His Prowl

Part 24

Chapter 24

Sydney glanced away from the smile he held on his lips.  How could he do this?  She had a feeling that it was because of her.  He had forsaken his pride to follow her around for a little while.  What happened when Jones was fully healed?  What happened when she left them, and Isaac stayed there?  Would she be able to cope with him gone?  Sure, she had known that she would eventually have to give up hope of being mated to him, but she thought that she would have more time to deal with it.  Now, he threw this in her face, let her know that their time was limited.  How could he do this?

“Sydney,” Alexandria called out causing her to snap her head towards the Leopard Queen.  All signs that the woman had been crying were gone and in its place was an immaculate face that Sydney had come to be weary of.  When Ally was around, things happened.  There was no quiet when she was near, and that frightened Sydney.

“Yes?”

Ally turned towards Zeke, nodded, and then turned back towards Sydney.  “Zeke will tell you the rules.  They are quite simple, but now that you are part of my guard, you will have more responsibilities.  Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” she replied with confidence.  Even though the situation was not the best, this would be good for her.  This would teach her what it was like to be in the background and not part of the attention.

“Good,” Ally said with a nod.  “Now, I know you are part of the lion’s and I don’t really have any power over you, but you will listen to me, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Sydney answered again.  She looked over at Jones lying on the ground still with a smile.

He must have felt her gaze because he turned towards her.  “Don’t always listen to her.  For example, when she says to get away before she stabs you in the arm, what she really means is that she’s having mood swings, stay near.”

“That is not true,” Ally mumbled with a glare towards Jones.

“And you weren’t crying just now either?”

Her glare became fiercer.  “No, and no one will say anything about what didn’t happen.  Understand?”

They all nodded with smiles on their face while Sydney just shook her head.  Leo never would have let them get away with picking on him as Ally was letting her guard pick on her.  To Leo, guards were meant to be unseen and unheard.  Anything else was unacceptable.  Sydney had to admit; she liked this more than what her brother enforced.  When she returned home, she would tell Leo, and hopefully, the man would change his ways from the way he was taught by their father.

“Ally,” Isaac blurted, “what do you want me to do?”

Ally looked at him with a confused expression.  “Whatever it was that you were doing before I came.”

“You have no,” Isaac waved his arm around as if he were searching for the right word, “orders.”

“None,” she replied.  Taking a step away, she halted before turning back towards Isaac.  “You want to come with me when I leave here?  Or do you want to stay here?”

“Go.”

She nodded.  “Good, I didn’t want to separate the two of you anyway.”

With those words, she grabbed Seb’s arm and left the clearing, leaving them all staring at each other awkwardly.  It seemed now that the queen had left, they didn’t know what to do.  Were they that reliant on their leaders?  Sydney shrugged.  If they were, it seemed that Ally was trying to teach them how to react on their own.

“Okay everyone, stop staring at the ground.  Spit it out.”

“She needs to be more careful,” one man called out.  Some around him nodded and mumbled in agreement.  There were only five leopards that were unfamiliar to her, and now that they began talking, she realized that it was not awkwardness that was in the air.  They were just waiting for Zeke to begin their little meeting.

“It is our job to make sure that she is safe, Ned.  If she wishes to be reckless, we just need to be there to keep her unharmed.”

“Wait,” Zeke said in his quiet voice that carried to all of their ears.  The shifters immediately stopped what they were doing and looked towards him.  “Introduce yourself to Sydney.  She’s new, and knowing your names will make her a little more comfortable.”

She glared at Zeke, knowing that he had read her mind.  At least if she knew the men’s names she would feel a little more welcomed.

The man who had spoken first took a step towards her.  A blank expression was on his face, but his eyes were what frightened her.  Looking into them, she knew that he would kill her without second thought.  He didn’t trust her, and it would take a lot for him to let her anywhere near his queen.  “I’m Ned.”

He stepped back and another stepped forward.  He was the one who had told Ned that Ally could do what she wished.  The man was small, only a few inches taller than she was.  This, for a shifter, was short.  He wasn’t as muscular as the others either, but the long sword across his back let her know that he wasn’t one to mess with.  “I’m Adam.”

Two men stepped forward with smiles on their face.  She smiled back at the two, but as soon as she did they dropped their amused expressions.  The one on the left pointed towards the other.  “This is my brother, Andrew.  He doesn’t talk.  I’m Anthony.”

The last man looked at her, his eyes scanned in a way a doctors would.  “My name is Barron.  Do not let them fool you.  They are all deadly.”

“Not as deadly as you,” Zeke mumbled before gesturing towards the five men.  “Those are the guards.  I am head of them as enforcer, and Jones is over them. Any questions?”

She glanced at them before settling her eyes on Isaac.  She had questions, but none of these intimidating men could answer them for her.