Page 23 of Savaged

“I’m not sure. Maybe he thought I wasn’t doing as he demanded fast enough.” I frown at the ring, I’m tempted to leave it there, let the masses fight it out over the succession without the ring, but I know I can’t do that. If anyone were to find it with the remains they’d identify him and that would lead them straight to Alissa. For her, I have to do the right thing, even if that means taking up the mantle I never wanted.

“What exactly did he demand of you?” Brax asks, pulling me back to the here and now.

“Hey guys, I hate to interrupt but we really need to do something about Alissa, her wounds should have healed by now, but they’re still bleeding pretty badly.” Princeton calls out from beside Kalvan’s buggy. One look at her pale face is enough to have me forgetting all about the man who should have been my father. I cross the distance in an instant, worry pulling my brows down. I kneel down beside the buggy where they’ve laid her across the seats and lift her top lip, “She just needs to feed.” I tear my wrist with my own fangs and press the open wound to her lips. It only takes a few seconds for her body to respond.

With my eyes closed I can feel the bond between us growing, I don’t dare tell anyone what’s happening each time she feeds from me. Bonds aren’t supposed to be possible between fullbloods and Hybrids, yet it's there all the same. The colour in her cheeks returns but still she doesn’t wake.She needs more but if I give her more, she’ll drain me dry.

“Here, let me.” Kal offers. It goes against everything in me to allow him to touch her, let alone feed her but she needs more blood than I can give. “Fine.” I grouse, removing my wrist from her lips. I can’t watch him feeding her, it’s far too intimate not to have me feeling jealous.

More colour brightens her cheeks, but still Kal’s and my blood isn’t enough. Her wounds are still open and weeping. “Wesley!” I shout. “She needs more.” It shouldn’t be possible for someone so small to require so much blood but looking at Kal’s ashen face tells me her hunger is larger than any I’ve ever seen before. After a few minutes even Wesley’s skin takes on a pale hue. “She needs more.” I mutter more to myself than anyone else.

“Let us help.” Both Braxton and Princeton speak at the same time. Moments like this remind me that even though the two of them aren’t full blooded brothers, they share a connection I could never have. I turn my back on the lot of them, I can’t watch as they taint her blood with their impurities, but we really have no choice. The amount of power it would have taken to decimate a vehicle and then burn someone beyond recognition is enough to have tapped her dry. As much as it pains me to say, she needs them all if she’s going to recover quickly enough for us to fix the mess my father made.

“What’s going on?” Despite her frightened words, the sound of her voice is enough to make my heart sing. Without looking at her, I smile, confident that for now she’s going to be okay. I just wish she could stay that way forever. Unfortunately what’s coming next means she’s going to be even more of a target and there’s not a damn thing I can do to change that.

I know what happened to me and what I did but it feels like it’s something that happened in the past a long time ago, rather than just a few hours. Once I was healed the guys forced me to get into my buggy with Princess and return home. I have no idea what they had planned to do with the bodies or the car I destroyed but when they begged me to trust them enough to take care of it, I really had no choice. It’s not like I could do anything with the remains of the dead nor do I have the ability to make a car wreck disappear without more witnesses. It’s bad enough the guys were all there to see the devastation my powers are capable of.

I’ve kept my mouth shut since Princess brought me home. I haven’t wanted to say anything, after all, what could I say? They saw just how much of a monster I am and the weird thing is, they didn’t look at me any different. In the past anyone who discovered my secrets took off running in the opposite direction, never to be seen or heard from again. Yet these guys are right here, surrounding me in comforting things and trying to get me to talk to them.

I wish things could go back to the way they were before I came to SCU. At least that was a simpler time; no royals to deal with. No dead bodies that could get me executed and no strange feelings for more than one guy. I knew I was starting to feel something for each of them, but I just thought I was building friendships. The way they look at me though, that’s not friendships in the making. No, the way they look at me is the kind of looks you see in those sappy romance movies where the guy sees the woman of his dreams who hangs the stars and makes his every wish come true.

