Claiming His Queen

“Get her out of here.” His words send a chill down my spine because I know they mean he’s about to bring down his wrath. I watch as Aidon turns, storming off. My heart drops.

“Sara is mine,” my mom says before she’s moving again. She puts me in the back of an SUV, getting in with me.

“He’s mad.”

“Good,” Mom clips back. “He’ll do what needs to be done.” She turns to look at me. Her face goes soft as she takes my hand. “I’m sorry.” Whoever is driving actually jerks the SUV, getting a growl from my mom.

“You didn’t know Sara was going to do that,” I reason.

“Not for that.” She’s quiet for a long moment. “I never planned you.”

“I kind of figured that,” I tease her, squeezing her hand. It gets me another soft smile.

“I had no plans to keep you. Then I heard your heartbeat. It was the first pure thing I’d heard in my life. Then you were here. You remind me every day that we aren’t born with cruelty. You were half me and half Jason, but still the sweetest creature, proving cruelty is taught.” My heart hurts for her.

“Mom.”

“I gave you to him.”

“You had to. He would have killed us all.”

“I was stupid. I should have seen this coming. If I’d never taken Sara in, then Poppy never would have died. Then-”

“Stop,” I shout. “We all make sacrifices being a part of a family. We all play roles. You might be angry with yourself, but I’ve never loved you more. I’ve never been loved more.” She grabs me, pulling me in for a long hug. “Now we’ll go home and I’ll make sprinkle cookies and wait for my husband to return,” I say.

I know he will return. I’ll never forget that chilling look in his eyes. The man I love was no longer there for a moment. I know only my love can restore him when he returns to me tonight. He was right. He really is more deadly with me at his side.

Chapter 22

Aidon

“I don’t know what that bitch told you,” Ashford sputters through the black burlap tied around his head. His feet clatter against the stairs as he tries to gain some kind of physical leverage. Ever since we snatched him trying to enter the house, he’s not had his feet firmly on the ground. We’ve carried or dragged the man around by his hair. Clumps of it are coming off from the force of his resistance. Too bad.

At the bottom of the stairs, I pull the two hundred pound man across the concrete and throw him onto the ground. Kailler and Bran quickly secure his tied legs and hands to metal rings bolted into the concrete. Ashford tries to move but finds no give in the Zipties. Plastic is surprisingly resilient.

“No one had to tell us anything, Ashford. You showing up after one of the Vieth orphans kidnapped my wife is all I needed to see to know that you deserved a visit here.” I give a chin nod, and Kailler pulls off Ashford’s hood.

He blinks like an owl and tries to make out the figures in the room. It’s dark, and there are only a few lights in the corners, making it hard for anyone to make out much but the stone walls and the low ceiling.

“The basement, Aidon?” Ashford clicks his tongue. “Seems a bit predictable, no?”

“Why reinvent the wheel?” I knock my fist against the wall. “We’re two floors down from the street, and no one will be able to hear you cry like a baby. It’s really for your benefit, Ashford.”

In the distance, I hear the sounds of a grate being opened followed by the roar of a fire. Ashford flinches.

“I see you’re familiar with the sound of a furnace. No organization is fully functional without one.”

Fear skates across his face, but he manages to paste on a smile. “I wonder what Karin Vieth uses. Acid seems like a woman’s tool.”

“From what I heard, the Vieth orphans let their victims rot away in their own filth.”

“Working smarter not harder, am I right?” Ashford laughs. It’s a little high-pitched at the end. He’s growing hysterical as the realization sets about how few options he has. He struggles against the bonds for a few worthless seconds before addressing me. “What do you want?”

“There’s no point in bargaining with me. I can take whatever you have.”

“You must want me alive for some reason,” Ashford argues. “Tell me the reason, and I’ll find the answer for you.”

“Tell me the story of you, Sara, and Poppy.”

“Untie my hands, and I will,” he tries to bargain.

I nod my head at Bran, who walks over to Ashford, his heavy boots thumping loudly against the cement. Ashford tries to scramble away when he sees Bran unzip his pants. “What the f—" is all he gets out before Bran unloads a shower of piss onto Ashford’s head. The man screams and tries to move out of the way. Some of Bran’s piss gets into Ashford’s mouth, and he starts to spit and gag. Kailler coughs into her fist, trying to cover a laugh. Ashford’s gelled-back hair starts to lose some of its perfect shape under the urine shower.