Chapter 9
Silas
Poor Simon never returned from his trip to the bathroom. I told the Kings leaders I saw him storming down the hallway but I didn’t know where he went. No one went out searching for him yet.
I sit back in my seat at the dinner table, listening to some girl chatter next to me. I don’t pay her any attention as my eyes stay on Angel’s. She looks everywhere but at me. I know what she saw frightened her but she has to know what I’d do for her, the lengths I’d go to protect her.
“She’ll be fine,” Rylan leans in and assures me. I nod my head. I know she will be.
“I know. I’ll make sure of it,” I tell him, causing him to laugh. The leaders excuse us and tell us to mingle in the main room and that’s just what I do. We stand and head out there, but before Angel can get too far away from me, I grab her wrist and pull her against me. Her body slams into mine, and she huffs out a breath of air before looking up at me. She doesn’t know what to say, so we say nothing. Instead, I start to dance with her.
And we dance in silence as she holds on tightly to me.
“You’re scared of me now,” I say, noting the way she’s holding on. Like she doesn’t know if she should let go for fear of me hurting her.
“You made someone kill themselves, Silas.”
“He was going to hurt you,” I tell her.
“How do you know that?”
“I know Simon. He’s a lot like his dad once was. His form of keeping a woman in line is abuse and rape.” A chill runs through her as I smirk. She didn’t know that little fact, and I didn’t either until Rylan informed me when I saw her get up and leave the table with him.
“So, I should thank you?” she asks, her tone a little pissed off.
“With my cock in your mouth. That’s how you can thank me,” I tell her. She looks up at me and bites her bottom lip.
“Do you really think he would have hurt me?” I nod my head.
“I have little doubt about that, Angel. I would have killed him regardless if that’s what you’re getting at,” I admit.
“Why?” she asks, narrowing her eyes.
“He touched you. You’re not his to touch.”
“Don’t you think you’re going a little overboard with this whole touch her and die vibe you have going on?” she snaps at me. Now, I chuckle and shake my head.
“You want me to back off? Is that what you’re getting at?”
“Back off?” she asks, confused.
“Back off you, Angel. You want me to back off?” She doesn’t know how to answer that. She chews on her bottom lip as if she doesn’t know what to say now. She can’t actually think I’m going to walk away from her that easily, can she? Or maybe she does. Hell, even if she says she wants me to stay away from her, I’m not going to.
Instead of answering me, she rests her head on my chest. I keep her pressed against me because she knows that whatever this is between us is something neither of us can get away from, which brings me to my next issue. How am I going to get the leaders to let me have her? That scenario has played out in my mind in many different ways, from bribing them to killing them all, which wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. But for now, I keep Angel pressed tightly against me, holding her while she’ll allow me to.
The leaders announce it’s time to switch partners, but there’s no way I’m letting go of her after what she saw me do. She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her. I keep her tucked close until Ry comes and nods at her. I let him take her as he gives me Tamsyn. He knows I wouldn’t touch her, and I know he won’t touch Angel.
“You scared the shit out of my best friend,” Tamsyn says as we move around the floor.
“How do you know it was me?”
“Because you’re a lot like Ry, Silas. I don’t know if you two realize just how alike you are,” she answers softly.
“Is that a bad thing?” She pulls back to look up at me and shakes her head.
“Not for me, it isn’t, but she isn’t like me.”
“And how are you, Tamsyn?” I smile down at her.
“You know all about me and Ry. Don’t act like you don’t.”
“And you think Angel can’t handle it? She handles me just fine,” I tell her. Her mouth falls open, but she quickly snaps it shut. Maybe she doesn’t know just how much Angel likes what I do to her. Maybe Angel hasn’t told her that much.
“Just be careful with her. She’s my only friend,” she says.
“I’m your friend too, Tamsyn.”
“You know what I mean.” I know exactly what she means. Out of every fucking girl around, Angel is her person. I’ve never seen Tamsyn hang around with any of the other girls before. Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen Angel either.
“I’m not going to hurt her. At least not in any way she won’t like,” I chuckle. Tamsyn slaps at me when it’s time to change again. Rylan brings Angel back to me and snatches Tamsyn out of my arms. With Angel back where she belongs, I feel like I can breathe again.
“Your friend threatened me.”
