The Alion King: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Paranormal Dating Agency Book 6) (8 page)

SEVENTEEN

Alyx righted Bella’s dress and watched her sleep. She hadn’t woken the entire time he’d fixed her clothes or even while he put his own back on. He inhaled deeply, ensuring she hadn’t been hurt while they’d had sex. He’d lost himself in her body. Hell, he’d roared loud enough to be heard in the Ice Mountains. There were going to be a lot of questions when he got back. He glanced down at his sleeping mate. A smile spread over his lips. He finally had her. The woman who owned his heart. His mother had been right. Once he found her, he’d never let her go.

He picked Bella up, careful not to wake her, and carried her through the back gardens to her room. He laid her on the bed and fought the urge to get in next to her. As much as he wanted to feel her body pressed against his, he had to speak to Karel and the wolves.

He pushed her hair away from her face and watched her sleep for a moment. She was beautiful. She might not see it, but he did. There was no evil in his mate. She was pure of heart, and that made her even more beautiful than when he first laid eyes on her.

He slipped out of her room quietly, striding down the corridor. He was closing in on the stairs when Nadeeya showed up. She smiled at him.

“Hello, Alyx,” she greeted, closing the distance between them.

“Nadeeya. How are you?” He continued walking, knowing full well she’d follow behind to keep the conversation going.

“I’m good. Where have you been?” she asked, with a hint of irritation. “I’ve been looking for you. Those furballs are ready to leave, and you haven’t been around.”

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. “Don’t. Ever. Question. Me.” He took a menacing step toward her. He knew she saw the danger in his eyes, and she hastily scuttled back. “No one ever questions me. Ever.” His voice deepened to a low growl. His vision changed to allow his lion full control. He felt the shift at his fingertips. “I. Am. The. King!”

She nodded jerkily and took a deep breath. Her gaze snapped up to his eyes. Confusion was swiftly replaced by anger in the depths of her eyes. He knew she probably scented Bella. He didn’t care if that bothered her. In fact, he loved that others could scent his mate on him. “Alyx, I’m willing to be your queen.”

“Get out of my sight, Nadeeya,” he growled. “Now. Before I forget you are a female.”

She didn’t debate. She ran off, her long blond hair swinging as she went.

He let out an angry roar and marched to the library. Karel stood there; his brows flew up the moment he saw Alyx.

“Did I hear right? Did you mate her?”

He shook his head. “No. I won’t do it without her knowing what she’s getting into. It’s one thing to be here on a vacation. Quite another to leave all she knows behind for me.”

Karel nodded. “Very noble of you.”

There was a knock at the door, and Brecc and Eros entered. The Alpha and Omega pair were as tall as Karel, but with much paler features due to their living conditions, not to mention their heritage. Snow wolves had white fur, which meant white hair and pale skin.

“Alyx, we’d like to know how long the matchmaker will be here,” Brecc asked.

Alyx shrugged. “Not long. I believe she’s done her job.”

Brecc and Eros glanced back and forth at each other.

“Don’t worry,” Karel said. “I’m sure she’d be willing to come back and help you two out.”

Brecc shook his head. “We are in need of a mate. Her help is needed now.”

“Then talk to her while she’s here,”Alyx snapped. He rubbed a hand behind his neck. “Sorry, I’m a bit frustrated right now.”

Brecc grinned for the first time since they’d been in the castle. “Now that is something I can relate to. We have a lot of frustrations in the mountains.”

“Any of them annoying family members wanting to choose your mate?”

The wolves looked at each other. Eros sighed. “You could say that.”

“I think we need a drink,” Karel said, heading for the
Sidaii
wine.

“We’ve discussed the river situation, Alyx,” Eros said, meeting Alyx’s gaze with his pale-blue eyes. “As long as the Dragos respect our space, we’ll respect theirs.”

Alyx nodded, taking the cup of wine offered by Karel. He gulped the wine and passed it back for a refill. After the second cup, he sighed and headed for his chair.

“I’ll speak to the Dragos. The problem you might encounter is that they’re low on females, so they’re suffering through some breeding problems.”

The wolves nodded.

“We’re all suffering from the lack of mates,” Brecc admitted.

Alyx already knew the wolves were desperate. Much like Alyx, they had to find a mate by Brecc’s fiftieth birthday, or a new Alpha and Omega set that could continue growing the pack would be chosen. Brecc and Eros were a set—not related but would share a woman. This meant it was twice as hard for them to find a female who agreed to be shared between the two. One of their pack would be best, but when things got desperate, they started searching through other tribes.

“Rethink sending the matchmaker away,” Eros requested. “We need more time with her.”

EIGHTEEN

“Time for dinner.”

