The Leopard King (31 page)

“He’s right,” Raff said unexpectedly. “It’s worse for me, sending my men into danger, but it doesn’t always make sense to lead from the front.”

If he’d just scolded Pru for proving herself, he couldn’t insist on doing the same out of some misguided desire to establish that he was still strong enough to head up the pride. Protecting his people didn’t necessarily mean destroying enemy war machines with his bare hands, either; it counted if he made good decisions and minimized loss of life at every opportunity.
It just doesn’t
feel
brave.
Recognizing that his desire to command the force personally rose from an ego in need of boosting, he conceded the point with a sigh.

“Fine, you do it, Slay. You’re a better stalker than Mags. No offense,” he added to the security chief, who shrugged. Even
she
knew it was true; she was the natural choice when you wanted a target exterminated with extreme prejudice. Slay, on the other hand, excelled at the stalk and kill, maybe not quite at a Noxblade level, but he was the best the pride had on offer.

“We’ll go out the side door. I need half the squad on diversion. The rest of us will take out the C-TAK.”

“My crew has ordnance,” Callum said. “Sounds like you could use it.”

“Please,” Slay answered.

An itchy feeling crawled down Dom’s back, and he followed the stealth-op team to the side exit. So far, there were no hostiles here, but it wouldn’t take long for Golgoth scouts to report back on all the potential entrances. The guards in the staging area were all tight and tense, waiting for that engagement. The C-TAK kept up its barrage, weakening the wall with each strike, and if they didn’t get those guns shut down, there would be breach in under an hour. The war priest, Callum, met the squad with the promised firepower, but it was more than they could carry.
We’ll put this to good use from the inside.
At some point, he really needed to learn more about the Order of Saint Casimir.

After the distraction team geared up, he faced the whole crew. “You don’t need me to spell out what we’re up against. So I’ll just tell you not to be heroes and to get the job done.”

The squad all saluted Dom, even the Noxblades. Gavriel met his gaze for an extended moment, and the team followed Slay out into the darkness. He partnered up with Callum to get some of that ordinance on the walls. The C-TAK was too far for traditional weapons, and he didn’t want to leave his people vulnerable for long. Already heavy caliber ammo peppered the ramparts, forcing his own shooters into cover time and again.

Dom checked his watch, counting down the seconds, and the diversionary team executed right on schedule. Orange lit up the horizon, along with a series of booms.
Here we go.
From his vantage, he watched the C-TAK go up in a fireball, taking out a good number of invaders in the resultant explosion.
Yes. That’s how we do it, and just in fucking time too.
The stealth crew knew to head straight back, avoiding the enemy wherever possible.
Hit and run. There’s no reason to engage their main force.
Most of the stealth squad made it back, but for some reason, Gavriel was leading them.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” the Noxblade said. “We encountered resistance near the wall and we had to cut a path.” Pru appeared just in time to hear Gavriel deliver news that chilled Dom’s blood. “We scoured the area, but we didn’t find his body.”

Slay was just fucking
gone
.

F
ear had a
hold of Pru’s throat, but she couldn’t sink down and cry. With Dom staring at her, that was the last thing she should do. So she fell into her role as pride matron. “You did the right thing in coming back,” she told Gavriel. “Your unit wasn’t designated for a full-frontal assault, and there’s still a lot of Golgoth out there.”

Please, let Slay be safe.

Even if she’d passed the point of wanting to build a life with him, she had sweet memories of their time together, and she wanted him home, like any pride mate.
Probably more,
she admitted silently. Fortunately Gavriel chose that moment to make a formal report on the strike they’d executed. The timing must be coincidental, but she appreciated the opportunity to collect herself.

“We lost four, counting Slay. Took out easily twice our number, more if you count the ones that died when the princess detonated her fleet. Another fifteen or so when we blew up the C-TAK. But there are hundreds of Golgoth swarming,” Gavriel concluded.

“This isn’t the main force,” Alastor said.

“Damn. How many are there?” Raff wondered aloud.

“I told you that it’s different among my people. We don’t
have
soldiers. We’re all warriors, so any Golgoth well enough to walk is expected to march on the king’s command.”

