Page 177 of The Delta's Rogue
“We’ll have a kingdom to run,” I remind him.
“Then we’ll delegate. We’ll make teams like this one that are dedicated to rescuing those girls.”
I shake my head with a sigh. The face of every girl I encountered during my time there flashes through my mind. Faces that went from hopeful to hopeless in a matter of days or sometimes hours. Eyes that lost any hint of their sparkle with every foul training session Amara forced us to take part in. Faces and eyes that match the ones I see in the mirror every morning and every night.
“They’ll need more than rescuing.” I lift my head to meet his gaze.
“Anything they need, we will give them.Te lo prometo.”
I grit my teeth and hold his stare with my shining, broken eyes, tying his words to our bond. He’s never broken a promise before, and I know he won’t break this one, but I wrap the promise around our souls for safekeeping.
“Do you want to do another round of sparring?” he asks in a whisper.
“No. I need a break from training.”
“We should probably head back, anyway.” He glances at Maddie. “Are you coming to Peter’s with us, or are you going to Crescent Lake?”
“I’ll come with you.” She tightens her ponytail. “I want to say hi to Cav and Sour Patch. I miss them,” she adds with a sigh.
“You miss the dog and the baby? What about me?” Sebastian asks.
“You haven’t moved away yet.” She shrugs. “Maybe I’ll miss you. Maybe I won’t.”
With that, she takes off in the direction of Peter’s house at a blazing sprint. Sebastian groans and rolls his eyes at her, following her path at an even faster pace than hers.
“Slow down!” he growls, pulsing his aura out of him.
It’s grown stronger with each day we’ve spent together, and it will continue to strengthen until we take over for my parents. Mine will be stronger than his eventually, but for now, the bond is compensating for my lack of a lycan and boosting his aura with unprecedented speed.
“For someone who didn’t want to be an alpha, you sure like to use that enhanced aura a lot.” Maddie laughs and speeds up instead, glancing behind her to stick her tongue out at him. “Good thing you’re not king yet, so I don’t have to listen to you!”
Cassandra—the one who attacked me while I was distracted—throws on a T-shirt over her outfit of a sports bra and leggings, and then we follow them at a much slower pace.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” she says.
“It’s not your fault,” I reply.
“Sebastian wanted it to be less like a training fight and more like an actual battle.”
“It definitely felt that way.”
She turns her attention forward, watching Sebastian and Maddie lead us. Her long, golden-brown ponytail dances with her bouncing jog. Her green eyes sparkle as she breathes in the mountain air, and she smiles as she glances at me again.
“You know, he asked me if I could use my abilities to find you.”
I raise a brow at her. “Sebastian did?”
“He didn’t mention you by name, obviously. But I realize now that he only asked because of you.”
“What did he say?”
“He wanted to know how my visions work. He asked if I could see whoever I wanted or if they were just random.”
A small smile forces its way to my lips. “Of course he did.”
“Pick up the pace, you two!” Sebastian yells at us, back in full head warrior mode. “I know I gave Maddie shit for going too fast, but this isn’t a warm-up run! This is a race!”
I laugh, and we both speed up, launching ourselves forward until we’re almost even with Sebastian. He senses our approach and speeds up too. I grit my teeth and push harder to catch him, but every time I get close, he darts forward, putting distance between us again.
