“You look lovely, my dear.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
He beamed at me, nodding slowly. “They tell you it goes fast, but how did you grow up so quickly?”
I rolled my eyes. “Dad, stop.”
He laughed. “Well, you certainly look ready for the ball this evening. Doesn’t she, Mallory?”
Mallory just gave me one of her token frosty smiles before going back to whatever was so important on her phone.
“I’ve got the helicopter ready to take you over the border to Avlion whenever you want to leave.”
“Thanks, I—”
The door to the throne room boomed opened.
“You wanted to see me, sir—”
Damon froze, his face paling as he stood like a statue three steps into my father’s the throne room.
“Ah, Captain Hunt!” My dad gave one of his famous beaming smiles as he beckoned Damon forward. “Yes, yes, please come in.”
Damon’s jaw twitched as his eyes darted quickly to me.
“Do you know my daughter, the Princess Adele?”
Damon turned to face me fully, and I could feel myself shiver under that dark gaze of his.
“Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” he said stiffly, but with just enough purr to his voice that I heard it.
“Uh, same,” I said quickly.
“Sire, I can come back later when—”
“Nonsense. I just wanted to see how your report was going on front.”
Damon nodded stiffly and for the first time, I caught a real look at the military man behind the wildly sexy man I’d fallen for.
“I’ve just finished and submitted a copy to your offices, sire. They’re caving, in short. Your idea of a peace accord in exchange for more representation in parliament seems to be agreeable to even the most hardened of the secessionists.
My dad smiled quietly.
“Oh my plan, was it?”
He raised a brow at Damon, who merely looked straight ahead, all formal military man.
“Yes, sire.”
Dad shook his head. “I seem to remember that being your idea, Captain. And a damned good one at that.”
Damon smiled a small, quick smile. “Thank you, sire.”
His eyes darted to mine once more, and just the quickest flicker of fire there in his eyes was enough to get me shivering with want for him.
“I’ll leave you to your family then.”
“Excellent work, Captain.”
Damon bowed formally once more, before turning and striding from the room. My dad whistled and shook his head.
“Hell of a soldier, that man.”
“Oh, is he?”
“Absolutely unrelenting in getting what he wants.”
I tried to swallow the heat from my face.
Damon had told me about him being a Captain in the Royal Guard, of course, and of the ongoing campaign he’d been on in the hills fighting the separatists. But seeing him like that, in full uniform, and in full “soldier” mode had been something new.
Not to mention insanely sexy.
“He’s a brute is what he is,” Mallory said with a wave of her hand. “Total savage.”
My father sighed. “Now, my dear, it’s his job, after all.”
I frowned. “A savage?”
“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry yourself with, my—”
“He’s a killing machine is what he is,” Mallory spat, a sour look on his face. “Honestly, Lorne, the man terrifies me.”
A knot formed in my stomach.
“Killing machine?”
Damon had told me a lot about himself over the last few days. I knew about his painful divorce, his desire to help and make the world a better place by enlisting in the Royal Guard. And of course I new he was in an active campaign, and I’d considered the idea that he’d shot at people. But killing machine?
My dad frowned at Mallory before turning back to me. “Our dear Captain Hunt just has a bit of a reputation is all.”
I chill went through me. “What sort of reputation?”
“He holds the Berne Royal Guard record for most fatalities in an active campaign.”
My stomach dropped.
The kind, loving, fiercely passionate man who’d shown me so much in so little amount of time couldn’t be this man they were talking about. He had to be an evil twin, or an alien body double, or something to make this not true.
I was still shaking my head and trying to process it, when Mallory cleared her throat.
“Adele, honey,”
I hated when she called me that.
“You’re eighteen now.”
“Mallory—” my father started.
“No, Lorne, she has to hear this.”
My stepmother turned back to me, her look almost gleeful.
“It’s high time you were married.”
I frowned. “I’ll get there, I just haven’t found—”
“No, you’ll get there tonight.”
I blinked. “Tonight?”
“At your uncle’s ball. You’ll find a suitor, the arrangements will be made, and that’s the end of it.”
“What?” My jaw dropped as I whirled on my father. “Dad! You can’t just—”
“I’m, uh, I’m afraid I must agree with my Queen on this one, honey,” he said softly. “In fact, I decree it. You will find a suitor this evening.”
“Dad!”
“Your Highness,” Mallory snapped. “And he’s made his decree.”
“No you’ve made a decree for him!” I hurled back.
“Adele!” My father stood quickly, fury rolling around him. “Do as Mal— do as I say.”
The world spun, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Tonight. I had to find a suitor tonight, and the only thing I wanted had just walked out of this very throne room.
“You’re a strong young lady, Adele,” Dad said quietly. “But it’s time to marry. You’ll find a nice prince—”
“I don’t want a nice prince.”