The wolf lord stared for a long moment, as if he suspected the prince of some elaborate joke. “That sounds hellish.”

“Welcome to my world,” Alastor said.

“Would your brother be mad enough to empty his own capital?” Callum asked.

“In a word? Yes.” Alastor met the war priest’s gaze squarely, evidence of his honesty.

So we might be facing that many? Damn.

“Regardless, we have to stop this from turning into a siege,” Dom cut in.

“The Order of Saint Casimir is ready,” said Callum.

Yeah, it’s about time to deploy the war bears.

Pru squared her shoulders, amazed that she could sound so authoritative with her heart aching over Slay’s vanishing act. “This isn’t the time to be stingy with our resources. We need to make it clear that Ash Valley isn’t a soft target.”

“Some breathing room would be good,” Dom said.

His gaze skittered away from hers, however, rousing a vague sense of unease. The moment passed in a flurry of strategizing. All the leaders agreed that they needed to follow the stealth strike with a ferocious offensive; otherwise the Golgoth would have the chance to regroup. If they could crush the enemy here, that would buy them some time to organize a proper resistance and get in touch with other settlements.

“We’ll need to send messengers,” Princess Thalia said.

“Unless we take out their jammers.” But Pru had no idea where they’d secured the tech, and they couldn’t spare personnel to wander the woods with scanners.

“One thing at a time.” Raff patted her on the shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting gesture, and Dom threaded between them, his arm encircling her shoulder.

“Let’s finalize the battle plan,” Callum said.

That took a good half an hour, but at the end of the session, Pru felt confident they could bring the fight to the Golgoth in a decisive fashion. As she moved to follow Magda, Dom’s hand tightened on her shoulder. She tilted her head with an inquiring look while the others hustled to complete all the preparations.

“Are you up to this?” By the complex layers of his expression, the question wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

“You don’t want me fighting?”

“It’s not that, exactly.”

The pause told her nothing. “Then what’s the issue?”

“I just… I need to be sure you’re going out for the right reasons—that you’re in a good place mentally.”

“You think I plan to slip off and search for Slay?” Only that suspicion made sense, given Dom’s awkwardness, his hesitance, and the way his eyes dropped, like he’d done something wrong by standing here while Slay was—

Missing.
It hurt to breathe.

“You don’t?” Dom asked.

“I’m worried. There’s no point in denying it. But it won’t help him or the pride if I get myself killed. If I spot him, I’ll do my best to bring him back, but I won’t go off target and endanger everyone else.” Pru raised a brow, hoping she had set his mind at ease.

He didn’t seem entirely relaxed, but he bent to kiss her and managed a smile. “In case things go sideways.”

“Don’t say things like that. I’m nervous enough already.”

“You realize you’re making it harder for me to be supportive and let you go. With every fiber of me, I want to fight with you.”

Pru wrapped her arms around Dom’s waist, squeezing him tight. “You can’t. With Slay gone, it makes way more sense for Mags to lead our forces.”

“Because I’m the irreplaceable pride master.”

“You represent stability,” she corrected. “And yes, you’re irreplaceable too.”

“Be careful, kitten.”

This time, when he kissed her, it felt like he meant it. He cupped her face in his hands and took her mouth with a sweetness and hunger that curled her toes, even under these circumstances. When Pru pulled back, she was breathless. She couldn’t look at him, or she might not have the courage to play her role in defending Ash Valley. She ran to catch up with the rest of the pride warriors without looking back.

Magda welcomed her with a slap on the back as she slotted into formation along with the others. Their unit would be employing hit-and-run tactics along with the Noxblades and wolves while the war bears would try to hold ground alongside Prince Alastor’s small unit of brutes. Apart from Callum, none of the other leaders would be fighting tonight.

This battle will make all the difference, either buy us the time we need or Ash Valley will fall before dawn.

The wounded in the med center, the surviving Latents, the kits who hadn’t learned to shift yet… they were all counting on a successful assault.
And Dom. He’s waiting for me to come home.
While their relationship might not be perfect, she couldn’t brook leaving him alone again. Those thoughts firmed Pru’s resolve as she shifted and fell in behind Magda, feeling incredibly small in ocelot form.

