Page 1 of Midnight Queen

For centuries I’d lived without a beating heart.

I’d grown accustomed to the silence that has resided in my chest and I’d come to accept the emptiness I felt there. The hollow, echoing cavity that was once the home to the organ that kept me alive is now where my black corrupted soul lives.

I was at peace with what I’d become, and I wanted for nothing, but then I found my sun and for a second, I had a heart once more.

My soul was a little less dark and my skin a little less cold. She became the very thing I didn’t know I needed or wanted. She was my everything. She made me feel human, something I haven’t been in a very long time.

I had her in my grasp and before I was able to hand her the battered, broken pieces of what was left of the man I used to be, she was ripped away from me.

Just like that, I’ve lost my sun and I’m once again without my heart. The darkness she kept at bay is flooding back in and the anger that has filled my body since I knew she was gone is like a hurricane. It’s been five hours since Quincey was abducted from my home and with each passing second, the turbulent winds and wrath grow stronger. At this rate, no one will survive them. And I’m okay with that.

I will tear the world apart until there are nothing but ruins left, and I will rip the hearts out of the chests of anyone that dares get in my way of finding my own.

It’s as if the monitor in front of me knows what I’m missing, and it mocks me with the sound of the steady heartbeat. It’s a heartbeat I’m thankful for, but it’s not the one I truly want to hear right now.

“Mr. Laurent.” A voice pulls me away from watching the monitor. The steady rising and falling lines have kept me company for the hours I’ve waited. I hate waiting. It’s not in my nature to be patient, but if I have any hope of finding where she is, I must be willing to wait for them to get here. “The doctor is here if you’d like to talk about Mr. Greyson’s condition.”

“Duke,” I correct her instantly. “His name is Duke.” He’s my best man and he’s currently lying unconscious in a hospital bed with a tube down his throat because of a choice I made a hundred years ago.

The nurse with the hideously unflattering purple scrubs nods her head. “Right, Duke.” Her eyes behind her red-framed glasses look at the man in the bed. He appears weak in this state, not like the strong and capable soldier he is. “I know you were very upset when you wanted to talk to the doctor earlier and he wasn’t available,” she says warily, eyes cutting back to the door of the hospital room.

The cracked and splintering glass of the sliding door is currently being held together with bright orange tape. While they were shocked I’d thrown the chair, I was more surprised the glass hadn’t completely shattered into pieces on the ground. The orange tape now acts as a warning sign to anyone passing by that danger is lurking behind it.

Without acknowledging her comment, I step away from Duke’s bed for the first time since he’s been out of surgery and stalk past her flinching frame into the brightly lit hallway. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling make my sensitive eyes burn and lingering pain in my head worsen. The damage my body endured from the explosion was healed by the time I opened my eyes on the forest floor. But the dull ache in my head hasn’t diminished. I need to feed but haven’t done so yet. How can I ease the pain in my body when Quincey is missing, Duke is injured, and Ira is dead?

A man wearing a white coat raises his head from the tablet he’s reading through when I approach. “Hello, I’m Dr. Richardson. I’ve been—”

I hold up my hand, silently instructing him to stop talking. “I don’t care who you are, I only care that you’re going to be able to fix Duke. If you’re not, I need you to tell me now so I can make the necessary arrangements and get your replacement on a plane. There is no shame in admitting you’re in over your head, but if I find out that you had any doubts about your abilities and operated on him anyway, I will destroy you myself. Do I make myself clear?”

The doctor balks, his lips parting in dismay. “I’m not sure who you think you are, but you can’t talk to me like this.”

With a threatening step forward, I tilt my head, scanning his smaller body like a predator looking at the weakest link in the herd. “I knowexactlywho I am, but it appears you don’t. That’s a deadly mistake. Almost as deadly as lying to me and telling me you’re capable of helping Duke.” With another step, I corner him against the sterile white wall behind him. “Tell me now if I need to find someone else. This is the only time I’m going to give you this opportunity. After this, every mistake you make moving forward is a mark against your life.”

He swallows hard, the column of his thick neck moving as he tries to find his words. “I’m the best neurologist in the state, sir.”Sir. Good, he’s a quick learner. “Your friend’s injuries are nothing new to me. I’ve already established a plan for him and if all goes accordingly, he will make a full recovery.”

“You say this, but he’s in a coma with a ventilator breathing for him,” I remind him tersely.

“In the accident, Mr. Greyson—”

“Duke.” Duke hates being called by his last name. It reminds him of his father, which is something he doesn’t enjoy. He always said he’d change his last name if it wasn’t the name he shared with his sister.

“In the accident,Duke’shead slammed into something hard. Either the windshield or steering wheel, we aren’t sure, but because of this there is swelling in the brain. To get the swelling to go down, we’ve placed him in a medically induced coma. This will give his brain the time it needs to heal,” the doctor explains quickly. Only a couple times does he trip over his words.

“Will he have any lasting effects from the brain injury?”

“We won’t know until he wakes up and we won’t wake him up until the swelling goes down. At this point, it’s all just a waiting game.”

More fucking waiting.

With a stiff nod, I move away from the doctor, granting him back his personal space. “I will be leaving here shortly, but I will have someone sitting in the room with him and they will be reporting back to me with updates.”

He straightens out his white coat. “We have strict visiting hours here in the intensive care unit.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission. I was being courteous by letting you know what will be happening,” I sneer before turning back down the hallway toward Duke’s room.

The sun will be up in a few short hours, and I can’t remain here, but I can’t in good conscience allow Duke to stay here alone in this vulnerable condition. I’ve lost enough people tonight and as it is, I barely got him out of the destroyed car in one piece.

I have no idea what lengths Gideon is willing to go to, but based on the carnage he inflicted on my home and my people tonight, I think it’s a safe assumption he won’t stop until he sees me ruined.

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