Ares pushed out of his chair, rising to his full, imposing height. His size had never intimidated Scotty, but right now, he was a mountain casting a huge shadow. Had his shoulders always been so wide? Surely, he had never been that tall, either.
On his arm, Battle reared up. The stallion sensed his mood, and it was ready to fight.
This was so not good.
“Where are they?” he demanded. “If they were too cowardly to come with you—”
“They’re right outside, Daddy,” she said quickly. “They wanted to come inside with me, but I made them stay.”
Wordlessly, he stormed out the door.
In a panic, Scotty chased after him, her mother on her heels.
Mace and Blade were standing near the base of the stairs, but they backed away as Ares charged down the steps like a rampaging bull.
“To the arena. Now!” His command boomed like a thunderclap, scaring birds out of the trees and drawing the attention of the Memitim who were currently sparring in the arena.
The Memitim scattered as Mace and Blade entered, jogging just ahead of Ares.
“Weapons,” Ares snapped as he summoned a sword.
“Daddy!” Scotty caught up to him. “What are you doing? I told you, they saved my life. You can’t hurt them!”
“How much they hurt depends on them.” He glanced over at Cara. “Take her.”
“What?” Scotty croaked. “No—”
Cara gripped her hand and drew her away. “It’ll be okay, Scotland,” she said in a soothing mom-voice that might have worked if Scotty had been sick with the flu, but not when her mates were about to be slaughtered.
“But—”
“Let him handle this.”
Mace and Blade scrambled to arm themselves from the weapons rack. A sword and shield for Blade, a pike and chain for Mace. Scotty knew the strategy; Blade would distract Ares with a tank assault while Mace used his speed and agility to knock him off his feet. It was a good plan that would be effective against most opponents.
But not Ares.
“I need to help,” she whispered, and her mother gave her hand acomforting squeeze.
“Did it occur to either of you to talk to me before you trapped my daughter in a lifelong bond?” Ares shouted.
“She was dying,” Blade argued. “We didn’t want to waste time or risk something happening to her.”
Good answer.
And yet, her father only got angrier. “So, you’re saying you only mated her because she was dying?”
Oops.
“Hell, no.” Mace planted his pike in the sand and propped himself against it as if he didn’t have a care in the world. That was his disarm-the-enemy move, and it was born of desperation, because he knew full well that Ares wasn’t easily disarmed. “We love her.”
Ares swung his sword in a motion so fast that Mace didn’t have a chance to react before his pike was sheared in half, and he landed on the ground.
“How long have you loved her?”
It’s a trap. Every question is a trap. Scotty held her breath.Be careful, guys.
“For years,” Blade said, and Scotty’s heart melted.
