly. “That’s what you said leaders do... right?”

Elreth quivered herself, obviously tempted to shift. But could she do it and free herself from the awkward position before he plunged that spearhead into her neck-or her beast’s?

Whether the human or the beast were killed, both died... didn’t they? It was certainly true for Chimera.

‘Don’t. Move.’ Tarkyn’s voice in her head rang with Alpha authority so strong Harth almost submitted. But she couldn’t move.

She gaped as her mate released her, stepping slowly between her and Zev and that cluster of limbs and death at the bars.

“Don’t do it, Aaryn,” Tarkyn said quietly, his voice-still resonant with the Alpha power-somehow calming and commanding in the same breath.

Which was when Harth realized, the Queen’s mate stood, just feet behind her, frozen, his entire body quivering, lips peeled back in a growl, and his skin rippling towards the shift.

*****

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