The Lion's Castle (The Lion Princes Book 1)

by Chase, Leslie

  He hadn't realized how much he needed to take out his frustration on someone. Not until his first punch landed and he felt the satisfying shock run up his arm. Whoever was sending these men, whether they were after him or after his mate, Roman knew one thing: he needed to beat them. To let out his anger at someone threatening his mate.

  If the other killers had been willing to shoot their allies, they'd have been able to take out Roman then and there. But he was willing to gamble that they wouldn't do that — few men could shoot their comrades in cold blood. As the first fell, he grabbed the second by the neck and spun, using him as a shield. With his free hand, he chopped down hard on the man's wrist and sent his pistol flying.

  Over his captive's shoulder, he could see the other men spreading out, guns at the ready and looking for a clear shot. Behind him, the man he'd decked groaned, not all the way unconscious, not completely out of the fight. No time to do anything clever, Roman thought.

  Lifting his prisoner by the throat, he charged forward giving the men no chance to take a shot. One leaped aside, trying to get an angle to hit him in the side as he barreled into the other two, roaring his defiance and wielding the man he held as a bludgeon against them.

  A shot rang out and Roman felt an impact tug at his shoulder, followed by burning pain. His lion roared inside him, wanting to come out, to rip and tear at these men who dared to challenge him, but Roman resisted the change. Everything seemed to slow around him as he turned to face the shooter, watching as the man struggled to bring his pistol back on target. You only get one shot, Roman thought. Lifting his captive, he threw him at the gunman, sending both of them tumbling to the floor.

  The gun fired again, but Roman was no longer paying attention. Wherever the bullet went, it wasn't into him.

  The other two were still close enough that they couldn't bring their guns to bear on him, not fast enough as he unleashed a blindingly fast series of punches. Bones snapped under his attack as he drove his fists into their ribs, their faces, driving them down to the floor and out of the fight before their friend could pull himself out from under the body he was trapped by.

  Another shot rang out and Roman felt the bullet whip past his head, missing by inches. His head snapped around to the two women; Anna's opponent knelt astride her, struggling to keep her aim straight while Anna desperately clung to her arms. If Anna hadn't pulled that shot wide, Roman realized, he'd be dead right now.

  Crossing the bar in two quick strides, he slapped the pistol from the woman's hand and growled. People usually backed down from that, the predator's anger enough to make the toughest men fear for their lives. He was surprised by the woman's reaction — she met his gaze and glared back, baring her teeth as though she was about to challenge him. There was fear in her eyes, yes, but it was eclipsed by a cold anger.

  But without her gun, she wasn't a threat. Not to a lion shifter who could snap her like a twig. Grabbing her, Roman lifted her off Anna and flung her across the room, ignoring the punch she landed on his torso as she went. Turning to roar at the room, he looked at the chaos he'd left behind him. One of the gunmen was pulling himself to his feet, but the rest were scattered across the floor. Some moaned in pain, others lay senseless, and the lone man looked as though he was fighting off an urge to flee.

  Outside, Roman's keen hearing picked up car doors slamming and feet hitting the sidewalk. For a moment, he thought his security team had caught up to him, but there were too many of them. Far too many. Whoever set this ambush did it in a hurry, he thought, glancing back at the door. If they'd all been ready for me, this would have gone much worse. As it was, he could feel the blood running down his back from the one shot that had landed, and the aching pain told him that his right arm wasn't going to be much use for long. Adrenaline would only carry him so far.

  "Get the monster," a man outside shouted, his voice ragged with rage and hate. "Fire!"

  There was a moment's hesitation, just enough time for Roman to grab Anna and dive to the floor, covering her with his body. Then chaos erupted around them. Whoever was outside didn't give a damn about casualties: rather than risking coming inside to face him, they simply opened up on the whole bar, bullets tearing through it. Glass shattered, wood splintered, and lead ripped through the air.

