“You are my princess, princess,” he said with a cocky smirk.
“Want to drive my convertible, prince charming?” I grinned, amused with myself.
“Where are the keys?” he asked, excitement glinting in his gaze as I pointed towards the bowl near the door. Once we were out in the garage, a massive one, I saw my car. Damn, I was impressed by how fast these movers worked. But then again, I’d ruined most of my shit this afternoon, so there wasn’t as much to move.
My baby, a purple convertible, sat gleaming as Adriel placed me down in the passenger seat. I pushed back my seat, put my bare feet up on the dash, and pulled my hair out of the bun. Adriel had put on a shirt and had tied his hair back, but he still looked a bit out of place in the convertible… not in a bad way. Just in a way that totally wasn’t human.
“Which way?” he asked curiously.
I gave him the directions as my eyes closed, his large hand wrapping around my thigh as I slid across the seat slightly so that I was curled up against him. Honestly, I lost track of where we were as we drove.
The music was a low hum on the radio that relaxed me. I was just fucking thrilled to be in the fresh air and have a moment to forget about all the complications in our lives. My lips parted as I began singing along softly, Adriel’s hand tightening slightly on my leg. Every Breaking Wave. I legitimately loved this song. The wind began to run through my hair as I felt my entire frame relax into Adriel’s side.
Opening my gaze, I found him looking at me with undisguised heat in his eyes. I blushed. “What?”
“You’re just fucking stunning,” he sighed, shaking his head.
“Who knew you could be such a charmer,” I teased.
“Oh, these thoughts have always been there, Lorcan,” he mused. “Just would have probably pissed you off even more if I’d said them before now.”
We pulled into the Sonic and parked at one of the stands to begin to order. I had some really funny and probably sickly-sweet responses to his words, but I waited until we paid and were waiting for the food. I let out a small laugh thinking of his words, which drew his attention.
“What?” he asked softly, his moss-green eyes examining my expression.
“I was just thinking about how I never actually hated you, despite my bluster,” I admitted.
He scoffed. “Right.”
“No,” I insisted, grabbing his hand and turning serious. “I’m telling the truth, Adriel. I never hated you. I got pissed at you, but that’s because you did shit that made me mad.”
“Like not giving you what you wanted,” he teased.
“Sometimes,” I shrugged and flashed a smile. “That’s what I was used to.”
“I wanted to,” he admitted softly, pulling my feet into his lap as I looked over him and his contemplative expression. “But I liked that you paid attention to me when we fought, so I didn’t want to lose that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I couldn’t have ignored you even if I had wanted to. Plus, that wasn’t why I was mad at you most of the time.”
“Why, then?”
“Because I’d been so comfortable with how I felt about Dean, Rhett, and Cash—they’d been there my entire life,” I explained softly. “Then suddenly that summer I met you and Desmond. It was confusing because you were suddenly part of our everyday life. I was terrible at adjustments and change… then all that shit went down and it got even messier.”
He hummed softly and gently cupped my jaw. “You know I never stopped searching, Lorcan. I never stopped trying to figure out why the hell you left.”
I nibbled my lip. “Why?”
His eyes melted into forest green as he pulled me closer to him. “I think you know why, princess.”
I did. I swallowed, ready to say those words…
“Oops!” the girl with the bags of food said. I would have found her embarrassment funny if she hadn’t been staring right at my goddamn elf king. Like, fuck off please, we were having a moment.
Adriel grunted and took the food as I squeezed his hand, sliding over so we could fit it between us… well, I tried to. Instead he put it on the ground on the passenger side and tugged me back over, muttering about the ‘stupid’ restaurant worker as he pulled out from the parking lot and began cruising back towards our house.
I knew what I had been about to say was important, but I also knew there would be a right time to tell him.
To tell him that I loved him.
9
Lorcan
“One misstep, you're mine
And you better stay clever if you wanna survive
Once you cross the line
You'll be wishing you would listen
When you meet your demise.”
-Monsters by Ruelle
There was an eerie feel to the day.
It was something I’d noticed immediately upon waking up. I wasn’t positive why, and it could be because I was tired, but I didn’t think it was just that. Although, it may have played a part, considering when we had come home with the food, everyone had woken up and we’d all stayed up relaxing in the hot night air until almost 4 a.m. So yeah, I suppose that could’ve played a part in the overall weird factor of today.
As I began getting ready for school, I started to feel really frustrated. How was this still a thing? Damn it, when I had first moved here, school had been somewhat of a safe haven from Toris. But now that he was gone? The only thing holding me here was the promise I made to Jeanie and Nelson. This was becoming such a pain in the ass though…
I paused in the middle of my morning routine, opening up my phone and exhaling in relief when I saw they had yet to call about the destruction of three bedroom walls in their home. If I had to guess, the guys had figured out a way to fix it. I went back to straightening my hair and drinking coffee. By the end of the process, I was feeling far more functional than before—thank the Maker for that.
The odd feeling persisted, though.
I put on a long-sleeved white shirt since the temperature dipped today to the mid-eighties, which was actually a bit cold for October in Phoenix. Adjusting my skirt on my hips, I slipped on designer sneakers and walked out of my new bedroom, finding Cash looking exhausted. I loved the man, but both he and Rhett valued and needed their sleep more than the others. Although, Adriel was a bit of a princess when it came to sleep also…
Cash’s dress pants were on, but his shirt was undone, and his tie was looped around his neck as he looked around for it. Poor guy.
Walking up to him, I began to button up his shirt as he offered me a sleepy smile. Then I tied his tie for him as he ran his fingers over my waist and ass, a low rumble escaping him. I could tell he felt far more relaxed after shifting yesterday.
I hadn’t thought about how difficult it had to be for shifters in an urban setting, always having to control when they shifted. At least we had a closed back yard now, affording them privacy. The compound was safe, but humans were devious little bastards, always finding their way into the safety of the pride community. Although, I had to admit that had become more of an occurrence since my arrival...
“Are we good to go?” Dean asked, coming in from the large balcony. I nodded and took his hand as Cash continued to get ready. My Alpha lion frowned slightly as he looked over me.