Page 15 of Wicked Royals
Unfortunately for them, Idid.
I found out about these tunnels when I was just a kid, and I’d been wandering around and learning their secrets since I was fifteen. By now, I knew every inch of the place like the back of my hand. Every twist and turn, every dark nook, every winding passage. I even knew about the other secret entrance in the vice president’s mansion, down in the basement. Willow seemed to think the bathroom portrait entrance was the onlyone.
I knew she’d done some exploring of her own down here over the last couple of years, but she still had no idea how extensive these tunnels were, because she’d never explored any of the deep recesses in the walls or any of the narrow passages leading away from the bigger ones. If she had, she wouldn’t find this place so boring, like she told her friends earlier, and she’d know that the secret rooms weren’t some sort of urbanmyth.
I waited a minute, and then I went after her again, my whole body prickling withanticipation.
Messing with her like this was a form of release for me. Almost better than sex. It was also a good way to practice for her twenty-first birthday, when I’d be able to take her for real. Until then, I couldn’t do anything to hurt her. All I could do was scareher.
As much as I hated the waiting game, I knew it would only make her taste that much sweeter when I finally had the opportunity to own her. For now, the thrill of the chase would have to be enough to satisfy my urges for power andcontrol.
Up ahead, I spied a soft glow lighting the tunnel. It had to be herfriends.
Willow must’ve realized the same thing, because she let out a ragged cry. “Help!Please!”
The light moved steadily south. Her friends were still too far away to hear, even with all theechoes.
Sweat trickled down the back of my neck as I switched off my phone light and picked up the pace. In the long run, it wouldn’t actually matter if Willow got away from me and rejoined her friends tonight, but I wasn’t done playing yet. I didn’t want tostop.
Sorry, princess. Your friends will have towait.
Heat swept down my neck, seeping into my chest, and adrenaline pumped through my veins as I pushed my body to the limit. Willow was still several feet in front, and her friends were probably only twenty or thirty yards away now. I closed the distance between us with a few more steps, keeping my breathing steady despite the way my heart waspounding.
“Hel—”
Willow tried to scream again, but I clamped my hand over her mouth and dragged her into a dark recess in the tunnel wall. I wrapped my other arm around her, burying my nose under herear.
“Did you guys hear that?” Marissa’s voice drifted back to us, and I saw the light whip around in our direction, flashing all over thetunnel.
“Hear what?” Simonereplied.
“That noise. Hey, Willow, is thatyou?”
Willow struggled valiantly in my grip, but she was no match for my strength. She tried to bite my hand as I held it over her mouth, and all I wound up feeling was a slight tickling sensation on my palm. “It’s just us tonight, princess,” I growled in her ear. “They won’thelp.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Katesaid.
Marissa lowered the light. “It sounded like asqueak.”
“Ew, I bet it was a mouse! This place is sogross.”
“Well, Willow told us it would be dirty,” Simone said with a snicker. “What did youexpect?”
“Where the hell is she, anyway? How long has itbeen?”
“About tenminutes.”
“Let’s stop and callher.”
Willow’s phone was still in her hand, but I didn’t make a move to take it and switch it off. No one could get cell service in this part of the tunnel, so it wouldn’tring.
“No bars,” Kate said, right on cue. “Great…”
“We don’t even know where we’re going. Let’s just go back and see if we can findher.”
The sharp clatter of heels on concrete echoed through the air as the girls headed back down the tunnel, drawing closer to my little hideaway. Willow struggled in my arms and tried to moan through my hand, but we were tucked so far back into the alcove that the pitiful sounds didn’t make a difference. Her friends would never see or hear us inhere.
“You know, I just realized something,” Marissa said. “I think Willow set usup.”
