“And...” I finally pushed. I knew he wanted to say more. He’d either tell me now or he’d tell me later, but he always told me.
“And,” he sighed again. Uh-oh. “Her dad just bought CBP from Caplin. And,” he sighed louder, like he just couldn’t deal with all the bullshit that was his life, “Taylor Caplin is stalking her. I don’t know if I want to kill him or watch her kill him. You know I hate that guy. He was waiting by my car this morning when I left the club and he had a gun with iron bullets. Why did he have iron bullets? It’s not like he knows what I am.” He shrugged before powering through his rant. “If it wasn’t for her horse-shifter friend, I might be dead right now. And, well, I don’t like the idea of that guy being anywhere near her, if I’m being honest.”
“Well now, that is intriguing. I’ve never met a horse shifter, but that’s not important. What’s her name?” I inquired. I was bubbling over with curiosity. I wanted to know everything. Also, horse shifter? What the fuck?
“Sloane. Sloane King.”
“Oh. I know her.” He raised his eyebrows, skepticism clear on his face. I bet he thought I’d fucked her too. I hadn’t, but I definitely would. For sure. “I mean, not her, but I know two of her dads, Nathaniel and Charles King. You know that job I had a few weeks ago? When I took out the rogue tiger shifter while I was in Asia? Yeah, Charles hired me. He’s head alpha, big shit.” I nodded my head energetically before continuing. “He controls the shifter factions across the world. All the faction alphas are under him. I bet Briggs knows who he is.” I knew for a fact that he did.
I waited for Vaughn’s reply for a moment. I thought he’d fallen asleep with his eyes open. He was just lying there staring at the ceiling. It looked like he was holding his breath. If I couldn’t hear his frantic heartbeat, I might have mistaken him as being dead. Just as I stepped out of the door to his bedroom, he bolted upright in his bed. Confused. Frantic. About sixty-four other emotions pass over his face, never settling on one for more than a second.
“What?” he demanded loudly. “Her dad is a shifter? But... but... I would have noticed that. Surely. She seemed to be part demon.” He scrubbed his hand up and down his face in quick succession. “I’m sure she was part demon. I mean, she even told me her dad runs a demon boarding school.”
“You really don’t know, do you?” I asked him with a small smile playing at my lips. “We need to have a talk, my man. Come to the living room before you fall asleep. I’ll gather the troops.” Oh, this was definitely going to be a mindfuck. Why? Well, I’ll tell you. Because I was pretty sure that Nathaniel King’s daughter was my mate, and that was why he’d been training me to take over his position as High Coven Master. Though, now that I happened to think about it like that, maybe it wasn’t to be the head but to help the head. With head. Yeah. I could totally handle that.
I walked out of Vaughn’s room, down the hallway, and headed to the living area. The coffee table was littered with Palmer’s books, and he had a coffee cup in his left hand as he turned the pages of a book with his right. I’d bet my left nut that there was whiskey in that cup, not fucking coffee. Stone was sitting on the floor by the fireplace. When he came through the door of the apartment, it was instantly filled with the sound of crackling wood and the smell of burning pine. He was a pyromaniac, but I guess that was okay since he was a demon and regular fire wouldn’t burn him. It would sure as hell burn the rest of us, though.
Stone and Palmer were sitting there like they knew I was going to call them in. I heard Briggs in the kitchen rifling through the fridge. He was always cooking, but Palmer beat him to breakfast this morning. I sampled their food, but I didn’t need it for sustenance, so it was just more of a curiosity for me.
Briggs was a great cook, though. Better than Palmer. When they were home, there was something different to eat for every meal. The cabinets were filled with spices and dried herbs. Nearly everything we ate was home-cooked if Briggs was here, but he didn’t cook desserts, although he loved chocolate chip cookies.
Our neighbor, Mrs. Annette, made us a fresh batch each week. Since everyone was out of town this week we didn’t get any, but I was sure we’d get a nice big box of them on Monday. Palmer was a baker, so kitchen duty worked well between him and Briggs, and then we got left with cleaning up their messes.
Vaughn stormed into the living room, grumpy and still looking skeptical. It was an odd look on him. I felt a smidge evil for finding joy in the situation. He was always so confident and collected. He really didn’t know, and I knew it was killing him. He hated not knowing every little step or detail. Between him and Palmer, we were never short on control freaks. Today was one of those rare times where we all knew something that he didn’t. Granted, we weren’t sure if he knew or not, and the subject never came up. We were probably going to end up telling him information that we weren't supposed to tell anyone. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him, but I would if I had to.
Had he really never heard the stories? I rubbed my hands together excitedly. It was going to be fun watching him flounder around trying to fit the pieces together. Palmer and I’d had several conversations in the past few years, since we all moved in together, about what had brought all of us to one place. Most of us had known each other since we were teenagers, but we didn’t start hanging out until a little over six years ago. Now the puzzle pieces were starting to click. I wondered if Palmer saw it yet. If my math was correct, six years ago Sloane King turned 18. Old enough for her to find a mate. All of that information made me think about the druid we used to be friends with.
“Hey, Briggs? Come in here for a minute.” Or twenty. I hoped he wasn’t cooking anything. “Turn the stove off, it might take more than a minute,” I yelled across the apartment. He growled softly in response and stomped into the room, wiping his hands on a dish towel. At least he was clean and groomed now. When he’d come home last night, he’d looked like a caveman. He’d nearly made me jump out of my skin when he’d banged open the door and dropped his bags on the floor.
“Guys, tell Vaughn the story of the King family,” I instructed no one in particular, or whoever wanted to answer. Not me, though. I wanted to watch Vaughn’s face. “No, wait.” I held my hand up and closed my eyes, fighting a smile. “Tell Vaughn about the Kings’ daughter. We can save the rest for later. It’s not important right now.” The three of them looked from me to Vaughn and back again, probably wondering if I was joking.
“Ye don’t know?” Palmer asked incredulously. Eyes narrowed, he shook his head a few times and turned to Vaughn for an answer.
“Uhm, no, but I met her last night.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked around. All three of them were staring wide-eyed at him, just like I did. “We drank a rather expensive bottle of tequila and I kicked her ass in darts.” He rubbed the back of his neck like he was a little embarrassed to admit that last part. I would be, too. I was surprised she didn’t kill him. Rumors, though, you know?
“And she didn’t kill you?” Briggs piped up, reading my mind. Not really, but close enough. He was awake, not grumbling, and focused completely on Vaughn. I let myself wonder. Maybe they were just rumors and she was actually nice, or maybe she was a crazy bitch. Either way, I knew she was hot as hell. I’d seen pictures of her in her father's office.