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Chapter 546: Lioness

GUESS WHAT? This book will be COMPLETING in early December! *Flails* I can\'t believe it\'s finally happening. I\'m already grieving losing my time with Reth. But, I\'m also SO excited to share the whole picture with you! Keep an eye on my announcements over the next week or two because I\'m planning a BIG giveaway and Christmas event for early/mid December for all of us to celebrate and say goodbye to Reth & Elia together! Gaaaaaaahhhhh!

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GAHRYE

Elia\'s beast landed, still on the furs, all four legs splayed, her hackles standing tall, hissing, her mouth open to show her fangs, and her tail lashing.

"Shit, Reth!" Aymora growled. "You couldn\'t stop pushing!"

"I wasn\'t pushing her."

"Clearly you were!"

Gahrye stared at Elia\'s beast and shook his head, praying she\'d be able to come back, that she wouldn\'t be stuck again. But at least there were others here to help her now. At least… at least he wouldn\'t fail again.

He slumped and Elia\'s beast hissed again, leaping over Aymora to land between Gahrye and the others. He startled, but as soon as she landed, she whirled, backing up until her lashing tail was slapping his shins, and growling at Reth and Aymora.

Reth stared, wide eyed, then his brows pinched over his nose. "Is she… protecting you?" he asked, his voice gruff, but going high at the end.

Gahrye shook his head. "I don\'t know. I just know she doesn\'t attack me anymore when she\'s in her beast."

Reth took a step towards them and her growl became a snarl. Gahrye\'s heart sank as the King\'s face turned to stone and he pulled his head back in surprise.

"Elia," he said quietly, "I would never hurt him."

Aymora shook her head. "She clearly didn\'t even think that in human form, Reth. Get your shit together. I\'m going to get Jayah and that tonic, just in case. But for the Creator\'s sake, both of you stop provoking her. Be calm, and ask her to come back. We\'ll see if we can get her to shift naturally first. I don\'t know enough about the wolves\' tonic to know if it\'s safe in her pregnancy."

Then she stormed past Elia\'s beast with barely a glance at her, and out the door.

Gahrye found himself standing behind the wide behind of a lioness hissing at her mate.

If it wasn\'t all so sad, it would have been funny.

Then he saw Reth\'s face—somewhere between hot rage, and brokenhearted, and he remembered that he wasn\'t the only one who\'d struggled through the past few months.

He sighed. "I\'m sorry, Reth, I\'ll try to get her to… ease off."

Reth shook his head. "It\'s not your fault, Gahrye. I\'m… I\'m afraid I\'m just not thinking clearly yet. I\'ve been so focused on getting her back here, I haven\'t really thought through what she\'ll need… what we\'ll all need."

Reth tore his eyes off Elia to hold Gahrye\'s gaze. "I cannot promise anything for the short term. But you deserve honor, Gahrye. You watched over her for me. I will speak to Gawhr the day the bears begin to wake. I will plead your case. Negotiate for it. If it is in my control, I will get you back to your mate somehow."

Gahrye swallowed. He knew he should be grateful. But all he wanted to do was spit at Reth that, if as King he didn\'t have the control to free Gahrye to go back, who did? But he knew… he\'d given his word too. He knew that Reth\'s integrity was a good thing. That he should respect it. He just needed some time to come to terms with what this meant—and how his mate would feel not hearing from him for so long.

Especially if she was pregnant.

That thought hit him like a fist to the gut and he grimaced.

"It\'s the best I can do, Gahrye. I\'m sorry. But I will not offer you something I have vowed never to do."

Gahrye nodded. "I know, and you\'re right. I\'ll…" he looked down at the tawny, golden back stretched out between them and sighed. "When the time comes, I\'ll tell Elia that," he said through his teeth.

Reth looked relieved. "Thank you. You\'re a good male, Gahrye."

Gahrye tried to stifle the huff that rolled of his throat at that. Reth\'s lips thinned, but before the King could chastise him, Gahrye spoke. "Yes, Reth. I am. I try to be, anyway. And Elia knows it. She cares for me as a friend. And that\'s all. She protects me like a sister would. And I\'m very, very grateful for it. Stop seeing something ugly in her care for me. You have no need of it. Her heart is yours, wholly."

Reth stared at him, surprised and—if Gahrye didn\'t miss his guess—a little peeved. But Gahrye was too tired and too disappointed, and in too much pain to try to save the King\'s bruised ego.

"I don\'t know how to help her back," he said before Reth could respond. "You\'ll have to try to get through to her."

Reth stared a moment longer, then let his gaze drop back to Elia. "I\'ll shift too, see if I can get through to her that way first. Calm her down. You wait in the Great Room and tell Aymora when she returns that she\'ll have two beasts in here. I shouldn\'t have trouble getting back, but my beast will be stressed with her pregnant and unhappy. So… just give her the warning." He hesitated, then looked up at Gharye again. "Please."

Gahrye nodded. "I\'ll tell her."

"Thank you."

It took everything within Gahrye not to make a juvenile, petty face as he turned away from the King. But deep down… deep down he knew, if it was Kalle in Elia\'s position… if he was in Reth\'s… he would have done the same thing.

It was just so unfair. Every time he made strides forward, every time he succeeded, or achieved, it felt like all the Creator wanted was to put more barriers in his way.

He shook his head as he strode out into the cave and paced the floor in front of the fireplace until Aymora would return. He didn\'t mind having some minutes to himself to think things through. Because nothing was turning out as he\'d expected.

He could go, he knew. He could just leave and go to Kalle and make sure she was okay. Make sure the voices had been lying. That the asswipe wasn\'t getting her back—and wouldn\'t hurt her.

The sick thing was, he wanted them to be right about her being pregnant. He wanted to hold that babe. He wanted to share that with his mate. He wanted to be a father. A mate and a family was all he\'d ever wanted.

The urge to tell the Creator to go fuck himself, to leave Gahrye alone and stop forcing him into these impossible positions was strong. But something held him back.

Because he was disform—a Protector. He was a Protector. And the others… the others had stayed here. They\'d struggled through without support and without knowing where he went. None of them had a mate waiting for them. They didn\'t have a prophecy telling them what to do and what their purpose was. They only had him, and if he left…

He couldn\'t just leave them. He couldn\'t abandon this task, this purpose. Was that why the Creator was allowing him to meet this obstacle? Was the delay because otherwise he would give up and leave?

Or was it all just one big lie? Was Gahrye being played?

Gahrye paced on.