16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Carlton
“Isn’t she amazing?” I elbow Micah in the ribs as I watch my future wife in action from the gallery in the cafeteria.
Annie is talking to Rosalind, the great heiress’ usually super straight back hunching with every word that leaves my Lolita’s mouth as if a lash were striking her.
My princess is wearing a pastel pink dress today, her eyes playful behind their glasses as she delivers her blows—she unleashed her digital skills on Rosalind’s past, and discovered some pretty interesting shit that could bring down her entire family with the right kind of help from powerful people.
People like me.
I was worried that playfulness in her eyes would be gone forever. That it died after everything I put her through, especially after she took a life—even if the Heathen King in me believes that life was owed to her .
But the McKenzie laird in me, the role I fully assumed before we left Isle of Skye and stepped back onto U.S. soil, is the one the Elders are now forced to fear. They still don’t know that Marcus is dead, and they won’t find out anytime soon, but the McKenzie crest coming back to life is making them squeamish. The skull and crown of thorns loom like an undead shadow over them.
And it’s not like they can just take me out of the picture. Too many Kings are on my side, and those who aren’t, are scared shitless either of me, of Sade, or of Micah. The ones who blew up Aragon are in my pocket, too. They’d be executed on sight if anyone found out they took down one of their own, so they have no chance except to serve me, which means my power in the Heathen world is growing at a scary pace for the Elders.
Still, there’s nothing they can do about it, and it doesn’t look like they will anytime soon.
“It’s official,” Sade puts in as he joins me by the banister, slapping my back and then resting his arm on my shoulder. “Carlton Wilde is utterly and irrevocably pussy-whipped. If we could only travel back in time and hold it up in the face of that asshole who gave us shit when we fell for our girls.” He clicks his tongue, and I smirk, but say nothing. Let them poke fun at me all they want. They deserve it.
I was an asshole, and there isn’t much I can do about it now except take their shit.
If I’m honest, it adds a level of bonding that feels…pleasant. Not as bone-deep as when we had to survive war zones together in training, but close. Closer than I expected any positive feeling to bring a bunch of men.
“The Elders were suspiciously lenient about this one,” Damon says, approaching us. He frowns down at the cafeteria, his eyebrows knitted in that ever-suspicious frown.
“Can’t deny you’re setting a dangerous precedent,” Micah says with a widening grin, deepening the dimples that had so many women go gaga before he pledged his very soul to Eva Brannan. “Sade, me, now you. They’ll try to make an example of you the first chance they get.”
Except they won’t be getting one anytime soon .
“The problem with the most powerful organization in the world is that they use the most powerful weapons,” I reply. “We can dismantle entire governments in a matter of days. I just doubled that power when I took back Laird McKenizie’s legacy.”
“The Slayer of Heathens,” Damon says, and all the others turn their attention to him. All of them except me, because my eyes are still fixed on my woman destroying Rosalind down in the cafeteria. My cock hardens in my pants just watching her.
“That’s what the Laird was known as, among other things,” Damon explains. “I took an interest in his story early on. I just never thought his son might have survived the massacre of his parents, and actually be one of us.”
Can’t deny Damon’s interest in my family history worries me. The Elders imposed him on our group when Sade got rid of that sack of shit Dogg Wilson, but he remains an enigma on too many levels.
Done crushing Rosalind, Annie spins on her heels, her pastel pink dress flaring around her. She catches my eyes and smiles, her entire face brightening. Then she beckons me down by curling her finger .
And I walk down there for her, letting everyone see how I’m hers and she’s mine. I reach her and lift her up in my arms, spinning her around fairy-tale-style. I didn’t exactly plan on kissing her in front of Rosalind. We decided we weren’t going to be cruel about this, but I can’t stop myself, and my mouth crushes her soft, sweet lips, not caring who’s around.
She even had me apologize to her friend Patrick for scaring him shitless that night at the library, and I did it just to humor her, even though I did ask for a private moment with the guy after. Resting a heavy hand on his shoulder, I made it clear that he was never to try and get her alone again, or I’d have his head. I didn’t care if he was into guys. I didn’t trust anyone not to want Annie one way or the other.
