My King (Two Prince's Book 1) (4 page)

I make a snap decision, which is really the only decision to make because my life is going nowhere. I have nothing going for me. I have no family. I barely have any friends other than Anna May and the ones I do have are superficial. I have one year left of college and yet I have no idea what I am going to do afterwards, no career picked out because there’s nothing I am passionate about, nothing I want to do for the rest of my life. My job, even though it’s only a summer job, is complete shit. I’m just kind of floating along through life but I’m not really living it.

So, I make a snap decision, and I decided that yes, I am going to trust him as easily as his brother and I’m just going to go with it.

What do I really have to lose? A loaded question, that one, but what the hell.

That luscious, mouthwatering, ethereal scent fills my nostrils again, causing my body to shiver and heat to course through it.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I ignore it as best as I can and focus on Ian, the naked guy in my living room, the man I haven’t even been formally introduced to.

“You know,” I tell him, “you’re kind of bossy.”

For the first time since his naked ass stepped out of the shadows he smiles at me. And my breath catches at the sight of it. The heat spreading through my body immediately pools between my legs and I find myself becoming even more aroused than I had been by his delectable scent.

This man is pure, bona fide, masculine perfection.

My face grows warm as a blush spreads across my cheeks and down my neck.

“Sweetheart, you have no idea,” he jokes, or I hope he’s joking. “Now, go and pack a bag. You should know, there’s a chanceyou won’t be comin
g
back. Ever. So, if you have something, anything of sentimental value and it fits into a back pack, it would be wise to pack it as well.” His eyes take on a faraway, haunted look, “over time memories fade and faces become nothing more than a blur.”

“That won’t be an issue for me,” I tell him, my voice coming out bitter even to my own ears.

Wait, did he say there was a chance I’d never be coming back? Shouldn’t this upset me? Why wasn’t I upset by the thought of leaving this place, my home, and never returning?

“No family photos?” He asks me. I shake my head no. “Where is your family?”

“I don’t have any.”                           

“Everybody has family.” He pushes.

“Well, I don’t.” I snap at him, wanting him to drop it already.

“What hap--” He starts to speak but I cut him off.

“Do you want to talk or do you want me to pack my shit so we can go?”

“Pack. But we
will
be talking about this.”

Well didn’t that sound ominous and not appealing in the least?

If I had my way we’d never be talking about my family. Besides, it’s not like it was any of his damn business. He didn’t even know my name and he wanted me to divulge my life history with me? Umm, I think not.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just put some damn clothes on ya weirdo.” That got me a raised eyebrow. He looked pretty hot doing that. On this thought, I scurry off to my room as fast as my legs will take me. I didn’t need to be thinking any more about how hot the weird naked man in my living room was. Or, at least I don’t think I should have been thinking about something like that so soon after that creep Sunglasses the “Vampire” had attacked me.

As soon as I had the door shut to my room I looked at my reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall above my dresser.

I look like absolute crap. There was no other way to describe how I looked at the moment.

The side of my face had blood crusted to it and a knot was forming at my temple. Reaching up, I run my fingers across my temple. Cringing at the contact, I quickly lower my hand.

My hair is sticking out every which way. I needed to remember the way my hair looks right now so I can call this image up the next time I think it’s okay to not blow dry my damn hair. The front of my t-shirt is sticky with blood, my own.

I’m in a t-shirt and my damn underwear. Jesus, how had I forgot about that? How embarrassing.

My leg has a few places that bruises were already starting to form. Ugly and misshapen, turning a purplish-blue color. Like I said, I look like crap.

I saved the best for last and looked up from my legs to my throat.

“Oh my God,” I whisper in shocked wonder.

The open wounds at my neck were no longer open. In their place are two light pink lines, almost like scars.

Holy shit.

How in the hell was that even possible?

Could that thing really be a…

Vampire?

But…

That’s not possible. Is it?             

Vampires don’t exist.

Right?

Right?

