Oh, little love, I didn’t think there was any fucking discussion on whether I could or could not love. I am very, very much in love with you.
“Who said I couldn’t...”
Her lips pressed to my cheek, stunning me slightly as flames ignited on my skin, her words registering. “No one can love me, baby. No one.”
She was gone then, and my brow furrowed, a troubled exhale leaving my system. Fuck, this was so much worse than I’d thought.
And it was. That night, I’d come back to Lorcan’s house once everyone was gone. Dean had explained how Lorcan had inexplicably passed out with pale blue blood gushing from her nose, and I’d stared at her for hours, only leaving when I could sense that she was waking up. My demon was used to being controlled, but I could feel his frustration with me. It’s like now that we were back with Lorcan, he was goddamn insistent that we never let her go.
That feeling was still here even after screwing her six ways to Sunday.
“My parents want to meet you,” I spoke quietly, remembering the communication I’d received.
Lorcan’s head snapped up as her eyes rounded. “Oh?”
My lip tilted. “What?” Her ears were red, and for the first time Lorcan looked nervous. It was a bit adorable, if we were being honest. Adriel was smiling at her almost in a goading way as she tried to find her words, cocking her head as if she was confused by something.
“Well, I mean… I just have never done the ‘meet the parents’ thing.” Her brow furrowed as if surprised by that. “I knew Alpha Reid growing up, so that wasn’t ever weird, but I mean Desi, how do you even introduce me? Like, should I fucking give them a hug and be like ‘hey there, so I sold my soul to your son and I guess you could say we are dating along with the other five guys here, hope that isn’t weird for you?’”
I let out a laugh and kissed her temple. “You are overthinking this, love.”
My parents were already well aware of my future queen and the connection she had with Dean and Adriel. I mean, they were my best friends, so if anything, I think they’d see it as positive. My parents had said they had known about Lorcan the day I first met her without needing to be told. The two of them had been alive for nearly a thousand years before having my little sister and I. So when my father stepped down from the throne, I had stepped up so he could retire and relax with my mother.
I had craved the responsibility and distraction after Lorcan left. Now that I had her, I was proud to have a place for her to come to, to see my life. I had a feeling she was really going to love it, even if the new house ended up being our true home.
Suddenly, the air shifted and my head snapped towards the door, more than fucking surprised to see the captain of my guard walking our way. I had an unspoken rule that they stayed invisible and unseen. That was the point of having a guard that handled shit. So if my captain was here and approaching me, it was for a damn good reason.
“Linton?” I arched a brow as his eyes barely flickered to Lorcan, which was impressive considering I was positive her magic would affect his. Then again, he’d been on the force and served my father for over sixty years, so his professionalism didn’t completely surprise me.
“We have a problem.”
Those words had my hair standing on end as Adriel wrapped his arm around Lorcan, bringing her close. “Is it something you can say here?”
“I think this may be something you want to hear first,” he hedged, making me know it was really fucking bad. I nodded towards the front door before kissing Lorcan gently, her hand squeezing my arm as I nodded at her in understanding. I would definitely be telling her, but I did want to know how immediate the issue was.
We stepped outside, and Linton let out an exhale, looking more stressed than usual. Immediately I asked, “What’s going on?”
“We were having a talk with that asshole human you mentioned, the one in charge of the human school,” he drew out quietly before running a hand over his jaw, looking hesitant. “He started causing problems, yelling at us and acting erratic. Made me wonder if he was high on something. Didn’t matter completely, but we knocked him out. I had a weird feeling, so I started to look around his apartment… and we found, well, all of this.”
My eyes widened in realization as I looked down at the photo he was showing me on his phone. I swore, feeling fury wash over me as I actually felt my stomach tighten uncomfortably. It took a lot to make me sick, but the picture of this room was doing exactly fucking that.
It would probably be seared in my brain for eternity.
With the lights on in the room, you could see the dirty wall, the soiled carpets, and evidence of cockroaches and mice. Beer bottles and fast food containers lay spread out, letting me know he spent a lot of goddamn time in there. A dirty bean bag laid in the center of the room facing a computer, and piles of dirty tissues laid strewn about. On the walls were thousands of pictures, and from what I could see they were of different girls… but the ones that were laying right in front of his computer? Well, I’d recognize Lorcan’s unusual hair anywhere.
“What were the pictures of?” I had to confirm.
“The ones on the walls looked to be from various times. If I had to guess, I’d say this nasty bastard has been stalking women since he was in his twenties.”
This fucker was jerking off to pictures of girls that he stalked, including Lorcan. A snarl broke from my throat. “And Lorcan’s by the computer?” I got out in a strangled voice.
“They seemed to have been taken recently… in her old house. We don’t think he took those, though. In fact, it seems he was given them. He also had drugs that appeared to be from the elven realm. We think that whoever gave him those… set up what he was watching on the computer.”
“What was on the computer?” I could feel this was the part where I was going to lose my shit.
“It was open to a video feed of Lorcan’s bedroom and bathroom. We searched the old house and found the cameras. It was clear they had been designed to be invisible, but they were there for sure.”
White static filled my ears as I closed my eyes, trying to gather myself. A red haze was filling my system, and I knew for sure I wasn’t going to be able to make it through this goddamn photo shoot.
“What should we do with the human?” Linton asked.
“Reid’s basement,” I decided instantly. “I want you to call up a second unit and search the new property and anywhere else she goes for surveillance equipment. We need to try to figure out who was giving him this shit—”
“There was something else, sir.”
“What?”
“We found this.” He handed me a piece of paper containing detailed plans of something so fucking disgusting I couldn’t manage to process it fully. I folded it while staring at the ground, trying to compose myself before looking at him again.
“I want him down there immediately. Give me five minutes and I’ll be over. Make sure someone escorts Maggie here for the night.”
“Gladly,” he grunted as he disappeared, smoke trailing after him. It didn’t surprise me that he was so upset. Not only was he a good man, but he also knew that Lorcan was his future Queen and had assumed responsibility for watching her. I appreciated it, even if I was feeling possessive enough to snap someone’s neck right now.