King Hall (17 page)

Shaking my head, I felt hot tears rolling down my cheeks. I quickly swatted them away. “I don’t look like any of you! You’re all so damn perfect. And me? Not so much. Do you know how hard that is to be around all the time? To have people only sleep with me because they think it’s a
privilege
to sleep with their Prodigy?” I snorted and swiped away a few more tears. “And now, I’m just a fucking job. The freak-fucking-Queen lay.” Another shake of my head. “I wonder if he ran to the bathroom every time afterward, so he could throw up.” My stomach churned; I was feeling sick myself.

Silence.

Everyone stared. Like normal. But this time, their jaws were hanging open.

Pearl and Ezra had death grips on my arms, and Jack even had a hand on my shoulder.

Shaking, I tried to calm down, realizing everything I had just spewed.

King Kincaid took a tentative step forward, appearing very much like a man unsettled, not knowing how to deal with an upset woman, like the rest of the Kings appeared. With his palms out wide, he said softly, “Honey, Dominic thought you—”

“Dominic was drunk the first night we had sex,” I cut him off, my anger flaring once more, on a damn roll. After a Mystical’s Awakened, their magic knows. Elementals feel the pull to their intended mate when their magics meet. Mages much the same. Vampires know by the blood. Shifters through intercourse or, more specifically, right at their climax. It had been two weeks before my Shifter Awakening when we’d first had sex, so I hadn’t known then. He had. “How can I not wonder if it was just the magic talking?”

A shake of my head. I had thought about this a lot since he died. “I can’t. And now, not only am I a freak,” my glare turned on Antonio, “I’m also just a damn job. Thank you for that.”

I lurched away from my friends and stormed out of the room, needing to get away before my mouth decided to spout anything else I would rather others not know about me. I, normally, gave off a very confident vibe. And that, in there, hadn’t been. Definitely not the tough side I usually tried showing to cover my insecurities.

King Kincaid’s voice carried down the hall, growling, “I’m going to kill Felix!”

“King Kincaid…” Antonio murmured in reprimand.

I didn’t hear anything else because I picked up my pace, purposely not listening as I rushed out of the house to the backyard. Tears stung my eyes, wetting my cheeks, and my throat felt like it was clogged and burning. Choking on a sob, I ran to the nearest tree I could find. I wasn’t going to
really
run away because I found out a guy had screwed me to keep an eye on his job, to protect me, but I definitely needed some good self-pity time. Even if Felix had just been a fun time for me, it still hurt my ego, the fragile thing that it was to begin with.

Jumping, I caught a branch, and swung my legs up. I hung upside down for a few moments until I coughed on another sob, and then swung myself up. Climbing from branch to branch, I aimed for the large, thick limb halfway to the top. Once there, sitting on the heavy branch, my cheek resting against the hard bark of the trunk, I let the tears take over.

So long I had wondered about Dominic. We had jumped in so fast. When Felix took what I thought to be an honest interest in me physically, I had believed, maybe, just maybe, Dominic might have actually found me attractive like he had said. Oh, he definitely had once we were mated, but that could have been the magic. Now, all those doubts were back.

If I was honest with myself, my issues weren’t solely focused on my late mate. They were also inner-focused. On me. I hadn’t lied when I had said it was hard being around all these perfect Mysticals. They were all so tall, and curvy, with everything perfectly proportioned. Everything I wasn’t. It was pitifully vain, but it still hurt on a daily basis.

My sobs eventually quieted to a sniffle, or two, when I heard footsteps on the grass below. I tried to scent the air, but my nose was too stuffed up. After a moment, I didn’t need scents to tell me who was coming. Two heads of hair came into view below through the branches. One blue and the other black and red. The men had found me.

They didn’t even look up. They just started climbing.

Wiping my cheeks and rubbing under my nose, I hastily cleared my throat.

Neither glanced in my direction, but both found a branch to sit on near me.

A beat later, Pearl was below, grumbling about breaking a nail, but didn’t hesitate when she started climbing, finding a perch under the three of us. Oddly, she seemed at home in the tree as she lay back on the branch, gazing up to me. My eyes darted away, completely mortified from all I had spewed, and she sighed. There was a flash of gold, and she snapped her fingers, stating, “Truth time.”