Ian

As soon as her bedroom door closes shut behind her I make my way down the stairs. It’s been so long since the last time I shifted I’d completely forgotten it would shred to pieces any clothing I was wearing at the time I shifted. Well, that and I didn’t stop to think I had simply acted. My mate needed me and that’s all there was to it.

Thankfully, nudity hasn’t ever been an issue for me. Growing up, as I did, in the supernatural world surrounded by other shifters, meant I was comfortable with my shifting, nudity, and with the nudity of others.

Still, that’s not how I imagined the first time I had my dick out in front of my mate going. It was supposed to go more along the lines of her getting on her knees and sucking me off. But, nope, she didn’t even look at it. If it were me with her naked in front of me I wouldn’t have been able to tear my eyes off of her beautiful body. And there was no doubt in my mind she’d be beautiful.

I make my way to my open apartment door and step over the threshold, inside. There was no sign of Riley in the hallway but I could feel him just outside so I knew he was fine. He was working his mojo on the roommate and her boyfriend.

I grab some jeans, a plain black tee, socks and some boxers and quickly put them on. I sit down on my unmade bed and pull on my socks and a pair of sturdy black work boots.

We have only been here for little over a month and the place still looks empty, unoccupied. We were lucky to get it partially furnished with a bed in each room and a couch in the living room. We don’t need much but the bare minimum so the sparse furniture worked just fine for the two of us.

Every place that we move into always looks empty, just like this one. Even the few places we manage to stay at up to six months still ends up looking vacant.

We never plan on staying so we’ve grown custom to our lifestyle. Why buy more shit if we couldn’t take it with us and would have to leave it when we were forced to up stakes again to stay safe? There was no point.

So, we don’t have much. What we do have manages to fit into a couple of duffle bags. Most of it’s clothes. There’s a gun and a clip in the bottom of each duffle, you could never be too safe. If I could use my magic and let my animal out there’d be no need for such weapons because I could more than handle myself in animal form. Hell, I could outside of animal form, it simply made me feel safer knowing they were there just in case, for my brothers sake. There is a lot of money sewn into the seams of each bag, something we managed to take with us when we ran only because my dad had planned ahead for something like his murder. Our one prized possession though, was a framed photograph of our mother and father on their wedding day. It was the only thing that we had left of them.

We’d both give up all the money in the bags before we’d let go of the framed photograph. It was bad enough I could no longer remember my father’s voice, I wouldn’t forget his face as well.

My mother died while giving birth to Riley. Shifters have a hard time bearing children. Which is why there aren’t very many of us left. We mate for life and losing your mate is something that, even for the sake of having children, most shifters won’t risk it. I was three when my mother died and Riley was born. I have no memories of my mother and Riley never had the chance to make any. Yet another reason the photograph meant the world to the two of us. Family was everything to a shifter. Everything.

Lost in my thoughts I don’t notice when Riley walks in to the room until he was right next to me and sitting down on the bed beside me.

“Where is our beautiful Queen?” the little prick asks.

“Jesus Christ, Riley. She is not our Queen. She is my mate,” I angrily reply.

“Since you are the rightful King and she is your mate, would that not make her my Queen, our Queen?”             

“I do not hold the throne.” I tell him in exasperation. Christ, he knows this shit already. Why he feels the need to antagonize me I’ll never understand.

“No, but I think we should change that.”

“Are you insane?” I gape at him.

“I am not. And you did not answer my question. Where is our Queen?”

“Packing.” I sigh.             

“You left her alone?” he asks me, his eyes growing round in surprise or shock, or maybe both. I don’t really care which.

“Yes. And we should probably go and retrieve her before she does God only knows what.”

“She is probably calling the police as we speak.” He laughs.

“Fuck. I didn’t think of that.”

I stand and head towards the door when he calls out, “Brother.”

“Yes?” I turn and ask.

“How does your stomach feel?” he asks me with a huge shit eating grin spread across his face, one I have not seen him wear for quite some time.

