The Alpha King (Kingdom of Askara #1)(49)
Two days ago, everything had suddenly started going wrong when Tomas had broken his leg, which meant that neither he nor Molly could travel with them. Tomas was supervising the packing of some supplies and a horse had spooked. A human boy had got his foot caught and Tomas had managed to calm the animals to stop them bolting and dragging the boy. Unfortunately, the cart had tipped and Tomas had got a spoke through his leg as it splintered, and he’d broken a bone. There was no way he could travel, and there was no way Luca could delay things much longer. Luca had even tried to heal him, but it hadn’t worked. It seemed that Luca would only ever be able to heal Kit.
Gabriel had managed to get permission from the lead Alpha of Perse, which they had to pass through to get to Neira; if Luca had marched into another territory without notice, people might have gotten killed before he had a chance to explain who he was. Added to that was the likelihood that Kit could deliver the baby in four weeks, and it was going to take at least ten days to get to Neira. When Molly had told them it was likely Kit would follow wolf gestation rules rather than human rules, Luca had insisted at first he wasn’t traveling until after the pup was born, but then the weather was going to be a problem. Kit was glad it was cooler, as the journey would be unpleasant if too hot, but the weather was the other reason Sam had cautioned Luca he had to leave soon. In another moon cycle, snow would cover most of the northern territories, and while they were traveling south, Neira wasn’t far south enough to be unaffected.
Then this morning, Gabriel had the second report from his friend in Perse near where the human militia had attacked, wolves had retaliated, and over a hundred people all from the same village were dead. Kit had insisted Luca couldn’t let it happen a second time. He was strong. Caedra was safe and running well. They had no choice but to leave as soon as they could.
Luca had been silent for a long few minutes. Kit had known why. It was the “greater good” argument all over again, and what they both knew was that, now more than ever, if humans were rioting, Luca had to take his human omega with them.
The argument currently was over who else was going.
“Absolutely not,” Luca said incredulously when Taheesha had appeared with her bag already packed.
“But who’s going to look after the baby?” Taheesha had said, reasonably at first, then more rebelliously when her brother continued to be adamant she was staying with Iris, Molly, and Tomas.
Luca finally lost his temper and yelled, “I absolutely forbid it.”
Taheesha burst into tears and ran out of the pack house.
Kit had tried to soothe him. “She’s rationalizing through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old, don’t forget. She’s very protective of me.” He would miss Tomas, Molly, and Taheesha, but he agreed with Luca. There was no way they could risk Taheesha. At least Gabriel was going to accompany them. It meant leaving Danni, but Luca had promised once they got to Neira and the first snows had gone, Gabriel could then either return, or bring Danni down with him. Luca had told Kit he had a feeling he was going to have to appoint another Alpha to rule for Gabriel. He knew the wolf was more eager to reach the great library in the capital than he was to manage his “father’s pack”, as he called it. The fact that he still referred to it as his father’s pack, and not his own, was telling. Kit knew Luca also needed Danni’s divining talents, as he had no idea what he was going to be walking into.
Luca sighed and rubbed his temple. Kit immediately rose up on his knees behind him and dug into the tight muscles with his fingers. Luca sagged. Kit continued for a few minutes until Luca turned around and kissed Kit senseless. “I want to crawl into bed with you, but if we are leaving in the morning, I still have a huge list of jobs to finish.”
“Who’s going with us?”
“Sam, and Asher obviously,” Luca replied. “Gabriel. Nial, thank goodness, as we need someone to look after the horses. Sam has got a group of ten gammas and five humans. I want to take an army, but any larger and we won’t be able to move fast enough.”
Kit nodded. He knew they already had three huge carts with all the supplies in them. Kit was going to travel in the first one behind the gammas. All the gammas had been selected by Nial personally as the ones who could ride horses the best. The humans all had various talents, but there were at least two who could cook and were in charge of feeding everyone. They would drive the carts. Asher would drive his. Luca had told him in no uncertain terms that if anything happened—if Asher felt there was a threat of any sort to Kit—Asher had to take off with Kit and hide. He had said if the choice was between protecting Kit and protecting his King, then Kit would win. Kit hadn’t been able to speak for a good few minutes after hearing this. The thought of anything happening to Luca was enough to make him want to curl up and die.
The next morning they were all packed. Kit looked in amusement as Gabriel dragged a box of books over to one of the carts, insisting he couldn’t leave without them. The horses stood breathing what looked like smoke out of their noses in the cool, misty air. Kit was standing quietly, getting hugs from everyone, it seemed. Iris had dissolved into tears as she said Taheesha had told her she was refusing to say goodbye to her brothers and locked herself in her room. Kit was sorry—he’d missed the little girl’s hugs that morning, but Luca was right to forbid Taheesha to come. He was nearly hyperventilating over Kit’s safety. Goodness knows what state Luca would be in if he had his little sister to worry about as well.