Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
JACE
I enter the throne room, announcing, “Vivian knows.”
“You think?” Grant tosses a red gummy bear in the air, catching it with a chomp.
But Nash gives me a rare smile. “Happy for ya, man.” He knows how much I’ve wanted her.
“Think it was her ex following you?” Sire scratches at a stain on his tie. Looks like a baby’s spit-up.
“No.” I pluck out my phone. “I got a group text with Delphine and Ruby. Ruby tailed her ex to some laser tag place today; he and his boys like to play with pretend guns. And now Delphine’s watching him freeze his bird brain at a smoothie bar.”
“So it was Sheremetev or Satan.” Sire glances up, asking me, “What’s your gut tell you?”
I take two breaths. Fuck, what a day. I mentally search through it, focusing on that dark SUV with tinted windows.
“Satan,” my instinct speaks. “It was Ruslan. Not Sheremetev.”
“Axel’s setting up the meeting with him, right?” Nash confirms. “So why is Ruslan following you?”
I glance around the room. There are sixteen thrones, but only four are full tonight. “Where’s Axel? And Nick? And Loch?”
Sire huffs knowingly. “Two have babies, and one has a bride. You’ll see. They’re why you bust your ass to go home every night.”
“So why are you here?” Grant asks what we’re wondering.
Sire grins. “Because Wren is with Bluebell at Mom’s and letting Sasha teach her how to knit a polushalok, and that’s too much estrogen for my dick. If I spent the night with them, I’d never see it again.”
Nash laughs. “What’s a plushlock?”
“A polushalok,” Grant corrects him. “It’s a Russian traditional shawl and a dick killer for sure.”
I huff. Frustrated. Exhausted. Focused on Vivian. “Can we move on?”
Grant mutters, “Speaking of pussy whipped.”
“It’s all locked down.” Nash senses my urgency. “Extra guards are everywhere. Here. The club. The homes. We’re good.”
“So you’re staying here with Vivian tonight?” Sire can’t fight his knowing smile. “You know, to keep her safe and all?”
“I’m sure as shit not letting her go back to her home where the scumbag is a threat,” I reason. “And if I’m being tailed, I’m not going to my hideout with her. This place is a fortress. We’ll stay the night.”
I turn to Grant. “You got the cameras on her house hacked yet?”
“On it.” He gets serious. “Started recording twenty-four hours of dummy footage last night, starting with her, opening the gate. It’ll be ready and loaded up by tomorrow morning. Then, you’re free to enter undetected.” He grins. “Pussy pun intended.”
I flip him off and turn to Sire, the source of wisdom. He’s the eldest. He remembers our father’s evil nature the most. “Why would Ruslan be following me?”
Sire casts his stare to the ceiling, pondering aloud. “Well, he came after me because I’m the firstborn, and he wanted me to find Sasha, and he wanted my kidney. My guess is,” he lowers his stare, aiming it at me, “now he wants yours.”
“Mine?”
Sire shrugs. “You’re the biggest, the strongest. You’re his last chance of survival.”
“And Loch isn’t his son.” Grant adds. “Remember that whole heteropaternal super whatever? How Mom got pregnant with Loch, Maxim’s son, and with Sasha, Ruslan’s daughter, at almost the same time? That’s how they’re twins.”
I shake my head. Biology blows my mind.
I just know Ruslan violated my mom in the worst way, repeatedly, then he took the one saving grace from her: her child, her daughter.
The years that Mom’s missed with Sasha: it kills her, and that kills me.
That’s why I’m gonna fucking kill him.
I wasn’t kidding with Vivian. Humbly, I’m the cutest. Honestly, I’m the sweetest. Because horrifically, I’m the most violent.
Being locked in a trunk did something to me.
It made me a fighter. I’m hypervigilant, and when I get angry, I go dark. I can’t see anything but death. Anything but killing to survive.
“If that’s the case.” I cock an eyebrow, reasoning, “Ruslan won’t hurt me; he needs me.”
“Careful.” Sire mirrors my logic. “If he needs you, he may take someone you need to make sure he gets you.”
“Pft. Yep, Vivian’s never leaving your side,” Grant decrees. “So you’ll be hiding out at her place?”
My gut twists, fighting my heart. “Maybe I should secure her somewhere, put guards on her, and leave her be. Now I’m a risk to her, and—”
“No!” Nash barks. “Our queens are safest with us. And that’s who Vivian will be, your queen. A king and queen are stronger together, not separated. Trust me.”
I do trust him.
I know how Nash learned that hard lesson with Vale. How Axel followed Ruby. How Sire rescued Wren. How Loch fought for Alena. How Grant won Delphine. How Nick came out for Zar. How Maxim died for our mom.
A king never abandons his queen.