Page 29 of Savage Queen (Blood Empire 3)

“What the fuck happened to your face?” he asks.

“Harlow gave me a surprise when she woke up.” I give him a playful grin and lick more of the blood off my upper lip.

“Fuck’s sake, now my bedding is all stained,” he mutters. “Get up and get cleaned. Rosie is on strike and said now that you’re back, you need to take care of your pets yourself.”

“Relax,” Harlow says, rolling off the bed and bouncing over to him. She jumps into his arms and he catches her, resting his hands over her ass. “I’ll buy you more bedding.” She pecks him on the lips, and his frown slips away, never able to stay the angry one.

“What are you doing up? You need to be resting,” he tells her, and watches in wonder, waiting for her to chew him out. But she doesn’t. She pecks him on the lips again before wiggling down.

“I’ll take it easy, but I stayed in bed all day yesterday. I need to get up and move. I was confined to one room long enough. But I won’t overwork myself, okay?” she reasons while fluttering her lashes up at him all innocent like.

“Fine,” he says and she grins, skipping past him. She slaps his ass hard in passing, making him jump as she runs away laughing.

“What the fuck is going on?” I say, blinking at Cass. “Who the fuck is that?”

“What are you talking about?” Cass glares at me. “It’s Harlow.”

“No, that's some ray of sunshine.” Sure, she was ready to slit my throat, but still.

“It’s Harlow. As intheHarlow we met and fell for all those years ago.”

My eyes widen as I look in the direction she just took off in. “No.”

“What?” he asks, his brows furrowing.

“That can’t be her, I can’t be with that Harlow,” I growl.

“What? Why?” Cass asks, looking at me like I’m crazy. Well, I am, but that’s not the point.

“Because. The whole reason why I left her alone back then was because I’m too dark and twisted for her.”

Cass shakes his head as he steps closer to me. “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. When I say she’s the Harlow we fell in love with way back when, I don’t mean as one of her identities. I think, and I could be wrong, but I think there’s only one Harlow and Queenie. I feel like she’s allowing her softer side to emerge. I’m not sure why, but maybe it’s because she has us back in the way we all wanted to be with each other back then, the way it always should have been. The time spent apart and not knowing if she’s going to live or die changed her. Are we really going to question it?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” I say, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. “I’m not used to sunshine-and-rainbows-Harlow. I’m used to stabby-and-bloody-Harlow. The one that could laugh in your face while she slowly kills you.”

“She’s not always like that,” Cass chuckles. “You’ve seen her with Rosie and the animals. And it’s not that Harlow can’t be bloody or murderous, that’s almost always Queenie. Harlow is more of who you see outside of the killing. Like when she’s at the club, or handling business. Sometimes they’re pretty much the same person, bleeding into the other, but I think we’ve gotten to know them enough to know when the other isn’t present.”

“True,” I sigh. “I guess there’s always a first for everything.”

“She’s still the girl you have always loved in some way or another. She’s just dealing with a lot right now.” His face goes dark, and I narrow my eyes at him. He’s hiding something from me. I don’t like that. “Let her work out her shit the way she sees fit. We just need to love her and be there for her. If she says jump, we jump. If she says clean up the dead body on the floor, we do that too.” He grins.

“Yeah, alright, I see your point.”

We leave my room and head out to the kitchen. Rosie is sitting at the table feeding grapes to Daisy in the chair next to her. Dean is sipping his coffee and reading the paper, but I can see him looking over at Harlow and Axel out of the corner of his eye. Harlow is sitting in Axel’s lap as they banter back and forth with him muttering something about sore nipples, while she drinks a coffee that I’m almost positive is his.

It’s like they’re all acting like nothing happened, but it’s so obvious that something did. Beast didn’t let me in on much of what was going on. I was there when we were told she was taken, but then Beast took over. The next thing I knew I was standing in front of Dean and she was home.

They all know more than what they’re willing to tell me. I’ll get it out of them one way or another.

Sam sits at the island, watching the two of them with a look of longing. I’d say it’s for Harlow, but I think it’s for the both of them. Ten bucks says Sam fucks Axel in the ass by the end of the year. God knows the man needs a good dicking. Replacing the stick up the ass with a cock should do the trick.

I wonder what that feels like?My mind wanders as I lean against the counter watching everyone.I wonder if she would?I mean there’s one way to find out.

Heading over to Harlow and Axel, I move behind them, and lean over to whisper in her ear. She stops talking as my lips brush against her ear, and I love the shiver I get from her. “I have a question for you, My Queen,” I purr, nibbling on her ear lobe.

“Yeah?” she breathes. “And what’s that?”

“I’ve been wondering something. If I asked you to fuck me in the ass, would you?”

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