Twisted Kingdom (Royal Elite 3)

I fall to my knees beside him, uncaring about the water soaking my skin, and grip his arm. The tight muscles ripple underneath my touch.

“He’s not important, Aiden. You are.”

That must’ve worked.

Slowly, too slowly, Aiden allows me to pull his hands from Adam’s head. The latter surfaces, gasping for air.

Neither of us pay him attention, not even when he climbs out, wet and shaking like a dog.

We’re too lost in each other’s gaze to pay attention to the world surrounding us. We’re barely touching, but I feel him all around me, like a constant.

Right now, I’m sure that if I somehow fell into the pool, he’d bring me out. He’d protect me and be my hero once again.

I should probably stop thinking about him as a hero.

“You’re a fucking psycho,” Adam spits once he’s out of the water. He’s wet and dishevelled, but I couldn’t feel sorry for him even if I tried.

Aiden’s left eye twitches as he meets Adam’s ashen face. “Fuck off before I finish what I started.”

Like the coward he is, Adam limps out of the pool area with his tail tucked between his legs.

And then, Aiden is back to watching me as if I’m the only person in his sights.

What does he see when he stares at me this intently? Is it Ma? Or is he perhaps trying to erase her similarities from my face?

Both Knox and Teal admitted to wanting to hurt me due to how much I look like her, so maybe Aiden feels the same.

Maybe deep down, he wants to hurt me, too.

What if everyone I love hates me because of my genes? It would be tenfold more painful if it’s Aiden.

But would he have been willing to commit murder for me if that was the case?

And yes, he was seconds away from killing Adam. If I hadn’t intervened, his body would be floating in the pool by now.

Aiden’s lack of boundaries should scare me, but for some reason, a halo of calm submerges me.

I stopped him. He allowed me to stop him when he easily could’ve kept going. That fact fills me with overwhelming internal peace.

“Repeat it,” Aiden says.

“Repeat what?”

“The part about how I’m important.”

I suppress a smile. Why am I not surprised he only focuses on that part?

Inching closer, my space fills with all that is him. His scent and his warmth. His cloudy eyes and the chaotic emotions swirling inside of them.

Those emotions are mine.

I want to snatch them up, hug them, and somehow insert them into my chest so they can find company with my own erratic feelings.

The closer I am to him, the more the world disappears. The entire universe is tucked into the small space between us where my knees nearly graze his. “You are important.”

He wraps a strong hand around my nape and his lips crush to mine.

I don’t resist this time.