Everything starts to fade, even as I feel the vamp ripping at my clothes, his hands running over my skin. Dark spots attack my vision, and I feel helpless. I feel alone.
Suddenly the vamp lets me go, and I collapse onto the floor, my legs feeling like jelly and unable to hold me up. Screams fill my ears, male screams and not my own.
And I laugh. I just keep laughing until my laugh turns into sobs.
“I prefer the laughing, if I must say,” Maddox claims, standing over me. He takes off his cloak and wraps me up, picking me up into his arms. The fear and loneliness drift away as I look at him.
I feel protected. Protected by the Mad Prince.
“How are you here?” I groggily question, feeling myself slipping away into the darkness, unable to hold myself awake much longer.
As I drift off, I swear I hear him reply to me.
“I could never force myself to be far from you. Damn my soul and yours.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
For the third time, I wake up with blood in my mouth and feel tired before I’ve even opened my eyes. Sensing eyes on me, I turn my head to the side to see Arlo lying on his side, his big eyes watching me as I reach for my neck, feeling the torn skin is nothing more than scratches now with dried blood cracking as I touch it.
“Why did you run without me?”
Keeping my eyes on Arlo, I frown. “I didn’t run. I just went for a drive.”
“I can’t lose you. I’m sorry, I should have been there,” Arlo whispers, reaching over and cupping my cheek. I freeze for a second, unsure of what he is doing. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away.”
“What the fuck were you doing out in the woods without my mark?” Reign all but shouts. Sitting up sharply, I watch Reign storm over to the bed and stand over me, his arms crossed. His tail flickers behind him in the air, looking as angry as he is.
“I went for a drive.” I pause. “And your car broke down. I wasn’t planning a stroll through the woods in the snow. Nor did I expect for two of your people to attack me or Maddox to save me. It just all happened.”
“You were so fucking lucky Maddox was there, or you’d be dead,” Reign growls. “I didn’t want to mark you so soon, but you can’t leave this house without protection or my mark. Do you understand?”
“I don’t want your mark,” I firmly state.
He narrows his eyes at my neck where his brother’s mark rests. “I see. Then I will hire a bodyguard to follow you when you leave. Same for you, Arlo, unless you will wear my mark.”
Lifting his trouser leg up, he shows Reign. “I am marked by you.”
Reign looks back my way and I turn to Arlo, pleading with my eyes alone. I don’t want another mark on me.
“The bodyguard will be better for us. We seemed to have attracted unwanted attention,” Arlo emotionlessly answers, and Reign nods, his lips falling into a grim line before he turns and starts to walk away.
“Wait!” I call after him. These damn vampires keep walking away from me all the time before I’ve gotten a word in edgeways. “What happened to the children? Are they alright? Has there been more?”
“Children?” Arlo asks, but I ignore him. He should have damn well answered his door when I tried to tell him what happened. Reign stops at the door and turns back, his eyes falling on me.
“They keep calling out a name. All of them, again and again, between eating, drinking and sleeping,” he tells me, dread leaking into my core. “Your name, Riona Dark. Why is that?”
“I have no idea,” I honestly tell him.
“The problem is, I believe you do not, and that worries me because someone knows why you’re here and why you can resist compulsion. Why these demonic children call for you and talk to you,” he replies, and if I weren’t scared before, I am now. “My brother and I have called a truce to find out where these children are coming from and what they have to do with you before they cause more havoc than they already have. Every inch of your personal and family history is being pulled up. We have even asked the stealers why they chose the beach party they stole you from, to make sure it was just a random choice.”
“And what did they say?” I ask.
His eyes narrow, anger seeping into his voice. “Not much before Maddox murdered them for talking about you. My brother will not have anyone speak of you, about you, or still breathe if they have touched you. He made that clear.”
I shiver as he slams the door behind him, and I lie back on the bed. Arlo wordlessly slides his hand into mine and locks our fingers.
“I’m not hiding anymore. I’m here for you, Ri-Ri.”
I roll onto my side and press my head onto his shoulder, something I used to do when we were young kids in the fields behind my house. That was before we became enemies because he cut all the hair off my Barbie dolls when I was six. We would sneak out at night and watch the stars. He, Austin and I would lie together for hours. “Good, because I need a friend.”
He doesn’t reply, leaning down and kissing the top of my head, but he is here for me, and that is enough.
“Hello, Princess Runaway.” Katy’s sarcastic voice makes me jump, and the glass of water I was holding slips out of my hand. Somehow she moves fast across the room, catching the glass just before it hits the ground, and smoothly stands up, offering me it. “Princess Clumsy is a better name perhaps.”
“My name is Riona, and thanks,” I reply, taking the glass. She grins at me. “Why are you here?”
“Aren’t you bossy, Miss Perfect?” she asks with another nickname. “I’m here because Reign asked me to babysit you.”
“You mean you’re the bodyguard?”
“Babysitter, but sure,” she answers around a yawn. “Where’s the fucked up friend Reign mentioned?”
“His name is Arlo, and don’t be a bitch,” I snap. She turns back, arching an eyebrow.
“I could kill you in a second,” she warns.
“But you won’t,” I reply with a smirk.
“Don’t you acclimate well to the situation you’ve found yourself in. How many times have you been bitten? How much vamp blood have they given you?” she questions, walking right up into my face. “Why aren’t you screaming and running away at the terror your life is sunk in right now?”
“Because Riona is the bravest woman I’ve ever known,” Arlo answers for me, walking into the kitchen.
“Being brave is stupid,” Katy replies, her eyes on Arlo. “You must be the recluse.”
“Arlo O’Dargan,” he introduces himself, his eyes drifting from me to her. “You are?”
“Katherine Chathair, but I like being called Katy. I’m a vamp and your new bodyguard. I’m moving in for now, and I will be a scream away. Don’t fucking leave without me, or I will personally gut you both myself and then heal you before doing it all over again,” she warns, knocking Arlo’s shoulder on purpose on her way out the door.
“She’s a bundle of kindness and light, isn’t she?” Arlo jokes, walking over to the fridge and opening it up. “Has Reign or any of the vamps heard of milk before?”