“Please don’t tell anyone,” she begs. “I didn’t mean any harm. I was only trying to help the sanctuary, and if you tell anyone—”
“I’m not going to tell anyone. But you have to do something for me.”
Her eyes widen, and she considers my words carefully, awareness coloring her voice when she speaks again. “What would I need to do?”
“What are you willing to do?” Against my better judgment, my fingers caress the soft, creamy skin around her ankle as I remove the heel and replace her shoe.
“I… I don’t know,” she says. “Do you have something specific in mind?”
“Have you always been so naïve?” I lean into her, my fingers gripping her jaw. A breathless sound escapes her lips, and her pulse comes alive for me, throbbing with panic.
My cock is so hard I could fuck her for hours, but not yet. There’s a time and a place for my depravity, and they are both elements I need to be able to control. Reluctantly, I let her go and stand.
“I have a proposition for you,” I tell her. “Something that can save you from the repercussions of your deception and help your precious sanctuary too.”
Her eyes light up, hope shining like a beacon in the darkest ocean. “You’re going to help me?”
“I can help you. But you have to do something for me.”
“What is it?” She rises and grabs the kitten, who has snuck back into her orbit.
“Come with me, and I’ll tell you.”
She hesitates, eyeing me like a shark in the water. Little does she know how true that is. “I can’t come with you. I have to get home, in fact…” She checks the time on her phone, and alarm seeps into her features. “I’m so late.”
“Who’s waiting for you at home?” I ask, not out of curiosity but necessity.
She hesitates but thinks better than to lie to me again. “My stepmother and stepsisters.”
“I’m sure they won’t mind your absence a while longer.”
“No, you don’t understand.” Her panic rises. “I’m sorry, but whatever it is will have to wait.”
“I think you must have me confused with someone else.” I laugh darkly. “I don’t wait for anyone.”
Indecision paralyzes her, and if I had to guess, I’d say she was weighing the balance of her indiscretions. It doesn’t take her long to figure out that whatever strife is waiting for her at home can’t be worse than the potential for punishment of her actions at the royal palace.
“Tell me what you want,” she pleads.
“Tell me your real name.”
She considers it for a moment, and I’m half expecting another lie to spill from her pretty lips before she finally answers.
“Ella,” she says. “My name is Ella Laurent.”
“Ella,” I repeat, rolling the word over my tongue. “Good. Now, Ella, I’m going to give you a ride home. Where are you going?”
She chews on her lip, holding the kitten hostage against her chest. “I only live a few streets away. I usually just cut through the field.”
“And today, you won’t.”
She glares at me, and there is a spark of fire in her that I already know I’m going to enjoy stoking. When she concedes, I almost regret the battle being won so easily.
“Okay, but only to the end of the lane. I don’t want my family to see.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t,” I sneer. “How dreadful it would be for you to be seen with the Prince of Norway.”
Her shoulders fall under the weight of my wrath, and she follows me wordlessly out to my car, which is parked on the street outside of the sanctuary. The kitten trails her after she sets him down, and she looks grief-stricken that she can’t take him with her.
When she sees the BMW, she pauses. Judging by her clothes, I would venture a guess that she isn’t used to such luxuries, which leaves me to question how she managed to acquire the dress for the ball.
I open the passenger door for her, and she carefully slides into the seat, glancing at her dirty jeans. She’s worried about filthying up the car, but she has no idea that’s the least of her worries.
“Allow me.” I lean over her and grab her seat belt.
She sucks in a breath when her eyes collide with mine, and for a minute, I almost regret what I’m about to do. But then I look at her face, so fucking pretty, and I don’t think I’ve ever had something so pretty to call my own. Her innocence speaks to me on a primal level, and I can’t wait to destroy it.
My hand moves quickly, and she doesn’t even notice the syringe until it’s lodged into her thigh. She flinches, and I slap my palm over her mouth, smothering her scream as she stares at me with terrified eyes. Her instincts are telling her to fight back, but she’s no match for me. I secure her wrists with my other hand, forcing her to stay where she is.
Ketamine can take a few minutes to be effective, but luckily for me, she’s small, so it doesn’t take long to flood her body. After about a minute has passed, she’s rendered immobile, but her eyes are still open. She’s sedated but conscious. Using the buttons beneath her seat, I lean her back enough that I won’t have to worry about her choking.
I leave her hands folded on her lap and wrap my fingers around her jaw, forcing her to look at me. She stares absently, trapped in her own mind as I brush the hair away from her eyes. The pulse in her throat is a wild drumbeat against my fingers, a stampede of horses in a lightning storm. She’s fucking terrified of me, and I’m harder than I’ve ever been.
The kitten meows from behind me, and when I turn, he’s watching me like a silent witness. His eyes wise and brave as he comes closer, daring to pass the monster who took his human mother. Without much of thought, I scoop him up and haul him back to the barn. Today, he will have to learn to share.
10
Ella
I’m completely immobile. Frozen in my body, my mind swirling with strange and terrifying images. Am I drunk? High? I can’t seem to recall what happened to make me feel this way. But the hallucinations continue, and I could swear I was on an airplane. The rumble of the engines vibrates my eardrums, and it’s difficult to distinguish reality from my imagination.
“She’s just had a little too much to drink,” someone says.
Another seat belt clicks, and something brushes against my face. Is it Alfred? Am I still at the sanctuary?
Seconds and minutes drag on for what feels like an eternity. Everything is so slow. Time has never felt this expansive. For a while, I think I drift off. Or am I just staring at the sky? A pill squeezes past my lips, and it seems familiar. How many of these pills have I had?
The next thing I see is a pair of dark gray eyes. The eyes that have haunted me for weeks. Thorsen Lykken. Is he real too, or just a figment of my imagination? He hoists me into his arms, and my face collapses against his chest, hard as steel. He smells clean, like mint and expensive cologne, but not overwhelming. I want to inhale that scent, and I think I do. But then it all starts coming back to me.
The sanctuary. My heel. His threat. The needle.
My mouth falls open, and I try to ask where he’s taking me, but my lips refuse to move. My muscles are starting to twitch, and it feels like the life is coming back to me. Soon, I can fight him off. I can run away. These are my best-laid plans until he drops me into the seat of another car, securing me before he gets behind the wheel himself. I don’t know where we are. That becomes abundantly clear when I observe the passing scenery outside.