Page 97 of Wicked Allure
He nodded and waved her on past him. She eyed the vehicles waiting for her. He walked alongside her to the SUV where a warrior held the door open. She slid into the back seat and scowled. The weather here was warm and fall like. The cold back in Savadeen was bitter and had chilled her down to the bones.
The drive to the castle was done in complete silence which allowed Dru to think. The general in her was a calculating bitch. She would find her mate. It was only a matter of time. Once she found out what Lethia wanted with her, she’d be on her way.
Once at the castle, Dru strode through the main doors. She ignored Kane’s chuckle that floated through the air behind her.
“Where is she?” Dru barked over her shoulder.
Servants scattered out of the way and pressed back against the all as she passed, their eyes adverted. She growled at the simple fact that she’d been brought back to Crystal Cove. She was being treated like an unruly child and not the general she was promoted to be.
“Princess Lethia is waiting for your arrival out in the gardens,” Sterling announced, stepping out of the formal receiving room. The older vampire bowed his head.
She continued on past him, not slowing. She turned down the corridor that led to the formal gardens. She was alone, glad of this because she was going to get some things off her chest with Lethia that she wouldn’t be able to do with an audience. She burst through the doors and inhaled sharply. The floral scent accosted her. Any other day she’d appreciate the beauty of the landscape around her, but now, she couldn’t care less.
She followed the stone path deeper into the gardens. Lethia waited by the fountain, her stance poised and steady. Her blonde hair bound tightly at her nape, her fighting leathers molded to her body. She was draped in plenty of weapons, and here was a gleam in her eye that Dru couldn’t read.
“General,” Lethia said. “Welcome home.”
“I won’t be long, Your Highness,” Dru said.
Lethia’s brow arched. “Oh, is that so? I distinctly remembered ordering you and the warriors home.”
“I have some important matters back in Butterbush, Your Highness.” Dru rested her hands on her waist. “Anything you need of me, Kane can do until I return.”
“General.”
“I will not be gone long. I need to leave immediately?—”
“General.” Lethia’s voice whipped through the air.
Dru froze, startled by the sharpness of her old friend’s voice. It was cold—an order. “You’re not to leave the castle.”
“You dare?—”
“I dare,” Lethia interjected. “Because you’re needed here.”
Dru’s chest rose and fell with restrained violence. She had to make Lethia see why she had to leave. She could not be grounded at a time like this, and if it had something to do with the lycans, she’d find her mate then join the rest in the fight against their enemy.
“Lethia. It’s my mate. She was taken. I have to?—”
“She wasn’t taken.”
Dru froze. She blinked hard. Was her friend not understanding her?
“Why would you say that? You don’t know what happened back in Butterbush,” Dru began but ceased her plea at the raise of Lethia’s hand.
“You have been matched, Dru.” Lethia’s face softened.
“Now is not the time to bring up the damn draft. That test is wrong. I know who my mate is, and she was taken!” Dru shouted. Her hands trembled with her restrained anger and rage. She took a step back, and for once in her career, she’d go against everything she held dear to her.
“Listen to me, Dru.” Lethia must have recognized the change in Dru. She held up both of her hands as if trying to calm down an animal about to charge. “Your mate—the human—is here. In Crystal Cove.”
For a heartbeat, Dru couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. It was as if the world had paused.
“What?” Dru stared at Lethia for a moment. She struggled to understand what the princess was saying to her. Was Lethia speaking of Tomesha or another human?
“Her name is Tomesha, right? She’s here. She was brought here by the royal draft guards. It was confirmed she was your mate,” Lethia said.
“No,” Dru whispered. She shook her head and tried to swallow the lump that appeared in her throat. “But I felt her fear and anxiety.”
