Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 621: Threat To The Princess

Hannah sprinted across the open courtyard and ducked behind the stone deck beneath a lion statue, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of her chest.

She crouched low, gasping for air, eyes roving around in fear.

Coming here was a mistake.

She had tried to infiltrate the palace to find Violet, but it was impossible. The place was massive with endless halls, twisting corridors, and strange turns that led her nowhere. The eerie part was that there were barely any guards. Not even one. No palace this grand could ever be this unprotected. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

And she was too exposed.

Hannah pulled out her compact mirror and whispered, "Soror vocat te."

But nothing happened. The surface stayed smooth and still, only her pale reflection staring back.

Her pulse quickened, and she checked the back of the mirror to be sure it was the right one. It was. So why wasn’t it responding?

Come to think of it, she hasn’t felt the hot itch beneath her skin. It was unlike Hannah not to have contacted her for this while. It couldn’t be.....

The blood drained from Hannah’s face, not just because it dawned on her that by crossing the Fae realm, the magic in this place must have canceled out Ziva’s powers, but because the statue of the lion was staring at her.

Cold sweat broke down her spine. She could have sworn it was facing forward when she arrived. Maybe her mind was playing tricks. Maybe....

The lion’s eyes glowed red.

At first, she thought it was a ruby catching the light, but when that glow blinked with awareness, Hannah’s stomach twisted.

hissed, spinning on her

mane gleamed white and spectral, and with a thunderous growl, the once-still lion came to life and

under the thunderous steps of the

yelled between ragged breaths, sprinting through the clear path. The creature’s growl rolled through the

this was how things would turn out, she would have never

Ziva had given her. Her only chance now was to turn invisible. So she pressed it, and urgently whispered the charm under her breath. And

The lion kept coming.

against her, a thick vine shot up and wrapped around her ankle, tripping her flat. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, and before she could scramble

squeezed her eyes shut, bracing

so powerful it rattled her bones and her whole body

said a

voice gave Hannah the courage to crack one eye open, terrified of what she might see.

saw her, the young Fae called

lived long lives and wore youth like a disguise. Still, she recognized Violet’s old roommate from the human realm, the same one who’d opened the portal that

eye. "You didn’t actually think a human, or rather, a hybrid, would pass through our gates unnoticed, did you?" She eyed Hannah from head

sighed in resignation. She was

flinch, and she turned just in time to see the lion vanish, and was replaced by possibly the most striking man

that spilled past his shoulders all the way down to his waist. How could

wasn’t exactly a

her gaze moved to his pointed ears,

their own shifters too, and this one was sinfully handsome, even though his icy blue eyes raked over her

was tall, lean, all smooth strength and sculpted muscle.