Page 109 of Chosen Destiny

You matter more.The words were simple and true, and he felt the same way about me. I wanted to tell him that I planned to save us both, but I needed his reaction to be genuine. This plan might not work, but I couldn’t hand myself over to Kel and risk the same outcome. We’d give this our best shot.

As I inched toward her, I heard pawsteps behind me. They weren’t familiar, but when the stench of piss and feces filled my nostrils, I knew who it was.

I kept my focus on Kel, needing to face the biggest threat here. The prisoner had only himself, whereas Kel had an entire army.

Kel paled and blinked. For a moment, she seemed to forget about me. She rasped, “How is he out?”

Taking advantage of the disruption, I quickened my pace slightly, hoping to reach her before she redirected her attention to me.

“I… I don’t know, ma’am,” the tallest guard said. “We weren’t alerted that he’d escaped.”

“Impossible.” Kel’s chest heaved. “Get him now. Put him back.”

The prisoner snarled, the sound full of hurt and malice.

Leave while you can.Bodey’s face twisted in agony.Please. She’s distracted.

I was three feet away, close enough to launch my attack.Now.

I leaped, and Kel’s head snapped back toward me, but she wasn’t my target. Lynerd’s arm was—the very one with a hand holding the edge of a blade against my mate’s throat.

A split second before my mouth would have met his arm, Lynerd released Bodey, shoving him out of the way and striking Kel in the arm. His knife lodged deep into her muscle, and she yelped as she stumbled back toward the stairs.

My mouth snapped closed, and I landed, digging my claws into the wooden floor.

The royal advisors moved in tandem, fighting the remaining guards as Bodey bent and retrieved a gun from a dead guard by his feet. He spun and aimed the gun at Lynerd and Kel just as the prisoner ran toward him.

I swerved and charged the prisoner, ignoring his pungent stench. His eyes were on Bodey, the very man I had to protect.

“Stay away from him!” Kel shouted as I jumped at the prisoner. I didn’t want to kill the man, but I wouldn’t sit back and let him hurt my mate.

The prisoner didn’t notice me until I’d slammed into him and pushed him to the floor.

Fresh blood filled the air as the prisoner tried to heave me off him.

But he was too weak.

“Youbitch,” Kel roared. Then someone grabbed two fistfuls of fur on my back. She spat right in my ear, “Get off him. He’smyprisoner.”

That was more than okay with me. I flung myself backward, using the ground for leverage, and propelled Kel backward. I landed on top of her.

She grunted and wrapped her arms around me, blood dripping from the knife still lodged in her arm.

Using that to my advantage, I rolled onto her and put all my weight on the wound.

“Ugh!” she cried, and I kept rolling until I was on my feet.

“Don’t move,” Bodey commanded from where he remained focused on Lynerd.

I heard a scuffle and jerked my head that way as Lynerd struck Bodey. The two of them fought, and when Bodey lifted the gun again, Lynerd disarmed him.

I lurched forward, ready to save my mate, but something hit my stomach, the sting of pain all-encompassing.

“Dammit, Callie.” Lynerd huffed, then aimed the gun at me and fired.

“No!” Bodey screamed, and I waited for my vision to go black.

Instead, a body dropped behind me.

---