Page 33 of Forever Touched

He dipped his chin in confirmation.

All the blood drained from my face. Mistress was going tokillme. Who knew how much time had passed since I’d been attacked. I felt in my pockets for my phone, but it was gone as well.

“I-I can’t be here. I have to leave.” Disoriented and completely out of my element, I scrambled from the bed and hurried to the door. At any moment, I expected Everett to stop me, but he didn’t. He simply watched as I beelined across the huge room and yanked the door open.

When a wall of muscle greeted me on the other side, I flinched back with a small yelp. I was surrounded. Completely surrounded by powerful royal vampires. Huge and intimidating ones that were looking at me like I was a rabbit caught in their snare.

“Aww, she’s frightened. I think she needs a hug,” the biggest one with sunkissed skin and caramel-colored hair said. When he stepped forward with his arms spread wide, I stumbled back, right into a hard body.

Before I could jerk away, an arm curved around my waist, trapping me there.

“No hugs, Kade. That’ll only frighten her more.” The rumbling voice at my back was definitely Everett’s, and my body’s first instinct was to relax, which was thelastthing it should be doing right now.

“Well,you’rehugging her,” the big vampire said, faintly smirking at Everett’s arm around my waist.

Everett dropped his arm. “That wasn’t a hug.”

“Then what was it?”

The prince blew out a long-suffering sigh. “Can you call off your drothen, Loch? He’s been extra annoying this morning.”

Morning. My ears perked up at the word. Maybe I hadn’t lost as much time as I’d originally thought.

“Kade. Behave,” the other vampire quietly said. I did a double take at his face. He was definitely Everett’s brother. The main difference between them was the color of their eyes and hairstyle. His brother wore his black hair longer. It fell across his brow in a stylishly messy way, further shadowing his dark eyes.

The vampire called Kade stuck out his bottom lip and retorted, “Iambehaving. Your brother is just being extraornerythis morning.”

At that, Everett’s brother cracked a small smile.

“Don’t encourage him, Loch,” Everett lightly growled, yet there was no anger behind the words. In fact, his sharp tone held something that caught me entirely off guard.

Affection.

I’d always been told the royal family were merciless, cutthroat killers devoid of kindness or affection. Then again, hadn’t I seen for myself that Everett could be kind? He’d just rescued me, after all.Again.

Yeah, because he wants inside your pants, I bitterly remindedmyself.

A sudden thought struck me, and I whirled toward him with a gasp. “Rocky. Did you see him? Benjamin snapped his neck before he came after me. He can’t be out in the sun. He’ll burn toash. I have to go. I have to make sure—”

I turned for the door again, my only thought on getting the bouncer to safety before he went up in smoke. Deep down, though, I already knew it was too late. Still, I needed to get out of here. There was no telling what Mistress would do when she found out I hadn’t come home last night.

“Have you seen my phone? I have to make a call.” I paused at the door, gesturing at the wall of muscle to move aside. There was no time for diplomacy and certainly no time for fear. If they intended to kill me, they would have already done so.

Then again, they might want me alive forotherthings. Maybe they liked to share their females like the Faircroft sisters liked to share men. I shoved the thought aside before panic could take hold. No matter what they planned to do, I couldn’t reveal how unnerved I was to be here. The minute I showed even an ounce of fear, they’d attack like the predators they were.

When the two vampires stepped aside, allowing me to pass into the hallway, I struggled to mask my shock. Huh. That had been easy.Tooeasy. Deciding not to look the gift horse in the mouth, I kept going. A tall window at the far end of the hall cheerily revealed the time of day, which only made me cringe. Yep. Rocky was toast by now. There was probably nothing left of him. I sure hoped he didn’t have a wife and kids waiting for him at home.

“Star.”

I cringed again, hating the sound of that name on his lips. Knowing that I’d only embarrass myself by making a run for it, Istopped and slowly turned to face Everett. He was leaning casually against the doorway of his bedroom, his arms crossed over his chest. I couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing the same dark outfit as last night. The only difference now was that he wore a gold and ruby ring on his pinky finger and didn’t have a mask on. He looked . . . tired. Worn out. Like he hadn’t slept for a day or two. A feeling I knew all too well.

Wait. Had he sat in that chair all morning and watched me sleep? The thought should disturb me, but instead, a warm feeling settled in my stomach. Yup. I most definitely was not in my right mind.

When I raised an eyebrow at him in question, he said, “Rocky is fine. I placed him on the shaded side of the building. His neck was already halfway healed when I left.”

I stared at him for a long moment, trying to understand what he’d just said. As his words finally sank in, the warm feeling in my belly intensified. Giving my head a slight shake, I said, “I need to speak with His Highness alone, please.”

“His Highness,” the vampire called Kade repeated with a quiet chuckle. “I like her.”

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