117

"Um, Wilhelm, have you seen Toreh?" Wilhelm laced up his boots before turning to his cousin. "Yes."

"Do you know where she is? I went to the bathroom, and she just disappeared. I’ve been looking for her ever since."

"She went home, lad. Maybe she was tired of seeing your face and respectfully took her leave," Wilhelm murmured.

"She would have at least said goodbye," muttered Eloive.

"She would," Wilhelm agreed.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. I thought it was that obvious."

"You’re going to her home, are you not?" Wilhelm sighed and straightened. "Eloive, you’re not coming with me."

"But I need to see her."

"Well, if she wanted to see you, she would have stayed back, would she not?" Wilhelm asked. "Look, Eloive, aren’t you supposed to be keeping your distance? You wouldn’t want the queen to find out about the truth, would you?"

"I could care less about what my grandmother thinks," Eloive snarled.

"Well, you should care about what your uncle Thane thinks. You know that he doesn’t give empty threats."

"I don’t care. I’m coming with you, Wilhelm," he stated stubbornly.

Wilhelm laughed. "Eloive, it’s because I do not want to hurt you that I ask you to leave politely. The young girl doesn’t want to see you, so be a gentleman and respect her wishes. If you have a message for her, tell me so that I can pass it on to her."

"I’d rather give my message in person," Eloive sneered before walking away.

Wilhelm sighed. He'd better get to Amar now before daybreak.

"You’re late," Amar said as Wilhelm stepped into the house.

"Sorry, I stopped by for a drink."

Amar wrinkled her nose. "You didn’t have to tell me that."

"You’re the one who wanted to know why I was late."

"Um, all I can remember saying is that you’re late."

"Uh huh."

"Can you two get your asses over here?" Toreh yelled from the living room. "Colin would be here any moment from now, and we need to go through the plan before he shows up."

Wilhelm turned to Amar. "I didn’t know you were calling me for help with your boyfriend."

"Ew…he’s not. My boyfriend’s dead, Wilhelm, courtesy of your father."

"My father probably had a good reason for killing him."

Amar was baffled. "There is never a good reason for killing someone, Wilhelm! Your father had no right to take my boyfriend’s life!"

"The same way your sister had no right to take Lady Victoria’s life."

"She probably had a good reason for that."

"There is never a good reason for killing someone, Amar."

She gasped. "You used my own words against me. Toreh was right. You’re awful and despicable and… and just a boy!"

Wilhelm’s nostrils flared. "Just a boy?" he asked and ripped off his shirt. "Tell me Amar, do I look like a boy to you?"

She scowled, resisting the urge to ogle him, 'cause mehn, what a fine chest he had. "Having muscles doesn’t make you any manly."

Enraged, he seized her by the neck and held her up against the wall. "You wound me Amar when you speak so little of masculinity."

"I only speak the truth," she spat out. Wilhelm’s eyes blazed. "Oh what, you don’t like hearing the truth? You know, that’s one feature regarding the male species. They never like hearing the truth."

Wilhelm’s hands wound tighter around her neck.

"Let her go!"

The protest was faint in his ears, but the feel of the stake in his chest was not. He released Amar at once, and she fell to the ground with a thud. Wilhelm turned around; eyes fixed on Colin.

"You missed," he voiced out, wrenching the stake out. "But I won’t."

Before Colin could run, Wilhelm threw the stake, and it ended up between his eyes. Amar stood up shaken.

"You killed him! You were not supposed to kill him!" she yelled, rushing to Colin.

"He was not supposed to stake me," he said coolly before walking out. Mad with anger, Amar grabbed the stake and rushed after him. Quickly he turned and caught it in time. He pried it out of her hands and held it in his while pinning her against the door. She glared at him, breathing hard. She watched as he licked Colin’s blood off the stake, wrinkling his nose.

"He’s not even sweet."

"You’re disgusting. You were not supposed to kill him!"

"He brought it upon himself when he tried to kill me. But as you people should know, it takes more than a wooden stake to kill a royal vampire. So, you see this little stunt you pulled in there? Don’t you ever try it again."

