Page 87 of Damien’s Mate

Brandon paid no attention to the claws or the growling. He just impaled Damien with those bright green, crazy panther eyes, his alpha presence beating at Damien’s lion. “What’s it going to be?”

Damien could tell he was not backing down—he meant what he said. And he was a good leader. Battle-tested. Slowly, painfully, Damien got his lion under control. We’ll do it his way, he told the beast. For Lila.

The alpha held his gaze until the rumbling in Damien’s chest died down, then gave a short nod. “Okay. Let’s roll.”

By the time Damien was dressed, the rest of the crew was mobilizing, even Titan. That explained where Phantom Nick had gone.

Downstairs, the dining room table had been moved aside, revealing a trap door built into the floor. Underneath it was a military-grade weapons cache that would be the envy of any mob boss Damien had ever worked for.

Kitty was down in the five-foot-deep hole, handing out grenades and flak jackets. Brandon opened a concealed keypad compartment behind a fake light switch on the dining room wall, punched in a code, and the buffet split down the middle and slid apart, revealing drawers and glass cabinets containing handguns, knives, and ammunition.

It was like a fucking Bond movie.

The twins and their mates clattered down the stairs from the third floor, already dressed and armed to the teeth.

“What?” Colt said, at Damien’s look of surprise. “It’s a big house.”

Remy added, “So we have upstairs weapons, and downstairs weapons.”

Of course they did.

Colt added, “The question is, how much of it will work on dragons.”

“Because, fire and magic and shit,” said Remy.

“Hopefully, there won’t be any dragons,” Brandon said. “It’s the Lion Guard that has her, and it’s unlikely that any Draken are slumming it in the Lion Guard barracks.”

“But not impossible,” Brock said.

Brandon gave him a level look. “But not impossible.”

He pulled out the wide gold wristband Damien had seen him wearing when they took Lila to the portal, and put it on. “Emon Al-Maddeiri sent me this bracelet when we first established the crew. It protects the wearer and anyone within about ten or fifteen feet from dragonfire, and certain kinds of dragon magic. So try not to split up.”

Colt said, “You never told us you had that.”

“You seriously thought I told you everything?”

Remy said, “He never tells us anything.”

Brandon just shook his head.

Damien couldn’t take the waiting. Or the talking. Or anything. All he knew was his mate needed him. “So how do we get to Lila?”

Brandon reached out and flicked the pendant around his neck, still hanging from its gold chain. “We go through the door they left us.”

Chapter 36

Lila didn’t know how long she lay on the damp stone floor, her lion pacing inside her with rage.

She couldn’t believe how naïve she’d been—or how naïve her father had been. They’d wasted their entire lives serving renegade Draken and treasonous Lion Guard. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to scream. Or throw up.

She felt like she’d been dropped into a black pit of emptiness. Nothing she and her father had done meant anything. Everything they thought they knew was a lie. There was nothing left.

After a long time, though, she realized she had one thing that mattered. Damien. He loved her, no matter what she did with her life, no matter how many missions she did or didn’t accomplish.

And she loved him.

And maybe… maybe it hadn’t all been wasted. Her father had done the right thing—something he’d believed in. And he’d believed in the Lion Guard—the real ones—who had sacrificed themselves defending the Royal House they’d sworn to serve.