“You don’t have a car,” Saina reminded him. She was feeling exhausted from the almost twenty hours she’d just spent in the hospital and the mind-blowing orgasm he’d given her. She was almost comatose on her feet. It was after three a.m., and she needed food in the worst way. After healing anyone, her body immediately craved food.
“I have something better than a car, and I need food too.” Thorne grabbed her hand.
“Wait.” She glanced at him in surprise. “Can you read my mind or something?”
He laughed. “Don’t be frightened, but I rarely travel in a car.”
“What?” she exclaimed seconds before she felt nothing, and then they were in her tiny bedroom.
“Do you mind telling me why a woman of your wealth is living in this hovel with a roommate?” Thorne grouched.
“What the hell was that?” Saina yelled at him.
“I told you, I don’t travel in cars.”
“H…how are you able to do that? I had no idea you could take someone along with you.”
“Mind over matter,” he murmured.
“Really? Is it something everyone in Parth can do?”
“No, my father, my grandfather, and I have had that kind of power. Only males in the family have been able to teleport.”
“What else can you do?” Saina knew she sounded like an overexcited teenager, but she was truly intrigued.
‘Tell you what, princess”—he moved closer to her, crowding her personal space and lowered his voice—“you tell me your secrets and I’ll tell you mine.”
Despite wanting to put some space between them, she didn’t dare touch him to push him away. “What happened earlier between us can’t be controlled,” she said with far more confidence than she felt.
“As hot as that was, I’m not letting you abuse my body again,” he teased.
“I would love to stand here all night having this little chat, but I’m starving.”
“I’ve called ahead and had my housekeeper cook us a meal,” he told her. “But first, I need you to pack a bag and come with me.”
“Thorne, I’m too tired for this right now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“It’s already tomorrow, and I’m not leaving you here, Saina.”
“There’s no need to worry about me. I’ll fix something quick.”
“You’re not hearing me. Pack a bag or you’ll be leaving here with only what you have on.”
“Thorne—” Saina didn’t finish her sentence, as in seconds, Thorne transported them to one of the most stylish modern kitchens she had ever seen.
“Are you insane? Stop doing that!”
“I’m a big guy,” Thorne said as though that was supposed to explain everything. He moved about the kitchen gathering plates, utensils, and a few covered dishes from the oven.
“What?”
“I’m too damn hungry. I didn’t have time to argue with you.” He arranged the items on the granite-top island in the kitchen.
Saina couldn’t prevent her mouth from salivating at the smell of grilled chicken, barbeque ribs, primavera penne pasta, and steamed broccoli. She grabbed a plate, piled it high with food, and dug in without taking a seat. They both ate as though they were starved.
“So, what are you hoping to accomplish here?” Saina asked him once her stomach was moderately full and she was feeling less desperate for sustenance.
“I’ve told you. You’re my responsibility, and I don’t like that dump you’re staying in.” Thorne dug into his second plate of food.
“You don’t like it, take me to Parth with you.”
“What you want doesn’t make sense. My enemies keep changing. How can I protect you when I don’t know who the fuck I’m protecting you from? And don’t tell me that you won’t be in any danger. I can’t see a woman of Anastasia’s arrogance not trying to kill you the minute she realizes who you are.”
“But—”
“It’s late. Let me show you to your room.”
Saina rolled her eyes, knowing that it was pointless to try dissuading him. She reluctantly trailed behind him as he stalked up the stairway.
Almost two hours later, Saina sat up in the middle of her bed, waking from a deep sleep. After taking a long shower, she’d fallen immediately into the comfortable king-sized bed and was comatose within seconds of her head hitting the pillow. Now she was wide-awake and had no idea what had woken her up. And then the sound came again: footsteps trying to move quietly along the wooden floor hallway.
Saina swung her legs off the bed as a few more footsteps passed her bedroom door. She had no idea what she would do with a couple of intruders in the house, but she had to do something to help Thorne. Dressed in only a large T-shirt on loan from Thorne, she crept silently to the closed door and pressed her ear against it.
Soon the hall was filled with the sound of fierce fighting. Saina gingerly edged open the door and peeked down the hall. With a laser saber that seemed to be an extension of his hand, Thorne was engaged in an obvious deadly fight with five huge men. Already one man was on the ground bleeding profusely from a wound in his chest. They all were wielding laser saber weapons. The sight of the weapons made Saina realize again how advanced Parth’s technology had to be compared to that on Earth.
The fact that Thorne was barefoot and bare-chested, dressed in only white boxer shorts, didn’t seem to make a difference. He moved so fast it was almost impossible to see him with the naked eye. In seconds he had three more men on the floor, disarmed and mortally wounded. As he engaged with the fourth man, the other assailant turned to run.
Saina was paralyzed by what was happening before her and didn’t realize the danger she was in until the other man was almost upon her. She tried to run back into her room, but it was too late. On seeing her, the man glared and advanced on her with gleeful intent.
