by L. Rose
“So you know it’s the council’s usual MO?” Alex asked.
“What do you mean, their usual?”
Alex’s power filled the room. I gripped the arms on the seat, so I didn’t maul him. I didn’t even look at him because I knew I would be a goner. At least twenty files dropped with a bang onto the table. He leaned over them and spread some out.
His fingers drummed on the table. “These are files on higher-up members of society who have died suspiciously, been murdered, or disappeared without a trace. They were members of different types of races. Ones who their own people thought highly of. Including the former ghoul queen, your father, and the currently missing alphas of the tiger and lion clans. However, I haven’t even mentioned the mage, witch, mermaid, troll, or sphinx. The list goes on, but you get my drift. The one thing they all have in common are the groups the council sent out to investigate.”
Motherfuckers. God, I hated the council.
“What does this have to do with us?” Rallis asked from where he stood behind the king. Actually, the only two who sat were the brothers. His other men lined the wall.
“Nothing, if you choose,” I said, leaning into the table and resting my elbows on there to clasp my hands in front of me. “It’ll keep being nothing if no one stands up to the council. Murders, kidnappings, disappearances will continue happening by their hands if there is nothing or no one to challenge them.”
“Why are you the one to challenge them?” Cedrick asked.
I looked to his shoulder. “Because they threatened my people and my land by stating they were coming there. We’re not stupid enough to believe they would have come in peace. They would have slaughtered innocent people, and I won’t stand for it. I’m going to the council to set my own challenge so one day there will be peace. There will be days filled with minimal occurrences. Days I can look forward to spending with my men and my people, without the threat of them hanging over our heads.”
“Will you allow us to take time to think about it?” Kiered asked.
I glanced to Asher as he said, “We leave in two days to travel to speak with the shifters. After that, we’re going to a vampire clan whose master was murdered.”
“You’re hoping they’ll step in as backup?” Cedrick asked.
I nodded, staring at his chin. “Yes, and that’s all we can do. Hope. If any of you chose not to attend the meeting with the council as… let’s say witnesses, then it’s fine. We won’t hold it against anyone.”
Cedrick nodded. “Two days.”
“Do you have somewhere in your town we could stay?” Thorn asked.
“It would be an honor to have you as guests here in our palace.”
Shit. I didn’t think being under the same roof would be good, but at least I had my men to distract me.
Wait… he said castle, right? I wanted to see the outside because I didn’t remember one in the scene he’d set in the room earlier. I knew it was him because when he’d used his magic, he’d set off my mark for him. Why else would I want to hump his leg like a madwoman and kill every woman he’d been with or looked at him.
Speaking of… crap, was I really going to have to do this?
Yes, I was. Damn it.
“Thank you,” I said, dipping my chin in respect. “There is something you might have to warn your people of though.”
“What?” he demanded.
I cleared my throat and shifted in the seat, suddenly uncomfortable. Nate snorted behind me, obviously guessing what I was about to say. I ignored that and Ezra’s snicker.
“Look, ah, there’s no simple way to say it. I’m a little possessive of my men.”
“A little.” Ezra laughed.
Alex covered his mouth, and I knew he was smiling wide behind it. At least Thorn and Asher only had a small smirk.
“Okay, I’m very possessive of my men. I don’t like it when women or men flirt with them.”
“What do you mean by very possessive?”
“She’s near killed over it. If we hadn’t been there, she would have,” Asher explained mildly. “We are also possessive of her. Please pass it along as well.” Asher lifted his gaze to behind the king and narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been undressing her since we arrived. If you do not cease, I’ll have your blood join with the rest over my clothes.”
Cedrick spun around on his seat. “Out,” he clipped low to one of his guards, who quickly bowed and left. My stupid body tingled at Cedrick’s tone. Kiered chuckled but cut it off when his brother glared at him. Cedrick looked back to two men and ordered, “Let it be known, because if someone doesn’t listen, they’ll suffer the consequences. Not Paige and her mates.”
