My King (Two Prince's Book 1) (5 page)

Ian

We are in the SUV and headed north, Riley’s driving, I’m in the passenger seat and Shayne is in the back, pretending to sleep. We’ve been on the road for hours on end with no real destination in mind just so long as we’re going north.

When she came out of the bathroom this morning after her shower I could tell right away that something was off. She was quiet and withdrawn. She spent her time watching Riley and my every move and pretending like she wasn’t. She’s peaked both Riley and my senses. He keeps stealing glances in the rearview mirror at her every other second, while my mind runs circles over what has brought this change out in her.

However, I firmly push it to the back of my mind. If she wants to talk about whatever it is she’s got eating at her then she will. So far she’s shown she’s got no trouble what so ever expressing her thoughts or feelings. I’m going to let her be until she shows me she wants to talk. And when she does I am going to be all over that.
All
over it. I can’t wait to get to know my beautiful mate better. I want to know everything about her. I remember the haunted look that crossed over her face when she told me she didn’t have any family or even photographs. I want to know the story behind the haunted look. Hell, I simply want to know her, anything thing she’s willing to give me.

I wanted it badly but I was smart enough not to push it. I plan on waiting for her to tell me. Waiting until she’s comfortable enough with me to give me that. And she would get there, she was my mate, made for me as I was her.

But for now, for whatever reason, she was pretending to sleep in the back seat, ignoring my brother and I. Until she thought we weren’t paying attention, that is.

My mind wanders off to Collette. She is a three hundred year old Vampire and had been one of my fathers most trusted advisors. She had been by his side for as long as I could remember. Only leaving him on holidays to go and be with her own family. My father once told me that she’d been with him since he was a child, his father had handpicked her to be at his sons side. Someone who could be with his son long after he himself had passed.

I haven’t let myself think of her in a very long time because it hurt too much to go there. I have no idea what she thinks happened to my brother and I. I have no idea what anyone thinks of my father’s death as well as the absence of my brother and myself. Who knows what kind of lies my vile Uncle has told my people. Likely he’s told them we are dead.

I’m hoping she is happy to see us, that she has missed us. I’m also hoping she will take us in and keep our presence secret until we are ready, until we knew what the fuck it is we are going to do. Or, that’s to say, until I know what the fuck it is I’m going to do.

It shits me to admit it but Riley is right. We can’t keep on going how we have been. Neither one of us deserves to live like this. I’m all for finding a way to change it, as long as it’s safe for Shayne that is. She is my top priority now, even over Riley.

But taking on Uncle Roland? That scares me. I am not afraid for myself, but for my brother and now my mate.

He cut off my father’s head with a sword and he did it while wearing a smile filled with pure glee and malice on his face. You wouldn’t think the two emotions could go so well together, but he seemed to have to problem working the two together. He held his sword and swung it through the air with practiced ease, as if it were something he had done a hundred times before.

This I find to be most distressing. We shifters do not fight one another with weapons. We fight one another in animal form. That is how it’s
always
been done without exception. To attack your King without issuing a challenge first, to sneak up behind him and cut his head off with a sword, would have been considered high treason. An automatic death sentence.

My family ruled for over eight hundred years because our animals were always the biggest and the strongest, because we are the most powerful with our magic. It is in our blood, something we are born with. Something no other family has ever come close to comparing to.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been people who have challenged us because there have. Every time ended the same, with the challenger being the loser and what they lost was their life. You didn’t throw down a challenge unless you were confident you could walk away victorious… or you were just plain stupid. Whatever the case shifters had tried and they’d always lost. These challenges always took place when both opponents were in animal form. That is how it’s always been done.

Only a man who knew he could not best his King,
his fucking brother
, would come up behind him and, in human form, cut his head off with a fucking sword.

Only a fucking coward would do such a thing. A coward like my uncle.

The more I allow myself to think about him the angrier I get. And the angrier I get the more I think that maybe Riley is right. Maybe we do need to take that fucker out, make him pay for what he has done.

My main focus since fleeing has always been protecting my brother, keeping him safe. I have never allowed my thoughts to go towards vengeance not once throughout the years. But now that they are I want it just as much as Riley does. Which is stupid because my main focus should now be on keeping two people safe as opposed to just my brother.

