With Everything I Am (The Three #2)(10)

She was lucky it was Ryon moving toward her. If Callum had seen that demonstration, he’d have her head and deserve it.

He might have it anyway and deserve it more.

Desdemona, daughter of Titium and Governor of the Western Territories of the Americas was about to learn that King Callum was not, at all, like the patient, generous, benevolent King McDonagh was.

Without a word, he walked up the steps of the dais, sat in the throne and muttered, “Rise.”

The guard and Desdemona took their feet.

She stepped down two steps and turned to him.

“Ryon,” she greeted familiarly and with anyone else but her, because he didn’t like her and with what was happening in her territory, Ryon might have allowed it.

Instead, he sensed the eyes of the guard, he’d never liked Mona and he knew the state of her territory therefore he clipped, “You forget yourself, Governor.”

He watched as her face grew pale, her mouth set hard and her eyes flashed.

Jesus, she was stupid.

He should strike her.

He didn’t. He wanted her brain functioning properly when he had a go at her.

He watched as she bowed her head and murmured, “Your grace.”

He let go her silent rebellion, threw his hand out and commented, “This is impressive. Half an hour ago, you didn’t know of the king’s imminent arrival.”

“We’re ever ready in the Western Territory, your grace,” Desdemona replied.

Bullshit, she knew they were coming.

That was why they’d moved on the queen.

Could the bitch be more stupid?

“Where is he, I mean,” she hesitated before finishing, “the king?”

Ryon surveyed her.

Yes, she could be more stupid. Because there was a chance she didn’t even know about the queen and even as those in her territory conspired to break the treaty, she couldn’t hide her eagerness to see Cal.

She was, quite plainly, gagging for it.

In fact, there was a more than mild possibility she’d orchestrated this fiasco in order to get it.

If she wasn’t involved in the conspiracy, this grand show was entirely for Cal.

Jesus, Cal must be a master of his own dick to inspire this kind of devotion. He’d finished the messy business with Desdemona over a hundred years ago and she still wasn’t over him.

“He’s collecting his queen,” Ryon answered bluntly, exposing knowledge that had been, for thirty-one years, treated as the most crucially held state secret.

Every last guard pulled in breath and even Desdemona gasped.

All right then, perhaps she didn’t know.

“The queen is in my territory?” she asked, her voice breathy and irate, not even attempting to hide her displeasure. Anyone else would find that knowledge an unreserved honor even if they knew the queen was human.

“Yes,” Ryon replied.

“I don’t believe it,” she whispered.

“Believe it, Mona,” Ryon returned sharply. “And while you’re wrapping your mind around that you better pray he gets to her before the men who were dispatched to kidnap her do.”

Her body jolted and the air in the room got thick.

Finally, the bitch was smart enough to know fear and she definitely knew Cal enough to know that fear was warranted.

She leaned forward and her face was even paler, her eyes betraying her fear but her voice was angry. “No one in my territory would dream of moving on the queen.”

“They would and they did. We received word eleven hours ago they were taking her tonight. That’s why we’re here,” Ryon informed her.

“That’s impossible,” she snapped.

Ryon’s head suddenly tilted to the side and he took in a breath through his nose.

Cal was there.

As were his warriors.

He also had his queen with him.

He wouldn’t have her if she hadn’t been under threat.

The mating ceremony wasn’t to commence until a year in the future. Cal was supposed to begin their regular, human courtship in a few weeks at her annual Christmas party. He was to pose as the guest of a neighbor, a wolf who’d been planted in a house across from hers years ago.

This was something Ryon had talked him into doing. Cal wanted just to grab her, as was his due. Ryon, on the other hand, had been reading reports on her as well as watching her himself for thirty-one years.

Sonia Arlington needed to be courted. As a human, she’d expect it.

But being all she was, she deserved it.

It took Ryon a while to talk Cal around most especially since his father’s death Cal had been reading the reports on her as well as getting the pictures. And, because of this, not to mention the simple fact that she was his mate, Cal was growing impatient.

Very impatient.

But, apparently, Cal’s hand had been forced and the treaty broken.

This meant war.

Desdemona’s head jerked toward the door. She sensed it too.

“Impossible, Mona?” Ryon asked quietly and he watched as she slowly turned to face him, her throat moving convulsively.

Yes, Mona, you… are… f*cked, Ryon thought as he rose from the throne and stepped to its right side.

The next second, Cal came through the door.

Ryon felt his jaw get tight again upon seeing Sonia, wrapped in a blanket, held unconscious in Cal’s arms.