She tried to move as the blade came toward her chest, but the tip pierced her anyway. Through the shearing pain and shock as her body helplessly collapsed to the floor, Saina heard Thorne roar in outrage and charge toward them.
She must have blanked out for a while because the next thing she was aware of was Thorne leaning over her, frantically trying to stop the bleeding from her chest and begging her.
“Baby, come on, wake up,” he begged.
She tried to move, but it was as though some invisible force was holding her paralyzed.
“Saina, please don’t do this to me.” His voice cracked as he repeated it again.
Saina tried to open her eyes, but the lids were incredibly heavy.
“Please, baby, don’t fuckin’ die on me!”
She was confused by his angry irrational tone. He’s a doctor. Can’t he tell that I’m breathing? It was frustrating that she couldn’t move to call him on it. She felt her blood, warm and sticky, saturating her shirt. It wasn’t the kind of wet T-shirt moment she wanted with him. Every second that ticked by, she felt her body trying to heal itself, responding to the wound, the bleeding, and the pain.
“I promise I’ll give you whatever the hell you want if you open those beautiful eyes for me.” He was back to begging again.
Saina almost smiled at that, but she was in too much pain to find anything funny at the moment. Having every intention of holding him to his words, she sure as hell opened her eyes though.
Before she could utter a word, he hugged her to his chest. “Don’t fuckin’ scare me like that again.”
Saina tried to curl into the warmth of his skin but soon realized that she was soaking him with her blood. “I’ve never been wounded before.” Jesu, is that my voice sounding like I have cotton balls stuck in my throat?
“And if it’s up to me, you’re never going to get wounded again.” He stood with her held high in his arms, stepped over the dead bodies of the men in the hall, and took her to his room. His movements were swift, but he held her tenderly.
He placed her gently in the middle of his bed and then turned to go into another roo
m, which she could only guess was his bathroom. He returned a few seconds later with the dopest first aid kit she’d ever seen. It was more like a doctor’s bag, but it wasn’t a bag. It was a box, which, when opened, kept opening into various compartments, displaying pills, bottles of medicines, bandages, swabs, gauzes, syringes, needles, a stethoscope, and several other gadgets.
“Who are those men?”
“They were warriors from Lokede,” he muttered.
“How did they get here? Can they teleport like you?”
He tore her shirt.
“Hey?”
“Sorry,” he said tightly. He then cleaned her wound with disinfectant gauze and bandaged her in seconds. “I don’t know how they got here, but I’m going to fuckin’ find out.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m taking you home, and then I need to hunt.” His eyes were almost silver with rage.
“Thorne?”
“This is my fuckin’ reality. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”
“I can—”
“No.” He glared down at her and stood. Stepping into what appeared to be a walk-in closet, he came out a few moments later fully dressed in a pristine white tunic and pants and combat boots.
Saina was sorry to see him back in what she viewed as his king’s regalia. “I don’t suppose I will be seeing that beautiful body again anytime soon,” she muttered, partly joking but mostly sad for them.
A grunt was his only response. He moved toward her purposely, and Saina knew she wouldn’t like what came next. Before she could blink, she was back in her old bedroom in the Turks & Caicos Islands.
“Why did you bring me back here?”
“I need to know you’re safe.” He tucked her into her bed. “Go to sleep. I’ll speak to Charles.”
He’d barely been gone a few seconds before the quietness of the house began to weigh on her. She’d grown up in this house, and it had never seemed so quiet. It was missing a heartbeat that she just now realized used to be there. A fear unlike anything she’d known before gripped her. For the second time tonight, she swung her legs off the bed. Given the amount of blood she’d lost tonight, Saina wasn’t surprised by the unsteadiness of her legs. However, she knew that her body’s ability to heal itself had significantly done its job. She crept slowly toward the bedroom door. As she reached out for the handle, Thorne opened the door and blocked her path.
“We must leave here,” he told her quietly.
“Why? What’s going on?” She gazed up at him with a growing sense of unease. “Where’s Charles and Amanda?” Saina heard the rising panic in her voice, but there was nothing about his demeanor that gave her any assurance that all was well with the people who’d taken care of her since she was a baby.
“We have to leave, baby.” Concern for her was etched in every line of his face and his voice.
There was no doubt in her mind now as to what he was trying hard not to tell her. “I want to see them,” she whispered.
“That’s not a good idea.” He gripped her hand in his and squeezed it gently. “They were tortured, sweetheart. I don’t want you to see that.”
“I’m a doctor, Thorne. I can handle it.”
“It’s different when it’s someone you love.”
“Let me see them.”
He sighed and pulled her into his arms. Clutching her tight against his chest, he rubbed her back tenderly. “You shouldn’t see them like that.”
She leaned her head back and tried to peer up at him through the murky cloud of tears that filled her eyes. “Why?” she whispered achingly as grief overwhelmed her. It was impossible to finish asking her question.
He seemed to understand her question anyway. “Evil needs no reason.”
She convulsed in loud soul-wrenching wails.
He tightened his arms around her and rocked her against him.
