Page 33 of Fated Guardian

“There’s a pack of lions out in the woods,” Coral blurts. “They tried to take me, to force me to work for them. They say I’m a princess, and I’m not sure if that’s true, but they also said that they would kill everyone in Oakwood if I didn’t go with them.”

Princess?

Thorne blinks. “What?”

“You have to go now. Nolan killed two of them, but the rest are coming…”

Thorne growls, grabbing his phone. He dials and snaps an order to Evander, then looks over at me. “Stay here.”

I nod.

He shifts, sprinting into the forest. Howling, strong and eerie, follows. Then, there’s silence.

On the alpha’s porch, I sit. Coral walks to the side shed, where extra clothes are kept in every shifter’s house, and brings me back some pants. I pull them on and hold out my arms. Coral comes forward, and I hold her close, tugging her into my lap.

“Princess?” I murmur against her ear.

She shrugs. “It’s a thing. Faeries have kind of a hierarchy. Like bees. Actually, our communities are called hives. Some of us are more powerful than others, but I don’t know if I’m a princess.”

“Would your parents have been royal?”

“No. Like bees. It’s kind of just… something that happens. You’re either a royal faerie or you’re not, and you don’t really have a choice in the matter.”

“So you could be a princess?”

Coral wrinkles her nose. “In theory. But I’d have to talk to more faeries to know.”

“Do you want to?”

She looks up at me. “I’m not sure. Not really. The only thing I want, honestly, is you.”

I tuck her close, kissing her on the head. The sound of howling drifts over to me. It sounds like it’s going well.

“Do you know what it means, if someone is your fated mate?”

Coral pulls away, studying me. “Is that what that huge burst of magic was?”

“Would you be worried if it was?”

Her smile is tentative, like moonlight. “No. I wouldn’t be worried. In fact, I think I’d?—”

I stop because I hear footsteps.

“Nolan,” Thorne snaps. He’s back, panting, his fingers on a radio that can loop around his neck. He dashes to the side of the house, grabbing some pants out of the locker, before coming back to us.

I hold onto Coral. Tightly.

The radio crackles in his hand. I hear Evander’s voice, barking an update. It sounds like the lions in the woods weren’t prepared for a counterattack, and they’re not taking the chance to fight back.

Thorne listens, then nods. He looks over at us. “We’re all hands on deck. You were right, there’s a pride of fucking lions in the woods. What?—”

“Nolan is my fated mate,” Coral announces.

Thorne goes still.

“I think you can probably sense it. But I wanted to let you know. And I appreciate you all helping me, but I can… I don’t know. Run them over with some trees, if I have to,” she says. There’s a little tremble in her voice, though, that tells both Thorne and me that she’s not nearly ready to do that.

Thorne stares at us for a minute longer. “Congratulations,” he grunts.

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