After we finished my hair, I tried on all the clothes Dragon had collected for me. I’d never seen such things! There was a black denim jacket that was covered in patches, with little silver spikes lining the outside of the arms and the shoulders. We ripped up a pair of black jeans together, which was somehow exhilarating and freeing. And he’d gotten me a black and white t-shirt with a skull on it.
I couldn’t stop laughing every time I looked in the mirror.
It was the most fun I’d ever had in my life.
And I didn’t recognize myself at all.
I loved it. All of it.
When Dragon suggested we pierce my nose, I said yes without thinking about the pain. But now that it was over and I saw it, I was glad I’d done it, despite the fact that my nose was red as a rose and throbbing painfully.
I touched it again, smiling shyly over at Dragon.
He’d been so nice to me. I wasn’t sure why he would go through all this trouble and do so much for me — helping me escape, giving me a place to stay, buying me all these clothes — but I was so grateful.
I’d only dreamed of experiencing things like this.
Experiencing life and adventure.
This is what living was about. Not being locked up in a castle like a dirty secret.
I knew what my family thought of me.
I wasn’t blind, or deaf, or stupid.
Mostly, I was just quiet and they took that as me being different somehow. Different than what? Eva? Maybe. But after all we went through, I just turned inward and didn’t really ever want to come out.
I didn’t mind being isolated so much at first.
But after a while, all of that changed.
I wanted more. But it was too confusing and too complicated to even talk about. I saw what my mother’s death and our abduction did to my father. I understood why he did what he did, locking us away like that. But I also saw the rage. Heard the crashing of glasses behind closed doors. Saw his glassy eyes in the morning and the pain that stormed in them daily.
It was just easier to stay in my own head.
It didn’t mean anything else. But they sure thought it did.
Dragon didn’t look at me like they did, and that was the best thing of all about him.
We’d spent the last two days hidden away in his lighthouse. He’d been vague about how he was able to get the keys to it, but I didn’t need to know. I was just grateful we were alone and able to hide out.
Now that we’d changed my appearance completely, we were ready to venture out into the city. Dragon said he had a few places in mind for us to visit, including a nightclub for later this evening.
I was extremely excited.
He stood behind me, his body pressed against my back, as we looked into the mirror together.
“You look better than I imagined you would,” he said, smiling.
“Thank you, it feels incredible,” I replied, smiling back at him. My stomach quivered having him so close.
“What about that?” He asked, motioning to the necklace hanging around my neck. I reached up, touching the medallion my mother had made for me, the exact copy of the one around Eva’s neck.
We never took them off.
My head spun at the thought of taking it off, and I realized maybe I wasn’t quite ready to be on my own after all.
I lifted it from my chest, and stuffed it under my shirt.
“I’ll just put it away for now,” I said.
Dragon smiled and nodded, “Are you ready?”
“I think so?” I said, totally ready and completely unsure, all at the same time.
We laughed together and he grabbed his backpack and we headed down the spiral staircase that led us down the center of the lighthouse. We jumped into his car after he locked up and headed off.
All I could think about was that anything at all was possible.
And I was ready for anything that came my way.
Dragon reached over and grabbed my hand, the warmth of his palm against mine leaving me breathless.
Chapter 12
JOE
I questioned every decision I’d ever made.
When my beloved Poppy was alive, I had the confidence of a million men. Once I’d lost her, everything in my life changed — inside and out. I felt as if I was floating unprotected in the middle of the sea, that I would drown at any second. Lost and alone, I went back to the only thing I knew without her.
The castle. My father. My fate.
The fate I’d mistakenly thought I had control over.
But this blood running through my veins was what controlled my life, not me. I had no say. I had no life. I had no dreams.
All I had was the life I was born to live, a story already written before I’d ever arrived.
Poppy and the twins, as amazing as she was and they are, were not enough to change my fate.
I vowed to do my best by the girls. But I’d failed miserably at that, too.
Even when I thought I had another chance when I got them back, apparently I’d not even done the right thing by locking them away, because once again, my heart had been ripped out of my chest and Willa was gone.
There is so much that nobody sees. Nobody understands why I didn’t just leave this island, why I keep taking all this pain. Anyone else may have jumped from a bridge at this point.
And don’t get me wrong, I’ve contemplated all the ways I could end this misery.
Unfortunately, I’m the one responsible for so much. The people of this island, this entire country. I must admit, a lot of the time, even that isn’t enough to keep me from fantasizing about being free of all of this pain.
But then I think of Poppy. I think of the girls. I could never let them down. I could never abandon them.
It was a double-edged sword and I felt the slice of its blade every single day.
So, I drink to take the edge off, just a little. I try to do it outside of the sight of the girls. I’m sure I fail at that, too.
As I face another day without knowing where Willa is, I’ve started a little early, but it doesn’t matter. The whiskey is failing as badly as I am.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and I put my glass down on my desk and called out.