“You would allow them to come into our lands and spout foolish rules like this?” Rallis questioned snottily. I just knew he needed his balls rearranged on his body.
When his king looked to him, Rallis gulped, paled, and stepped back. “Forgive me for speaking out, my lord.”
I didn’t trust him. Admittedly, I didn’t know him, but there was something about him that set off alarm bells throughout me. He was so far up the king’s good-looking ass it wasn’t funny. Yet, he still seemed scared by him. No matter, I’d be keeping an eye on him. I may even have a chat with Cedrick’s brother to see if he’d be willing to speak of Rallis and either confirm my mistrust or defend him.
“It’s been happening a lot lately, Rallis,” Kiered commented while looking at his fingernails. “Is there a reason why?”
“N-No, sir. I just worry for the king is all.”
Kiered hummed under his breath. “Anyway, I think we should all freshen up before dinner.”
Oh fuck. Did they expect me to eat? What? Normal food? I mean, Alex could bring in a meal for me, which was how the ghouls in the group, including myself, were going to be feeding, but I wouldn’t be comfortable eating in front of them.
Ezra’s hand slid to my leg. He smiled over at the king. “We’d love dinner, but I’m afraid some of us are on liquid diets.”
Kiered chuckled. “But of course. We’ll make sure to have something for everyone.”
Unease twisted my stomach. I stared down at the table, trying to think of a way to get out of it but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Unless you would prefer to retire to your rooms?” Cedrick mentioned. Since I hadn’t expected his offer, I lifted my gaze to find him already staring at me. My damn cheeks heated. “I presume something happened on the way here, so you must all be tired.”
“We were attacked. So a rest would be good, thank you,” I told him.
He nodded. “Kiered will show you to your rooms.” He glanced to his brother. “Take them all to the fourth floor.”
“Where—”
“Fourth floor,” he bit out.
“Of course.” He dipped his head then clicked his fingers, and a man stepped close. He spoke in a different language quietly, one I didn’t understand, but the guard nodded and raced out of the room.
“Should we be worried about that or what’s on the fourth floor?” Thorn asked casually. I was glad he mentioned something because it seemed suspicious.
“Nothing to fear. I’m just removing some others on that floor so you can have it to yourselves.”
Kiered looked away when I shifted my gaze to him. What was this about? I wouldn’t jeopardize my men if there was a problem.
“Who was on that floor?” I demanded.
“Not of your concern,” Cedrick clipped.
“Love,” Asher called. “It’s fine. I could do with some rest though.” Meaning he understood what was said and knew we had nothing to worry about.
“Okay.” I nodded, trusting him completely.
“Will you need a room separately?” Cedrick asked suddenly as I stood from my seat.
Nate snorted. “We’re fine in the one room.”
“Let’s just hope the bed’s big enough for all of us,” Alex murmured, being cheeky for some reason.
“Also, that it’s sturdy,” Ezra added with a
smug smile after.
“Guys,” I scolded, not understanding why they were speaking of it in front of the others.
Something snapped. I looked over to see Cedrick dusting something off his hands.
“Right this way,” Kiered called from the doorway. His grin was the biggest I’d seen it. I noticed my men were also smirking or smiling over something.
I would get to the bottom of it when we were in the room.
Out in the hall, Kiered started for the stairs. He glanced back and asked, “You’re mated to all six of them?”
“Six?”
“Xi isn’t a part of the bonded group,” Thorn put in.
“Oh, I thought he was.” Kiered’s gaze slowly ran over Xi in appreciation. Maybe they weren’t bigots here. To my utter shock, Xi blushed and looked everywhere but at the man.
“No, he’s my guard,” I told him. “He was sent from the devil himself because he’s the best there is.”
“Really,” Kiered drew out slowly. Xi’s face heated even more, and I caught him miss a step, but he grabbed the railing, righting himself quickly. Interesting, very interesting. I grinned, thinking Xi deserved a little happiness, and I could tell he wasn’t disgusted by the thought of Kiered.