I can’t be that for anyone and they need to understand that. I’m not going to change who I am and that means I’ll never commit to just one guy. Even if said guy makes me feel like I should. Just what am I supposed to do when it’s the same feeling for more than one guy? When I feel like I’m falling for four guys and crushing on one who doesn’t even bat for my team?

No, I have nothing to say to any of them. There’s not a single thing I could say that would make any sense.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Brax says sitting down on the couch beside me. When I don’t respond, he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his chest, practically tucking me beneath his chin. It’s been a long time since I was just held by anyone and for a few moments I let myself bask in the feeling. “It’s okay to feel guilty or sad, you know. What you went through is enough to have anyone freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out.” My voice wavers, giving my lie away.

“Sure, you’re a tough, independent woman who doesn’t need anyone.” I can feel his voice rumbling through his chest beneath my cheek.

“Asshole.” I mutter.

“Yup. You’re surrounded by them and for some reason they all seem to be fixated on you. Must be your charming personality.”

The punch I throw into his side is barely half my strength, but he still sits up with a umph. “I think I’d have a better conversation with Mr V than I’m having with you right now.” I growl as I get up.

“Who’s Mr V?”

“Why, jealous?” I snark back.

“Depends on who he is.” His dark eyes glitter with open hostility towards the elusive Mr V. If only he knew that Mr V is what I call my big pink vibrator, I’m sure he’d be kicking himself over reacting that way. Without answering him, I head upstairs to my room. My toys haven’t been as useful lately as they used to be. Every time I get them out, all I can do is compare them to one of the guys, I’m always wondering if they’d be as big as soul shattering….Stop thinking about sex. I literally just killed two guys and now I’m imagining what it would be like to ride on Braxton’s pole! There is something seriously wrong with me, that’s for sure.

Sitting on my bed is boring as all hell, but I couldn’t take another minute of them all fussing over me. Even Princess was hovering, asking me if I needed anything. Mr Carr hasn’t stopped talking with the others, going over every tiny detail of what they need to do to help keep me safe and Kal, Brax and Prince Douche – I really need to stop calling him that, he’s been nothing like a douche these last few days. – Prince Samuel and the others have been so sweet, feeding me, occupying my mind with trivial things, but what I really need is time. I need time to myself, to process everything I’ve been through. Not just today, but these last few weeks.

It feels like far longer than just a few weeks. My mind drifts back to the first day I arrived on the island. I'd been so desperate to escape the mainland that I’d hopped on the first boat after getting my acceptance letter without any thought to the things I’d need to survive the few days before housing was allocated. Hell, I’d only had a miserable two hundred dollars to my name at the time. I’d even gone so far as to hustle some douche…. “Oh my god! No wonder Braxton was such an asshole to me the day he moved in.”

I can’t believe I forgot his face. I’m sure of it now. He’s the one I hustled the money out of at the pub that night.

More memories of that night surface, along with the guy who had been trying to convince me he was god's gift to women. He’d been hiding his face beneath a thick hoodie, but I’d seen his lips and that scent. I’d never forget that scent, vanilla with hints of sandalwood. I’ve smelt it so many times over the last few weeks it's just sort of faded into the background, but I’m sure of it now.

I bend down, pull the box from beneath my bed and inhale the scent it carries. Without a doubt, it’s the same. “My stalker is the guy in the hoodie.” I hiss under my breath. Closing my eyes, I go over every time I’ve smelled that scent in the last few weeks.

Once while walking through the hallways of SCU, one time when I was in music class, at the track the night I won the last race, while being carried to bed that night and every single time I woke to find a package on my pillow. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before. The guy in the hoodie brushed past me in the hall, he’s also the guy who was leaning against the wall in my Music class.

In not a single memory can I find a time when I’ve seen his face though. “Just who are you?” I whisper to the package holding the beautiful star necklace.

A plan forms in my mind and despite the expected reactions the guys will have when I explain it to them, I’m going to get to the bottom of this mystery. I’m not someone who will roll over and admit defeat, but even I have to admit, I’m going to need their help to pull this plan of mine off. The question is though, can I truly trust them all or is one of them the stalker?

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