"Or what? You’re going to kill me like you did Colin or you’re going to stake me instead?"

"None of the sort. Rather, I’m going to ram my cock so deep into your slick pussy and when you’re so close to the edge, I’ll pull out and replace it with a stake. How does that sound?"

She glared at him. "You’re disgusting."

"Yet I got you so hot and bothered. Goodbye Amar. I’ll see you later when the sun’s up in the sky and your pussy drips no more. Not like I have a problem with that."

She punched him in the arm. He merely laughed and walked away. The minute he was out of sight, she began fanning herself. Christ! He had indeed left her all hot and bothered.

Swallowing hard, she walked back in.

"We’ve got to do something about the body, mama," Toreh muttered.

"I say we ship it off to his family with a handwritten note that says, he picked a fight with a vampire," Amar said.

"That won’t work. They’ll think we killed him."

"Well, we could say he never made it home," Toreh suggested.

"Then we’d be lying," Amar said. "And liars are not responsible."

"Can we cut with the responsibility drama? There’s a dead body in our home and we need to get rid of it before the self-imposed sheriff or whatever he’s called comes around to check," Toreh yelled.

"Um, girls? I’m afraid he’s already here," Miss Torver said, putting the curtain back in place.

"Shit! What are we going to do now?" Amar asked.

"You girls go inside. I’ll take care of it," their mother said as she took off her coat, revealing her garter belt and thin camisole.

"Mother, you don’t plan on seducing him, do you?" Amar asked, eyeing the belt.

"I won’t refuse him if he comes to me," she said, brushing her hair back.

"Mother!"

"I’ve had urges for quite some years now, child. Do not blame me for any of this."

"What she means to say is that she’s sexually starved," Amar whispered to her sister.

"Doesn’t make any of this right. This is adultery, mama! It’s against God’s law!" Toreh cried out.

"Toreh, I’m doing this for my family. I’m doing this for us."

Tears rolled down Toreh’s cheeks. "You swore that you’d never go back to that life. I should have known that you’re nothing but a liar!" she yelled before running out of the room.

Mrs. Torver sighed before turning to Amar. "Go after your sister, dear."

"He’s going to keep coming back, mama. They always do," Amar murmured.

"Child, you’re the one who put me in this mess. If you hadn’t riled that vampire up, he wouldn’t have killed Colin, and none of us would be sixty seconds away from jail."

"We could tell him the truth. We could tell him that the pri…"

Mrs. Torver laughed. "And who would believe us, huh? We’re lowlifes around here. People without power or connection. Now Toreh might have been lucky to tutor the prince, but that doesn’t make us any less of the omegas that we are."

With that, she stepped outside, shutting the door beside her. "Sheriff, how good to see you."

"Shouldn’t you be wearing clothes? It’s quite cold, especially for you humans, Isla."

Tell me something I don’t already know, she thought. "I feel quite the opposite, in fact. What about you? What are you doing out here, Thomas?"

"You know why I’m here, Isla. For the routine check. Now step aside, let me do my job."

Isla didn’t move. "Isla. Let me do my job so that I can retire for the night."

"How about we retire together, huh? What do you think?" she asked coyly.

Thomas laughed. "That would be after I’m done with my job. Excuse me so that I can do my job."

Reluctantly, Isla stepped out of the way, worried that the sheriff might find Colin dead.

"All good. Nothing out of the ordinary," Thomas said as he walked back out. "Now, how about that retirement you were talking about earlier?"

Isla’s smile was tight-lipped. "Allow me to see my husband, and I’m yours for the hour."

"Oh, come on Isla. You know that he is the only prisoner not allowed a visitor."

Isla placed a hand on Thomas’ chest. "For me, please?"

"I’ll think about it while we fuck, okay?"

She mewled. "Thomas…"

"Do you want to see your man or not?"

"Of course I want to see him."

"Good. My truck’s out front. The sooner we get this done, the better."