Page 53 of Rising Reign

Ender kept a hold of her hand and reached out with his other, stroking Wren’s cheek. “My wolf would bite the shit out of you, Kitten.”

A soft laugh escaped her lips, and relief swept through me. Ender might’ve had a freak-out yesterday, but he was trying, and that was what mattered. We all were.

“I’ll see you after,” she whispered.

Ender bent and brushed his lips over her hair. “See you.” And then, he was gone.

I stood and offered a hand to Wren. “Ready?”

She nodded, but I could see the nerves humming below the surface.

“This will be really good,” Kingston assured her. “For all of us.”

Rhys’s mouth curved. “Can I come?”

Kingston’s expression immediately transformed into a scowl. “No.”

“But I⁠—”

“Save it, bloodsucker,” Hera cut him off. “We can go find you a squirrel to snack on or whatever it is you eat.”

Rhys’s gaze narrowed on her. “Maybe I’ll make an exception and snack on you.”

Hera lifted her hand, sparks dancing between her fingers. “You can try…”

“Let’s get out of here before they kill each other, and we have to clean up the mess,” Puck muttered.

King, Brix, and Puck headed out the French doors with Wren and I following behind. Her footsteps slowed, and I looked down at her as I threaded my fingers through hers, assuring her that I’d be with her the whole way.

Wren looked up at me, worry swirling in those beautiful eyes. “What if I can’t do this? What if I’m not strong enough to defeat my father?”

I gripped Wren’s fingers tighter and brought my face closer to hers. “You are. Think of all you’ve made it through, all you’ve overcome. And now, you have us at your back, feeding you our unique strengths. Stronger together, remember?”

Wren’s eyes shone in the early afternoon light. “Stronger together.”

32

WREN

The sunlight filtered through the thick trees as the guys began to undress. Normally, a glimpse of lean, defined muscles would’ve had my mind shifting to other places. Not today. Today, it was swirling with doubts and worries.

Locke’s words echoed in my head. “Stronger together.”

I wanted to believe in that, to trust that it would lead me through, but nerves still had a hold of me.

Puck stored his clothes and shoes in one of the hidey-holes in an old tree, then turned to walk toward me. He was completely comfortable in his nakedness, and my gaze roamed over his tan skin decorated by patches of ink I now knew Ender or Brix had put there. Puck didn’t stop at a cautious distance, though; he moved straight into my space.

His hand skated across my jaw. “This will be fun. Just like you taking me down the other day. Your wolf had no problem calling on her dominance then.”

Something eased inside me because he was right. My wolf had only been thinking of one thing: bringing her mate back to her. “I think I need to get out of my head and out of my own way.”

Puck’s hands dropped to the hem of my workout tank. “I can help with that.” He slowly tugged the shirt up and over my head, the built-in bra going with it. He folded it carefully and handed it to Brix, who stowed it in the tree.

Then Puck dropped to his knees, looking up at me with reverence. He lifted one leg and removed my sneaker, then the other. His eyes locked on mine as he hooked his fingers in the band of my workout pants and slowly tugged them down.

I could’ve shifted with clothes on since I was wearing the specialty gear, but my wolf wouldn’t have been as free. She wouldn’t have been able to get that fur-to-fur contact or feel completely at ease. But now that I was gazing down at Puck, completely bare to him as he carefully folded my pants, I felt exposed.

Only it wasn’t in a bad way. And as I looked around the small clearing, my soul let out a sigh. We were all exposed, vulnerable to one another, but safe in doing so because of the bond we shared. Tears pricked my eyes for a whole new reason. Because I shared the ultimate bond with these incredible men.