  The one standing gunman had frozen for a second, and that was a second too long. Bullets slammed into him, sending him tumbling to the floor in a welter of blood and screams. The woman Anna had been wrestling with was smarter, keeping her head down and crawling for the exit.

  "You have to go!" Anna shouted above the gunfire. "Please Roman, just get out of here, I'll be fine!"

  "I'm not going anywhere without you," he growled back, eyes looking around the room for an escape route. Out the back was the only option; he'd have to hope that the assassins hadn't had time to set someone up out there. And they'd only have one chance, if they were lucky. If they were unlucky, they'd have no chance at all.

  "Hang on tight," he told Anna. "Hold onto me and don't let go."

  The attackers had no discipline, that was something in his favor. They poured their fire into the bar indiscriminately, and none of them held back. Their guns fell silent as they all ran out of ammo together, and he could hear them cursing as they reloaded. One chance. Here we go.

  Anna gripped his shoulders, and he grinned, adrenaline pumping through him. This would be a new experience for both of them.

  Shifting, he heard Anna squeak in surprise, her fingers clinging to his mane. She held on tight, and he bounded across the bullet riddled bar as fast as a charging lion could move, carrying her to what he hoped was safety.

  15

  Anna clung to the running lion for dear life, fighting down a scream as he leaped the bar and slammed through the doors into the back. She heard curses behind them, but only one shot rang after them and that went wide.

  Was that father shooting? she asked herself, heart sinking. She couldn't look back but deep down she knew it was him. It had been his voice ordering the men outside to open fire on the bar despite both his daughters being inside. The mission came first for him, she'd always known that, but to think that he'd just write off both Victoria and her so easily... she wasn't used to thinking of him as quite that callous.

  She didn't have time to worry about it, though. Not when she was clinging to a lion's back, being pulled through a kitchen at speed, fleeing towards an unknown fate.

  Feeling blood on Roman's fur she realized for the first time that he was hurt. It didn't seem to be slowing him down, but it still made her sick to her stomach to see her man wounded. Before she could worry about it, though, they were bursting out the back of the building and into an alleyway behind the bar.

  It wasn't empty, they weren't that lucky. But the men waiting for them had only just arrived, and they were still getting out of their car as the lion burst out of the bar. They had no chance to get ready for a fight, if anyone could really be ready to face Roman in his rage. Anna let go, tumbling to the ground as he pounced onto the two men. One swipe of a mighty paw opened a man's throat, and the spray of blood bathed the alleyway in crimson.

  The other man had time to draw his gun but before he got a shot off the lion's jaws closed on his arm. With a crunch of broken bone, Roman snapped his mouth shut, and the man crumpled to the ground screaming. Only then did Roman slump against the car, favoring his wounded leg.

  We can't wait here, more of them will arrive any second. Anna pulled herself to her feet, willing down the haze of fear that threatened to paralyze her. Not now. I can panic later. If there is a later.

  Hurrying to the lion's side, she pulled open the car door. For a moment she looked away, and in that moment there was a strange sound, a twisting weirdness. When she looked back, Roman was human again, gray-faced and bloody, his right arm hanging limp.

  "Get in," she told him, pulling herself into the driver's seat. Her voice trembled and she had to concentrate to keep her hands steady, but Roman clearly wasn't in any state to dri
ve. He barely managed to pull himself into the passenger seat before collapsing, muttering curses under his breath.

  "I thought you lions were meant to be tough," she whispered as she threw the car into gear and pulled away, hoping they wouldn't be seen. She didn't think her father would risk a car chase through the city, but she wouldn't have thought he'd shoot up a bar like that either. Today was a day for unwelcome revelations. If he thinks this is his one and only chance, maybe he'll risk anything. He's been waiting his whole life for a chance at the lions.

  Whether he'd have risked it or not, no one seemed to notice the car pulling away, and she managed to relax a little. Beside her she saw Roman struggling to open his eyes, his left hand going up to his shoulder. He winced, cursing again, and looked at his bloody fingertips.

