“Look at that little cherub,” I pointed, laughing. “He’s peeing.”
“I always find those things funny, too,” Diana said, her hand in mine. “What are those?” She asked, pointing at a little stone statue of a small lion.
“Baby lions? Baby lions shooting water out of their mouths?” I asked.
“Just adorable,” she laughed.
“Fountains are weird,” I said, as we turned and headed toward the east side of the castle grounds towards the garden I’d seen earlier.
“This whole place is just out of control,” Diana said. “So opulent and luxurious. I can’t imagine growing up here.”
“Me, either,” I replied, thinking of the rundown mobile home I’d been raised in. The only thing good that came out of that place was my friendship with Riot — and me, of course.
“It’s weird to think that a place as big and sprawling and beautiful as this could basically become a prison for the princesses.”
“I guess,” I shrugged. “They could have had it much worse. Not that I’m discounting what they’ve gone through, of course. At least he didn’t lock them in a dungeon or something.”
“Yeah,” she agreed with a half-smile. We reached the garden and her eyes lit up with joy. My heart swelled looking at her standing amongst the flowers, happiness pouring off of her. “This is so beautiful!”
“You’re beautiful,” I said, pulling her into my arms and kissing her. She leaned against me, her body waking up every cell in my own. I couldn’t help but want more of her.
“Hey, let’s keep walking,” I suggested. I was hoping to find a discreet place to release some tension. The place was huge, so I figured my chances were pretty good. We walked around the back of the property and came upon a gate that opened up into the bottom of the castle.
“What do you think is in there?” Diana asked.
“Only one way to find out,” I winked, leading her over to the gate. A heavy iron latch secured it but I was able to wrench it free and pull the gate open. I made an exaggerated gesture to usher her in.
“After you, m’lady,” I bowed.
She giggled and walked in slowly. I closed the gate behind us and followed her in.
“It’s dark,” she whispered. Her voice echoed off the stone walls. To our left was a long hallway with a dirt floor that we headed down.
“Yeah, it’s a little musty, too,” I said.
“What’s that smell?” Diana asked, putting a hand over her nose.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe this is where the king discards his enemies.”
“Oh, come on.”
“It could happen,” I shrugged. “He seems like a mean sonofabitch to me.”
“Takes one to know one,” she said.
“Hey,” I protested, stopping her and pressing her against the wall. “You won’t be calling me that when I have you screaming in pleasure in about five minutes.”
I kissed her deeply, our tongues tangling together, our bodies pressing together, my cock twitching hotly between us. She moaned into my mouth, and within seconds I was hard as a rock. I couldn’t wait to get inside of her sweet warmth, but first I wanted to make her scream my name until it echoed off the walls.
I sank to my knees, lifting her long flowing skirt and disappearing beneath it. She gasped as my mouth touched her naked center and I couldn’t help but smile. She knew I liked to have easy access to her delicious self and humored me by not wearing panties when I was around. I loved her for it.
My mouth found exactly what I was looking for.
Delving between her lips, my tongue got to work making her feel good. I knew just what she liked, exactly where to lick and where to suck and where to press, and when, and just as I expected, within minutes, she was calling my name.
“Slade, oh god, Slade, yes, yes! Slade!” My name echoed off the walls and down the hall, the coolest effect ever.
I kept going, knowing soon I’d be rewarded with her sweet peachy nectar. She wrapped a thigh around my shoulder to brace herself, her hands reaching down and pushing my head into her body, a clear signal she was close.
“Oh, fuck, babe!” She cried, her hips rocking, her breath catching.
I pulled away for a second, just enough to tease her, to make her beg for me to keep going. I loved that shit.
“No!” She protested. “Don’t stop, oh baby, please?”
With a sly smile, I bent my head again, continuing until she was writhing again on my tongue.
“Slade! Slade! Slade!” She shouted and I felt like a fucking rock star. I didn’t need a stadium full of people calling my name for that to happen either. All I needed was the most beautiful woman on God’s green Earth calling my name in pleasure and I was on top of the fucking world.
She froze and I waited for the stream of deliciousness, knowing her body was seizing up in pleasure.
“SLADE!” She cried. My brow wrinkled in confusion as my reward never came.
“SLADE! OH GOD!”
I grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over my head to look up at her. The look of terror in her eyes snapped me out of my pleasure trance and I snapped my head in the direction she was pointing.
The roar of the lion echoed off the walls much louder than Diana screaming my name. It stood about fifty feet away, watching us intently.
“Fuck!” I said, jumping up in front of Diana and pinning her to the wall behind me. “What the fuck!”
“Oh, my god! Slade!” she cried.
Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I tried to remember exactly what you were supposed to do when you encountered a lion. Did you make yourself appear bigger, like when you came across a bear in the woods? I was well-versed in bear encounters, but I’d never come across a fucking lion.
Why the fuck is there a lion in the bottom of the goddamned castle?
I always knew my death would be unpredictable, but I never expected this shit to be the way I’d go.
