Page 38 of Princess Broken

“Not a prisoner,” Crusher says, as if offended.

Blade reaches forward, and his fingers brush mine. “Before you go Above, we need to assess the danger.”

The other men make sounds of agreement.

“We can’t protect you until we know what we’re protecting you from,” Flame adds.

“The Marianos,” I say. “Isn’t that obvious?”

Crusher folds his arms over his chest. “Can’t be sure.”

“Taking you wasn’t part of our original contract,” Flame says. “Something changed…”

“What were you hired to do?” I assumed they were hired to kidnap me.

“Protection,” Crusher says. “Intimidation. We were contracted to take out anyone who came near Mariano.”

“And why the ambush?” I ask them, trying to remember exactly how the melee began, and whether or not there was a clear objective. The invaders attacked the DEFTA team, but with bullets, nothing lethal.

Except for the stake that killed Timur.

Closing my eyes, I draw a deep breath, hoping to avoid another emotional breakdown.

“The ambush wasn’t planned,” Crusher says.

I look toward him sceptically.

“Okay, okay.” He raises his palms toward me. “Clearly it was planned, but what I’m saying is that we weren’t in on the plans. And you’re not safe until we know why it happened.”

I nod and my stomach sinks. He’s right to be cautious. It is not a stretch to imagine that I was the target of that attack. In fact, was the stake that killed Timur intended for my heart?

My eyes close again. I want to curl into a ball, to disappear. Perhaps I should tell the men that I’d like to spend another day in that glorious bed.

“Hey there.” Blade’s soft voice summons my courage, and his hand brushes mine. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. You’re under our protection now. No one will hurt you. Not ever. Our lives for yours.”

All four of them shift, posing with legs spread, arms crossed over their chests, and they repeat the words together, “Our lives for yours.”

Something stirs inside me at their protective display. It reeks of testosterone, bravado and hyperbole, but I can’t deny that it’s comforting—and sexy. I glance around, and each one meets my gaze, except for Phil who keeps his eyes trained on the wall above my head.

His shame now is as clear as his anger was when I tried to issue him orders. I’ve certainly discovered how to get under the big vampire’s skin, but before I risk angering him again, I need to be better prepared. I’ll wait until I have a chance to put that explosive rage to better use.

“Shall we proceed?” I ask, shifting toward the room’s exit.

Chapter Fifteen

Ana

My four captors surround me in tight formation as we leave their private space and enter the massive cavern they call “the square”, although it does not resemble that shape in the least.

Two vampires are lounging at a table nearby, and another group are laughing together at the far end of the cavern. Beyond them, I sense the presence of several others outside my view. I have to admit there’s a calm sense of community down here. But the atmosphere changes as the others notice our presence—a palpable sense of awareness.

“This way.” Blade reaches for my hand and I’m glad to hold it as we move past the lounging pair, who both turn their full attention toward us.

We pass through a narrow, tall opening where we’re forced to go single file, and the corridor soon opens into a small cave that resembles a boutique store.

The stone walls, painted a warm off-white, are broken up by elongated triangles of red light that project above and below brass art deco sconces around the space. Several chaise longes sit on the tiled floor between racks of clothing illuminated by lights that drop down from the rock formations above. The floor is covered in white and black tiles set in a diamond pattern, radiating out from a single diamond at the room’s center. I try to imagine the effort that must have gone into smoothing the natural rock surface to allow for these tiles to be laid. And those in the men’s quarters.

I oversaw some renovations and expansions done at the vampiric palace, but there we had the benefit of thousands of vampires at court, not to mention trusted human craftspersons from the Romanian village above ground.

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