“He will need a room to himself right next door to us.”
“I’ll make it happen,” Kiered said. He winked at me.
Ezra groaned. “You guys need to install elevators in this place.”
Kiered laughed. “It’s in the pipework; however, since we aren’t in need of them, it keeps getting pushed back.”
“Why aren’t you in need of them?” I asked.
Kiered turned on the step at level three. He levitated a foot off the floor and floated up ahead easily, then landed. “See, easier for us.”
“That’s pretty cool. I forgot you could all do that.” We moved to the next set of stairs and started walking up them. “What was also amazing was the glamour in the room earlier. I can see it was a true picture of what’s out there.” I pointed to a window.
Kiered nodded. “Since the first assassination attempt, we had to move the portal into a secured room in the castle because a couple of times the assassin tried to kill the king on the spot and they’d thought to escape into the woods when they’d realized they were outnumbered. Thankfully, they were hunted and caught.”
“How many attempts have there been?” Xi asked.
“About five.”
Xi cursed just as we reached the fourth floor.
“You say you keep the glamour up until you know you can trust the person. How did you trust us so quickly?” Nate asked.
Good question.
“Yes, ah, well, we didn’t until Cedrick revealed himself to you all.”
“Are you saying he knew to trust us?”
Kiered shrugged and led us down the hall. “The guards can start picking a room as we walk down. But you’ll be in the second to last room, Paige Alice.”
“Just Paige,” I told him.
He smiled. “Just Paige.”
“Why did your brother trust us, Kiered?” Thorn asked again.
“You’ll have to ask him. I’m not sure.”
I had a feeling that was a lie. I caught my men looking at each other. Damn it, they were all thinking it had to do with me.
“Although, you telling Rallis to pull his head out of the king’s ass was a good indication. No one has spoken so freely before. It’s nice.”
“Our queen has a habit of speaking freely. Just another reason we love her,” Alex said, and I grinned at him, wrapping my arm around his waist. He curled his around my shoulders.
Xi sorted the guards into rooms as we continued down the hall. When we were the last, Kiered called Xi’s name, stopping in front of a gold brass door. Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the décor inside. It was over-the-top lavish. It all said “we have money… let me show you.” I’d never seen so many paintings in my life.
“This will be your room,” Kiered announced and pushed open the door.
“I would like to see the queen’s room first, please.”
Ezra clutched his chest and gasped. “He said please.”
Xi scowled at him. There was lightness in Xi’s eyes as he looked at Ezra, which I was sure many would never have been able to spot. My mate loved to give Xi a hell of a time, but it was all in fun. Xi knew it too. It also seemed he was very patient.
“That’s really nice of you, but I promise the room won’t have any booby traps.” Kiered smiled. Xi blinked at him and clasped his hands behind his back. Kiered looked around at us. “Ahh, okay. This way.” He chuckled to himself as he mock-whispered to me, “Is he always so serious?”
I nodded. “Always.”
Kiered smiled widely before moving off to the next room. I had a feeling he took that as a challenge, and he was going to see if he could break Xi out of his robotic emotions. The only time I’d seen him smile was fighting those demons earlier.
Kiered opened the next door and swung it all the way in before stepping back and sweeping out his hand. “After you, sweet Xi.”
Ezra snorted, and I covered my smile with my hand when I noticed a blush on Xi’s cheeks as he stepped through ignoring us. I waited in the hall until he came back out and dipped his head. “You may enter.”
“Thanks, Xi.” I smiled.
“However,” he started and turned to Kiered, “I would like to know whose room is on the other side.” He pointed to the last door in that hallway.
Kiered coughed and ran a hand at the back of his neck. Were the tips of his ears tinting red? “The king’s.”
Ezra laughed. “Makes me wonder why he would want us on his floor.”
“Yes, I wonder why,” Nate said sarcastically.