If she’d felt tiny compared with Mags, the bears loomed over her like titans. She’d never seen the Order of Saint Casimir geared for war, but they wore armored chest pieces, vambraces around their arms. Pru wished she could tell them how amazing they looked, how much confidence they inspired, but she could only snarl in approval. The wolves took up the call, howling their own battle cry, and soon the staging area echoed with Animari battle challenges.

“Let’s do this,” Gavriel bit out.

This had to be the largest war party that had ever slipped out of Ash Valley; certainly it was the most diverse. The Order of Saint Casimir exploded from the tunnel and hit the Golgoth from behind like a cluster of armored vehicles. For a moment, Pru just watched, stunned by such synchronized ferocity, then Mags bumped her, recalling her to their purpose, and she raced after the Noxblades, who had all but vanished in the dark.

For this fight, she chose a young wolf as her partner. She’d never have the size to take on a brute by herself, but she didn’t need to be a killing machine to serve the pride well.
I’m doing this for everyone I love. I’m doing this for—

Dominic. Because you want to fight for us, but you can’t.

Somehow, her entire body felt lighter for that silent admission. With renewed determination, Pru leapt at a gray-skinned enemy, narrowly avoiding his razor-sharp claws when he spun on her. The wolf at her side went for the hamstring, and she bounded through the brute’s legs, ready for action. All around her, the Order of Saint Casimir reaped the enemy like angels of death, silent in their violence. Noxblade silver flashed in the night, and each time one of Raff’s wolves scored a kill, a howl split the silence. The taste of blood flooded Pru’s mouth as she fought on.
For the pride. For my family. For—

Dominic. Always.

Pru still loves
Slay.

The devastation in her eyes haunted Dom. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake it—that moment of shock and pallor, where her freckles stood out like copper dots against skin like milk. She shook it off fast, covered up with a smile, but learning about Slay had fucking eviscerated her. Probably he should’ve expected that. Pru wasn’t the kind of woman who could turn her heart so fast, but it felt like somebody had cracked his rib cage and scooped his out with a rusty spoon.

She’d said that when she was with him, she was
with
him, but that didn’t speak to her moments alone, what she wished for in the silence of her own head. Somehow, he scraped those thoughts away and focused on the gunnery nest he’d constructed on the ramparts. If he couldn’t be in the battle up close and personal, he’d be damned if he sat around waiting to hear how it went. As he set up and donned the goggles he’d borrowed from the Order of Saint Casimir, Princess Thalia joined him.

“I wish I was out there too,” she said, her tone wistful.

“The lightning gizmo doesn’t have good range?” he guessed.

“You impress me. So many people assume it’s magic.”

“By which I presume you mean humans? Give me a
little
credit. Even if I don’t understand exactly how it works, I can tell you have a small battery pack in your bracer.”

“How?”

Holding up a hand, Dom shook his head. It wasn’t the time to discuss his keen sense of smell, but if he’d wanted, he could’ve startled her with an account of everything she had eaten in the last twenty-four hours. The Eldritch princess apparently had a real fondness for pears.

He skated his fingertips across the lenses of his goggles to activate them; the tech augmented his natural night vision, making the action look like it was happening right in front of him. Though he told himself he wouldn’t, Dom still tried to track Pru down below, scanning for an ocelot amid the melee. It was no use, though, so he flipped off the safety and powered up the beast of a gun. Most of the fighting was out of range, but when some dumb-ass Golgoth crept around the corner of the hold, Dom blasted him with great satisfaction. Even if the brutes were built like small dinosaurs, a hole that size in the chest had to slow it down. That one tried to get up, so he shot it again.

This thing has to be .50 cal.

That time, the brute actually exploded, chunks flying like shrapnel from a meat grenade. Killing took away some of the sting, so he locked on to the battlefield, firing whenever a Golgoth wandered in range. It drove him crazy not knowing how Pru was out there. More than once he thought,
Fuck being supportive. She’ll be lucky if I ever let her leave the hold again.
But despite his visceral terror of losing her—a woman who shouldn’t even be his—he’d never try to cage Pru or limit her in any way.