I grin right back and tell him, “Full,
very
full.”

I pat my stomach in appreciation. Normally I would find it distasteful to consume a creature who had been dipping into dark magic, but, left with no other choice, I wasn’t about to turn my nose up at it. Goddamn Vampire tasted like shit, but my beast had been more than happy with him at the time. He got his mate and he got to feed. Win-win.

Grinning, we both make our way to the bottom of the staircase in the hallway where she is already waiting for us.

She stands at the foot of the stairs with an old battered suitcase and a backpack. I can’t help but feel surprised by her lack of luggage, even after she told me she has no family and won’t be needing to bring sentimental drivel along with us. What kind of female only packs a suitcase and a backpack when told to pack anything they would want to take with them because they might never be come back?

That couldn’t be normal.

She had to have more shit than this, didn’t she?

“Did he tell you that we probably won’t be coming back?” Riley curiously asks her. At her nod he continues with, “and this is all you packed?”

“I don’t have a whole lot of stuff,” she says gruffly, brushing him off. “Where is Anna May?”

“She went home with her date,” he tells her. “Don’t worry about her, she’s perfectly fine.”

“Right,” she mutters, sounding like in no way whatsoever she believes him. Which is smart because he’s probably lying through his teeth.

“Let’s go,” I say, “you can chat in the SUV.”

“What about my car?” Shayne asks me.

Please don’t tell me she has some unnatural attachment to that rust bucket she drives around.

“Your car is shit, sweetheart. We are leaving that POS here.” I inform her.

“It has character
and
it’s paid for. Thank you very much.”

Riley snorts.

“Whatever,” She mutters.

“Let’s. Go.” I urge them.

She waves her hand towards the door, “After you, boss man.”

“Oh, I like her already,” Riley tells me.

“Shut up and get in the truck.” I growl at him. He doesn’t need to like her, I do.

“Yes, your Highness.”

Fuck.

What the hell did I get myself into?

One snarky asshole is more than enough but two of them?

This is gonna do my head in.

Shayne

I woke up drenched in sweat and feeling like I might have a heat stroke. My body felt like it was being weighed down by something heavy and it was hard for me to breathe.

I blink open my eyes, hoping I can clear the fuzziness from my head. It usually takes me a few cups of coffee to do this on a normal day, with a lump on my head it might take me a whole pot to get there.

I’m in a bed in what appears to be, judging by the décor or lack thereof, an extremely cheap motel room. Like, possible bed bugs kind of cheap.

The curtains are tightly pulled shut so I have no reference of time, of whether or not it’s night or day.

In bed with me, one on each side, lay Ian and Riley. They are both snuggled up close to me and they each have an arm thrown across my middle.

Umm… holy hot guy sandwich.

This thought makes me more than slightly uncomfortable.

I have never even had a boyfriend before. I’ve never slept next to a guy before, let alone two hot guys. Hell, I’ve never even been on a date before. Not once. In high school I wasn’t allowed to date and it never bothered me because I was a loner and never really cared much for anyone’s company other than my own. When college rolled around I was too busy with classes and homework to care about boys. Anna May was the only person I’ve ever really clicked with on a significant level. I have other friends I’ve met since I started college but there was no deep connection there. I think it’s safe to say that me waking up in a bed between these two men was so far out of the norm it’s like I woke up in the fucking twilight zone.

I try to remember how exactly I got here but I’m coming up blank. The last thing I remember was getting into the back seat of an expensive shiny looking black SUV with Ian in the driver’s seat and Riley riding shotgun. We zoomed off into the night and then… I assume I fell asleep and one of the guys must have carried me in our room and put me to bed.

Thank God they left my clothes on or I would
really
be freaking out right now. Full blown hysteria kind of freak out.

“I know you’re awake,” Ian whispers into my hair.

“Where are we?” I whisper back.

“In a motel room.”

“I know that, asshole.” I snipe back.

