Page 56 of Their Princess

The nervousness wouldn’t leave me, but I couldn’t really explain it either. I obeyed, taking a deep breath and letting it out before we made our way out of the building and down the lane the security had made for us.

Reporters and people shouted at us, cameras flashed, blindingly, but we continued forward until we were inside the vehicle and secured.

Kayden directed Piper where to go and we moved off at a comfortable place.

“How does it feel to be one of the first demons with access to this world?” Piper asked, glancing up in the rearview mirror with a smirk.

“Same as it did yesterday,” I replied, and shrugged.

She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t envy the amount of work that Trey’s PR people are putting in on your social media accounts. People can be awful shitbags.”

“That’s an understatement,” Mason grumbled.

“You can’t kill everyone just because they don’t like that your mate is a demon,” Piper said.

“Watch me,” Mason snapped.

I set a hand on his leg, and he exhaled harshly. “You okay?”

“I’m frustrated that I had to protect you today. You were giving a press conference with our son there and they still attacked you. They would have killed you without hesitation. Just because you’re part demon. Even though you fucking saved all of us from becoming enslaved to that douchebag hybrid advisor.”

“Saving the world doesn’t give you an automatic pass,” I said and shrugged.

“Just look at Jolie. She’s been attacked a lot, as well as King Caleb. Shitty people are just going to be shitty,” Piper said.

Still, something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t put a finger on what it was to let anyone know.

Kayden sensed my unease and set a hand on my leg. “We’re here. It’s okay.”

For now… I just felt like we were going to be attacked at any moment.

“We’re going to go to the store first to pick up the items. Are you sure you want to go in?” Piper asked. “You can wait in the car while one of us goes to get them instead.”

“That might be better,” I agreed with a nod, leaned my head back against the seat, and closed my eyes. “I can’t stop feeling nervous or like we’re about to engage in battle. I don’t want to go into public any more than I have to right now.”

“Understood,” she said and nodded once.

I smiled at my friend and how professional she was being. Though, when it came to my safety, she was always top notch.

“Look,” Kayden whispered and showed me pictures of Kora and Elrith eating a huge four scoop ice cream cone.

Their eyes were shining with such genuine joy that it made me smile and relax a bit. While I didn’t like being away from them, I knew my mom and dad were the best protection they could have.

We parked in the garage of the mall and waited while they retrieved the kids’ wardrobes. Once those were obtained, we resumed our drive towards home.

My body started to relax the closer to home we go. Clearly, it had all just been unnecessary worry on my part.

As we rounded the bend to enter our neighborhood, a loud beep sounded and the next thing I knew, we were engulfed in fire and airborne.

ChapterTwenty

Gasping in air, I tried to orient myself, but the only thing I could feel was pain and extremely hard ground pressing against my body.

My ears rang so loudly and dizziness made my vision swim, so I couldn’t figure out which way was up.

Someone touched me, but it caused extreme pain to flare through my body and I cried out in pain, pushing at the hands, trying to ward them off.

My eyes slowly blinked open and the first thing I saw was blood on the back of Kayden’s head that lay on the pavement before me. “Kay?” I croaked and tried to reach out towards him, but my body wouldn’t move.

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