  "Silver," he muttered. She didn't know if it was an answer to her comment or if he was speaking to himself. "And then I ran on it. Not smart."

  "No, it wasn't." She felt anger boiling up inside her, anger at him, at herself, at her family. At fate itself, for putting her in this position. At least it overrode the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. "Why didn't you just get out of there and save yourself?"

  His eyes opened further, and he managed to smile. Anna forced herself to focus on the road rather than looking at him, but she felt the power of his attention on her anyway.

  "And leave you in their hands? No way," he said, sounding a little stronger. The blood was flowing slower now, she noticed. Even this wound wasn't enough to keep him down for long. "I came to rescue you from trouble, and I wasn't going to give up just because it wasn't safe."

  "You could have died, you asshole!" Anna glowered at the road ahead, the reality of the situation threatening to crash in on her. She held it back by force of will. "Six on one, damn it, why didn't you just run?"

  "Six on two," he corrected, and the tender pride in his voice made her shiver. "I couldn't have done it without you, Anna. You saved me too."

  That touched something deep inside her, and she found herself biting her lip as she glanced aside, catching his eyes in the mirror. He smiled, and the look in his eyes... she saw the energy in them, the love and the desire. Matching feelings flared up inside her, and she had to look away, trying to focus on the road, to think of what to do next.

  But living through a gunfight had left her body all too aware that she was alive, and she couldn't quite keep her mind off the gorgeous naked man beside her in the car. Is this what surviving feels like? Because I kind of like it. Everything seemed more vivid, more real, after the fight.

  She'd realized that she'd been driving randomly, just heading away from the center of the city without a plan of where to go next, but now she started to look for somewhere to stop. She was shaking with relief and with shock, and she needed to rest. And look after Roman, too. For all that he was looking stronger every time she glanced at him, he clearly wasn't well.

  The castle? She shook her head. That's too far, I don't know the way well enough, and it's obvious. If father's looking for us, that's where he'll be expecting us to go and he probably already has people watching the road. But where else can I take Roman?

  The hospital had the same problems as the castle, and in any case wouldn't be a safe place for Roman even if they got there in one piece. Not knowing how many men her father might have left at his command, Anna didn't want to trust that the hospital would be up to keeping them out — not when her father was forgetting about subtlety entirely.

  "Turn left here," Roman said just as she was on the verge of giving up. His voice was weaker than usual but still strong enough to command. Anna let herself relax a little as she followed his lead. As long as one of them had a plan, things weren't so bad.

  "Where are we going?" she asked. She didn't know the city well, but she knew that they were headed away from the castle now.

  "I think I remember a place we can stop and rest," he said. "I was a kid the last time I was there, but it should still be okay. Royal property."

  Following his directions took them out of the city by a narrow mountain road. Leotania was a country of mountains, barely enough flat land for the city and the farms around it, and the beautiful scenery surrounding them would have been enough to distract her at any other time. Now, with her mate injured beside her, she just wanted to be somewhere safe.

  It took an hour to reach their destination, a small lake with a little house beside it. The road was marked 'no access' but they approached anyway, and Anna parked in front of the building, looking around.

  "What is this place?"

  Roman didn't answer right away. He was staring around, mouth tight and eyes narrow. Getting out of the car, he looked at the lake and shook his head.

  "This is — was — the summer retreat my parents liked to take us to each year," he finally said, as Anna joined him. "Back before we left the country."

  Before his parents were killed. Anna put her arms around him, careful to avoid his wound, and hugged him tight. He was stiff in her arms for a moment, and then with a great sigh let go of the tension. "I checked with Sophie, and the place hasn't been used since — since that night. My brothers and I were out of the country to keep us safe, and grandfather never could face coming back here."

  "Do you think—" Anna broke off, swallowing nervously, then forced herself to continue the thought. "Do you think that you maybe shouldn't have come back?"