“You have a bit of a temper, don’t you?” he asks with humor laced in his voice.

Why in the hell would he find the thought of me having a temper amusing? What kind of dumbass was I to have gotten myself into this situation?

“Normally, no. However, I’m finding that being attacked by a
thing
, being forced to flee my home in the middle of the night and then waking up smooshed in-between two hot guys and having no recollection of how I got here makes me just a wee bit temperamental.”

“She has a sense of humor too,” Riley says, “just in case you missed it, brother.”

Through his laughter, Ian replies, “Yeah, brother. I think I got that.”

“I wasn’t being funny,” I snap at the both of them.

“Honey, you’re hilarious,” Riley unnecessarily informs me.

I close my eyes and silently start counting to ten. Once I get there I decide ten is way too small of a number for this and start to count to a hundred. I make it to twenty before I rudely blurt out, “You both suck.”

They both find this statement hilarious, which I know because they both burst out laughing.

“I fail to see what’s so fucking funny.”

This gets me more laughter.

Whatever.

Dicks, the both of them.             

A couple of minutes go by before they calm and stop laughing at me. It must be noted that during this neither one of them decided to let me go or say, I don’t know, move the fuck away from me.

“This isn’t funny.” I semi repeat.

I squirm out of their arms, making sure to dig my elbows into their rock hard sides as hard as I can, probably hurting myself more than them. I crawl down to the foot of the bed and hop off.

Placing my hands on my hips I demand to know, “Where’s my shit?”

“Why?” Ian asks, all traces of humor wiped away.

Why?
Why
?

Why the fuck does he care why? I should be able to know where my personal belongings are without being subjected to more of his questions. I answer his why anyway, in hopes of getting my things faster. “I’m taking a shower and then I’m going to go and find something to eat. I need clean clothes for that. So, I need my shit.”

“You can’t leave the room by yourself right now.” He gently tells me. “It would be wiser if we all stick together for the time being.”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever. Just give me my bags.” I grit out, not liking him being in constant control of every little thing. Control freak didn’t look good on him.

“They’re in the truck. I’ll go get them and put them in the bathroom for you.”

“Thanks,” I quip, not sounding thankful at all.

I shoot them both a dark look and storm off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind me. I go to lock it and realize I can’t because he said he’d put my bags in here for me. Which makes me even angrier because the dick probably did that on purpose so I wouldn’t be able to lock the door. I almost lock it just to spite him but I don’t because I don’t want to put my dirty clothes back on and no way am I going out there in my towel to get my things. No freaking way, thank you very much.

I strip off my clothes as quickly as I can and get into the shower, turning the water on after I’m safely behind the shower curtain. I end up being blasted with freezing cold water for my troubles but it’s worth it to still be the only person who has seen me naked.

A few minutes later there’s a soft knock on the door before it’s pushed open.

“Shayne?” Ian calls.

Seriously?

I’m in the freaking shower. Couldn’t he just set my bags down and then get the fuck out like any normal person would?

Obviously not. He’s making this more awkward than it already is.

Besides, who else was he expecting to find in here?

“Have you never heard of this little thing called privacy?” I ask him.

“I just… I’m sorry, okay?” he quietly tells me.

Wait, what?

He’s sorry?

What’s he sorry for exactly?

Before I can say anything about his apology he’s gone and the door is firmly shut behind him.

Shit.

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with
that
?

*****

It wasn’t until I was dressed and standing in front of the mirror brushing my hair that I realized I could just barely hear them in the other room. I couldn’t make out their words but I could hear their voices.

Being nosey and hoping they wouldn’t notice, I reach out and flip the switch to the fan down, turning it off.

“Can’t stay here for long...”

“I know but what are we going to do about her?”

“What do you mean?”

“It was hard enough when it was just the two of us and now we have her to look after and I think we both know that she—“

“She’s my fucking mate, Riley. It’s not like I can just shut this shit off and walk away from her.”

