Chapter 223

Ethan

Something about Fiona feels off. Her smile is strained, and when I try to poke at her mind, she has her mental shield up. She hasn’t put that up much with me recently, but maybe all this is a bit much. I don’t like seeing her standing so stiff and acting like nothing is wrong when clearly there is something.

We greet the next couple who offers us congratulations for our pregnancy, and as the woman presses a little pouch into Fiona’s hand, I feel another shift in the air. I may not be able to get into her head, but I can tell she is tense. Her scent tells me she’s worried but trying to hide it.

She had said she was ready to make these announcements, but did she feel pressured? Internally, a growl vibrates through me, and I wonder if she had lied about being ready.

Like she can hear my thoughts, Fiona looks up, her brows creasing in the middle. A silent question.

“If everyone will wait a moment, my mate and I will return shortly,” I announce, smiling at the few guests we haven’t greeted. They nod politely in return and begin mingling with each other. So, I lay my hand gently on Fiona’s lower back and gently nudge her to walk. She follows the silent command, letting me take over and lead her away from the outdoor party.

We slip inside the palace to a quiet hallway, and I can see how she relaxes a bit when it’s just the two of us.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, wrapping my hands gently around her biceps so she can’t pull away. I let my hands rub softly up and down her arms, trying to comfort her enough to give her the strength to speak.

She knows I’m here for her, but I think sometimes she needs a small reminder of that.

When she still doesn’t answer, looks down, and bites her lip, I know I was right. Something happened. Sliding my hands up, I run them over her shoulders and then up her neck to cup her cheeks. I bring her head up, connecting our eyes to find not only worry but also annoyance in her pretty eyes.

“Tell me. I can’t help fix anything if I don’t know what it is,” I whisper, softly kissing her. The moment my lips touch hers, she gives in, relaxes fully into me and kisses back.

She finally pulls her hands out from behind her and my eyes immediately zero in on the bruise around her wrist. I hadn’t noticed it before… how? I run back through the last hour of meet and greets in my mind, and I realize she’s had her left hand behind her the whole time. She greets with her right hand.

“Who?”

“It’s… I think he’s just angry,” she mutters hesitantly. She blinks, and her teeth sink into her bottom lip again.

“He?!” I growl, stepping closer and carefully forcing her eyes to mine as she tries to drop her chin. I can feel Zev pushing against the surface, wanting out to murder whoever touched our mate.

“He probably won’t do anything to—”

“Give me a name, baby, before I round up every man in that yard and break each of their wrists.”

Her throat moves as she swallows visibly, and I can’t help but look down at her wrist. Someone, a man by her words and size of the bruise, left a large handprint wrapped around my mate’s wrist. She’s healing, and it’ll be gone soon, but her body doesn’t heal as quickly as mine.

Fiona’s body is working double time with the baby that the healers said she would heal slower. Also, she’s new to Lycan abilities that her body might not have fully adjusted yet. Any other Lycan would have healed within five or ten minutes from a bruise like this, but her? How long had she been bruised?

Thirty minutes? An hour?

“Was it Aaron? Did he do it on accident?” I ask, trying to figure out why she won’t just give me a name. “Do you know him? Could you point him out if you saw him again?”

“It was,” she pauses and sighs before looking up at me again. “Your father had some opinions on how we were lying about me being Lycan and how I still am not fit to be by your side.”

“Kill him,” Zev demands. “He will hurt her again.”

“We can’t kill him, but I sure as shit will make him realize messing with Fiona is the wrong fucking move,” I growl.

My father has been causing problems for a while and I’m tired of it. He has no right to give up the title and then try so hard to get it back, especially if he keeps using sneaky and underhanded methods like Ryan and I believe he is doing.

Hurting my mate is unacceptable. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt, hoping he’d get over it and act like an adult, but I guess that’s too much to ask for.

“Come on,” I mutter, barely containing my anger. “I’ll deal with this.”

“What are you going to do, Ethan?”

I shake my head. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do when I see him, but she shouldn’t worry about it.

When we make it back outside, I scan the crowd and spot Aaron, Maximus, and Laxus all standing together talking, so I nudge Fiona their way with the order to, “Go to your father.”

She whips her head up, grabbing my arm. leaning in, I press a brief kiss to her lips before again nudging her in the direction of Aaron and Maximus. I mind link with Laxus and tell him to watch over her, and he immediately looks our direction and nods.

“Go.”

Fiona hesitates for a moment, but then she walks over to the small group of men. Knowing she’s safe, I turn and scan the crowd for my father. When I don’t see him, I search the air for his scent and find it slightly faint. Did he leave?

I follow my father’s scent out to the parking area, and when I spot him, he and my mother are climbing into their car. I wish I could be surprised, but I’m not. I was honestly more surprised when they agreed to show up.

“Running away, are we?” I growl.

“Running away from who?” My father scoffs, “You?”

“I told you to say away from my mate, father.”

He merely chuckles and rolls his eyes. My mother sighs and sits in the car, shaking her head.

Darting forward, faster than he can track me, I move to his side and grab his left wrist- the same wrist he’d grabbed on Fiona. His eyes flick to the movement, but before he can do anything I twist, and a wicked crack fills the air.

He swears then growls, pulling his broken wrist away and glaring at me.

“Do not lay a hand on my mate ever again. If you do, I’ll do more than break your wrist,” I threaten, “She isn’t going anywhere, and you can’t—”

“Alpha King Ethan!” The use of my full title makes me look up, a wary shiver skating down my spine.

One of the Kingdom guards runs toward us at full speed. His scent screams anxiety as he skids to a stop in front of me and looks me directly in the eye, pointing back toward the party.

“Rogues have been spotted coming into the Kingdom Center. Scouts say it’s a large group, around thirty, and they’re heading toward the palace!”

Shit.

My father forgotten, I sprint back toward the party and toward my mate while opening a link to my pack members who are here and the King’s Guard.

“Prepare for battle! Rogues on the approach!”