Page 18 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“My sister was in danger,” I said calmly as I moved to clear up the food. Such a shame. Sarah made a great lemon rosemary chicken, and now it was all trash. “I heard Vivi scream. I had to protect her.”

“I gave you an order.”

“Excuse me? You want to try that one again.” I dropped the onions and lemons I had picked up into the garbage, then put my hands on my hips, meeting Rune’s glare.

“I said I gave you an order.”

“You don’t get to give me orders,” I said, stepping closer to him. “I don’t care how big and scary you are, or how many times you’ve saved me from being kidnapped. You are not in a position to give orders.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt whatever this is…” Murmur said, walking into the kitchen. “But Kylie just pulled up. Thought you should know.”

Rune nodded in his direction, then looked back at me. “This conversation is not finished.”

“It really is,” I said, turning my back on him and walking into the living room to see who the hell was at my house now.

Sarah had moved to the couch with Vivi sitting next to her. She still looked wary, but it was a vast improvement from a few moments earlier. Maybe Murmur had taken more of her fear? Sarah looked mad, which was Sarah’s default setting when she felt like things were out of her control.

Murmur picked up one of the unconscious men who was essentially hog-tied and threw him over his shoulder like he was nothing. Rune came from behind me and shoved his way past me to grab the other one. He was upset, but frankly, my list of priorities could only be so long. His ego just didn’t make the cut.

The boys came back in a moment later empty-handed, this time with a woman following them. She was tall with full curves and wearing head-to-toe leather with some of the most amazing boots I had ever seen in my life. I had no idea how women could walk in stiletto heels, but my god, were they fierce. Everything about this woman was fierce: her long dark chestnut hair, her blood-red lipstick, the leather jacket, and the don’t-fuck-with-me vibe.

“Which one of you is Tori?” she asked.

“Me,” I said. If I had met her any other day, she would have intimidated the hell out of me, but after everything else, it was all relative.

“Nice to meet you.” She smiled and offered her hand to shake. “I’m Kylie.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said, taking her hand.

“Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!” Sarah yelled from the couch.

“Is there anyone else here?” Kylie asked, taking a seat in the chair Vivi had hid behind earlier.

Murmur went over to Sarah and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it, but she nodded.

“Just me and my sisters, Vivi and Sarah,” I said as I went to sit on the couch next to the girls.

Rune and Murmur stood on either side of the chair Kylie was sitting on. A polite host would offer to grab them a chair from the kitchen. But they broke all the chairs in the kitchen. After that ‘I gave you an order’ comment, I didn’t particularly care if Rune was comfortable or not.

“Have any of you seen those men before tonight?” Kylie asked.

Sarah shook her head.

“Yes, they are two of the men who attacked me last night,” I said.

“We are SOOO having a long and unpleasant conversation after this,” Sarah said under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear.

Kylie’s smirk told me she’d heard it, too.

Murmur stepped forward and knelt to Vivi’s level. “What about you, little mouse? Any idea who they were or why they broke in here?”

“I said that we haven’t seen those guys before. None of us has done anything to make anyone come after us,” Vivi said.

She seemed more like herself now. This kid could rebound, fast. Or was this more of Murmur’s doing?

“No mafia ties, lab accidents you may have caused, or shady exes or current boyfriends or girlfriends that might hold a grudge?” Murmur asked Vivi, though he was looking at Sarah when he asked about the significant others.

“Nope,” Vivi said, popping the P. “Tori’s last boyfriend was so boring that we weren't THAT surprised when she stayed out for a rando hook-up.”

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