Bella woke with a start. She sat up on the bed, glancing down at the dress she’d been sure had been up around her waist and baring her breasts. She met Gerri’s smiling gaze and frowned. “How long have I been asleep?”

“I’m not sure, but I haven’t seen you all day, so I’m guessing a while.” She sniffed and smiled wide. “Did you have a fun day?”

Did she ever. Best day of her life, by far. “Yes, it was great.”

No need to tell Gerri she’d been getting it on with one of the natives by the falls. Knowing Gerri, she might hand her a box of condoms and tell her to have fun.

“I’m glad. Do you feel up to coming down to dinner?” Gerri moved to the closet where Bella’s clothes hung. “I would like you to meet the king.”

Gerri pulled out a gauzy dress in deep gold and put it on the bed. “Take a shower and get dressed. Tell the room to call for me when you’re ready. I’ll come get you, and we can meet his highness.”

“The hardheaded Alion?” She grinned.

Gerri laughed. “Believe me, darling. He will be thanking me by the end of the night.”

“You work fast, Gerri. Haven’t we been here for only two days?” She frowned. “I keep losing track of time. There’s no clocks or anything in this place.”

Gerri nodded. “Something like that. We’ve actually been here four days. The hours are very long compared to earth, which is probably why you’re always tired. Those four days are equivalent to about an Earth month.”

Holy crap! She’d been gone a month? Damn, time was flying by.

“Don’t look so alarmed,” Gerri said. “The great thing about being here for extended time is that you don’t really age like those on Earth. A year here is about ten years there, so you look thirty when you’re forty.”

“Is that how you stay so young?”

Gerri winked. “Something like that. I can’t give away all my secrets.” Gerri marched to the door in a flowy blue dress that made her eyes pop. “Hurry. Dinner starts soon.”

She nodded and watched Gerri leave the room. She ran for the bathroom and took the world’s fastest shower. Then she lotioned down and dressed. Thankfully, the dress Gerri picked was one Bella had brought from her own clothes, so she didn’t need help trying to figure out how to wrap it like Teva had done with her previous one.

She was sliding into her sandals when a knock sounded at the door. Crap. She’d taken too long. She ran to the door and yanked it open. She didn’t get a chance to speak. Someone sprayed something in her face, and instant darkness took hold.

* * *

“Are you sure this is the right thing to do?” Eros asked Brecc. He glanced down at Bella, Gerri’s assistant, and sighed. They were not the kind to abduct females. Usually, they had a bevy of them trying to make their beds a permanent home.

“Nadeeya said she was Gerri’s assistant. Gerri can’t go back without her. This will delay her leaving, and we can get her to help us.”

Eros nodded. Still, he didn’t like the idea. Nadeeya wasn’t to be trusted. “I don’t know, Brecc. She looks so helpless.”

Brecc stopped and glanced down at the sleeping female. “She does. But she is beautiful. I want one like her. Do you think Gerri can do it?”

Eros shrugged. All they could hope for was to get Gerri’s attention and delay her return to Earth. The hike up the mountain was one they were used to. The transport had taken them to the base. Now they walked. Thick snowflakes fell around them in sheets of white. They were used to the constant snow. The Ice Mountains were always cold and snowy.

“I still think we shouldn’t have taken her,” Eros said.

“You heard the king. Gerri found him a mate. That means she’ll leave. We need her.” Brecc glanced at Eros, frustration clear in his blue eyes. “We need her to stay.”

He was right. Still, it felt wrong. “How long do you think she’ll be out?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never used that before. I took it away from Tatiana when she was trying to spray it in her brother’s eyes.”

“You’re niece? She’s a baby,” Eros said.

“It’s supposed to help her sleep now that she’s teething. Alessandra mentioned it was harmless.”

Eros sighed. But Tatiana was a shifter baby. Bella was a human. As it was, she’d been out for hours.

When they got to the large cabin he and Brecc shared, they laid Bella on a guest bed and waited to hear from Gerri.

Eros’s instincts told him trouble was coming. What they did, taking Bella, had been a bad move. If they weren’t so far, he’d suggest taking her back. But he could tell they were coming for her. He sensed it.

It was another hour before Bella woke. She frowned, rubbing a hand on her temple, and sneezed.

“Are you okay?” Eros and Brecc asked at the same time.

She opened her eyes, nodded, and sat up. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the Ice Mountains,” Brecc replied. “We mean you no harm. We just need the matchmaker to stay and help us. We know you work for her. We hope she will agree to help us in exchange for giving you back.”

She blinked her chocolate-brown eyes wide. “You kidnapped me!”

“You’re not a kid,” Eros said.

She rolled her eyes and frowned harder. “Abducted. Captured. Snatched. Take your pick. I am not where I’m supposed to be.”

Brecc grinned. “You are feisty.”