“Come in!” My voice sounded much more confident and sharp than I felt, and I was grateful for that. The last thing I needed was for anyone at all to see that I was cracking under all this weight and worry.
The door opened and the journalist’s face poked through the open door.
“Diana, come in!” I nodded.
She was so beautiful. Smart. Very American.
Her reputation was impeccable and I was looking forward to our interview. I planned to begin a huge public relations campaign to increase tourism to the island, doing my best to give our sagging economy a boost. I’d hired a public relations firm who had begged me to parade the girls around, insisting that would be the best route to bringing bodies to the island, but that just felt sick to me.
So, I’d agreed to put my own face out there, perhaps pretend to let a morsel of random information drop, something we were still working on making up, just to increase interest. My interview with Diana was where that was supposed to happen.
Now, I had to put the entire plan on hold.
Diana walked into the room and over to my desk with a soft smile.
“I must apologize in person for calling off the interview,” I said.
“Please don’t,” she replied, shaking her head. “Obviously, it’s not appropriate any longer.”
“Of course,” I said. “I appreciate your offer of help. It feels very odd accepting help from strangers, but I wanted to tell you I appreciate it.”
“Of course!” She said, her smile widening. “The guys are hard at work now. I wanted to stop in and see if there was anything I could do for you.”
“That’s kind of you,” I replied. “My staff is taking care of me.”
“Right,” she nodded. “I thought you might need som
eone to talk to. You seem so alone here, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“I have my daughters. I’m not alone.”
“Of course,” she agreed, gently smiling again. “I meant an adult, I suppose.”
“Are you trying to get your interview after all, Diana?”
She laughed, a loud peel of laughter that reminded me of Poppy’s laugh, and an ache swelled in my chest. I missed her so very much.
“No, Sir, I promise,” she said. “The important thing is to find Willa. I was just offering an ear, I assure you.”
I nodded. “Very well then, I appreciate that. I’m afraid you’ll find I’m a man of few words, Diana.”
“I did get that impression, Sir,” she winked at me and I couldn’t help but smile. It felt foreign to have my lips stretching across my face and I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I actually smiled.
“Thank you for coming,” I said. “It was kind of you to check on me.”
“Anytime you want to talk, let me know. Completely off the record,” she said, holding her hands up in surrender, before walking out and closing the door behind her.
I reached up, touching my lips as the smile faded away. The realization that I’d not smiled since Poppy was alive hit me like a strike of lightning. Perhaps it was shortly after the birth of the twins, but before she passed away. It had all happened so fast, but her death had ripped away any feelings of anything good in my life, even with the twins. All I was focused on was taking care of them and keeping them safe and alive.
Happiness wasn’t on the agenda.
And it wasn’t there now, either.
I felt helpless now and lost and confused.
A tear sprang to my eye and I winced with surprise and pain. I was the King of Lilivania. I wasn’t allowed to cry, to feel pain, to feel anything at all.
Shaking my head, I blinked the tears away, replacing my sadness with anger and rage, two emotions I was much more familiar and comfortable with.
Heat filled my veins as I downed the remaining whiskey in my glass and threw the glass into the fireplace, the shattered shards of glass shimmering in the flames.
Chapter 13
RIOT
After searching Willa’s room thoroughly, I came up with nothing. No diaries, no hidden phones, nothing unusual at all.
My next step was to start hacking.
I set up a station in my bedroom with my computers and equipment, and started mapping out the nearby businesses. There weren’t many at all, and I was able to narrow it down to a half dozen that might have some useful footage of traffic outside their premises.
Since I wasn’t affiliated with official law enforcement, and Joe was so opposed to asking them for help because he was so afraid they’d leak everything, I was forced to attempt to hack into their systems covertly.
It wasn’t easy but after a few hours, I was able to get into most of them. Once I was in, it took another hour to download the footage.
The sun was setting outside my window as I finally finished. A knock sounded at my door and I walked over to open it and found Joe standing there.
“Hello,” he said, his eyes glassy, his speech slightly slurred.
“Sir, please come in,” I said, standing to the side to allow him to walk in.
“Any progress?” he asked.
“Yes and no,” I said. “I was able to obtain the surveillance footage of six different businesses surrounding the castle. I’m just about to spend the rest of the night going through it. It will take a while.”
“I see,” he said. “I suppose this would go a lot faster if I allowed this to go public. You must be judging me for my decision.”
“Not at all,” I replied. “I understand. If anyone understands not going to the police, it’s us, Sir. This is what we do as Solid Ground. We’ve helped all kinds of people. I’m confident we’ll find Willa, Sir. Would it go faster if we went public? Absolutely. But there are extreme risks with that.”
“Indeed there are. My country is not stable. Our economy is on the verge of collapsing. Our entire country would be thrown into chaos and poverty if my people knew how close we were. And if they knew Willa was out there, it would be like a witch hunt, and I’m afraid she certainly wouldn’t be safe in those circumstances.”
