I scanned the room without moving my head. Three Alphas within twenty feet had already stiffened, their attention sharpening in that particular way that made the hair on the backof my neck rise. One of them, a broad-shouldered man I vaguely recognized from some business sector, had already taken a step in our direction.
Not happening.
I shifted my body, angling myself between Amara and the room, and let my dragon bleed into my eyes just enough to be seen. Just enough to communicate the single, non-negotiable message.
Back the fuck off.
The broad-shouldered Alpha stopped walking and looked at me for exactly one second. Then he turned and went in another direction entirely.
Smart man.
"Kael." Amara's voice was small and frightened against my ear. Her fingers had curled into my tux jacket and she was trembling, whether from the heat or from embarrassment or from sheer overwhelm I couldn't tell. Probably all three. "I can't... this can't be happening right now."
"I have you," I said quietly. "Stay close to me."
I felt him before I saw him.
Colin’s wimp ass.
He materialized out of the crowd to my left, his jaw set with the particular expression of a man who had mistaken past access for current relevance. His eyes were on Amara, and something about the way he said her name, soft and familiar like he had any right to it, made my dragon bare its teeth.
"Amara, hey, are you okay? What’s…”
He looked at me and stopped talking.
I didn't growl and I didn't move. I simply looked at him with the full, unhurried weight of every single thing I was. A dragon who had found his fated match. An Alpha at the outer edge of his patience and a man who knew exactly what Colin had takenfrom her and exactly how little he deserved to be standing in her vicinity right now.
Colin took one step back and then another. Finally he turned around and walked away without finishing his sentence.
From somewhere behind us came Lila's voice, sharp and carrying over the elegant murmur of the crowd. I didn't have to look to know exactly what expression was on her face.
"A prince," she said, the words dropping out of her like something had knocked them loose. "She ends up with a prince. I stole her boyfriend and all I got was a tennis coach."
Colin said nothing because there was nothing to say.
My brother Caspian appeared at my right shoulder like he'd been waiting for exactly this moment, which knowing Caspian, he probably had been.
"How bad?" he asked quietly.
"Bad enough," I said. "I need to get her out of here."
He nodded once. "I'll run interference. Ryker's already on the south side. Damon's with Mother."
The crowd seemed to part as we moved, whether from Caspian's quiet authority or from something they sensed rolling off me I didn't particularly care. Amara was pressed into my side, her face turned into my jacket, her breathing shallow and rapid. I kept my arm locked around her and moved us steadily toward the side corridor that led away from the main ballroom.
My mother was waiting in the corridor.
Of course she is,I thought smiling on the inside. My mother had been this way my entire life, intuitive.
Celestine Solas, in her emerald gown, stood just beyond the ballroom doors with the calm, capable expression of a woman who had spent decades managing crises far larger than this one. She took one look at Amara and then looked at me, and everything that needed to be communicated passed between us in about half a second.
"Your old bedroom," she said quietly. "I had it opened this morning. I had a feeling."
"Mom…”
"I'm your mother, Kael. I had a feeling." She repeated and stepped forward and touched Amara's face gently, just briefly, with the kind of warmth that my mother extended so naturally it never felt like an intrusion. "You're safe, sweetheart. I promise."
Amara made a small sound against my jacket that I felt more than heard.