The thought of vengeance is like poison to the mind. Spreading and taking root like a fucking cancerous cell. The more thought I gave it the firmer those roots take hold.

I’d been lucky my father was a father first and a King second. He was a kind man. A gentle man. He taught my brother and me many things in the short time we got him for on this earth. He was grooming us both to be able to take his place. He’d also prepared me for anything, and boy do I mean anything. Which is probably why we were able to survive so long amongst humans. He had given me the tools to do so.

We had money, and not a small amount of it, because he had put it in a safe place and only shared its whereabouts with me. He made me repeat the address back to him every day for years.

“Just in case,” he would tell me. “We must always be ready for anything and I need to know that you and your brother will be taken care of.”

Now I wonder if maybe he knew that his brother was going to one day try to fuck him over.

I wonder if he knew that one day his brother would kill him.

We didn’t plan for
that
.

There was no “just in case” back up plan for his brother cutting off his fucking head while I, unbeknownst to them, watched.

So, I wonder what he would have me do now.

Would he want vengeance?

Would he want the man that killed him to pay for it?

Or, would he want me to keep my focus on my brother and mate, to do everything in my power to keep them safe even if it meant my Uncle got away with his brothers murder?

I think about what I would want from my son. And realize that my father wouldn’t want me to think about what he would want me to do. He raised me to one day take his place as King.

To one day take his place as King.

With stark clarity, I realize that I already have the answer to my questions.

We were going home.

And come hell or high water, I’d be taking my rightful place as King.

But before that, I’m going to kill my Uncle.

Riley is going to watch.             

And we are going to enjoy every bloody fucking second of his death.

Shayne

Someone was gently shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me up. Once again I didn’t remember falling asleep.

“Shayne,” Ian whispers in my ear. “Sweetheart, wake up.”

Slowly I crack open my eyes.

I’m lying across the backseat of the SUV and Ian is leaned over the center consul in the front seat, hovering over me. His eyes are warm, locked on me.

His gaze feels way too intimate for my liking.

Before I can think better of it, I blurt out the first thing I think of, apparently having a momentarily case of diarrhea of the mouth. Regretting the question as soon as it leaves my mouth. What the hell is wrong with me? I had a plan, dammit. What happened to being quiet and listening? Way to go, Shayne!

“Why do you call me your mate?” I blurt out.

His eyes loose the warm look and instantly become guarded.

I hold up my hand before he can feed me some bullshit line I’m uninterested in hearing. “Yeah, yeah. I know. We will talk about it when we get to a safe place. Just forget I asked.” I huff.

He shakes his head and smiles at me. A beautiful, heart stopping smile. I find myself melting at just the sight of it.

I’d never seen a man so heart-stoppingly attractive before.

“I missed this today,” he tells me.

“Missed what?” I ask with genuine confusion.

“Your attitude,” he says, heart melting smile still in place.

“What can I say, you bring out the best in me,” I huff out, sitting up straight in the back seat.

He laughs at that. His laughter is cut off when Riley opens up the drivers’ side door and leans his head in, feet staying planted on the pavement.

“What’s so funny?” He asks.

“Sleeping Beauty,” Ian replies, tipping his head in my direction.

As if.

“You snore,” Riley rudely informs me.

I scowl in response. It’s my only response because I have no clue whether what he says is true or not. Up until last night I’ve never slept in the same bed next to another person before in my whole life.

Still… if I did snore, he was a total dick for pointing it out.

“Leave her be,” Ian tells him.

I look away from a smug Riley to a smiling warmly at me Ian and quietly, self-consciously, ask him, “Do I snore?”

“A little, but I think it’s quite adorable,” he answers me with a sweet smile on his face.

I groan and cover my face with my hands, ridiculously embarrassed by something I have no control over. “Great,” I mutter, “just freaking great.”

Riley laughs at me. “You were right, bro. Sleeping Beauty is a fucking riot.”

Har Har.

“Dicks,” I say, removing my hands from my face so they can both see the dirty look I aim their way. “You’re both dicks.”

This makes them laugh harder.

Whatever.

Like I even care.

“Did you get us a room?” Ian asks, all traces of laughter gone. He’s back to being serious and in charge.