Well, it had better not have anything to do with me, because I didn’t want that. Why would he do that? Did he sense something? Oh shit. Did I share my lust into him? Did he think he was mine now? I wouldn’t have him. I wouldn’t.
I had my five. Five was more than enough.
Roughly, I heard Xi say something, but I didn’t take it in because I was freaking out in my mind. I didn’t want my men to think they weren’t enough for me. They were. They would always be. Why were the fucking Fates doing this to me?
Wait… the bond hadn’t been completed. I could get away from him, from here, and never see him again. Then things would go back to how they were.
Besides, I didn’t like white hair. I liked blond, black, brown… not white. I snorted to myself. The way he dressed wasn’t a turn-on. Not that I was looking for things to turn me on about him, because I wasn’t, and I refused to think about his eyes, ears, and body.
“How’s she doing?” someone asked.
“She’ll be fine,” someone else replied.
Guilt stabbed at me. How greedy could one ghoul be? I had five amazing, perfect mates. They were the absolute best, all challenging me in different ways. All accepting me for who I was. I didn’t need another.
And that was final.
I would refuse to complete the bond.
I would dodge Cedrick at all costs.
Blinking, I focused in front of me to see I was sitting on a large bed in an extravagant bedroom. I’d thought mine was big. This was twice its size, with a little kitchenette of its own. Asher stood with Thorn leaning against the wall talking quietly. Alex and Nate lounged on the bed behind me, and Ezra sat between my legs on the floor. Reaching out, I ran my hand through his hair. He turned quickly, getting to his knees.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi, sorry to space out there for a moment.”
He took my hands in his and pressed his cheek against them. “It’s okay. We understand you’ve sensed the connection with the king.”
I sighed and glanced to my other men. Nate and Alex moved forward on the bed to sit on each side of me. “I’ve felt the connection, yes. However, I’m refusing to accept it.”
“Why, love?” Asher asked, straightening from the wall to come over with Th
orn. Both stopped in front of us.
“Because I have five amazing mates already. I don’t need or want another.” Before he or anyone else could say anything, I shot my hand up. “Please don’t say anything. I know you all think this is out of our hands because the Fates picked this choice for me, but the fact is there’s a choice to complete the bond, which means it’s an out for this connection. I’m taking that out.”
“Would Cedrick have a say?” Thorn asked.
“No, yes, well… I don’t know.” I lifted one hand out from under Ezra’s head and ran my fingers through his hair. “You guys didn’t know about the connection until Thorn said something. I mean, you felt a little of something, but that was it. If he asks, we’ll ignore it, play it off as we don’t know what he’s talking about. Then we’ll leave and I won’t have to see him again.”
I disregarded my heart since it felt like it was weeping in my chest or ready to explode at the thought of leaving without Cedrick.
“If he decides to join us on our quest?” Alex asked softly.
My stomach fluttered. “I doubt he would. He’s king. He’ll have too many other things to take care of here. It looks three times the size of our place. If anything, I think he could send some men, but that’s it.”
Asher hummed under his breath. I glowered up at him and snapped, “What?”
“Nothing, love.”
“Asher.” I shook my head. “Actually, I don’t want to know. Can we do something else for a moment and then talk business after?”
Asher smiled, showing a bit of fang. “I’m rather parched. Nate, would you—”
“Yes,” Nate clipped before Asher could finish.
“Perfect,” I said. “Entertain me, my mates.”
“Always, my queen,” Asher said. As soon as Nate was in front of him, he spun Nate around to have his back to his front. Nate squirmed, bringing on his half form. He snarled as Asher scraped his fangs on his neck. Nate reached behind him, grabbed a handful of clothes, and pulled, flipping Asher over his head.
The fight was on and it brought a smile to my face.
“Alex, they’re in too many clothes. Thorn, Ezra, come up on the bed with us.” I laughed when Ezra jumped up quickly and bounced flat on the bed.