Chapter 14
Malachai
“We called you here to see if you were still alive. Kidnapping a wife like yours could have deadly consequences,” Kael chuckled.
I did what was necessary. I couldn’t have her taking off again. I didn’t want to play tag anymore.
“Necessary is a strong word for a chemical kidnapping,” Priest muttered, though there was a dark glint of approval in his eyes.
He was just angry his wife and kid were staying with her sister and Raziel after she caught him in one of his many lies he told to keep her.
I don’t understand why he did it. The truth is easier—especially for men like us who have the power to change the laws of gravity just by speaking.
He leaned back, his frame dwarfing the velvet armchair.
Kael gave him a look. “You aren’t exactly known for your ‘asking permission’ skills.
“If I ever kidnapped my wife, I wouldn’t hide behind ‘necessary.’ I’d own it. She’s mine to do what I please with.” Priest rebutted.
Out of my periphery, I watched a woman approach. Blonde. Thin. Fake tits. When she stepped into my space, her hand slid onto my shoulder.
“Can I—”
I removed her hand without looking at her. “Go away.”
She blinked, caught off guard. “Don’t you—”
“No. I’m not interested.”
She tried again. Touching my chin.
I grabbed her wrist hard enough that the bones shifted under my fingers. “Touch me again and I’ll break every finger in your hand, then shove them down your throat until you choke on them. Get the fuck away from this table.”
She gasped, eyes wide with real fear. She stumbled back, clutching her wrist, and hurried off without another word.
There was a pause.
“You could have been nicer,” Kael chuckled.
“Fuck her.”
Priest watched her leave, then turned back to me, eyes narrowed. “Three years. You didn’t touch another woman for three years while she was gone. I’ve seen you walk out of rooms full of the city’s finest pussy without a second glance. Lived like a monk in a cathedral of sin.”
“So?”
“You weren’t even tempted?”
“No. Indigo isn’t just my wife. She’s an extension of my own skin. You don’t replace your right arm just because it’s out of reach for a while. You wait until you can graft it back on. You wait until you can bleed it back into place.”
Priest leaned forward, brow furrowed. “And did she feel the same way? During those three years she was running… do you really think she was sitting in a room alone, waiting for you? Were there other men, Malachai? Was there someone else filling that space?”
I slammed my glass down on the table. The crack of crystal against marble sounded like a gunshot.
“No,” I snarled, my voice dropping into a register that made the waitress approaching us freeze.
“There were no other men. There couldn’t be.
Indigo knows who owns her soul. She could run to the edge of the earth, but she’d still feel my hand around her throat.
She wouldn’t dare let another man touch what’s mine. ”
I took a breath, smoothing my features even though my heart was still hammering against my ribs.
“She’s mine, Priest. Past, present, and every fucking second of her future. And if I find out a single soul even looked at her the wrong way while she was gone… I won’t just kill them. I’ll make them wish they’d never been born.”
Priest laughed and raised his glass. “To the King and his stolen Queen.”
Kael looked between us. “You’re both insane.” He downed his glass.
I didn’t drink. I just stared at the door, thinking about the woman back at the house who was currently learning that in my world, there is no such thing as an exit—only the deep, dark weight of being wanted.
“She’ll thank me eventually for everything I did,” I whispered.
Kael smirked. “Or she’ll kill you in your sleep this time. After stabbing you and shooting you, what else is there left for her to do?”