Chapter 5
MALIK
A skari’s pain-tinged scent fills my nose. The cold metal floor of my cage scrapes against my knees as I lunge forward, grasping the bars. My panther growls, and I let it out, my fangs dripping with the need to exact maximum damage in revenge for my beta.
“Askari! Askari, why do I smell blood?”
He stops just a few steps away. His breaths are short and stuttered.
I keep my voice calm despite the worry and rage swirling inside me—that is my constant emotional state these days, anxious and angry—so it’s not hard to do as I say, “What did Leonora do, Askari? Come closer.”
He doesn’t move, but says, “She just asked me some questions.”
I sigh, holding out my hand through the bars, reaching into the darkness. “Askari, please.”
Inhale. Exhale. Askari shuffles towards me, and even with my beast aiding me, I can barely make out the outline of his body.
He takes another step, the scent of his blood getting stronger.
Another step. And that’s when I see. Bruises.
His face is swollen, the skin around his ribs is purple and yellow, and the edges of slash marks curl around his waist.
That simmering anger that’s always just under the surface boils over. Rage. Rage at Leonora for doing this to Askari. Rage at Askari for putting himself in danger. But most of all, my rage is aimed at me for being so godsdamned weak.
Askari’s voice cuts through the darkness of both the room and my mind. “Malik. Don’t. It’s fine. We knew she’d figure it out sooner or later. I didn’t admit to anything, but she knows, or at least suspects we’re working together.”
I’m still reaching through the bars, and I curl my fingers in a silent request. Askari rolls his head to the side, and a soft crack comes from his neck.
When he lifts his arm, my beast sighs, and the second our hands clasp, I grip him and hold on tight, both to chase away my loneliness and at least some of his pain.
After a beat, I whisper, “Let me heal you.”
He chuckles, mumbling almost to himself. “You sound like her.”
I tilt my head. “Her?”
Askari tries to slip his hand from mine, but I don’t let him go. With his free hand, he tries to wave off my question. “Nothing. I’m just tired. Don’t pay me any attention.”
I need both my hands to weave the healing signs, but the moment I move to slip my hand from his, he tightens his fingers around mine, shaking his head as he says, “Don’t. She’ll know. She’ll smell your magic on me.”
I rub my thumb over the back of his hand. “Please, Askari.”
He shakes his head again. “I’ll be fine.”
I clench my teeth against the injustice of it all, but then my beta purrs, offering me not only his warmth and company, but the calming sound of his beast. I’m the alpha. I should be doing that for him, but I take the offered comfort because I need it. I’m desperate for it.
Askari leans the side of his head against the bars as he says, “Thank you, though. I appreciate the offer.”
I grumble. “In this instance, the thought doesn’t count because you are still in pain.” I squeeze his hand. “You should leave the palace before things get any worse for you.”
He barks a laugh that almost makes me jump in surprise. “Yeah, right. I’m not your brothers.”
His body goes rigid as he snaps his mouth shut, realizing what he just said.
I want to be angry. I should jump to my brothers’ defense, because of course I know they didn’t leave me—twice—by choice, but that bitter voice in my head has gotten louder over the past year.
They did leave me, and I’ve been so alone. Or at least, I was … until Askari.
He dips his head in a bow. “I’m sorry, Alpha. I didn’t mean it.”
I twist, and with my free hand, I reach through the bars to cup the side of his face.
“It’s okay, Askari. I know by now that no matter how often I ask, you’ll never leave me.
Stubborn lion.” I make sure there’s a smile in my voice, even if the words hurt to say, because I’ve done nothing to deserve his loyalty.
And because I hate the truth that eats away at me …
I could use my alpha-command and make him leave and hide himself somewhere on Earth where even I can’t find him.
But I’m too selfish to send the beta away, even now, after Leonora hurt him.
Fuck! I’m such a useless alpha.
My panther mewls. “I don’t want to send him away either.”
“That just means I’m an asshole through and through.”
Askari chuckles sadly, pulling me out of my head, and his purr picks back up. I drop my hand from his face and rest it on my thigh. After a few moments, I ask, “So, she ?”
His purr never falters, but he tenses against my shoulder before shrugging. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Askari.”
“Alpha.”
I roll my eyes, thudding my head back against the bars. “Don’t make me use my alpha-command.” I may not be brave enough to use it to send him away, but I will use it to get him to talk.