“Are you crazy? You have to... You have to...” She sneezed again, her body shaking hard. “Take me back!”

“You’ll go back soon enough. We need her to help us.”

She sighed. “I’ll ask her to help you. Hell, we’ll stay and vacation for the summer if you want, but you have to take me back. I think... I think...” She sneezed twice in a row. “I think I’m allergic to something here.”

“You will help us?” Eros asked.

“Gerri loves matching up people. I’m here to help her do that. Maybe she won’t need my help with the king, but I bet we can find you guys a couple of girls and make you all happy like clams.” She sneezed hard.

Brecc frowned. “Why clams?”

“It’s a figure of...of...” She sneezed again, adding a cough this time. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“Why are you crying?” Brecc asked.

She sniffled and wiped her cheeks. “I’m not crying. I’m tearing from the allergies and the sneezing.”

“We don’t need a couple of girls.” Eros grinned. Bella was so funny and cute, with her dainty little sneezes and the way she wiped her cheeks from the tears falling from her eyes. “We just need one.”

She stopped, blinked, and glanced back and forth between him and Brecc. “There’s two of you, though.”

He nodded. “We will share a mate. We are a triad pack.”

She smiled wide and sniffled. “I know all about that. My cousin, Tally, is mated to two wolves. The Alpha and Omega.”

Eros sighed. “So you understand how difficult it is to find a mate.”

She nodded, inhaling hard once, and then twice, before letting her breath out slowly. “That one went away. Seriously, what do you all have in this cabin? I’m having the worst allergies ever,” she sniffled. “I do understand. I promise, Gerri and I will help you.”

NINETEEN

Alyx readied to head to dinner when his library door burst open. Gerri’s face twisted in anger. He’d never seen the matchmaker so close to shifting.

“Where is she?”

There was no need for names. He knew she was asking about Bella. “I left her in her bed this morning.”

Gerri curled her hands at her sides, pushing the wolf back and inhaling hard. “I told her to get up and dress for dinner. I wanted her to meet the king.”

“What?” He jumped to his feet. “I hadn’t told her about being king.”

She clenched her teeth. “Too fucking bad. You shouldn’t have lied to begin with. Now, where is she?”

“I take it she’s not in her bedroom?”

Gerri growled. “She’s not in the castle!”

His heart dropped to his stomach. She figured it out. She found out he was lying and left.

His throat closed up and he had to stop his lion from tearing through his skin. Did she run? Fuck! He’d find her. Wherever the hell she went, he’d follow her and bring her back to this castle that was no longer his home if she wasn’t in it with him.

The door flung open a second time. Karel rushed inside. “What’s going on? I heard yelling all the way to the dining room.”

Gerri turned to face him. “Bella. She’s missing.”

Karel frowned. “That’s strange. She has been good about staying in the castle.”

“She wouldn’t know how to leave the castle walls. We came in through the back. There’s no way she’d be able to leave.” Gerri glanced at Alyx. “Someone took her.”

“Holy fuck!” Karel gasped.

“What? What do you mean someone took her? Who would dare?” Alyx asked, his heart aching and his lion roaring to be let loose.

“The wolves. They just left a few hours ago.”

Alyx’s lion pushed at the skin. He’d let the animal loose soon. If the wolves wanted war, he’d give it to them. Happily.

They raced up the mountain, anger guiding Alyx’s movements. His lion wanted out. When they reached the cabin Brecc and Eros shared, he didn’t bother knocking. He slammed the door open, knowing full well his mate was in there.

“Bella!”

Gerri’s scream made the cabin shake. Bella ran through a pair of doors and sneezed before she reached them. She stopped in front of Alyx, and he picked her up in his arms, hugging her hard and appeasing his beast.

The two wolves came out from the back of the cabin, heading straight for them.

Alyx put Bella down and launched himself at Brecc, the Alpha. Though bigger and stronger than the wolf, Alyx knew Brecc could fight hard. He tossed Brecc over his shoulder and broke a table in the process.

“Alyx, wait!” Eros yelled.

“Are you crazy?” Karel shouted. “How dare you take a guest from the castle?”

“We meant no harm to Gerri’s assistant,” Eros said. “Nadeeya mentioned how if we wanted Gerri to stay, maybe we should bring Bella here and ask Gerri for urgent help once she showed up to get Bella.”

Alyx tossed a growling Brecc, growling right back and breaking a sofa behind him.

“We didn’t expect the king to show up to get her,” Eros added.

“King?” Bella asked.

Alyx turned to look at her. She frowned at Karel and Gerri before glancing at him, confusion clear in her eyes.

“She’s his mate, you mutt,” Gerri snapped. “Of course he’d come get her.”

Brecc shoved him hard. Alyx lost the fight with his lion. Bones snapped, and the shift slid through him, heating him from the inside.