I have an idea, so I hurry back into my closet and dig around in my jewelry box, which the guys brought from my apartment. I find a ring I’ve had since my childhood. It’s one of those mood rings that changes color depending on the temperature of your body. It’s too small for me now, but for some reason, I couldn’t ever part with it. A flash of a memory comes to me, and I smile. Gryffin gave it to me during one of our games where he was the prince who saved me from the villain witch sisters, promising to make me his princess.
“Here, give this to him and tell him that I would love to be his sidepiece.” I shove my hand out to Gracelin, and her eyes widen in surprise.
“I remember this. Gryffin won it at one of the shifter festivals and gave it to you. I can’t believe you kept it.”
I shrug. “I guess past me must have had some inkling that he would be important to me in the future.”
“Doesn’t this seem like maybe someone has been manipulating you for a long time?” Violet asks hesitantly, voicing some of my own inner thoughts. “The fact that you have a prior relationship with the royals and you found Archie outside of your bakery…”
“It really wouldn’t surprise me,” I tell her.
The other two don’t comment, but their expressions indicate that they have the same suspicions. “Alright. Don’t come with me. We don’t want any of the palace staff questioning why the four of us are up so early and moving around. I’ll message you when we have any news,” I promise them, and they wish me luck and return to their rooms.
I move quietly through the palace, not coming across any of the staff. When I make it to the stables, the guys are standing around, talking softly. They are wearing their watch uniforms, and Micah is in his armed forces fatigues. I’m guessing they are all wearing them for the same reason they are going to give me a uniform. I can’t say I’m not a little sad that I won’t be able to see all that delicious male shifter flesh, but on the other hand, these guys are my mates. I have a lifetime to appreciate them. I say a small little prayer of thanks to Aramis, and a slight breeze wafts around me like she’s saying,You’re welcome.
“Good, you’re here. Let’s get moving. I’d like to make it in and out of the bakery and to watch headquarters before the sun comes up, and we only have about three hours,” Gryffin says as I approach them. He seems to be all business now, and I appreciate it. Although we have personal stuff we need to work out, focusing on the task at hand will keep me from becoming overwhelmed.
“Colbie, you and Micah will fly with me and Gem again, and the others will shift and meet us at the bakery. I’m too heavy to land at the bakery, but I’ll land at the watch building, because it’s closer to your shop than the edge of the forest, and we will go on foot from there,” Hunter tells me as the others shift and take off through the forest.
ChapterTwenty
Colbie
Like me, Micah has a pack, but the rest don’t. I guess they have what they need at their apartment. They haven’t moved everything to the palace yet, because we haven’t exactly told anyone but their families that they are my mates. It will be common knowledge soon enough, but for now, we want the people who are after me to think they still have a chance at the crown. They might get sloppy and reveal themselves, or that is at least what we hope. Essentially, I’m bait, which isn’t exactly comforting, but I’d prefer they make a play for me and fail than for this to drag out too long. I’d hate to be constantly looking over my shoulder for my entire reign.
Hunter shifts, and Micah and I climb onto his back. Micah wraps his big arms around me and drags me back against him as Hunter takes off into the sky. The temperature drops rapidly as he picks up speed, and I shiver, my shifter body heat not doing a lot against the frigid temperatures. The clouds are thick, and the smell of snow is in the air. Hopefully it won’t actually happen, or it will make our mission uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?” Micah murmurs into my ear.
I tuck my chin in, making myself smaller, and mumble, “Yes, but I think I’m going to need some warmer clothes.”
Hunter must hear me, because his body warms beneath us, making my stiff legs relax.
“You will be fine when we’re on the ground again. Gryffin says they have a vehicle for us to use in the human zone. It wouldn’t be very stealthy for the humans to see a group of shifters running through the streets or flying overhead.”
A flash of light out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I turn my head to find Gem’s phoenix keeping pace with us.
“I bet he isn’t cold,” I grumble, watching his flames with envy. “He also isn’t very stealthy,” I point out. Despite being huge, Hunter’s dragon’s dark purple scales blend in with the night, but Gem’s phoenix is like a beacon, but just as the words leave my mouth, Gem disappears from sight. I cry out and lurch forward, looking around the sky for him, but he’s gone.
“What happened? Where did he go?” I shout to both Hunter and Micah, and Micah tightens his grip so I don’t slide off in my panic.
“Hunter says Gem has the ability to go invisible. He must have heard you comment about lacking stealth. He’s still there, we just can’t see him—something about a phoenix being able to bend light.”
I sag with relief but turn my head to look at the merman. “Hunter said?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. We have telepathy now that I have the bond mark. Hunter says that you should be able to do the same with Liam. Just concentrate on that feeling inside you that you gained when your mating bond snapped into place and push your thoughts to him.”
I do as he says and find that ball of warmth that I know is Liam inside me.Liam?
Colbie, are you okay?I hear his voice in my mind, and I feel his concern. That is so cool!
Everything’s okay. I just found out about the telepathy with bonds and was trying it out,I assure him, and his worry recedes before I feel his amusement.
Yeah, it’s pretty handy. It means I can do this. His amusement fades, and I’m gripped with an intense rush of desire that causes me to gasp while my core throbs with need.
“Colbie, are you okay?” It’s Micah’s turn to sound worried, but I just wave a hand at him, signaling I’m fine because I’m doing everything I can not to moan and beg him to touch me to ease the ache.
“Colbie, why do you smell like you want to fuck?” he rumbles in my ear, then he pulls me tighter against him, his cock pushing against my backside as one of his hands slides from my waist up to my breast where he cups it firmly.