He nodded, growing red to the tips of his ears. I slapped his shoulder like we were friends now, and caught up with Annie, who was waiting for me a few alcoves down, talking to her girls.
I still can’t tolerate any other man around her, and I probably never will, but I promised I’d work on it.
Putting Annie back down, I offer Rosalind a cordial bow before taking my girl’s hand in mine, and heading toward the cafeteria exit and the university main hall. I escort her to almost every class now, enjoying it to the point of sin that everybody is staring, cementing the fact that we belong to each other.
“So, how did it go?” I ask as we head up the stairs.
“Well, she made threats in the beginning,” Annie says, every bit as sweet and playful as I first met her, but with a new hardness. I’m so damn proud of my future wife. She’s an iron hand clad in a velvet glove. “That she was a Hayes, while I was nothing, that she knew powerful people, that I’d be sorry. But after I mentioned a few porn movies her brother acted in—however anonymously—she decided to listen. I went through a list of his sins before I got to her own, which I threatened to expose to none other than her own father. Especially the part where ex-spy Professor Huang hypnotized highly classified information out of her. And, by the way, Professor Huang was never on Aragon’s side. I don’t know who he works for, just that he was happy to help.” She winks at me. “One thing is for sure. Rosalind Hayes won’t insist on marrying you if you break off the engagement. ”
“I already informed the Elders. I’d only have to fulfill my duty of marrying her if she insisted, but since she’s not going to do that…” I let every ounce of admiration I feel seep into my words.
Reaching the door of her class, she pushes her body into mine and cups my face with both of her hands. I lean down to kiss her and an irrepressible want runs through me.
“Damn, I’m lost for you, woman,” I growl, thirsty for her.
“I’ll find you every single time you lose yourself,” she whispers, and my bastard cock hardens like iron. She smiles.
“And here I was, thinking we had the hard part behind us.”
“The hard part is only just beginning.” I gather both her hands in mine, and bring them to my lips. “And some of it you won’t like.”
***
Anni e
I could have faced anything and anyone.
I would have gone to war with the Elders for Carlton Wilde.
But facing Aunt Rita and telling her that I’m marrying the guy who kidnapped me is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
And yes, that list includes shooting Rainer Kovac in the head.
Rainer Kovac, whose vacant eyes haunt my nights, but the dreams scatter like cockroaches in the light when Carlton rolls over and takes me into his big, protective arms.
I’ve been living with him at his mansion since we’ve been back, save for one night I spent at the sorority house, which Carlton grudgingly agreed to. So I got to enjoy a sort of slumber party with the girls and tell them a highly censored version of what happened on the Isle of Skye, but this is the first time Carlton and I see Aunt Rita together.
So I guess it’s not surprising she’s not her usual happy self.
She didn’t wait for us with cookies either, and she didn’t greet us with a sunny smile .
Instead, she’s staring at Carlton like she’s about to slap him as we sit across from her in one of the living rooms at the Royales mansion.
“Mrs. Jones, I assure you,” Carlton says after a long, awkward silence.
“It’s not me you need to assure of anything, Mr. Wilde,” she cuts him off. “It’s her parents.”
I stiffen, my eyes flying to him, but his jaw isn’t ticcing, like it usually does when someone is reckless enough to defy him.
“She cares about what you have to say,” he says instead, his voice soft. “You’re the one whose approval she wants.”
“Oh, and you suddenly care about what she wants? Because last time I checked, you kidnapped her,” she bites out.
“He risked his life for me, auntie,” I burst out, grabbing his hand. “He stepped in front of a bullet for me.”
In the silence that follows, I realize what I’ve just done. I lick my lips, turning my head toward the window, my face warm in the Sunday morning sun.
I shouldn’t have said that .
Returning my eyes to Aunt Rita, I decide to go with as much of the truth as I can share.
“It’s true that I didn’t always have a choice about what happened between Carlton and me,” I say. “But I assure you, it all started with my choice, and I choose to be with him now. We—” I glance at him, and his eyes tell me I have his full support. “We love each other. Call it toxic, but I don’t think we could be separated if we wanted to. It would…” I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence, but Carlton does it for me.
