Page 58 of House of Royals

I don’t really have a plan. I didn’t think. I have nothing. No stakes, no crossbow, nothing. I just rushed out. Pure protective instinct.

“Let’s just get close and see if we can hear or see anything,” I whisper.

We creep up onto the back veranda. It’s going to be difficult to see anything since they’ve covered all the windows. But this house is falling apart.

We find a board that had been nailed over a hole and is now peeling away.

I can just see into the foyer through the great room.

There’s Jasmine, Markov, Anna, and Micah. Ian stands before them. With a crossbow hanging in one hand. To the untrained eye, it would look relaxed, unready. But I see the muscles in his arm strained, his finger hovering near the trigger.

“You do realize who that woman is, right?” Ian says. There’s annoyance heavy in his voice. He extends a hand out back toward town. “She is Mayor Jackson’s wife. People are going to start asking questions and you’re who they are all going to turn on. Do you not remember what happened to Elijah Conrath? To half of his House members?”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here,” Micah hisses. “Acting like we’ve been sitting on our asses, doing nothing about this.”

“It sure doesn’t seem like you have,” Ian accuses.

Markov hisses. He’s angled toward me, and even from here, I see his fangs extend.

I’m about to spring from our hiding spot and start pounding on the doors when Cameron wanders by. He’s holding a bowl of chips. “Y’all just need to chill out. Here,” he extends his snack out to them all. “Maybe everyone’s just hangry. You want some?”

“Cameron, get the hell out of here,” Anna hisses with annoyance. “And quit trying to get high. It obviously doesn’t work anymore.”

“The worst tragedy in the world,” he mutters regretfully as he shuffles to the stairs.

“Jaz,” Micah growls. “Why don’t you just let me kill him now? You’re just letting him stand there, armed, in your house.”

“Down, boy,” Jasmine says coldly and with the hint of annoyance in her voice.

“I just don’t understand how you could have nine of you here and not know anything,” Ian continues. “You all gotattacked, and you’ve found nothing.”

“Looks like you’re slacking on your job, vamp slayer,” Micah growls back.

“Well, like I said, there’s only one of me and nine of you,” Ian says in a low voice as he takes a step toward him. His grip on the crossbow tightens.

“Enough,” Jasmine says. I just about lose it when she places her hand on Ian’s chest and shoves him away from Micah. “I will admit, we’ve not been paying enough attention to this problem. We’ve had other issues to handle.”

The preparations for when King Cyrus comes and they hand me over to him. The fall in Ian’s expression tells me he knows exactly what she’s talking about.

“But we will make more of an effort. Micah, I want you and the Kask brothers out every night looking for this intruder.” She looks back at her lover.

Who doesn’t look pleased. But he nods.

“Fine,” Ian says as he turns for the door. “About time you put that hot head man-whore to use.”

And I would have let loose the scream if Elle hadn’t clasped her hand around my mouth.

Ian is standing in the doorway when Micah jumps on him. Fangs extended, muscled body rippling and flying through the air. They collide and go tumbling down the stairs.

But Micah howls in pain, covering his eyes. It’s still six and the sun is not yet sunk into the horizon. His eyes are burning in pain. Micah scrambles back into the house.

Ian clambers along the ground away from the House, still barely grasping the crossbow. There’s a hint of fear in his eyes, but even more, there’s lividity. “Touch me again and I swear I’ll stake you!”

“I see you again and you’re dead!” Micah roars. But his pride is wounded. He stalks back into the House without another word or a backward glance.

“I suggest you never come back.” Jasmine is stone cold. She shuts the door in Ian’s face, and my view of him is cut off.

“We should go,” Elle whispers. “We should go now.”

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