“Yeah, bro, I get that, but before you were going to stay away from her, no problem. And now…” His voice trailed off.

“I was never planning on staying away from her, Riley. I was going to keep to the shadows making sure she was safe as she lived out a normal life. But I was always,
always
, going to be near her, even when she did not know I was there. I cannot live my life without her in it. I won’t do it.”

“Okay. So what now?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Maybe you should just wipe her and we can go back to living in the shadows.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we. Where we go we go together, it’s always been that way, so yeah,
we
.”

“Everything has changed and I don’t think I
can
stick to the shadows anymore. Besides, now it’s really not safe for her and in no way can she go back there. No fucking way, Ry.”

“We need to come up with a new plan then.”

There are a few moments of silence and then from the same voice, Riley’s voice, “Are you open to suggestions?”

“Riley…”

“Just hear me out, brother.”

“Okay. Fine. Talk.”

“I think that as soon as possible you should start giving her the good old one-two pump, fill her up with your seed—“

He was cut off with an amused sounding Ian, “One-two pump?”

One-two what?

“Keep at it until you knock her up and she’s carrying your heir. And when you’re not doing the dirty we make our way towards home, our
real
home—“

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Pause. Then: “You are. You would have to be to suggest such things to me,” growls a now not so amused sounding Ian.

I had to admit, I wasn’t very amused either.

“You said it yourself, things have changed now. You said that. I think it’s the perfect time for -”

“That is not how I meant it and you damn well know it.”

“I’m tired of running and hiding, Ian. I’m tired of not being able to be who I really am. I miss my magic and I miss being one with my animal. Months ago when you found her that was a sign. We cannot go on as we have been. Something’s gotta give. We were raised to rule a kingdom, not to run and hide from the man who stole it all from us. Aren’t you tired of this?”

“You know I am but it is not so simple as just waltzing on in there and demanding what’s rightfully ours be returned to us. It doesn’t quite work that way.”

“So we come up with something else. Father was a much loved man and Uncle Roland has never been. We need to find someone from our past life who was close to father, someone we can trust. We need to know what went down after we left. What Uncle Roland told people happened. We need to find out all that has happened since we left. And then we plan. We keep connecting with people we know we can trust, powerful people. Then, when the timing is right, we out that fucker and we take
him
out, putting your ass on the throne where it belongs.”

“Collette.”

“Collette. Brilliant. I forgot about her. She’s perfect.”

Having heard more than enough I turn on the hair dryer attached to the wall and started in on drying my hair.

Nothing they said makes a whole lotta sense to me. Well, I understood parts of it, unfortunately.

Maybe they’ve escaped from the loony bin? Perhaps that’s where the freak show had come from as well.

It’s not the first time that one or the other brother has referred to me as Ian’s mate. I don’t get it, and frankly it was kind of creeping me out.

I blush thinking of some of the things I had heard Riley say in regards to me. One-two what? I did not think so. And knock me up? I had just met them like two seconds ago and they were already talking about knocking me up? What had I gotten myself into here? Had I been wrong to trust them? God, I hoped not.

The rest of it made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. 

They had been in hiding? Ian planned on following me for the rest of my life and I wouldn’t have ever known it? Like a stalker? Now, why did that thought not creep me out? It should have sent me running for the hills. Their father had been a king? King of what? What are they running from? Who are they running from?

It must be said that I now have more questions than answers. I didn’t like this. Not one teeny tiny bit.

I was going to be eavesdropping on them any and every chance I got.

I might not have all the answers but I definitely have more information than what I had to start out with. Which was something, to say the least.

I may not understand any of it but I’m a smart girl and if I’m patient and pay close attention I just might be able to figure some of it out. And I could definitely do just that.

So, I’m sticking with them until I figure out what in the hell was going on.

With my mind settled, I finish drying my hair, put the hair dryer back in it’s hook thingy on the wall, give myself one last lingering look in the mirror and head back out into the roo
m
.

The only thing on my mind being my new mission - to gain information.