“I simply can’t understand how she got through security!” he sneered out in that weasley voice of his. “It simply won’t stand, Captain! This is totally unaccept —”
“That’s enough, Tomilson,” Rian muttered.
“Sire —”
“Enough.”
The room went silent. Fuck, there it was. There was the fire inside of our friend that was the reason the three of us were buddies to begin with. That fierceness, the need to protect what's ours. Rian was ready to tear the fucking world down to go protect his girl.
And so the fuck were we.
I went to my friend, putting a hand on his shoulder, my voice edged. “Our chopper is primed and ready to go. The second you get the all-clear that the castle is secure, I’ll fly you my damn self.”
He sighed, turning and nodding as his eyes met mine. “Thank you.”
King or not, a palace lockdown was serious shit. And even if Kim had been apprehended, the guards did have to make sure the place was secure before they let a King and two visiting Princes go wherever they pleased. I got that, trust me, but that didn’t mean I had to fucking like it. Because me, Adam, Rian — all three of us. All we wanted was to get the hell out of there and go get our women. And every second not doing that was like fucking torture.
Rian growled, pacing like a caged beast waiting for the door to open and set him free. And shit, I felt the same way.
“So are you gonna tell me about this girl?” He finally smirked at Adam and me, like he needed to change the subject or he’d go nuts. “This thing you were being all cagey about earlier?”
“I don’t really think this is the time, man,” Adam grumbled, pacing next to the door.
Yeah, we were still figuring that part out — the part where we told people, friends, family, and the whole damn world — that we were in love with the same girl. That we both were claiming her as our Queen. Even if we didn’t know how that might work.
Adam grinned, turning to nod his chin at Rian’s serious-looking Captain. “How about you grill Oren instead?”
I chuckled. It was a tactful change of subject, but then, I was also curious about Oren and whatever the hell he’d gotten up to that night of the ball, when he’d come running in with lipstick on his damn uniform collar.
Rian arched a brow and turned to his big Captain, who stiffened, shooting a dark look Adam’s and my way.
“I’m sure I’m unaware of what Prince Adam is speaking about,” he muttered.
Adam grinned. “Oh, c’mon Oren, I know what I saw the other night. I believe that’s called puddin’.”
Rian frowned. “Puddin?”
“Puddin your hands where they don’t belong, eh, Oren?”
Orin’s face darkened. “Your Highness —”
Suddenly, his hand flew to his earpiece, the other grabbing up his radio from his tactical vest.
“Copy that.” He turned to Rian. “Palace is secure, Highness.”
Hell, he’d barely finished his words before all three of us were running out the door at full speed, with poor Oren rushing to catch up.
“I’m flying,” I growled, grabbing Rian’s arm and yanking him towards the stairs for the helipad.
Orin peeled off at Rian’s barked orders, rushing to get a team together to meet us at the manor. After all, the Kim threat might have been neutralized, but there was still the ticking time bomb of Emilia’s stepmother and stepsisters. And if that bomb went off, it was going to hurt Vi too.
Adam called ahead to the helipad, and by the time we got up there, our guys were furiously finishing the last of the fueling process, the engines already started. We jumped in, me behind the stick as we all yanked our headphones on.
“One sec!” Rian bellowed over the roar of the engine. “I’ll call up my team and have them get us directions to —”
I pulled the stick up, bringing the chopper up off the platform and angling it towards Vi and Emilia’s house.
“Shane!” Rian snapped. “I said give me a second so we can figure out where we’re —”
“Yeah I know how to get there, man,” I yelled back to him over the headset microphones.
He whirled, fury on his face. “And you know that how?”
I grinned. Man, the fierce protector thing was strong in all three of us, that was for damn sure.
“We know where Emilia’s house is, because we’ve been there,” Adam added. “You wanna know where we went the other day? Well, that’s where.”
“To my bride-to-be’s house?” Rian hissed dangerously.
“She’s not the only one that lives there.”
Our friend’s brow shot up, his jaw dropping. “Wait —”
I snorted, shaking my head as I turned to him. “C’mon, the baking flour in our hair?”
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
“You really think me and this asshole suddenly got into baking?”
Rian’s brow furrowed deeper, and Adam chuckled. “You didn’t meet your girl’s best friend, did you?”
Slowly, the light bulb went on above his head, and Rian grinned at us.
“No, but I’m guessing you two did?”
“Something like that,” I said quietly.
“Hey, how about we drop the games and all this secretive alluding-to bullshit?”
I laughed, surging the helicopter forward, towards her. Towards Vi.
“How about we just say that you’re not the only one off to claim his woman today, Rian.”
“Works for me,” he said tightly, his eyes flashing as he nodded at the two of us. “So let’s get to it.”
The engine roared, the countryside flew by underneath us, and my heart thundered in my veins.
It was time to go claim what was ours. Once and for all.
Chapter 15
Adam
The second we landed on the front lawn of the manor house, we knew shit had gone wrong. For one, there were clear signs of struggle in front of the house, with plants and grass all torn up like there’d been a fight. And the car Vi had borrowed from Marius was also sitting there looking like someone had ransacked it — all four doors and the trunk wide open and all.
