Page 19 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

Dear god, make her stop talking.

“I don’t date yet, and Sarah has yet to find anyone that she can stand for over fifteen minutes at a time, other than me and Tori.”

“Really? Fifteen minutes is her limit with people?” Murmur asked, winking at Sarah.

She responded with a raised middle finger.

“We don’t really know.” Vivi smiled sweetly. “She usually scares them off in ten. The fifteen-minute mark is purely speculative.”

Murmur threw his head back, laughing. Sarah kept her middle finger up. If Vivi’s usual sass was back, then I knew she would be fine.

“Yes, well. Back to the situation at hand.” Kylie said. “Do we know which one of you was the target?”

“No,” Sarah said. “I don’t think they did either. They said something about bringing all of us in and letting their boss figure out which was the right one.”

“Someone clearly has a bone to pick with one of you.” Kylie looked at each one of us for a long moment, like she was trying to figure out if she believed us. “Well, Rune, you’re supposed to take charge. What do we do?”

“We can’t leave them here,” Murmur said. “Tori was attacked by three men last night. We only have two in custody. And they don’t have a front door. This place is not secure. They aren’t safe here. I don’t think this was random. These girls aren’t safe here.”

Rune was silent for a few moments. He looked at me and my sisters before sighing. “Murmur is right, it isn’t safe. The two men we have in custody are…like us, not them. So it’s our responsibility to keep them safe.”

Sarah leaned back on the couch, arms crossed. “You also shouldn’t talk about them like they aren’t sitting right in front of you.”

“They will have to stay with us for a while.” Rune shrugged. “Pack a bag, girls. You are coming with us.”

I didn’t know what the right move here was. On one hand, it wasn’t safe here, but we didn’t know these… demons. Was it safe with them? I had said before I trusted them, but how far? Just because my body wanted Rune, didn’t mean I was willing to throw out all logic. Risking my safety to flirt with a supernatural being was one thing, but risking Vivi and Sarah was something completely different.

Of all the times for Mom to go out of town. Why did it have to be when shit hit the fan?

“You can’t make us go anywhere,” Sarah said.

Rune leaned down with a wide threatening grin. “Wanna bet?”

5

Oh Look! Red Flags! Aren’t They Pretty?!

“You’re right,” Kylie said. “We can’t make you go anywhere. We extend an invitation to our very large facility, where you will have your own rooms in a compound that has around-the-clock security. Or you can refuse and stay here, a cute, but compromised home that doesn’t even have a front door.”

Sarah looked away and grumbled something that sounded like “Fine.” This attack must have really shaken her. I had never seen her give in so easily before. If she was willing to roll with this, then who was I to argue?

“Good.” Kylie took out her phone and started tapping away. “I’m letting the others know. I’ll tell them it was Rune’s idea, but I support it.” She looked up from her phone to Rune. “I’m going on the record supporting this choice, but making sure they have everything they need and staying out of places they shouldn’t be is on you. It isallon you. Is that understood?”

Rune answered with a single nod. Thank God for easy-to-read, talkative men.

“I’m going to drop the guys in my van off at the Flag facility for interrogation.” Kylie stood to leave before adding, “I’ll be back down tomorrow. Tori, I can give you some basic self-defense training to make sure that never happens again.” She gestured to the bruising on my face.

“That’d be great. Thanks.” I stood to walk her out.

When I got back to the couch, both Murmur and Rune had taken a seat and were trying to convince Vivi that she would love the compound. Sarah was unusually quiet.

“What if I don’t want to spend the night at your place on some smelly couch?” Vivi asked.

“You won’t have to sleep on a couch, little mouse,” Murmur promised. “Our place is huge. There are several empty beds. You will have your own queen-sized bed. Not a smelly couch in sight.”

“Do you have stuff we can do? And I have homework and social obligations.” Vivi sat up. “I need to know you are taking me to a place with a good Wi-Fi connection. If I miss out on my D&D game because of a poor signal, I will cry…a lot.”

“We have great Wi-Fi and an immense library you can set up in. You can’t have friends over, but I promise I’ll make it my mission in life to get you home as soon as possible and keep you amused in the meantime,” Murmur said, offering his hand to shake on it.

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