“Then I guess I’m not a member of the royal household anymore.”
“You can’t simply stop being a royal, Gabriel,” Aldrik said. “You are born a royal. It’s who you are.”
Gabriel shrugged. He wasn’t going to give up the first good thing to happen to him in…well, forever. If it meant giving up his birthright, so be it.
“Hey, guys,” Dom said. “Do you think we can discuss Gabriel’s royal duties after we finish this fight?”
Oh right.
Gabriel turned back to peek out through the curtain again. “There’s more than three of this time.” He quickly scanned the area outside that he could see. “I count five.”
“I smell two more coming in through the back door,” Chay called out in a low voice.
Seven bad guys. Three good guys and one weird old man.
This was going to be interesting.
“Dom, you and Aldrik take the back door,” Chay said. “Gabriel and I have the front door.”
Gabriel was surprised when Dom didn’t argue. As big and beefy as his brother was, he thought for sure Dom would want to take on the guys coming in the front door, and then Gabriel remembered that Dom hadn’t shifted yet. He was fighting in human form.
Gabriel flicked his claws out again, this time on both hands, and then positioned himself next to the front door. He glanced at Chay, who had taken up a position on the other side of the door. He really hoped that this wasn’t going to be the last time he ever saw the man.
“It won’t be, mate.”
Gabriel’s jaw dropped. “Did you just…”
Chay grinned. “I hadn’t gotten to that part yet before we were interrupted. Mates have a telepathic link. I can’t read your mind, but I can hear you if you send a thought to me.”
“Just words or pictures, too?”
“Both actually.”
“Cool.”
“Silently, mate.”
Gabriel concentrated on sending his thoughts to Chay through whatever telepathic link they had. He chuckled when Chay’s face flushed, knowing the man had received the pictures of what he would like to do to him when they were both naked and alone. “Now you have something to look forward to when this is all over.”
Chay reached down and thumped the hard line straining the front of his pants. “If I live that long. My dick may break off before then.”
Gabriel’s joy turned to trepidation when he heard a floorboard creak right in front of the door. “They’re coming.”
Chay nodded and then stilled, becoming like a statue. Gabriel couldn’t even see his chest rise and fall as he breathed.
The sound of the back door crashing open momentarily distracted Gabriel, but it was long enough for the front door to swing open to allow several men to come running in. Gabriel growled as he caught the last one in the side with his claws and tossed him across the room.
He wasn’t sure if the men who had come rushing in were surprised by his appearance or they just hadn’t expected someone to be behind the door, but they all turned as a group and then charged Gabriel.
There was a lot more shouting and yelling than was really necessary. Gabriel wasn’t sure if the guys attacking him thought that would intimidate him or what, but he kicked the door closed so the neighbors wouldn’t hear.
And then he started swinging, swiping at anything that got close enough. At one point, he felt something at his back and turned to find Chay standing behind him, fighting off one of their attackers.
When Chay grabbed the guy by the arms, Gabriel swung around and stabbed his claws into the man’s gut. The warm blood that splashed over his hand made his stomach roll, but it was a small price to pay for saving his mate. If these guys weren’t prepared to give up their lives, they shouldn’t have attacked.
When Chay dropped his attacker, Gabriel blew him a kiss and then jumped back into the fray, going for the closest guy to him.
He hissed when someone stabbed him with something sharp. Gabriel growled when he glanced down and saw a knife sticking out of his side. He yanked it out, uncaring of the blood that flowed from the wound, and threw the knife at the man who had stabbed him.