“I agree, Sir.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“I appreciate that, I’m okay right now,” I replied. “I will let you know as soon as I find anything at all.”
“Please do,” he said. “I will have Addy, our cook, bring a late dinner to your room. Please let her know if you need anything at all.”
“Thank you, Sir,” I said.
He walked over to the door, his shoulders held back, his chin forward. He was putting on a good act, but I saw the pain in his eyes. I’d seen it a million times before.
It was hard to wait.
It was hard not to know.
This kind of pain took a toll on a man and the darkness was all-consuming.
All I wanted to do was help him and the only way I knew how to do that was to do the job I’d been asked to do.
I’d be up all night working, but it would be worth it. I wouldn’t stop until I’d succeeded in finding this girl.
Chapter 14
SLADE
Diana looked like an angel splayed out on the royal blue velvet bed. A thick canopy draped over the edges, tied back with deep maroon tassels.
After checking in with Riot and saying goodnight — he insisted he didn’t need help — so we retired to our bedroom to do what we always did when we had some free time alone: make love with wild abandon.
Only tonight, we got to make love in a fucking castle.
“All that’s missing is your crown, my queen,” I said, crawling towards her on the bed. She smiled up at me, sending beams of love straight to my heart. I pulled her into my arms, kissing her deeply as she arched her back, pressing her perfect breasts into my chest as she moaned softly into my mouth.
She tasted like peaches, every single time. The sweetest fruit I’d ever known.
“We’ve never made love in a castle,” I said.
“Which is weird,” she replied, with a wink, “because you’ve been my king for years now.”
I laughed at her words, kissing her again.
There was nothing I wouldn’t do for this woman, or our son, Jeremiah. And after having him, we didn’t get a lot of time away, so while he was being tended to by two of his favorite people back home at our clubhouse — Grace and Lacey — his mother and I were determined to make the most of it.
Her thighs wrapped around my hips as she pulled me inside of her. I sank deep into her warmth, waves of pleasure washing over me as my cock twitched hotly inside of her.
“Oh, baby,” she cried, throwing her head back and pulling me even closer. “Don’t stop, Slade, don’t ever stop!”
“Never, beauty, never,” I growled, giving her every inch, every ounce of strength and every bit of attention that this amazing woman deserved. As I began thrusting in and out of her, her cries rose, echoing off the stone walls of the castle. I wondered if the stone absorbed the sound or amplified it, but to be honest, I didn’t really care.
As I sank back into her completely, capturing her cries in my mouth, all thoughts or concern for anyone else disappeared completely.
All that mattered was pleasing my woman.
And I was really damned skilled at that.
Chapter 15
RIOT
It took all night but I finally found something.
The sun was rising over the garden outside my window when I first spotted the white van. It was dirty, with a small dent in the driver’s side door. Driven by what looked like an older teenage boy with wildly colored hair, it was the passenger I was interested in.
She had the same long blonde hair as the princess. She was smiling in all the recent pictures Joe had given me, and the girl in the video wasn�
��t smiling, but wide eyed and nervous looking. She kept looking behind her, and while I only had about five seconds of video of them driving by a small butcher near the castle, I was pretty certain it was her. Unfortunately, the view was from the side and I couldn’t see a license plate.
I hacked into the equivalent of Lilivania’s motor vehicle registration system, and searched for all vehicles that matched. I found over a dozen, and wrote down all the names and addresses associated with them, before heading downstairs to find my guys and inform Joe.
I found all the Gods sitting around a table in the dining room, consuming a giant feast that was laid out on the table.
“Hey brother,” Slade greeted me, with a chocolate croissant in his hand. “Did you get any sleep?”
“No,” I said, grabbing a plate and piling it with bacon and eggs. “But I’m pretty sure I found a video of the princess in a van driving away.”
“Score!” Slade said. “That’s amazing!”
“It’s just the beginning,” I said. “I couldn’t make out the plate, but I have a bunch of addresses to visit. So, eat up because we’re leaving in half an hour to make a few house calls.”
Stryker, Wreck, Diana and Clara were sitting at the table with him and they all smiled as I joined them.
“We could have helped,” Diana offered. “You didn’t have to stay up all night.”
“It was better that I do that part alone,” I explained. “I’ll definitely need the God’s help now.”
“We’re ready to kick a whole lotta ass, brother!” Slade offered.
“I’m hoping that won’t be necessary,” I said, shoving my breakfast in my mouth.
“Maybe just a little ass then,” Slade shrugged.
“Down, boy,” I laughed.
“Sorry, been a while,” he said. “Getting the itch.”
“You’ve always got the itch, dude,” Wreck said.
Slade laughed and nodded. “You’re right about that, man.”
I was almost done eating when Joe walked in, looking even worse than he did yesterday. His eyes were bloodshot and he reeked of booze.
BLOOD PRINCESS: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK 17) Page 5