My heart clenched, my eyes narrowing as Shane sat us down. And the blades were barely off when all three of us barreled out of the chopper, bodies tensed and ready, fury on our faces.
There was no sign of either Vi or Emilia.
Orin and his team were roaring up the long country drive from the main road. We could see their vans kicking up dust as they approached, and I knew we all knew the smart thing was to wait. But fuck that.
There’d be no waiting. Not when Vi was on the line. Not when the safety and wellbeing of the girl who’d stolen our hearts was concerned.
We charged for the manor, when suddenly, the front door banged open and Marta, Emilia’s stepmother and Vi’s boss, came screaming out, a damned shovel in her hands. She screeched, this half-crazed, half-drunk look on her face as she barreled towards us brandishing the big metal tool.
But then, we might have been royalty, but trust me when I say none of us were pussies. I roared, charging forward, dodging the first swing, and then catching the next one with one hand. Marta screamed as I wrenched the shovel out of her hands. But I’d barely turned to throw it away before she threw herself at Rian. Our friend hissed, barely dodging her clawed nails before he grabbed her wrists and threw her away from us.
“Stay down!” he bellowed. But of course, crazy doesn’t listen to reason, and the woman was up and back at us in a second. But this time, there was the sound of Oren and his team charging up behind us.
“Down, madam!” Oren thundered.
This time, with a gun in her face, the fight went out of Marta. She flopped down, still screaming about how Vi had “robbed” her and how Emilia had “brought shame” on her house.
I rolled my eyes. “Says the heartless bitch who basically turned the both of them into slaves?” I snarled, disgust on my face. “Where are they?”
/> She collapsed sobbing about the world being so unfair, and I hissed as the three of us just shoved past her towards the house.
Shane went crashing through the front door first, all three of us ignoring the sounds of Oren yelling for us to wait for his team as we went thundering inside. Rian took the stairs, roaring for Emilia as he barreled up them. Shane and I hooked left, crashing through the living room, yelling for Vi.
Suddenly, a plate exploded against the wall next to my head. I hissed, whirling, narrowly dodging the teacup that one of the stepdaughters had just chucked at me — Portia, from the way Vi had described them. She screeched, picking up a damned punch bowl off the side table before I bolted for her. I hurdled the dining table, making the girl scream as she dropped the bowl with a crash, and cowered.
I snarled viscously grabbing her wrists tightly, but not tight enough to actually hurt her, shaking her firmly until she looked at me.
“Where?” I hissed.
“I—”
“Kidnapping a royal fiancée is a crime we’ve got plenty of room in our dungeons for,” Shane snarled.
The girl paled.
“The garage! It wasn’t my idea!”
We ignored her, running through the house towards the garage.
“Fiancée, huh?”
Shane grinned, glancing at me. “You got a problem with that?”
“What do you think?”
He chuckled.
“Any idea how we're going to fly that past dad, or our country?”
“Zero idea,” he spat. “Zero fucks either. You?”
“None.”
He grinned. “Well let’s go get our — fuck!”
We skidded to a stop in front of the garage door, right in front or Renata. Specifically, Renata holding a damned hunting rifle aimed right at us.
“Easy,” I hissed, glaring at her standing there in front of the door leading to the manor’s garage.
“You can’t take her!” Renata, screamed. “She a thief, and a liar, and she’s a dirty wh —”
“You will mind the next words that come out of your fucking mouth,” Shane snarled.
The girl just pursed her lips, her brow narrowed as she fingered the trigger.
“You’re holding a gun at two Princes, miss,” I spat. “Think about that.”
Shane growled at her. “You know, both of my fathers taught me never to hit a woman, but —”
The shot was deafening, and we ducked, wincing as the hot blast went exploding over our heads — barely missing us. Renata’s face went white, her jaw falling as she dropped her eyes to the gun that I was pretty sure she’d just fired accidentally.
“Oh, fuck —”
“I’m gonna hit her,” Shane snarled, lunging for the girl and knocking her back into the door. She screamed as he wrenched the gun from her hands.
“Hello?!”
We whirled, the sound of Vi’s voice coming through the garage door like some sort of break in the storm — this sound that just swept us away.
“Vi!” I yelled.
Behind us, Renata scampered off, though she had no idea that Oren and his team were about thirty seconds behind us.
“Vi, we’re coming!” I bellowed, squaring my shoulders as I readied myself to go running at the door.
“The door!” she yelled. “Hang on, the door is—”
Shane and I grunted as we both slammed into it, the door not moving at all.
“The lock is reinforced!” Vi called through the door.
I glanced at Shane. “May I?”
He grinned, passing me the hunting rifle.
“Angel, are you right in front of the door?” I bellowed through it.
“No...”
Thank God.
“Close your eyes and cover your face, beautiful,” Adam roared.
I leveled the gun at the handle to the door, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the door wrenching in under the blast was earsplitting, and Shane and I were crashing through the breach in seconds. Smoke clouded our eyes as we tore the door from the frame, tumbling in, until suddenly, it all cleared.
And there she was.
