To heal a Rogue

LYSANDER

I carried her into my mother’s room and laid her carefully on the bed, the blue light from her hands had long since faded, and her chest was rising and falling in the shallow rhythm of complete exhaustion.

I stood over her for a long moment, studying her face, and the worry that had been sitting in my chest since the moment that light exploded across the great hall settled deeper still.

I had condemned her to the title of breeder in front of half the visiting court not even one hour ago. Now she was something else entirely in their eyes. A healer. A relic of an age most of them had only heard about in bedtime stories meant to frighten pups into behaving. That kind of exposure invited exactly the sort of attention that had wiped her entire kind out of existence the first time around. Power hunger. That was the reason healers had gone extinct, if the old accounts were to be believed. Men who wanted what she could do for themselves and refused to accept no for an answer.

I had no idea yet how to protect her from what was coming. Bad actors. Rogue factions who’d want her gift for their own cause. Elders who’d already started murmuring about divine blessings and what that meant for my claim to a throne I still wasn’t sure I wanted.

A knock sounded at the door.

”Who is that?” I said, my voice rough with everything the night had already put me through.

”It’s me,” Sofiane’s voice came back, muffled through the wood.

I crossed the room and opened it, and for a moment neither of us said anything, just stood there taking each other in. Then he crossed the threshold and pulled me into a hug hard enough to knock the breath partway out of me.

”For a second there,” he said against my shoulder, ”I genuinely thought you were done for.”

”You still remember the pin code to this room?” I said, pulling back to look at him.

He stared at me like I’d grown a second head. ”That is what you’re worried about right now? Genuinely?”

Behind him, Delta stepped into view, and I blinked in surprise at finding her there at all.

”She wanted to come,” Sofiane said, catching where my eyes had landed. ”Something about swearing her loyalty to you specifically. Said if you were no longer going to be Alpha of our own pack, she’d rather serve the royal house instead of staying behind.”

”I don’t think that was necessary,” I said.

”It was, Your Majesty,” Delta said, bowing slightly.

”I’m not King yet,” I said. ”Please don’t call me that.”

Sofiane wandered further into the room, glancing around at the walls, the furniture, all of it untouched since the last time either of us had stood here as boys.

”Hasn’t changed one bit,” he said.

”Uncle clearly didn’t want her memory to fade,” I said, and then my eyes drifted to the bed, to Bonnie’s still form resting against my mother’s old pillows.

”A healer from the age of legend. Sleeping in my mother’s bed.” Sofiane let out something close to a laugh. ”If father were here, he would have revolted at the very idea.”

”Well,” I said. ”He’s not here.”

”I suppose not.”

”Why did uncle do it?” Sofiane continued, dropping into a chair near the window. ”Make you King, I mean. There’s already talk brewing about who takes over Lily of the Valley now that you’re vacating the seat. Sounds like it’s going to fall to me.”

”That’s not so bad,” I said. ”I know you can do it.”

”You put too much faith in me,” he said. ”Father certainly never did.”

”Our father was insane,” I said. ”I don’t think he’s an authority on anything worth listening to. He mostly despised you because you had the spine to push back against every rule he tried to shove down our throats.”

”I don’t want any of this either,” I added, quieter now. ”If I’m being honest. But something is clearly happening here, and I intend to find out what.”

”Cousin is shady,” Sofiane said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. ”You should have seen his face when that rogue’s bullet hit you. Pure bliss, Lysander. I mean it.”

”I’m not surprised.”

”There have been rumors,” he said. ”About how cold he was the moment his father— I mean, uncle— died. How fast he was to point fingers at that girl before anyone had even properly examined the scene. Could it be that—”

”You should know better than to believe unsightly rumors,” I said like I was any better. ”Time will reveal everything eventually.”

”You can say that all you want,” Sofiane said, ”but you should know there are also going to be rumors about you too.”

I felt his eyes drift toward the bed again, toward Bonnie.

”Why would there be rumors about me?”

”I don’t know if you remember,” he said, ”but that bullet was meant for her. Not you. And you put yourself directly between it and her anyway.”

”I was protecting her from harm.”

”At risk to yourself,” Sofiane said. ”The brother I know isn’t that selfless. Not normally. The second it happened, I knew exactly what was going on.”

I clenched my jaw, trying and failing to hide the heat rising up my neck, and Sofiane didn’t let it go for a single second.

”Was it that obvious?” I said finally.

”Not to everyone,” he said. ”But to me, it was clear as day.”

He tapped my arm lightly. ”I’m glad this one’s a real girl, at least. Not a ghost like the last one.”

”The last one wasn’t a ghost.”

”Right... Right,” he said, standing. ”Anyway. I’ll leave Delta with you. I need to head back to Lily of the Valley. Stay safe, brother. Two assassination attempts in as many days is genuinely insane.”

”I will.”

He left, and it was just Delta, me, and Bonnie’s unconscious form remaining in the room.

”You didn’t have to come,” I said.

”In new spaces,” Delta said, ”you will always need an ally. I imagine it will be difficult for you to trust most people here, especially with her by your side. And after what happened in that hall tonight, it will only get worse.”

I hated that she was right.

”Given that look,” she said, ”I assume I can stay.”

”To be frank,” I said, ”having an Omega around changes very little about the threats she’s facing.”

”I can fight,” Delta said.

”A gun is a gun at the end of the day,” I said, and sighed, looking back toward Bonnie. ”You will hardly survive a decent attempt. But having someone like you nearby will still be good. She’ll have someone. A friend. Can you offer that?”

Delta bowed. ”Of course, Alpha Lysander.”

I was glad she dropped the royal honorifics.

A knock sounded again, and I nearly cursed under my breath before I heard the voice through the wood.

”Who is it?”

”This is Alpha Bradley.”