“I can find you a not nice one if you prefer,” Mallory snapped.
My dad shook his head at his wife before turning back to me. “You’ll find the right one tonight, my dear. I’m sure of it. And if you don’t—”
“If you don’t I’ll find one for you,” Mallory said wickedly. She shook her head at me.
“Come hell or high water, Adele, you will be married by week’s end.”
9
Damon
She didn’t know I was there. That, I’d done on purpose, obviously. One, because it was all part of my wicked plan involving those little panties I’d given her. I knew the label inside the box might have given some of the surprise away, but me being there? She wasn’t expecting that.
She also wasn’t expecting the remote control to those panties being in my pocket.
But the second part was, beyond my own fun games, was that I couldn’t stand to be away from her. I couldn’t abide her going off to that ball without me, surrounded by shitty, leering princes trying to get their paws on her.
Fuck that, she was mine, and no one else’s.
So I pulled out the stops, and called in some favors with some friends in the intelligence wing of the Royal Guard. I had the tuxedo — though in my true fashion of not being one of the sheep, I’d gone with an all-black getup. So, I had the monkey suit, and more importantly, I had the fake invitation to King Lucian’s ball.
But a tuxedo and an invitation didn’t make me belong in a place like this, I was acutely aware of that. I wasn’t “of” this crowd. I wasn’t royalty, and I wasn’t even one of those people who wished they were royalty.
I just wanted my peace, my woods, and a life of my own.
Well, and now that list of desires included Adele, the woman I’d fallen for. I just wasn’t sure how I fit the damned royal Princess and heir to the throne of Berne into my plans.
I pushed my way through the crowd of elites and upper class, my face souring as I moved past a group of princely-l
ooking types making a crack about “finding some” that night.
Little pricks.
These assholes were all much younger than me, and yet far richer. Far more “esteemed” with the family and the names and the titles they’d been lucky enough to be born with. And I knew deep down that this was the type of guy someone like Adele should have been with it. It’s just the way the world worked, and I got that.
But that didn’t mean I had to like it. And it didn’t mean I had to play the world’s games.
I shouldered my way past another group of people, and then I froze, because that’s when I saw her.
God damn she was gorgeous.
She was standing with her three cousins — the princesses Ilana, Imogen, and Isla of Avlion. And as lovely as they all were, it was my Adele that just out-shone the lot of them. Hell, next to her, it was like the rest of the beauty of the entire world paled.
And yet, even dressed like that, in a place like this, surrounded by her cousins, she looked sad. Her face was tight, and she toyed with her fingers in this nervous way that had me frowning.
I immediately wanted to go to her, though I knew that wasn’t a smart idea. I fucking hated that this thing of ours was a secret, and my mind was working on overtime trying to devise a solution where it wasn’t, but I just couldn’t see it.
Embracing her and kissing her passionately in the middle of her uncle’s royal ball probably wasn’t the best step towards that dream goal, though.
I was staring at her, watching her talking with one of her cousins, Princess Ilana, when she suddenly looked up. Her face paled, her eyes going wide as she saw me. I frowned. I’d expected surprise, of course, when she eventually realized I was there. But that look hadn’t been surprise.
It’d been fear.
Something was wrong, and I knew it. I watched her pull away from her cousin, shaking her head quickly and giving me another quick look, before suddenly, she was gone.
Shit, something was definitely not right here.
Forget my plans of teasing her with sexy vibrating panties all night while dumbass princes tried to hit on her. My new plans were seeking her out and figuring out what the hell was going on.
10
Adele
I made it as far as the hallways before I felt the hand grab my arm. I gasped, whirling, my heart jumping into my throat, even if I knew who it was.
Or maybe because I knew who it was.
Damon’s eyes narrowed at me, his jaw tight as they searched my face.
“Something’s wrong,” he said quietly.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly.
“You’re shaking right now, I can feel it.” He frowned. “Adele, just tell me what’s—”
“Maybe you should go,” I said quickly, hating the words as I said them. But all I could think about was the conversation in the throne room with my father and Mallory.
“He’s a killing machine is what he is.”
A killing machine. The man I loved, who’d shown me things I’d never dreamed of, who made my heart soar, who loved so fiercely, was a man capable of killing.
“Tell me what the hell is going on,” he growled, pulling me against him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I snapped, jerking away. “Don’t you have a war to go fight in?”
He scowled. “Where the fuck did this come—”
“Some people to go murder?”
His mouth snapped shut, and his eyes narrowed.
“I see.”
I laughed a hard, brittle laugh. “Oh, you see?’
“I see that you’ve been talking to people about me.”
“Don’t accuse me of—”
“Adele, stop.”
I gasped as he yanked me against him, his hand going to my cheek.
And I melted. Instantly, I went right back to the part where I was so crazy in love with this man, before I heard those terrible things about him. Before he scared me.