We were on her in seconds, Shane grabbing a pair of clippers from the wall and slicing through the rope tying her to the old Charger. She gasped as we scooped her up, pulling her into us as one and then the other, and then back and forth we went, kissing her over and over until none of us could breathe.
“You came,” she whispered.
I laughed, shaking my head as I kissed her.
“I hope that's sarcasm. As if we weren’t going to come for you?”
She grinned. “I figured you might. I mean, barring anything else, you know you still haven’t tried one of my cakes.”
Shane hooted, kissing her lips slowly, deeply, letting her melt into him.
“Shit, how has that not happened yet?”
“I think we keep getting distracted,” she blushed, her face going pink as her eyes darted between us.
I grinned. “Funny. I wonder how that happens?”
“It’s probably got something to do with the two of you having this thing about tearing my clothes off and ravishing me.”
“Well stop being so damned ravishable,” Shane muttered, making her giggle.
“Wait, don’t. Don’t stop being ravishable.”
“Even if it comes at the expense of not being able to try my cake?”
“Oh, darlin’?” I growled, pulling her close. “Trust me when I say we’re going to have our cake and eat it too.”
I kissed her slowly as she moaned into me, kissing her deeply before I pulled away and watched her do the same with my best friend. My brother. My other half. He and I glanced at each other, and he nodded.
“It’s time.”
Damn right it was.
Vi frowned for. “Time for what?”
“For this.”
I knelt, and so did Shane, and her eyes went wide.
“Oh my God, you’re kid —”
“Vi, I said softly. “Would you…”
“Marry us?” Shane finished.
Color bloomed into her face, and suddenly, she was shrieking as she jumped into both of our arms. Tears ran down her cheeks as she peppered our faces with kisses. And when she said the words, damned if my heart didn’t swell up bigger than I’d ever felt it.
“Yes,” she whispered fiercely. “Yes! I don’t know how this will —”
“Neither do we,” I chuckled. “But it will. We’ll make it work.”
“Somehow?”
“Anyhow,” Shane murmured.
She fell into us, kissing us fiercely. Around us, in the rest of the house, there was the sound of crashing and banging — what sounded like Rian’s security team tearing the damn place apart.
Vi frowned. “Emilia — I think they locked her in the attic.”
I grinned. “I’m pretty sure Rian’s found her by now.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I don’t hear him murdering Marta.”
She snorted.
“Hey, baker,” Shane chuckled. “Want to get out of here?”
“Yes,” she blurted. She bit her lip, looking at us. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”
“If you want it to, gorgeous.”
“I do,” she whispered. “I’ve never wanted anything as much as this.”
“Then let’s go,” I said quietly, pulling her into us. “Our helicopter is outside, and —” I glanced out through the small garage window and grinned at the couple I saw walking hand-in-hand towards it from the manor.
“Something tells me this whole “let’s tell everyone about the three of us” thing is about to start right away.”
Vi blushed, a grin spreading over her face as both of our arms slid around her waist.
“I think this is going to be very interesting helicopter ride.”
She gasped as Shane pulled her in, kissing her slowly and tenderly as she molded herself to him. I moved behind her, wrapping my arm
s around her body as she turned her head, her lips searing to mine as I took my turn.
Now it was time to go home. Now it was time to take her back to our world and show her everything that would be hers. And then, there wouldn’t be any taking turns.
Then, there’d just be sharing.
Forever.
Epilogue
Vi
At first, there were questions.
Well, no, that might not really be doing it justice. Instead, let’s say “at first, there were gasps, and horrified looks, and whispered rumors, and all the tabloid fodder you could possibly imagine.”
Because, there was.
At first, there was a scandal.
And really, of course there was. I mean, the two crown Princes of Nessa came home from a weekend away for their friend’s party and came back with me — one woman, for the both of them. One nobody of a girl, which was scandalous enough for the royal types. But one nobody of a girl that both Princes were going to marry was an uproar.
…But, only to the narrow-minded, and to the assholes. And fortunately, not to the people that mattered. Their father, the King, met me with open arms, calling me the daughter-in-law he’d always hoped for for one of his sons. That I was it for both of them in one swoop only seemed to make him prouder. He warned me I’d have my hands full with them, of course. And later, after the wedding, Shane mentioned that he’d said the same thing to them about me — that they’d have their hands full with me.
And I mean, he wasn’t wrong. And I mean that figuratively and quite literally.
Like I said, there were sharp looks, and turned noses, and all sorts of rumors. And you know what?
…We couldn’t have cared less.
See, here’s the thing about having a three-way marriage in a country where your two husbands-to-be are the crown princes and heirs apparent to the throne: ya just can.
No, it’s not like Nessa was run like some sort of free-for-all monarchy. There was a Parliament, and Adam and Shane actually brought an amendment to their country’s constitution to the floor in order to actually make us all getting married legal. And, amazingly, it actually went through. Yeah, they probably could have just done it. But then, that’d make them dictators. Because real rulers, as they told me their father had taught them, didn’t just make rules for his or her own benefit.
Once Upon A Scandal: Royally Screwed: Book 6 Page 11