“What? Tamsyn?”
“Don’t act so surprised. You know how she is,” I tell her.
“I love her. There’s no doubt about that. What did she say?”
“Not to hurt you. Which is funny because you fucking love it when I make it hurt.” Her cheeks blush, and I find I like that look on her.
When the music is over, I leave Angel with the guys and Tamsyn as I go on a hunt. I find Matt outside on one of the balconies, thanking God he can’t see the one further down with Simon hanging off it.
“Silas. How is your night going?”
“I have a question, and I want a straight answer.”
“Okay. Ask,” he instructs, turning to give me all his attention.
“I want Angel. And before you tell me the leaders get to choose, I already know that, and I don’t fucking care. I want her.”
“I see. You know we have rules here, Silas.”
“And rules are meant to be broken, Matt. Name the fucking price. I don’t care what it is; I’ll do it.” That seems to interest him a little more than I thought it would. I figured he’d tell me to fuck off and get out of his sight, but he hasn’t done that yet.
“You love her?” I snort a laugh.
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
“I understand, Silas,” he says, looking around me to be sure no one else is listening. “I’ll speak to the other leaders.” I shake my head. That isn’t good enough. I need to know no other man is going to put his hands on what belongs to me.
“No. I’m asking you. Not them. We all have a price, right Matt?” I know there’s something he wants he can’t get himself. There’s always a fucking price. Matt clears his throat and glances around once more before stepping closer to me.
“What you’re asking me to do goes against our rules, Silas.”
“I know that, and I’m asking anyway.”
“Do you understand you would have to keep this secret from everyone? Including Rylan?” He knows the three of us are best friends, and we don’t keep shit from each other, but this? I will fucking keep this secret.
“Ry, Levi, and I have been raised in this society, Matt. We’ve grown up in this, and we’ve learned a long time ago how to keep our mouths shut. Rylan is my best friend, but what I’m asking you goes far beyond friendship. It’s more, so much fucking more.” He must understand me because he nods his head.
“The mayor.”
“What about him?”
“He knows about the society. How he found out is beyond me. We are tightlipped when it comes to the Kings and the Gods, and yet something was leaked to him. I want to know who, and I want them both taken care of,” he says. I reach up and scrub my hand over my face. Fuck. Getting close to the mayor without Ry and Levi’s help is going to be a bitch. “Those are my terms.”
“And you’ll make sure she’s mine at the ceremony?” I ask him.
“I will give you my word.” Coming from Matt, that means a lot. I know this isn’t how things work here but then things are never what they seem in the Kings. I reach out my hand and Matt takes it in his.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Very well. Then you have a deal, Silas.” He pulls his hand away and walks past me as I gaze out at the night sky. I don’t know what the fuck makes me do the things I do and especially for Angel. She belongs to me, and she has since the first time I laid eyes on her.
Taking a long, deep breath, I walk back inside to find the guys. When I do they’re drinking more than they should be.
“You ready to get the fuck out of here?” I ask them. Ry eyes me funnily before he nods his hand and grabs Tamsyn. Levi’s the first to walk away, having had enough of this shit to begin with, and me? I nod toward Angel so she will follow along. At first, she seems hesitant, but then she comes.
We walk out the front door and down the stairs before waiting on a valet to bring the damn car around.
“Did we all have a killer good time?” Levi asks, smirking over his shoulder at us. Rylan and I laugh, but the girls don’t. In fact, Angel scoots away from me slightly. I let her have her space for now because that isn’t going to last too much longer.
When the car is pulled up, as we all pile in, Tamsyn says she’s hungry.
“We just ate,” I remind her.
“We didn’t just eat. We picked at it. Everyone fucking picked at it. No one wanted to eat that shit,” she adds. She isn’t wrong.
“True. I didn’t eat shit,” Levi says as he pulls out.
“So let’s go get something to eat.” Levi pulls out and takes a left, heading toward town while I scroll through things on my phone. I need to get someone close to the mayor I can use. I need to know his schedule and when he’ll be home alone.
I notice Angel watching from next to me and click everything off before pulling up my social media accounts. Pictures of girls pop up, and she huffs next to me. I close the app and slide the phone into my pocket before reaching for her and pulling her into my side.
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Angel.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Lies don’t sound sweet coming from those lips either,” I warn her.