Page 20 of The Crownless King
“What are you doing, Levi?” was Bas’s first question as he entered the room.
He didn’t address him by his title, which meant his friend was worried and coming to him as a brother and not a soldier.Lucas gave him an ‘I told you so’ look before leaving the two alone.
“She’s mine,” he snapped.
Bas hummed. “And this is the course you wanna set with your mate?”
“What other choice do I have, Bas? I let her leave here and what else will her fucking uncle get her into? Buru were circling her house just last night. What if they send more after her and her mother?”
“Perhaps explain that to her.” Bas’s tone was reasonable, and yet…
Anger, raw and scathing, burned through Levi. In the back of his mind, he understood that the Akachi piece was causing the emotion, but he couldn’t seem to stop it from spilling out of him.
“Shawty’s mine and I can do what the fuck I want with her. I dare a muthafucka to come in here and take her from me!”
Bas sighed, used to his emotional outbursts. They were coming more frequently. Levi could feel his control slipping through his fingers like sand.
“I got your back whether or not I agree with your actions, Levi. You know that,” Bas assured him, and Levi tried to breathe through the volatile emotion.
“Leave me, Bas,” he whispered, and his friend did as he asked.
He lifted the lamp at his bedside and tossed it at the wall, satisfied at the crash. Taking pleasure in the sound, he lifted something else. When he came back to himself minuteslater, all around him lay destruction, proof that he was losing control again. He didn’t even know how long he was out this time. Before he could consider it, the door opened and servants entered, like automatons, quietly and efficiently cleaning up the mess he’d made.
Sighing, Levi stepped from the room and onto the balcony. Taking in the cool damp air of the evening, he lowered his head. He couldn’t lead his men this way. Raven’s warnings sounded in his head and he understood that his arrogance had gotten him into this position. Sebastian’s mate had warned him in a respectful way that the power of the Akachi stone would eventually be too much for him to take.
He thought he’d weighed the pros and cons, deciding that the power that surged through him was worth whatever the consequences. He needed that power to secure the Bayi’s position in this world. He would no longer allow the Collective to overlook his vampires. The Bayi were done paying for the crimes of a long-dead ancestor.
Deciding to go see the woman who plagued his thoughts, he headed downstairs. He found a maid coming down the hallway with the tray he knew was for her. Amaya was still refusing to eat her meals with him. Levi grit his teeth as he tried to determine how much longer he would allow that.
“I’ll take it to her,” he told the maid, grabbing the tray. A docile bob of her head was her answer as she stepped aside.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked at the door before turning the knob. He growled when it refused to give way. Using his power, he attempted to push through the lock. Frowning, he tried again, and still, the door didn’t open. Using his magic, he probed at the opening, realizing that not only had she locked thephysical door, it was shielded, keeping his magic from inside the room.
“Amaya.”
“Go away, King.”
“Open the door, Amaya, before you piss me off.” He stated it as calmly as he could.
The door opened and Amaya stood on the other side, ever defiant. In between them, a shimmer of her magic kept them separated. Despite the opening, Levi knew he still couldn’t enter her space. Her magic was preventing it. She wore a soft cotton set, a simple tank top and shorts with tiny flowers on it. He’d ordered Lucas to only bring her clothes she wouldn’t try to escape in. He wanted her comfortable, gambling that she wouldn’t want to go outside in pajamas.
“I’m ready to go home,” she said, her eyes full of fire.
His eyes traced her thick thighs exposed in the little shorts. Instantly, he was distracted from his purpose. “So you’ve told my men, over and over. Why are you refusing dinner with me?”
Why had he asked her that? He shouldn’t care. He could only blame it on the way her heavy titties dragged down the collar of her tank top. He clutched the tray in his hand tighter, praying for some semblance of control.
“Because you kidnapped me. This ain’t no resort,King.”
The mocking nickname was finna send him spiraling, Levi could feel it. “Amaya, you ‘bout to piss me off.”
She faked a gasp. “Oh no. The king is angry. Is the dungeon the next level after this?”
“Why do you insist on thinking the worst about me?” he snapped, lust clearing and making way for the anger that was his constant companion.
“You have me locked in this room!”
Her power flared, dampening the sound around the estate, almost wrapping the two of them in a cocoon. The beast inside of him wanted to consume that magic. It made him frantic and edgy.
