Page 69 of Their World

I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. “Right.”

As we climbed out of the vehicle, two men and one woman walked towards us. They bowed and focused on me. “Princess,”they all said as they straightened. All three were alphas, without a doubt, though I didn’t recognize the two men.

The man on the left was short and solidly-built with tan skin. He had a darker, aggressive aura about him, wide dark blue eyes, a small nose, and a rounded jaw. His brown hair was pulled into a bun.

The woman standing in the middle was tall and lanky with fair skin, a crooked nose, and soft, hazel eyes. She was deceptively average looking, but I knew for a fact that she could hold her own in most fights. I’d seen her spar with Grandpa Deryn and land a few good hits on him.

The man on the right was average height, extremely muscular, had wavy blonde hair to his chin, and electric green eyes.

All wore jeans and a t-shirt and I could sense they were all hybrids, yet I’d never met them before, which seemed a little odd.

“Lily, this is Patrick, Piper, and Paul,” Trey introduced, pointed from left to right.

My lip twitched. They’d chosen three guards with P names? Had that been a coincidence or on purpose?

“They are all elite soldiers that have spent most of their adulthood on missions for the kings,” Kayden added.

“It’s nice to meet you, Patrick and Paul,” I said. Focusing on Piper, my lip twitched as I held back a smile and asked, “They let you out of the Den without a collar?”

She smiled wide and put her hands on her hips. “I got off for good behavior. Plus, they knew that you needed an extra strong hand, since you’re notorious for getting into trouble.”

“Says the girl who burned down the shed,” I accused.

“You brought the matches!” she shot back, mouth open.

“You lit them!” I shouted.

We stared at each other a moment and then burst into laughter and met halfway for a tight hug.

“I’ve missed you. Where have you been, bitch?” she teased as she hugged me tight.

I patted her back. “Had to keep away from your stench or I never would have found mates.”

We laughed as we stepped back to arm’s length, hands on each other’s upper arms.

“I really did miss you,” she said with a pout.

“Well, now that you’ll be one of our guards, you’ll get all the time in the world to pester me.”

“Challenge accepted,” she said.

“I’d forgotten you two were friends before,” Trey said and sighed loudly. “This may have been a miscalculation.”

Piper pulled me against her in a tight hug and growled. “You’re not going to find anyone better suited for keeping up with this one and who is willing to risk their life. She saved mine several times, so I’m in her debt.”

It was technically true. I’d saved her from a snake when we were toddlers and saved her from Great Grandpa Dan’s wrath on more than one occasion.

“I won’t allow you to switch her for someone else,” I said sternly, hugging her back and glaring at my mates while we embraced each other.

“They will all be our guards from here on out,” Kayden added. “So, try to remember that you should listen to them since they’ll be protecting you.”

“I’ll try,” I said and smiled wide.

“What’s the status?” Mason asked.

Piper released me so we could face the group again and focus on the task at hand.

“There are no civilians inside since there wasn’t a game today. There were two demons we saw, the bull-headed ones,” Patrick answered.

---