75. LUCAS

My eyes darted over the guards in front of me. Some of them didn’t have their faceguards on because we managed to catch them by surprise.

One of the scouts had alerted us about the approaching enemy. There had to be over three hundred men and some of them were barely in their teens.

A thump sounded behind me, making a few of them gasp.

I didn’t need to turn my head to know why they suddenly looked so scared. Nate had shifted and flew overhead to make sure that no more men were trying to sneak up on us.

“Who is in charge?” I growled.

A few minutes passed before a young man stepped forward. He had a sword clutched tightly in one hand, but it wasn’t pointed at me. The look in his eyes assured me that he wanted to be anywhere but in front of me at the moment.

“What were your orders?” Mason questioned.

I shot him a glare but focused my attention back on the young man.

His eyes were focused on Nate.

I cleared my throat.

Swallowing, he looked at me again and surprised us when he dropped his weapon and fell down to his knees. There were a few whispers from the other guards and a second later, more weapons started dropping to the ground.

“Our master sent us here to take you out,” he said softly. “He didn’t tell us why, just ordered me to gather some men and prepare for battle. We were told to take you out…to kill you, but to bring your mate in alive. Master wants to make her a slave.”

I growled, body tensing to keep myself from lunging at the man.

He was innocent.

They all were.

And if this was a trap and one of them tried to sneak around us to get to her, they wouldn’t find her. Xavier had taken Angel to the safe room the moment we had been alerted.

“You’re from the west. I remember visiting you,” Mason said softly. “I was on my way home when I was ambushed. You helped me and wouldn’t accept anything for your help.”

The man nodded. “I remember.”

“We don’t want to fight,” one of the teens said as he stepped forward. “We already lost too many families during the war on earth. All we want to do is live in peace, but there was a fight, and a new master took over the nest.”

“A new master?” I muttered. “I wasn’t aware that Mal stepped down.”

“He didn’t,” the man answered. “He was ambushed and then killed before we could reach him. Nobody wants Lavos to lead but we’re too scared to challenge him. He’s a good fighter.”

“Ruthless,” someone else muttered.

I studied each and every one of them. The best option would be to offer my help. It would be easy for me to take out this Lavos, but where would that leave me? I already had my own kingdom to lead, I couldn’t take over their nest.

Before I could make a decision, a loud alarm suddenly started blaring.

Nate roared and leaped into the sky; his armor glinted in the moonlight as he flew higher.

We’re being approached from all sides, Nate snarled in my head.

I turned back to them. “We’re being attacked from all sides. Now is your chance to go back home before they reach us. Tell this Lavos that we are being attacked by another kingdom and since you had no orders to fight with us, you decided to return home.” Taking a step towards the man, I gripped his shoulder and squeezed. “Hang in there. I have my own problems to handle now, but once it’s taken care of, I will see what I can do to help you and your people.”

“Thank you, King Lucas.”

“Go,” I ordered taking a step back. “Get them home safely.”

I watched as they picked up their weapons and hurried off.

“Prepare for battle,” I called. “Death is a last resort. Try to capture them.”

“Capture them?” Mason growled as he fell into step next to me. “They are attacking us!”

“Remember what Angel said.” I paused and turned to look at him. “This is part of Mother’s plan. She wants to start a war and I’m not going to give her that satisfaction. Just think about the consequences this would have.”

“They should know better than to attack us based on false information,” he hissed.

“We don’t know what they’ve been told,” I said softly. “They could be attacking based on false information.”

He muttered something under his breath as he stormed away. I hesitated a moment before I hurried over to the right. The armor we were forced to wear during battle was uncomfortable. Usually, I wouldn’t bother with it, but I had a reason to stay alive.

“Take out anyone trying to get Nate out of the air,” I ordered.

Drawing my sword, I fell in line with my shoulders and waited for them to breach the gate. Nate flew overhead, circled, and then breathed fire. He was slowing them down while we prepared.

It felt like forever before the first shout filled the air.

My body tensed, my sword lifted, and my mind cleared, ready for the fight to break out.

A loud bang suddenly filled the air.

It took a few minutes to register that someone had fired a gun. They were using weapons which was against the law.

Anger filled me as another gun was fired.

I threw back my head and roared.

The gates were pushed open and for a few seconds, it fell silent. I sucked in a breath, taking a step forward, and thankfully I didn’t have to wait long.

There was an exclamation from the enemy and suddenly they were charging forward. All hell broke loose. Blood splattered everywhere. Weapons were fired, and people screamed in pain.

In all the years of being king, I had never had to kill another person. I never thought it would come to this, even when Angel revealed Mother’s plan.

I wanted to avoid a war.

But I had a mate to fight for and I needed our future to be safe.