Page 17 of Bitten

Kane sighed slightly, relieved.

“What will they do with Ralnur now?” Kane asked, worry filling him. All he’d been able to see in those moments was saving Ralnur. Now there would be backlash. He hadn’t thought far enough ahead.

Noah turned back and sighed. “Adriel doesn’t know what to do. He loves his uncle… but a law has been broken. I think that might be part of the reason for this grand party he wants. It’s something else to focus on besides Ralnur and the decision he needs to make.”

“Ralnur will live until you return from this honeymoon—at the least, I assume.”

“At the very least,” Noah answered. “Likely longer. I don’t want my mate thinking about something so heavy while we’re away. He needs a day away from all this. I plan to do everything in my power to keep his mind occupied on other things.”

“I’m sure,” Kane said.

Noah grinned a little wickedly. “I need to get back. And you have training.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kane turned back to the board, his barely-there heartbeat sounding as if it was thundering in his ears. He stared ahead, his mind whirling.

Ralnur had survived.

His blood had worked.

But now where did that leave them?

Kane hadn’t truly thought anything through when he’d gone to the hospital. He’d only known he couldn’t let the male die.

I had to give him a chance.

To do what, though? Be sent to his death?

Ralnur’s future was in the king’s hands. He could still be executed—but Kane didn’t know if the king would do that to his own flesh and blood. From what was said, Ralnur was more father than uncle to the king.

Hopefully it would buy him the time he needed to find a way out for Ralnur.

* * * *

During the ball…

Cayton sat upon the high table, looking at the ridiculously long receiving line. He glared down the length of it where the King of Midnight introduced his very impertinent son, Eilam, to the different houses of Midnight and the witch royal court. It would take them hours before they ever made it to the table to eat.

“He has no respect for this family,” Cayton murmured.

“You demand that which you don’t give,” his human mate, James, said from beside him. The human turned slightly and looked up at him. “You’ve become difficult in your old age.”

“Old age? I look younger than you,” Cayton spat, unwilling to respond to the rest. He knew he expected much from his cubs. What father wouldn’t?

James narrowed his gaze. “Are you purposely trying to piss me off?”

Cayton sighed, knowing it was never a good idea to piss off their human. He might be an old grizzled bear, but James’ ire was much worse than his own. “We gave him life. A roof over his head. Food in his belly. An education superior to that joke of a cub school. We gave him everything he needed to reach this point in his life. And we’re treated as lesser beings.”

“Lesser beings?” James asked. “We’re seated at a place of honor at the king’s table. What more do you expect? A ticker-tape parade welcoming you into the city?”

“Not hardly. Have we had a moment to even be introduced to Eilam and Noah’s mate? We’ve been here three days, and we haven’t met the king yet.”

“You and Eilam have never seen eye to eye,” Naro, Cayton’s brother bear, murmured from James’ other side. “Why you think he would welcome you here with open arms, I don’t know. He’s his own man. Always has been. And the way you’ve been acting as of late, I can understand why he’s avoiding you.”

“Acting as of late?”

Naro lifted a brow. “You lost your mind when he offered us the use of his home.”

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