Page 12 of My Treasure
I threw a tunic over my shoulders and rolled off the bed. Confused and sleepy, I squinted into the sunlight in the balcony doorway. Yes, definitely dogs. I took a few steps and remembered my mate’s words.
Don’t go onto the balcony.
I spun around and ran back inside, but I was too late.
I heard them.
“Your Majesty, I saw something. Up there!”
“Quickly. Ropes!”
They’d seen me and were coming. My father, his knights and soldiers. They’d found me.
Where could I hide? They’d get to me in minutes.
One thought was even more chilling than the rest—if Fergus came back now, they’d kill him.
My heart pounding, I sank onto my knees by the bed. The sheets smelled of my mate and me, of our lovemaking. I hid my face in the linen and wept.
That was how they found me. I didn’t say a word to them. Didn’t move. Maybe they thought they were saving me? But I refused to go with them. They had to tie me up and let me down the cliff with ropes. Then they put me on horseback, binding me into the saddle.
My father guided his horse closer, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“You smell like a whore,” he hissed. “Are you ruined?”
Ruined? I’m loved for the first time in my life!
A sharp slap landed across my cheek. “Answer your king or I’ll kill you here and now!”
Would death be a better fate? But what about Fergus?I gave him a single nod. I wouldn’t look at him.
“You’re lucky Buer still wants you.”
He shouted a command at his knights, and we took off.
All I could think of was how to escape. And I would. At one point, the opportunity would arise, and I’d be ready. I’d run and find my way back to my mate or die trying.
Warmth pulsed in my lower back and my underbelly. I was in heat, and my mate wasn’t here. Instead, I was surrounded by my father’s alphas, on the way to a man I despised even more than the king.
Tears running down my cheeks, I dreaded to imagine what would happen in a few hours when the next heat wave came.
10
FERGUS
The baker wrappedthree loaves of bread into a cloth and handed them to me.
“You’re lucky, sir, that I have some left. The king’s soldiers were here yesterday and bought out half of the village. The pub’s closed today because they drank it dry.”
I froze.
“The king’s soldiers?”
“No lie. Fifty of them, loud and nasty. All the doors were locked, young omegas hiding from the sordid lot. The king stayed at the inn with his knights. Rumor has it young Prince Gillam ran away because he didn’t want to marry. And now they’re looking for him all over the country.”
I spilled the coins onto the counter and ran, the baker calling after me. I took off straight into the forest and shifted, not caring who’d see. I flew low over the treetops, straight toward the mountain.
I was too late.