“I sure did,” Riley says, proudly waving two key cards around in between his fingers. “I got us a discount because I flirted with the hot guy at the desk. When I was walking out I turned around and caught him checking out my ass.”

Ian lets out a sigh and pulls his long hair back behind his head, holding it there like he can’t stand it hanging in his face. “Just don’t bring him back to our room and traumatize Shayne, okay?”

Riley grins.

I gape, mouth hanging open and all, at them.

“You… you’re…” I stutter out.

”Gay.” Riley says, grinning at me.

I close my mouth and look from him to Ian. He’s studying me closely, watching for my reaction.

I stick my tongue out at him and look back to Riley who is still grinning, “Was he hot?” I ask him.

“Have you seen me?”

“Right,” I mutter, then louder I declare, “He’s hot.”

Ian lets out a breath he must have been holding, drawing my attention back to him. The look on his face tells me he’s relieved. Huh. I realize he must have been worried about what I would think of his brother being gay. It dawns on me just how little we know about each other and yet here I am. On a road trip with virtual strangers – whereabouts unknown.

“Yeah,” Riley says, drawing my attention away from Ian. He’s looking down at me with warmth in his eyes. “He is.”

Geez, had he been worried about my reaction as well?

My stomach picks that moment to start growling and they both laugh at me.

“Let’s get inside our room and we will order something to eat.” Ian says, he looks to Riley, “Sound good to you?”

“Yeah, brother. Sounds good.”

And we do just that.

*****

Ian is stacking empty pizza boxes on the desk in front of the window when Riley stands up and announces he’s leaving to go flirt with the desk clerk.

“Be careful,” Ian solemnly tells him.

“Always, brother, always.”

Ian taps his forehead, “if you need me let me know.”

Riley’s eyes go wide and his face fills with shock, “You want me to use my magic?” He carefully asks. At Ian’s nod he asks, “Just like that?”

“Magic,” I scoff, “people don’t have magic. Please.”

“Right,” Riley says with a smirk on his face, “just like there’s no such thing as Vampires.”

I open my mouth to say something, what I have no idea, but I’m sure it will be good, but Ian gets there first.

“Leave her be. This is all new to her and she doesn’t know anything about magic or Vampires. Go. Be careful and let me know if you need me.”

I like that he’s always sticking up for me with his brother. I don’t think I need him to do it for me, but I most certainly like that he does it.

Riley doesn’t say anything he just shoots me a dirty look and leaves. I guess he doesn’t appreciate his brother sticking up for me as much as I do. Ian and I don’t say anything for a few minutes, we both stand there, lost in our own thoughts, staring at the door.

Ian is the first to break the silence. Thank god, because I’m at a complete loss here, words having failed me. He clears his throat. When I look at him he asks me, “Would you like to watch a movie or something on the television?”

Would I like to watch a movie or something on the television? Uh, no, I would not. Not when there’s so many things he has yet to explain to me. “Maybe you could explain things to me now?”

Subtle, Shayne. Real subtle.

He opens his mouth and closes it a few times before he cautiously asks, “What do you want to know?”

Your every little secret. Your heart’s desire. Shit like that.

I find myself fighting an eye roll. Really? Like he even had to ask me such a stupid question.

“Everything. I want to know everything.” I rush out before he can change his mind and tell me I have to wait longer for him to give me my answers. “I want to know if that thing in my apartment that attacked me was really a Vampire. Why are there no longer any marks on my neck from him biting me? What happened to him? Why did I have to leave my home and Anna May? Why do you think it’s not safe for me? Who you are? Why do you keep calling me your mate? I want to know everything. You told me you would explain it to me and I think now is a pretty damn good time for you to do it. I don’t like being kept in the dark. I want to know what you’ve involved me in here.”

When I’m finally done speaking I suck in a huge lungful of air. I tend to ramble when I’m uncomfortable.

Please,
I think,
don’t brush off my questions this time like you have every other time I’ve asked.

“You’re right.” He says, sounding defeated. “I did tell you I would explain everything. Sit. Get comfortable. I have a feeling this may take some time.”

I sigh in relief. Finally. I am going to get some answers.

Thank god for that because I totally threw my plan right out the window.