“I wasn’t accusing you of anything, I only meant that you’ve heard things about me.” His jaw tightened. “Things I wish you’d never had to hear. Like my war record.”
I looked away.
“Ask me.”
I glanced back at him. “What?”
“Ask me. It’s here, between us, so let’s talk about it.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t know if I want to know anything more about that.”
“I want you to know,” he said quietly. “So you can understand. You want the truth? Well, the truth is, yes, I’ve killed. A lot. But I’m not a murdering psychopath, Adele. I’ve killed in war,” he growled.
“I— I know,” I said quietly.
“No, you don’t.”
His voice was cold, but he held me tightly, like he was afraid to let me go.
“The people I killed were people who were okay using children as shields, or worse, as suicide weapons.” His voice broke slightly, and I looked up to see him looking away this time, a faraway look in his eyes.
“The people I killed in war were monsters. They were people who’d rather blow up a whole village of innocents rather than let a damn laptop get taken by coalition forces. Here, with the separatists, the people I killed were those who’d rather blow up a busload of school children, or just everyday people going to work to feed their families, just because of a difference of fucking political opinions.”
His jaw tightened, his teeth flashing, and suddenly, he took a deep breath and looked back at me.
“So yes, Adele, I’ve killed. But I can promise you, the world will not miss the type of people I did.”
We were silent for a single second, before I slid my hand into his hair, craned up on my toes, and kissed him. It wasn’t a world-rocking, panty-melting type kiss this time, it was just a deep, connecting, soul-bonding, never-let-me-go kiss.
And it lasted for longer than I can even remember.
When we did pull away, I threw my arms around him.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said softly, stroking my back. “I should have told you about that part of myself.”
I bit my lip, the tension gone now as I looked up at him.
“So how did you get in here?”
He grinned. “That’s your first question?”
“Should I have another one?”
His grin turned downright hungry.
“You’re not curious about the present I gave you?”
I blushed, squeezing my legs together and feeling the naughty little warm nubs of the inserts rubbing against me.
“Maybe. I think I know what they are,” I said quietly. “I just don’t know how they— ooooh.”
My words faltered, and my eyes rolled back as the pleasure suddenly rocked through me.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, faltering, my hands clutching his tuxedo jacket as if I might fall without the support.
Damon grinned. “Surprise, baby girl.”
I panted, the vibrations teasing through my clit and against my ass, making my knees shake and instantly soaking my panties.
“You’re evil.”
He chuckled. “I know. I think you love me for it though.”
I froze.
“Adele—”
“I do love you, you know.”
I said it quietly, my heart hammering in my chest. Damon just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, searing kisses across my mouth.
“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything,” he said, his voice tight.
And I knew he meant it.
This man who’d stepped out of nowhere into my life was my everything, which I why the next thought that filtered into my mind was like a twisting knife.
But I had to tell him.
“I have to tell you something.”
The grin on his face dropped. “What is it?”
I hugged him tight, burying my face in his chest before pulling away.
“There’s been a decree.”
The words felt li
ke lead in my mouth.
“My father has officially decreed that I have to find a suitor.”
Damon growled. “Well, you’re eighteen. I suppose it was a matter of—”
“No, Damon,” my voice broke. “Tonight.”
The fire roared in his face.
“What?”
I nodded, feeling the tears start to well in my eyes. “I’m to be married by the week’s end or she’ll — I mean, my father — will find a husband for me.”
Damon’s eyes narrowed. “This is from Queen Mallory, isn’t it?”
I nodded glumly.
“She’s the one putting the pressure on, isn’t she? And it’s her threat. Am I right?”
I nodded again.
“Of course she’s behind this,” he muttered. “If only they’d—” He shook his head.
“What is it?”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about now,” he said quietly, pulling me against him.
“What are we going to do?” I said quietly,
“I’ll—” His face was grim. “I’ll think of something, I swear it.”
I could feel the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. “Damon, I can’t find anyone else. I don’t want anyone else!”
“And no one else is going to have you,” he snarled with a low growl that got me tingling, despite the situation.
“You’re mine, baby girl,” he said lowly, pulling me tight against him. His hand dropped to my ass, cupping it and pulling me against him possessively. “Mine and only mine.”
“I’m only yours,” I whispered back, leaning up and kissing him. He responded hungrily, growling as his lips parted and his tongue found mine.
I was suddenly aware of two things. One, we were in the middle of a hallway, even if it was empty. And two, at some point, my cousins were going to miss me, even if Imogen and Isla had already gone missing from the ball themselves.
“We—”
“Someone could see us,” he nodded, finishing my sentence. “You should get back to your cousins, too, before you’re missed.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’ll find you later,” he growled, his eyes fierce.
“What if I want you now?”
He smiled. “Adele, baby, you should—”
“No, I mean what if I want you, right now.”