She wept with the memory of how the two older people had taken care of her with absolute devotion and unwavering love. Her cries became louder as she thought about the family and friends they must have given up to ensure her safety and how selflessly they’d given her love and guidance over the past eighteen years.
Thorne bent his head and whispered soothing words and sounds into her ear. He assured her that he would always be there for her.
“Why did they kill them?” Saina demanded a few moments later.
“I don’t know, baby, but whoever did this will fuckin’ pay.”
Thorne knew as soon as he’d entered the house that something was wrong. Charles and Amanda, who were also soldiers of Calison, along with two additional guards who had been sent to Earth with the task to ensure Saina’s safety, were all dead. With their mutilated bodies, it wasn’t to be expected that none of them had disclosed her existence. To accomplish this kind of carnage on four trained soldiers, the party that had been sent to find his body had to be enormous. If he continued this fight here on Earth, it would endanger too many people’s lives. He had to return to Parth as soon as possible and leaving Saina here unprotected was not an option.
“I have to return to Parth, Saina.”
She tried to pull away from their embrace, but he wouldn’t let her go.
“Don’t.” He held her closer to him, trying to stop her struggles.
She ignored him and tried harder to pull out of his arms.
“Listen to me,” he muttered tightly.
“I’m not staying here!” She glared up at him.
“And I’m not leaving you here.”
“You’re not?”
“No, I’m not.” He sighed and released her as he started pacing about the room. “That out there was an interrogation,” he began calmly. “No one, except you, knew that I was here. And I’m very certain that, until today, no one on Parth knew of their existence here. Here on Earth, they’re just household staff for one of my properties. They must have been desperate to find me and finish the job after I left Calison mortally injured. If they told about my possible location, thus the attack just now at my condo, I wonder if they told about your existence. I never realized this before, but this house is littered with pictures of you everywhere. That had to make them curious.”
“So, you’re thinking that they will come after me?”
“I don’t know. They could’ve told them that you’re their daughter. That’s been your cover story always. And with Amanda being dark-skinned like you, it had been a plausible cover. Not even the other guards knew who you are.” Thorne hated the uncertainty though, and the enormity of the task in front of him was almost crushing. Not only must he now provide extra protection for Saina, he must return to protect those in Calison who were his supporters and, at the same time, consider the protection of his mother and sisters.
“I need you to change your clothes. We need to leave here.”
“I don’t have clothes here. I haven’t lived here in years.” Saina frowned at him because she’d been certain that he would have been aware of that.
“No,” he said impatiently. “I forgot. I’m sure Amanda would’ve kept something for you.”
“Yeah, she took being my mother very seriously.”
“Yes,” he said sadly. “Hurry and get dressed. You have ten minutes.” He strode toward the door.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“I need to give them a proper burial.”
“I can help you with that.”
“My position on your seeing those bodies hasn’t changed,” he muttered.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat and obvious sadness. “I’ll need more than ten minutes to find something to wear,” she finally said, her voice clogged with tears.
“There’s no need to go overboard. Unfortunately, I can’t give you more time. We don’t have more time.” Thorne left her to it. With his super strength, he had dug four graves, buried the dead bodies of his trusted soldiers, and removed any trace of their previous existence on the property in less than five minute
s. He used the remaining minutes to gather the evidence of the intruders and who was behind this latest attempt to ensure his death. There wasn’t much to go on, but it was clear that someone from the royal family had been present. The flowers from his planet lining the carpet made that obvious.
Saina walked into the room. “What are all these flowers on the floor?” She wrinkled her face, seeming confused by the state of the room. Amanda hated clutter and usually kept the house in precise pristine conditions.
Thorne gazed back at her in stunned silence. He knew his mouth was hanging open, but the sight of her in his colors of white, silver, and sky-blue filled him with a sense of possessiveness that he hadn’t anticipated. “Someone royal was present during the interrogation,” he said absently.
“Someone like Anastasia?”
“Probably.” Thorne was so distracted from the sight of her he was having a hard time having a conversation. His gaze was glued on her lush curves so spectacularly displayed in an incredibly beautiful dress.
“I can’t zip this up,” she whispered breathlessly.
When he still hadn’t moved a muscle, she started walking slowly toward him. “I don’t think that, when Amanda bought this gown, she had anticipated my curves.”
Thorne couldn’t help his gaze roaming over her said curves and reeling in awareness. She’d done something with her hair and makeup that made her already beautiful face stunning. The dress, even unzipped, hugged her curves jealously. Red-hot lust consumed him. The timing couldn’t have been more damn inconvenient and inappropriate. He tried to distract himself and focus on something mundane. He looked about the room to find that distraction.
“Thorne?”
“You shouldn’t be in here,” he murmured. Having no intention of letting her remain in the same room her caretakers had been murdered in, he wrapped his arms around her and teleported them both to the room he utilized whenever he’d visited in the past. Immediately, he released her and put some space between them. As soon as he looked at the huge California-king-sized bed, he knew coming into this room was a big mistake.
She turned and presented her back to him. “Would you zip me up please?” Her breathing was shallow, fractured.
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