  "No." Roman's good arm wrapped around her shoulders, and he squeezed her to him. "Not for a second. Firstly, I'm not about to let these bastards win. They took my family from me, and I'm not going to let them get away with that.”

  "Secondly, if I hadn't come back, we wouldn't have met. And that would be a worse fate than anything they can do to me. My only worry is that they might hurt you, and I won't let that happen. Trust me."

  Anna shivered, clinging to him. Her heart felt like ice in her chest, cold and painful. She didn't know what to feel, what to think, or what to do. He's still thinking about protecting me when he's the one at risk, she thought. How can I deal with that? I can't just leave him in the dark.

  Together they stared out over the mirror-smooth surface of the lake, holding each other. A chill breeze blew down across them, and Anna shivered, suddenly acutely aware that Roman was naked in the cold air. Not that he seemed to mind, but she couldn't help worrying about him. And besides, it was hard to think clearly when she was near his naked body.

  "We should get you inside," she said, and he nodded.

  "Let's see if the window latch is still broken," he said. Grinning at some happy memory, he led her around the chalet. "I used to let myself in and out all the time."

  * * *

  Roman found that getting inside was a lot harder as a full-grown adult than it had been as a boy. For a start, the window he'd used was a lot smaller he remembered it, and narrower. For another, having both arms to pull himself up with had helped.

  But the latch was just as loose as he remembered, and on the third try, he managed to haul himself inside the chalet. Falling to the floor with a painful thump, he picked himself up quickly, waving back at Anna to show he was alright.

  She watched him through the window, looking worried. She'd looked worried since they left the city and he could hardly blame her. She never signed up for a life of being hunted by gun-toting maniacs, he thought as he made his way around to the front door and opened it to let her in. It's a wonder she's handling it this well.

  Not that I ever signed up for that, either. The danger of assassins had never been far from his mind his whole life, ever since he and his brothers had been sent from the country for their own safety. Ever since the terrible night when their parents were killed.

  He pushed the thoughts aside like he did every time they surfaced. Wrestling with them was harder than usual, though. Maybe it was because of the attack, or maybe it was because he was back where it had happened.

  The chalet looked just like he'd remembered it. He'd half expected to find a dilapidated rui
n, or perhaps somewhere that the local teenagers had adopted as their own. But even unused, it was royal property, and someone had been coming out to maintain it. Leading Anna through to the living room, he fished out a blanket from under the sofa and wrapped it around himself, sitting down hard.

  The loss of blood and the stress of the fight had taken more out of him than he liked to admit, he realized. Now that the pressure was off, the world seemed to swim around him.

  "Is there a first aid kit here?" Anna asked, concern in her eyes as she watched him.

  "In the kitchen," he said, and then shook his head. "Maybe. There was when I was last here, but..."

  "I'll go check."

  Roman let his eyes drift shut, listening to her move through the building and smiling softly to himself. She was some catch. Most people wouldn't be able to handle this kind of thing at all, but there she was, getting on with it despite how scared she was. Fate couldn't have chosen someone better for me, he thought with a smile.

  It didn't take her long to return, sitting down next to him and unfolding the blanket from around his shoulder. Roman winced as it pulled at the drying blood on his wound, and opened his eyes.

  "I found the kit," she said, frowning in concentration. "It's a new one, too."

  That would be Sophie, he thought. He'd asked about the place and she'd have made sure that it was ready in case he decided to visit. I'll have to remember to thank her later, he mused. There's no way she could have known how much help this would be.

  With quick, efficient movements, Anna got to work on him. He could see that she wasn't comfortable doing it, but she wasn't letting that stop her. Somewhere, she'd picked up enough first aid training to know what to do and she got on with it without letting her discomfort get in the way. He winced as Anna wiped his wound clean, the antiseptic stinging enough to make him hiss in pain. Anna managed a chuckle at that and he glared at her, half-annoyed and half-amused.