Page 24 of Rumble of the Crumble

Maybe next time you’ll trust me,I said mildly.

Another grunt. He wasn’t going to admit to anything. I smirked at him and held him close. He’d learn.

Tim’s eyes lit up at the news. “You and Arrow will have to join us. We could start a creche. Did you know Apollo is pregnant?” He leaned forward. “I swear Drew is too. He’s gone that funny shade of green.”

“Morning sickness is hard on the omegas,” Sutton agreed.

I felt a momentary sadness that Leonidis and I would never have children because we were both alphas. Feeling the same sadness from him, I pressed a kiss to his temple. “We’ll have a lot of baby pridelings to take care of.”

“We’ll be the best uncles ever,” he agreed, forcing a smile on his face.

I caught Tim’s speculative look as he surveyed us.

“You should really talk to—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Maximus came over. “Chief, Livingstone wants to talk to you.”

Sutton jogged over to one of the firefighters, leaving me with the three lions, Apollo having joined us and Tim.

Time to get down to hard facts.

I looked at the four of them. “Do you think this was Amell or one of his pride?”

“Amell,” Maximus growled. “I can smell him.”

The other two lions nodded.

“He’s like a stink you can’t wash off.” Leonidis shivered.

I tugged him closer, hoping he could feel me and inhale me to replace the horrid memories.

“We have to find him,” I said. “We can’t carry on like this, waiting for another attack.”

“You could set a trap,” Leonidis suggested.

I gave him a wary look. “What do you mean?”

Leonidis shrugged. “We know what he wants. Set me as bait.”

“No,” I barked out, the breath knocked out of me at the suggestion. “Never.”

“It’s not really your decision,” he said.

I took a step away from him so I could look at him properly. “We’re fated mates. Any decision we make, we do it together.”

Tim coughed, and I scowled at him. He held out his hands. “Leonidis has a point, just as Crimson did. You can’t run away, and we need to catch him before he hurts us or our babies.”

“You’re not putting my mate in danger.”

“We’re not full mates yet,” Leonidis said, “so this is my decision.”

Now Tim shook his head.

Maximus huffed. “Make up your mind, Tim. Are they mates or not?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Just because they haven’t played stalk the lion, doesn’t mean they aren’t fated mates. One,”—he counted on his fingers—“they received a love heart. Two, they have a link. Three—”

“We get the point,” Leonidis snapped, looking flushed.

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