“It would kill both of us.”
He squeezes my hand, that million dollar smile finally appearing on his face, taking my breath away. I feared I might never see this smile again, just as he feared that I might never find my way back to my bubbly self. But here we are, healing each other, against all odds. A man who’s been trained in the art of cruelty ever since he was a toddler and a woman who pulled the trigger and took a life in order to save her lover—and herself. Because Aragon was right, and I’ve chosen to live with it .
“I cannot give you my blessing because it’s not mine to give, Annie,” Aunt Rita says, making us both look back at her. “You should ask your mom and your dad. Instead, I hear all they got was an introduction over video call.”
“I have every intention of honoring Annie’s parents and asking for her hand in marriage,” Carlton says.
Aunt Rita narrows her eyes at him.
“Oh, yes? And do you have every intention of honoring her choice if she ever decides to leave you, too?”
“I’ll never—”
“No,” Carlton replies, and my mouth shuts.
“I can’t live without Annie, and I’d probably choose not to continue living if she left me. Now, before you argue that’s emotional manipulation, let me inform you that I am very much aware of it. But it doesn’t change anything about my feelings for her.”
“As it doesn’t change my feelings for him.” Then, softer as I lean forward and take her hands in mine. “Please, Auntie. I’m really, really happy, more than I ever thought I could be, and I really wish you could be happy for me. ”
Her tense features soften, and her eyes move between Carlton and me. After a few moments of hesitation, she nods.
“I’ve known you for years, Carlton Wilde,” she says. “Always such a proper boy, reliable, reserved, and so respectful. I used to dream you’d return Annie’s feelings one day. Then, when you killed a man to save her life during the mayhem, I loved you.” She shakes her head. “But when you kidnapped her, and forced her to be with you, something changed. I’m not sure I can ever forgive you for that. The difference between who I thought you were and who you really are is too steep. It’s pretty damn clear you’re keeping secrets. Dangerous secrets. But I guess it’s like Annie to love slippery people who lie to her, and who better than you to protect her from them?”
My eyes narrow at her last words.
“Is there something you’re trying to tell me, Auntie?”
She bites her lower lip. The way I know her, she’s not sure whether she’ll do more harm than good if she says more .
“Just be careful. You can’t trust anyone anymore, not even the girls you love like sisters.”
“Justine, Eva, and Mel?” I press. “But…you always loved them, all of them.”
She looks down at her apron. I know that, if I weren’t holding her hands, she’d be fiddling with it.
“Auntie, please, talk to me.”
My future husband watches her with laser-sharp attention.
“Don’t make me say more,” she breathes.
“Whoever has you scared,” Carlton says in that deadly calm of his, “I can protect you.”
Aunt Rita shakes her head. “Not from this. Not from him.”
“Him? I don’t understand. You said it was the girls—”
She jumps up to her feet, smoothing her apron down her body.
“You said you wanted my blessing. Like I said, I’m no one to give it. But I am happy you found each other. If anything, I know that you will protect her, Carlton. With your life. I just hope you’ll find a way to protect her from what’s coming. ”
With that, she scurries away.
I’m still dizzy from her warning when Carlton winds an arm around my waist and pulls me flush against him, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
“She was too scared to talk freely, but we’ll find out what she meant. I promise.”
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper. “It’s mind-boggling. She loves all of the girls, she trusts them. What could have possibly happened?”
“One thing is for sure—it happened while we were away.”
“A traitor?” I look up into his eyes. “Among my closest friends? My family?”
“Or a man who twisted one of your girls’ arms.”
Aunt Rita did mention a man. I lick my lips, preparing to ask him for a huge favor, but he places his thumb on my lips, stopping me.
“Yes,” he says before I can even ask, his deep voice vibrating against my chest. “We will stay in the U.S. until we get to the bottom of this. It’ll be a while until the castle on the Isle will be renovated and worthy of my queen anyway, so we’ll live at my mansion for a time. ”
“I love you,” I whisper, my chin trembling with tears of joy and trust and love.
“And I live and breathe for you,” he rumbles darkly, bringing his lips down on mine, every bit the jungle snake, and every bit the love of my life.
THE END