It let out another loud roar, vibrating through my veins. I swallowed hard as I tried to think.
“Well, babe, I always said I’d go through the flames of hellfire to protect you. Looks like the road to hell is straight through a lion’s mouth,” I whispered.
“I can’t believe this is how we die!” She was trembling behind me, clinging tightly to my back.
“Maybe by the time it's finished with me, it’ll be full and you can get away.”
“You’re thin as a fucking rail, Slade!” She hissed. “A sack of bones! You’re nothing but an afternoon snack to this beast!”
The lion roared once again, throwing his head back and letting out the biggest, loudest roar yet. I was certain the stone walls were shaking.
“Fuck,” I muttered. I took a step forward, then threw my hands over my head as high as they would go. I wrinkled up my face in a scowl and growled a low, angry growl.
“I think that only works with bears, babe,” Diana cried.
The lion cocked its head to the side, then started towards us.
“Back off, bitch!” I shouted, trying my best to sound intimidating. I looked down the long hallway we’d come down, wondering if we could make it if we made a run for it. But I remembered some David Attenborough narrated documentary telling me that lions could run fifty miles an hour and jump up to thirty-six feet.
Fucking great.
There’s no way I’m letting this asshole get to Diana.
“Babe, I think we’re fucked,” I said. “I’m going to distract it. You run like hell the way we came in. Don’t look back. Don’t stop. You understand?”
“I’m not leaving you here!”
I shot a look over my shoulder at her that told her I meant business.
“Yes, you sure as fucking will, Diana! You are not leaving our son alone in this world! If one of us has to go, it’s me! He’s not getting both of us. Now, listen, I’m going to run towards him, and you start running the other way, do you understand me, woman?”
“Slade, I —.”
<
br /> An object flew through the air past us and landed with a wet thump near the lion.
“What the —?”
I turned in the direction it came from and saw Andrew standing there with a bucket of bloody flesh in his hands.
“What the hell are you two doing in here?” he shouted.
“What the hell is a lion doing in here?” I demanded in return.
“This is Sandy. She was gifted to the girls when she was just a kitten. She’s almost thirteen now.”
“Who gives a fucking lion as a gift to two little girls?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the lion, who was now happily consuming the flesh on the ground.
“The King of Ghana. He came to visit once. In their culture, it’s rude to show up empty handed. To refuse the gift would have started a war.”
Sandy quickly devoured the steak and Andrew threw more to her. I was happy to see her interest in me and Diana had disappeared.
“He couldn’t have brought a stuffed lion?”
“Guess that wouldn’t be fit for a princess,” he replied. “She’s actually quite a sweetheart.”
He walked over, dropping another piece of steak on the ground in front of her, then reaching down to pet the back of her neck. She looked up at him, then rubbed her head against him, purring loudly.
“Best not go down this way again,” Andrew said. “Sandy doesn’t really like strangers in her space.”
I grabbed Diana’s trembling hand and we slowly started walking back the way we came.
“I don’t think Sandy has to worry about seeing us again.”
Chapter 24
CLARA
Word traveled fast that Willa got ahold of my phone.
Walking through the castle a few hours later, the staff avoided me. Addy, the cook, shuffled away, muttering to herself, as I entered the kitchen. Elizabeth, the house mistress, glanced away when I ran across her in the hallway. I hadn’t caught sight of Andrew and Sullivan, and that in itself was rare — they were always milling about, rarely hanging out at the security station. They both told me it got boring, and it was a lot easier to pass the time if they roamed the grounds and castle. Harold, the king’s butler and driver, had been lingering close to Joe for days now. He was naturally quiet, so I didn’t take his absence personally, but when I tried to visit Joe after dinner, Harold wouldn’t let me near him.
“Harold, I know you heard about my phone,” I said.
“His Majesty needs his time alone right now, I’m sure you understand, Miss,” he replied, always the polite and proper gentleman. Harold had been serving the royal family since he was a teen, and his father did the same before him. His loyalty ran deep and he was a valued member of the team. He may have been the butler and driver, but he was more of a gatekeeper than anything. The staff as a whole did whatever it took to protect Joe and the twins from the outside world.
They’d done a great job. Until now.
The stress was starting to show. Harold looked a little frazzled and while I wanted to press the issue and get past him so I could talk to Joe and apologize privately, I gave Harold a break and let the issue drop.
“See you in the morning,” I said, walking away.
It was getting late and I wasn’t sure where to go. Nobody wanted to talk to me. I felt alone and guilty and worried and no amount of deep breaths and self-talk made me feel any better.
My head was spinning and being alone wasn’t helping.
I stumbled upon Stryker outside of Riot’s room and the amount of happiness I felt when I laid eyes on him was probably a lot more excessive than it should have been. There was just something about this man.
He was gentle and comforting and goddamned sexy and distracting.
He was exactly what I needed, if I was being honest.
Maybe a little too much, actually. The distraction he provided was a little dangerous and a whole lot exciting. There was a spark of attraction that I felt towards him that left me wanting more, each time I’d crossed his path.
