Lake used the distraction to break the hold and put distance between them. As he took a defensive stance in front of me, his gaze darted between the approaching knights. That gaze then settled on me. Regret crumpled his brow. “I’m sorry I pushed you. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It was my fault anyway.” I tried to stand but slumped back to the grass. Not because I was hurt. I was just clumsy, as usual.
“Stay away from him,” Maddox growled as Lake stepped toward me. “You’ve done enough, wolf.”
When Briar tried to approach, Lake growled. Maddox stuck out his hand to stop Briar from getting any closer. Tension hung thick in the air.
What cut through it?
“Kuya helped find you, Evan!” The cat boy scampered forward, having ridden on the back of Callum’s horse. He stopped in the grass not far from Lake and put his arms behind his back, rising up and down on the balls of his bare feet. “Kuya went to Briar for medicine, but Briar was gone. Thane said you were missing, and Kuya got worried. So Kuya came with Briar and Captain Maddox to find you.”
Lake cocked his head at Kuya, still on his guard but more levelheaded now. “A demi-human? Why do you associate with these men?”
“Because Kuya trusts them.”
“But they hate our kind,” Lake countered. “They’d kill you without a second thought.”
“No.” Kuya shook his head. “They’re nice humans. Evan is a nice human too.”
“He is.” Lake looked at me with a wave of regret crashing over him. More of his anger faded. Seeing Kuya had helped calm him even more.
“Of course, I came too,” Callum said, wearing a smile, even if it wobbled a bit. “You’re one of my closest friends.”
“I knew you’d be fine,” Duke stated in a nonchalant tone, sheathing his sword before sweeping his hand through the back of his red hair. “But I came just to make these worrywarts feel better.”
Baden grinned. “Do not be fooled by his lies. He kept saying, ‘Evan is too small and cute to be lost in the woods. What if something eats him?’”
Duke shoved him, and Baden shoved him back.
My vision blurred. “I’m sorry for worrying everyone.”
“Your names are Briar and Maddox?” Lake then asked, looking between them. “Evan mentioned the two of you. Please know that I never hurt him.”
Maddox tensed, and the hand resting on his now sheathed sword tightened, the knuckles turning white. “Yet, you attacked us.”
“Because you were trespassing,” Lake snapped. “You and your men rode up on my home armed with weapons and shouting. I had every right to defend my territory. How was I to know you were no threat to me or Evan?”
“After I ran away from the castle last night, I got lost in the woods, and Lake found me,” I explained, hoping to ease the new wave of building tension. “Well, I found his cottage first, and then he invited me inside. He fed me and gave me a place to stay for the night. He was actually about to lead me back to the castle before you showed up.”
“He helped you?” Maddox asked with suspicion ringing in his tone.
“Is that so hard to believe?” Lake shot back. “Demi-humans aren’t the beasts you make us out to be.”
“Says the wolf,” Baden chimed in, no longer easygoing like before. “All wolves joined Onyx years ago.”
“Clearly not all of them.” Lake sneered. “I’ve never allied with the demon lord and have no intention of doing so. My father felt the same, which is why he built this home away from all of you.”
“And where is your father now?” Baden’s gaze shifted to the cottage.
“Your king killed him!” Lake snapped. “Or, I should say, the king’s men. His only crime was existing in a world that cast him out for no reason other than their own blind hatred. He went to the marketplace one morning and never returned. I learned later that youhonorableknights wrongly mistook him for one of Onyx’s subjects and executed him in the square for everyone to see. I heard that the spectators cheered as his decapitated head rolled across the dais. You call us beasts, yet you’re the true monsters.”
So that’s why Lake had become angry at the possibility of me being one of the princes. He was angry at the king for doing nothing to stop the execution. Angry at every human who’d cheered as his father died. Hearing his story? I couldn’t blame him.
“Lake,” I said, tears stinging my eyes.
His hard stare instantly softened when meeting mine. His sorrow was clear as day. Sorrow about his father… and maybe something else too. He then looked toward Maddox and Briar. “You may approach.Onlyyou.” He cut his eyes at Baden. “The rest of you stay where you are.”
Briar rushed forward first and dropped down at my side. “Thank the gods you’re all right.” He pulled me into his arms and pushed his face into my hair, shuddering. “We were so worried about you, silly, beautiful boy. Let me have a look at you.” He drew back, his eyes glistening behind his glasses as he skimmed his fingers down my cheek. “Nothing I can’t heal.”