He pulls away from where our arms were touching, but I don’t let go of his hand as he turns to face me and says with heavy sarcasm, “Really?”
I smile into the darkness, something only Askari can manage to make me do in this place. “Yes, really.”
He looks at me, swollen eyes flicking between mine, before he huffs and flops back against the bars, carefully pressing his side against mine, sharing his warmth once more. This time I purr for him, and he settles in even more.
Voice quiet, he says, “There was a female poking around, asking questions … about you.”
I don’t move, but my panther stands up inside, tail flicking in interest as he says, “She’s still here.”
“Amri.” The name pops out of my mouth before I can stop it.
Askari stiffens, but he doesn’t pull away as he says, “I didn’t catch her name. Short blond hair? Blue eyes? Looks like she’d kick your ass for looking at her the wrong way?”
I chuckle. “You left a pretty important feature.”
He swallows, then says, “The enforcer tattoo on her neck.”
A shiver ripples down my spine as I recall that gentle tug pulling me closer to Amri, urging me to protect, to comfort, to claim. I shake it off with an angry growl.
Askari sits up to reassure me. “I didn’t tell her anything, I swear it, Alpha.”
Because I’m a selfish bastard, I tug Askari back against the bars so his skin touches mine again. I purr for him, calming him as I say, “It’s okay. What did she want to know?”
He leans his head against the bars again as he shrugs. “She wanted to know why Leonora is so obsessed with you and your brothers.”
I tsk . “Wish I knew the answer to that one myself.”
He chuckles sadly, but then tilts his head, mumbling, “There was something else. She asked if you and your brothers share the same sire. I told her I assumed so but didn’t know for sure.”
My beast paces inside me in thought. “Our sire?” The confusion in his voice matches my own. I roll the back of my head against the bars, trying to recall anything about my sire. I frown, not even able to recall the last time I thought about him or who he might be. Have I ever?
Isn’t that … odd?
Askari echoes my thoughts. “So, do you? Know who your sire is?”
I shake my head. “No, he wasn’t around, and we were so young when our mother was … when she was killed. She didn’t talk about him much … or ever?” My brows furrow as I try to recall my mother ever mentioning him, but thinking of her only dredges up pain.
I swallow around the lump in my throat, trying to banish the memory that fights its way to the front of my mind.
My mother choking and coughing up blood.
My mother nudging us towards the path that led to our home.
My mother collapsing, telling me to watch over my brothers.
My mother jerking on the ground in pain.
My mother using her last breath to tell me again to take care of Bodi and Rian.
My mother’s eyes, still and unseeing, looking right through me.
My brothers’ mewls of sorrow, my own stuck in my throat, panic freezing me in place.
She left us. She left me. I was four years old, and she left me with my brothers’ well-being on my shoulders.
And then Leonora was there. I have no recollection of what she looked like in that moment, but I remember her power.
It hurt. It was overwhelming, almost angry.
But then she scooped my brothers and me into her arms, purring for us, and my fear and sorrow melted away because everything was going to be okay.
Shaking off the memory, I say, “I don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure we have the same sire. I mean, we look so much alike.”
“Yeah, you do. But you really know nothing about him?”
“No.”
My beast cocks his head. “In the twenty-seven years since mother’s death, we’ve not once thought about our sire or who he was. That’s not normal … right?”
Askari asks the same thing. “Isn’t that strange?” I chuckle, and the beta turns his head towards me. “What?”
“You and my beast are sharing thoughts, aren’t you?”
His gaze travels down my chest then back to my face. “He thinks it’s weird too?”
I nod, but say, “It’s not, though. I mean, do you know your sire?”
Askari shakes his head, but chews his lip in thought before saying, “True, it’s not all that uncommon to not know your sire, but I know he was an Asiatic lion like my mother.
I know he was an alpha, and that he sired at least three cubs from other shifters before me, and two after me.
I’ve never met him … and don’t really want to, but I do know where to find him if I ever do. So …”
I chuckle, the desire to follow this path of questioning fading away. “I’m sure it doesn’t matter.”
My beast flicks his tail. “Why are you just throwing this away? What if ..?”
Anger draws some warmth to my face as my cheeks flush. “Why should I spend even a second thinking about my sire? He left, as most males do, but he wasn’t there when mother was killed. He never showed up to claim us after; he just left us to Leonora.”