His Selected Mate

Chapter 18

A loud alarm woke me from my sleep and I bolted upright in bed, completely forgetting that Maxon was next to me. He too woke up startled and a little dazed before recognition took over his face. He got out of bed and started getting dressed quickly. "Put something on America," he rushed out. "Hurry!"

I didn't know what was happening so I voiced my confusion to him. "The rebels," he started, "they're here in the palace. That's the alarm that the guards sound when they've made it past the gate." I could feel my heart beat faster. Rebels. I moved to grab my robe and put it on and made my way to my door where Maxon was waiting. Grabbing my hand, he led me down the hall where I could hear yelling and footsteps all around me. It was disorienting and Tempest had yet to say anything. "Come on America, we have to get to the safe room." I picked up my pace and started a light jog in order to keep up with Maxon. As we rounded a corner three rebels were running towards us but it was too late to go back. They had spotted us.

All three were covered in dirt and blood was staining their hands and faces, they looked feral and they smelled like a pigsty. I felt myself freeze in place, the color draining from my face. My mouth had gone dry and my stomach was twisted in knots. Maxon moved himself in between the rebels and I as one of them smiled sinisterly. "Look at who we have here boys. The crown prince himself and his little whore," said the first one. They laughed and started pulling out knives. I didn't know what to do. All coherent thoughts had left my mind and I was panicking. I didn't know what to do. One fight with Celeste didn't suddenly make me expert in combat and I didn't even fight her, Tempest did.

Tempest, I need help. She didn't respond. I could feel myself start to sweat a little. Tempest? I asked again. Why wasn't she responding? If ever there was a time for her, it was now.

"Maybe we should tie him up and make him watch while we play with her," said the second. I was disgusted and I could feel Maxon's anger but he had started slowly walking backwards as they advanced on us. "What do you say honey, want to know what a real man's like?" Something in me had snapped as he spoke to me. How dare this human threaten both me and my mate? How dare he taunt me? My mouth was moving before I could stop myself. "Men? What men? All I see here are dirty little rats." The grins on their faces were immediately replaced with scowls as they got closer.

"Listen you little bitch," growled the first one, but before he could say anything else Maxon punched him. The other two immediately reacted and grabbed him and tackled him to the floor. The leader wiped the blood that had come from his nose and looked at me, his smile returning. "Now, where were we." He advanced on me and finally I snapped out of it. I smiled my own smile at him which threw him off. I ran at him full speed and used my werewolf strength to ram my shoulder into his chest. I knocked the wind out of him and moved to go help Maxon.

A pair of arms grabbed me from behind. Shit. I had underestimated how long it would take for him to recover. "Nice try, but it's going to take a lot more than that," he said like it was nothing, although I could hear his uneven breathing. I had hurt him. One hand unlatched from my body and grabbed my waist and squeezed. It took everything in me not to gag in disgust. My mind was whirling a mile a minute. I needed to figure out a way to deal with this without full blown shifting. It would be a last resort. I smiled to myself as I figured out what I was going to do.

While his hand was moving towards my hip slowly, I spoke up. "You have no idea who you're messing with," I said quietly. "Hmm, what was that dear? I couldn't quite hear you." He said emphasizing hear by firmly grabbing my hip. I looked down to Maxon who was staring at me wide eyed and scared. I was taken aback. He was scared? For me? Another time I would have fawned over this revelation but I needed to act fast. I focused on my nails and canines and forced them to elongate.