King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(115)
I nodded, and as best I could, I pushed aside my thoughts of Ezra. Rolling Dominic’s ring around my fingers, I stared at it. Right along with all that new hope and fear inside me, I also felt peace as I examined it. Peace at moving on. Smiling softly, I lifted the ring to my lips, kissing it gently. This was it. I slipped the Prodigy ring onto my pinkie. It hung way too large on my finger for only two beats of my heart before I watched it mold to my finger.
Goodbye, Dominic.
King Kincaid made a soft sound in his throat before whispering, “You had never put it on before.”
As I stared at the ring, the last of my mate gone to me but my Core amazingly peaceful, I realized that for a while it had been time for this. I was strong — had been for some time — the weight no longer so heavy that I couldn’t take a step forward. Using my other index finger, I turned the ring so the wolf was facing up. My life stared me in the face.
I glanced up at King Kincaid, who was wiping away a tear he couldn’t stop from falling, and I smiled. “Are you going to name me Queen now or are you going to hoard the ring because I broke your ribs earlier?” Yes, it was past the time.
He sniffed hard, trying to make it look like an act of irritation even though I was positive he just had the sniffles. He took my hand, making the action look rough even though it was gentle, and I barely caught Clyde before he launched at him.
“Hold on.” I took my hand back, grabbed Clyde with both hands, and lifted him. “Ezra, can you take him?”
“Sure.” Ezra’s voice was deeper than normal as he reached across the table, nostrils flared. His fingers deliberately ran over my own as he lifted Clyde from me. Green eyes captured mine. “You’ve found your solace?”
My smile was genuine. “I have.”
His head tilted as he placed Clyde next to Bonnie on his lap. “I’ve recently found risk comes next.”
My smile only grew. “Bring it on.” I knew what I wanted. I held the challenge — f*ck yes, there was an ultimatum there — in his gaze for a moment longer before returning my attention to King Kincaid. Holding my hand up, grinning cheekily into his dark eyes, I stated, “Make me Queen.”
He did as the — now — Queen’s ring slid onto my ring finger.
I didn’t miss the symbolic nature of the action.
Chapter Seventeen
“We need disguises,” I stated as I hurried to pack my bag. The Kings, er, Elders, with their own new set of rings bestowed on them by the other Elders in the room, had given us only fifteen minutes to get our ‘asses outside the cave’s entrance’. That didn’t leave a whole lot of time. I was throwing in a variety of clothes, unsure of where in the world I was going to have to go. Most importantly, I had strapped my gun to my thigh, which showed plainly since my dress was so short and I didn’t have time to change.
“Disguises?” Jack huffed, zipping up his bag. “How the hell do we disguise the fact we’re Mys?” West was lying on the bed next to Buttercup. Jack threw a hand in his direction. “And the fact that we have,” finger quotes, “pet lions?”
I gauged Pearl, who was running around frantically. “Pearl, can you stand still for a sec?”
She shot me a poisonous glance, but stopped in her tracks. “What?”
“We don’t have time to dye our hair, so can you make us all,” I paused, peering around at the four of us, trying to gauge the best color, “brunettes, like Coms? And make our cubs appear like,” I bit my lip, “poodles?”
She stared at me for a long moment before beginning to whisper, her eyes glowing. She snapped her finger at the cubs, which quickly appeared as poodles, still with their own coloring, and with another snap of her fingers we all had boring brown hair.
I smiled. “Perfect.”
Jack picked up a piece of his hair and stared at it with disdain. “This is disgusting.”
“If anyone saw you with your blue hair, they would shoot you instantly,” I reminded him, going back to throwing items into my duffle. “And everyone try not to look so damn hot. Your good looks give you away.” A thought, and a glance at Pearl. “Can you manage some really ugly glasses?”
Another snap of her fingers and she had four pairs of horn-rimmed spectacles in her hand.
“Ugh, those are horrible,” I said with a smile, grabbing the feminine white ones. “They’re perfect. I wore glasses like these in the Com schools.” I put them on. “How do I look?”
“Like a sexy woman trying to look ugly,” Ezra muttered, waving a hand at my dress. “You’re seriously not wearing that outside the cave, are you? Every Com male is going to take notice and try to jump you.” His eyes flashed, his muscles bulging as he stuffed clothes into his duffle.
“Look who’s talking,” I mumbled, placing my hands on my hips, my gaze roaming up and down his frame. Yeah, every damn Com or Mys woman alive would f*ck him in a heartbeat.
He picked at his thermal shirt with irritation. “This is not,” a flicked finger at my dress, “that.”
Jack snickered, tossing his bag over his shoulder. “We gotta go.” He took the pair of black glasses, putting them on before picking up West. “Our fifteen minutes are almost up.”
Ezra grabbed the pair of silver glasses, clearly aggravated. “We’ll meet you outside.”