Jack and Ezra groaned, but didn’t argue with her using truth magic.

She muttered dryly, “I’ll go first, since no one seems to enjoy the spell.” She lifted a foot, kicking one of my hanging ones, making me look at her. “Lily, if I wasn’t mated, and wasn’t straight, and you were a Mage, and we hadn’t made that pact for friendship’s sake, I would totally screw you. You’re beautiful. And, really, most of the women at school are jealous of you. Not just because of your status as Prodigy, but because of your differences. What you call freak, most Mys women would love to be.”

She shrugged when I stared in shocked wonder. “I wouldn’t mind being a lot shorter. It’s awkward with the majority of Coms being so much smaller than me. It makes me feel like a gorilla.” Her mouth slammed shut. Really, she pinched her lips in an apparent effort not to say anything else. She pointed to Jack, sporting slightly pink cheeks.

He cleared his throat. “If you were an Elemental, and we hadn’t made the pact for friendship’s sake, I’d have sex with you in a heartbeat. Your face and body are just as gorgeous as any other Mys. You aren’t a freak because you’re smaller and you’re a Shifter with red hair. I can’t believe you don’t know you’re beautiful.” He cocked his head, brows rising, and bent at the waist to peer into my bloodshot eyes, his tone incredulous. “Do you not own a mirror? I mean really, Lily?”

I pretty much gawked at his
truth to all
.

Pearl pointed to Ezra.

He stated bluntly, “Lily, I think you’re sexy as hell. You have hips that a man can hold on to. A perfectly round, firm ass. And after seeing your breasts today, I’m pretty fucking sure I prefer them over any I’ve seen since I’ve been in New York. Your facial features and red hair are just as attractive as the rest of your body.” He shrugged. “If you were a Vampire, and we didn’t have the friendship pact, I would have seduced you into my bed a long time ago,” a roll of his finger, “for
lots
of sex.” Another shrug when my jaw hung open.

Pearl stated factually, “As far as Felix goes, if you want me to kill him, I will. For you.”

“Ditto that.” Jack cracked his neck. “I’ll take care of him tonight, if you want.”

Ezra snorted. “I seriously doubt Felix was having sex with Lily because of his job.” He paused, and then added, “But, if you want me to kill him, I’ll do it.”

I sputtered, nothing real coming out until, finally, my vocal chords allowed me to say, “That’s so sweet of you guys to offer to kill him for me,” I guess I really did think that was true, my vocals still pulling the thoughts from my head, “but I don’t want him dead.” I felt compelled to offer, “I’d kill for you guys, too. I love you all.” I choked, my mouth firmly shut.

Pearl chuckled below. “I love you, too.” She sighed heavily before blurting, “I love all of you.”

Ezra divulged like he had a hairball caught in his throat that he couldn’t expel. “I love the three of you, too.” He instantly glared at Pearl.

Jack kept his mouth pinched shut, making noises like a Harley gunning its engine until he gasped hard and muttered, “I love you all, too.” His gaze snapped to Pearl. “Turn it off!”

There was a flash of gold, and a snap, and the spell was gone. Pearl instantly kicked my foot again, saying, “Okay, spill. Since we all know Dominic was bloody in love with you, your claim it was magic is entirely ridiculous, and I want the details. How drunk was he? Was it drunk enough for kinky shit? Or so drunk he could barely get it up?” Her golden gaze was angelic.

I snorted, laughing so hard I almost fell off the branch. These were my true friends. There for me not only when bullets were flying at my head, but also when I was having a pity party. No issue was too big or small; it appeared we were stuck with each other.

The Kings and Antonio got a wake-up call to technology not two hours later.

Welcome to the world of iPhones, nooks, camera phones, and video cameras.

The four of us were raiding King Nelson’s fridge when we heard the bellows coming from down the hall. Pearl stopped chewing her mouthful of chips. Ezra paused, his sandwich halfway to his mouth. Jack had a slice of pizza, which he left hanging half in, half out of his mouth. I paused in sucking on the straw of my milkshake.

“Get them in here
now
!” King Nelson hollered. “They’re probably in the kitchen, eating all my damn food, anyway!”

