Alpha Your Warrior Ex-Wife is Back (by Aurora Starling) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The longing to be with Leo overrode the logical part of my brain. “Yes, of course, Alpha Gideon. I will stay the night. I just have to tell Prince Ivan that I won’t be returning this evening.”

Gideon nodded and was walking out the door when I called out to him. He stopped and turned, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

“With your permission, I would like to start training Leo. I’ll start with self–defense. He should have started a long time ago, especially with the threats on his life,” I said, but honestly I was going to do it with or without his permission and I think he

knew that.

“Do what you want. Just keep him safe.” And with that, he left.

I blew out a breath and looked at Peter. “What are the chances that Ivan won’t mind me staying here?”

Peter chuckled. “Absolutely none. Good luck with that.”

I took out my phone and dialed Ivan’s number. He answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”

Goddess, he was overprotective. I ignored the warmth that pooled in my stomach. Nothing good could come out of it. ” Nothing’s wrong, worrywart. I’m just…not coming back tonight. Leo is still upset about yesterday.”

That statement was met with such a long silence that I looked at my phone to see if we got disconnected. No…we were definitely still connected. This was such a fun phone conversation.

“Raven, I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if Gideon is just trying to keep you there?

Did you even think of that?”

“I don’t think that’s the case, Ivan. I promise I’ll be careful. I’ll be safe. Plus, Peter is here. He’ll make sure nothing happens,” I said and Peter shot me a don’t–put–this–on–me look. I stuck my tongue out at him. Which he couldn’t see because of my mask. Wonderful.

Ivan let out a sigh. “I won’t force you to come back, but if anything happens, I’m pulling you out of this job. End of discussion.” And he hung up.

“That went well,” I told Peter and he just shook his head.

For the rest of the day, I stuck to Leo’s schedule. Playtime, lessons, lunch, playtime, lessons, dinner. Once dinner was over, I took him outside so that we could begin his self–defense lessons.

Although he wasn’t in the best physical condition, he took his training very seriously. He listened attentively to my every word. He wouldn’t move on to the next step until he got the current one perfectly. Underneath his fragility was a fire that burned bright.

We were going through another drill when I heard a twig snap in the woods. I trained all my senses on the trees, making sure that Leo wasn’t aware that I was now on high alert.

There was definitely abnormal movement. Predators were lurking nearby. I couldn’t tell how many, but enough to know that Leo was in danger. How the fuck had they made it past the patrol units? I was going to have to have a very serious talk with Gideon if we survived this.

I nonchalantly put myself between Leo and the trees and began herding him toward the house. We barely made it three steps before three rogues jumped out and rushed Leo all at once.

I turned and grabbed Leo, making a mad dash for the house. The rogues were right on my heels. One misstep and they would be on us in a heartbeat. I couldn’t allow them to hurt Leo. No matter what.

“Peter!” I shouted his name, but there was no answer. Where the hell was he? I swore to the goddess if he was in the bathroom,

Chapter 24

+25 BONUS

I was going to kill him.

The door was ten steps away when I tripped on rock, sending Leo flying away from me.

Shit, shit, shit. But the rogues didn’t go after him. They descended on me instead. Working purely on muscle memory, I managed to get one of my daggers free. I stabbed blindly, satisfied when I heard one of the wolves yelp.

Getting to my feet, I tried to put myself back between Leo and the rogues, sure that he was their target, but they didn’t seem to be interested in him. They actually seemed hell bent on getting my mask off, judging by their continuous attempt to attack my face. It wasn’t their normal MO.

One of the wolves suddenly got by my defenses, swiping their paw across my face and nearly succeeding in taking my mask with them. I hesitated and that was my undoing.