Page 89 of Chosen Destiny

“Does getting onto the interstate mean we’re officially allies?” King Sutton asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to find that his gaze had never left me. “Yes. We’re in this together.”

He beamed. “Excellent.”

The five of us settled in for the hour-long ride home, sharing our history with one another, including how my heritage had been revealed and I’d become queen.

* * *

When we pulledup to our white, modern, colonial-style house, all the lights were on. Bodey parked the Navigator in our driveway and opened the garage.

By the time the five of us climbed out of the vehicle, the four royal advisors, Stella and Stevie, had come through the garage door to meet us.

King Sutton’s eyebrows rose. “How many people live with you?”

“Oh, we were just getting the place ready for you all.” Stella smiled, looking welcoming in her trendy long-sleeve, belted black dress. “The royal advisors wanted to greet you before we left.”

“Your dress.” Brittany’s mouth dropped open. “I love it.”

Stella chuckled. “Finally, someone here with fashion sense. Callie’d rather go barefoot than wear heels, and Stevie mostly sticks with cotton clothing.”

I huffed. “The one time I wore heels, they prevented me from fighting and getting away from Kel’s wolves.” I glanced at King Sutton. “And I go by Callie.”

Not even listening, Brittany pointed to the Navigator. “Oh, you should see what I packed. You may want to borrow something!”

Miles stepped forward and introduced himself and the others. King Sutton reciprocated with his family, and before I knew what was happening, Jack was hurrying to the back of the Navigator.

“Let’s get your luggage out so I can have my baby back.” He reached for the largest piece of luggage, but when he went to pull it out, it didn’t budge. He scoffed and yanked harder, causing the luggage to hit the driveway. “Holy shit. What the hell is in this? A dead body?”

I remembered the smirk King Sutton had worn when he was walking out of the airport. I’d thought it was menacing, but Brittany had called after him. He must have been messing with her, making her pull her own luggage.

King Sutton pinched the bridge of his nose. “You don’t want to know.”

“I have shoes, jewelry, clothes, perfume, and all my makeup.” Brittany straightened her shoulders. “I brought only the necessities.”

“Here, I can take it.” King Sutton chuckled and grabbed the luggage from Jack.

Edward retrieved his carry-on, but King Sutton froze, and his eyes glowed. He reached out, touching the car to steady himself.

Something was wrong.

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

The partof me that knew better than to hope came back to the forefront. The past seventeen years had taught me not to latch on to that dangerous emotion, but since meeting Bodey, I’d started to believe it had to get better.

Fate might hate me, but dammit, I refused to allow her to take my mate away.

“Are you okay?” Bodey asked, placing his hand on the center of my back.

King Sutton lifted his head, a frown on his face. “One more man in my inner circle passed away. The witches couldn’t heal him. They suspect the wolf scratch he sustained had something extra in it because it kept fighting their magic. Now eleven of the fifteen members of my personal guard have died, and if I’d listened to my gut instead of trying to appeaseher, they might be alive.”

He felt guilty, a sentiment I completely understood. Trusting Lynerd would haunt me for the rest of my life. “Hey, didn’t you say if you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t doing it right?” I asked, tossing the words he had spoken about an hour ago back at him.

The corners of his mouth tipped upward into a sad smile. “Those sound like wise words, but sometimes, they’re hard to hear.”

“I won’t even attempt to argue with that.” When you were responsible for thousands of lives, any miscalculation could hurt the very ones you were supposed to protect. I’d let at least two thousand of my people down by choosing Lynerd to take the spot of royal advisor instead of handing it to Theo. I’d been so afraid of Zeke’s influence over Theo that I hadn’t considered what Lynerd might do to get even with me for my parents’ choices to place Zeke in the position of the royal alpha.

Bodey intertwined our fingers and said, “I’m going to call Dina. She might have some insight into what could’ve prevented the witch’s magic from healing the shifters.”

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