Said food was quickly tossed back in the cabinets or rapidly snarfed, and the glass thrown in the sink, so when one of the guards came into the kitchen, it appeared as if we had just been talking, our expressions innocent.

“The King requests your appearance,” the Mage guard told us.

We nodded, as if this was news to us, and quickly scuttled after the guard to the living room, which was odd in itself. The room was gold, from the couches to the coffee table, the recliners, and the chandelier, right along with the carpet and walls. There was even a piano in the corner continually playing soft music, the keys sparkling gold with magic.

This room had always wigged me out, and not due to the color scheme or the piano.

There were sparkles of magic dusting it in various locations. Like it was spelled. To maybe eat you if you sat where you weren’t supposed to. Definitely not my first pick of King Nelson’s rooms. A huge, 52” flat screen TV hung above the gold marble of the fireplace — the TV’s frame gold — and was turned on to a national news station.

The Kings and Antonio stood below it, watching avidly, not paying attention to us even though they had “called” for our presence, so we stood at the back of the room — careful not to rest against the bizarre wall — and watched what they were.

A Com anchor woman with animated facial expressions stated, “
First, with the breaking news, we have video footage of Prodigy Ezra Zeller and Prodigy Lily Ruckler, the designated King Vampire and Queen Shifter, under attack today. As you will see, they were not provoking their assailants. From all accounts of the video, it appears they tried to run, and in self-defense, with the help of Prodigy Pearl Cooper and Prodigy Jack Collins, the designated Queen Mage and King Elemental, they took down their accosters.
” A pause
.
“
Please be aware this footage is under parental advisory,
” not even a second’s pause
,
“
and here’s the footage
…”

“Oh, Jesus,” Jack muttered as the video began on the too-big, too-clear, screen.

Whoever was videoing it must have been high on a sand dune because there was grass on the outer edges of the angle. The video started with all of us sitting in one spot, talking, while the camera zoomed in to try to get a better shot. From all appearances, the person had been downwind, and far away, to keep off our radar.

“Wonderful. We now have paparazzi,” Pearl mumbled.

“Stalker, more like,” I clarified.

Ezra grunted.

The shot showed Ezra walking away with his head down, which was pretty much right after he had told us about his late mate. You could hear the wind whipping around as the video showed me running to catch up and then my bumping him into the water. I heard Antonio snicker, but it quickly cut off when King Venclaire nudged him in the ribs. For a moment, it was as if the person recording the video couldn’t choose who to film — Ezra and me, or Jack, Gideon, and Pearl — the shot flying back and forth between us.

The person’s instincts were right, and the footage trained on me laughing and running away from a soaked Ezra. We were moving closer to the camera, so the shot panned back, going wide, and caught Ezra and me racing down the beach. I was cracking up and Ezra was shouting his planned revenge. Although, from this angle, I could see Ezra was actually smiling.

Cocking my head, I observed the footage, seeing a free, joyful side to him as he sped up to torment me, and then slowed to let me get away. He seemed happy, free from his past. And so did I. I huffed, muttering, “I thought I was actually getting away from you on my own.”

He chuckled. “Vampire, sweetheart. Don’t forget it.”

King Fergus hushed us as King Venclaire and King Kincaid glanced over their shoulders, regarding Ezra and me strangely, their eyes darting back and forth between the two of us.

Finally, Ezra muttered, “What? What did we do now?”

Neither answered, glancing at each other, then turned their attention to the screen where we were almost on the camera — you could actually hear us laughing — and apparently, that was when Ezra put on his real speed.

My jaw fell open when I saw him disappear because, at the time, I had thought he was always behind me but, now, I watched as he reappeared off to the side about twenty yards ahead on the beach, watching me for a beat, his arms crossed and a wicked grin on his face before he disappeared again, then reappeared directly behind me.

“Damn,” Jack mumbled. “That was cool.”

Ezra shrugged.

The footage showed Ezra picking me up, which was embarrassing because I was shrieking like a girl, the camera catching Ezra laughing as he turned three times in a fast circle before he chucked me into the ocean. Yeah, with me screeching the whole way.

I groaned.

King Kincaid cleared his throat, which sounded suspiciously like covered amusement, and tilted toward King Nelson, muttering, “I might have to try that technique.”

Pearl and Jack snickered but, after a quick glare from me, they both shut up.