His smile left me breathless.
“Hey,” he muttered, so disarming, so casually, as if his every movement wasn’t full of sex appeal.
Did he even know how sexy he was?
Did he have any idea how much heat rolled off his frame every time he moved? He was like a volcano, oozing sex and desire and fire, all at once. I wanted to sink into that heat and forget everything else existed. I wanted to let him engulf me, consume me. My eyes raked over his massive biceps, and I couldn’t help but yearn for him to wrap them around me, block out all the sadness and worry that had washed over me the last few days.
One adorably crooked smile thrown my way was enough to start the process.
“Hi,” I replied, attempting to put my emotions and desires in check. I barely knew this man but the yearning to know him much, much better was overwhelming. My eyes darted over his body, drinking him in, wondering about the bits I couldn’t see, memorizing the ones I could.
Did he know how his presence impacted me?
Did I do the same to him?
He seemed to walk through the world effortlessly, completely unflappable. Me, on the other hand? I’m a hot mess of emotion and it shows.
There’s no way he doesn’t see it.
My emotions are like a flag I’m waving around — look at me, look at me! I’m a disaster! I screwed up and caused a princess to go missing!
“Looks like you’re having a hard time relaxing,” he said, his eyes piercing right through me.
It was uncomfortable. Unwelcome. I wasn’t ready for anyone to see me the way he seemed to be seeing me. My usual armor was useless with him. I squared my shoulders. Lifted my chin.
“I”m fine,” I said, my chin quivering despite my best efforts.
“Bullshit.”
He said it so matter-of-factly, without judgement, with complete and utter certainty.
How could I deny it when he was so right?
“Fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I screwed up royally, no pun intended.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I thought I lost my phone in the city, at my apartment. I’m rarely there but I thought I left it there on a rare weekend off.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I can’t believe she found it. It doesn’t make sense. How would anyone know to contact her there? I can’t believe how wrong I was.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
His statement, repeated so simply, seemed to finally cut through my incessant thoughts, breaking right through my heart and massaging the blame I’d placed on myself away.
“Someone sent a ransom note,” he said. “Riot just told me.”
“What!” I cried. “Then she didn’t leave on her own?”
“We don’t know yet. But what I do know is that it isn’t your fault, no matter what.”
My mouth gaped open and the tears started falling. He closed the distance between us and gathered me in his arms.
I allowed it, those massive biceps wrapping around me and giving me exactly what I needed - a gentle kindness that I hadn’t had in a really long time.
It was as delicious as I imagined it would be.
And then, just as quickly as it arrived, he pulled away. I stared up at him, his head bent towards me, so close, too close, close enough to easily close the distance between our lips with just a slight lift of my chin.
His eyes peered into mine, a question in them that we both knew the answer to. Tentatively, I lifted my chin, yearning to feel the caress of his lips.
“Take it easy on yourself, Clara,” he said, his words caressing my heart, instead of the desired caress from his lips.
He stepped around me quickly, leaving me feeling even lonelier than I did before. I turned, watching him walk away with the strongest yearning I’d ever felt. I wanted to run to him, throw my arms around him, tell him how I was feeling and get that kiss I so desperately needed.
Instead, I sighed, resigning myself to my silent sufferin
g.
Chapter 25
STRYKER
Maybe it wasn’t the most professional thing to do, gathering her in my arms like that, but the woman was clearly hurting.
What kind of man would I be to not offer comfort?
But goddamn, if holding her didn’t feel like coming home.
I’d almost kissed her. Her damned lips were right there. Lush. Inviting. Sexy.
I’m pretty fucking sure she wanted it to, but maybe I’m just misinterpreting her sadness to suit my own desires.
Either way, I should probably not embrace her like that again.
Walking away from her was hard as hell. Clara’s the kind of woman you ran to, not walked away from.
Her eyes were soft and welcoming.
And that body, those hips, those curves…
I could spend years getting to know them. The thought of her bare, velvety skin under my hands, her lips pressed against mine, my body sliding into her — my god, it was enough to make me insane.
Since I wasn’t needed at the moment, I rushed back to my room and locked the door before heading into the shower. I put the cold water on full blast and practically threw myself in, letting the cold extinguish the intense heat Clara brought to the surface.
It wasn’t enough.
I had no choice but to give in to the demands of my aching body. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to indulge in my lustful fantasies.
I told myself it was just this once.
What a lie.
Chapter 26
JOE
I couldn’t bear the wait.
I felt like a monster, like I was just letting Willa perish.
Enough was enough.
I tried to read, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I drank more bourbon. That didn’t help either. It only pissed me off.
Eventually, in the late evening, I went to find Riot to tell him I was going out searching myself. I was ready to forget my stupid fantasy of trying to keep this quiet. I didn’t give a damn about the country.
All I cared about was my daughter.
Let the people say what they wanted, let them think anything they wanted, I didn’t care anymore.
BLOOD PRINCESS: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK 17) Page 8