Chapter 85 - These girls depend on you

EMMA

Hadrian knocks hard on the bedside table beside my head. The sound is hollow and loud. “Wake up Emma.” His voice rasps near my ear. It travels warm and low down my spine.

“No.” I groan and I cover my head with my pillow. The weight of the pillow is soft and it only marginally obscures the sounds around me.

Hadrian chuckles, his hand slips under my nightgown and trails his warm and rough hand over my skin. Every touch sets my skin on fire. He teases my nipples and massages them until they’re hard and pointing.

He sucks a trail down my neck and shoulder. His nose runs down to the column of my throat. His scent envelopes me and the warmth of his hard body presses against my back.

“It’s too early, Hadrian,” I complain as he ignores me and builds the fire in my body. I know what he wants and I can already feel myself getting wet and wanting. I moan as I stretch myself into his hardening body.

His hand travels down my stomach and moves lower, over my hip bone. My body wakes up in anticipation. His lips trail over the shell of my ear. “It’s nearly noon.”

“What?” I say and my eyes fly open.

The warmth of his body disappears together with the scent of cedar, sandalwood and bergamot. I lift the pillow from my head and look around the bedroom. I’m alone, it has just been a figment of my memory.

There comes a knock on the door. “I said it’s nearly noon.” The smooth voice of Dex travels into the bedroom.

I’m not in the palace. I’m not in bed with Hadrian. I’m alone in a bedroom in a small town. I swallow the longing down my dry throat.

I quickly get out of bed, pull my jeans on and tuck my brother's shirt in the waistband. I should probably find some new clothes while I’m here. My muscles ache from the exertion from yesterday.

I open the door and Dex is waiting with a ceramic cup with steaming liquid in is hand. The scent of coffee wafts through the air.

“I brought you coffee, Princess.” He bends a bit in a bow with a hand on his back.

I grimace and look from the cup in his hand to him. I still don’t know what to think about his friendly behavior.

He throws his lopsided smile at me. “Come on, don’t tell me you’re still angry at me.”

I cross my arms. I am one to hold a grudge if it suits me. I’m not above being unreasonable. “You promised to not call me princess anymore.”

The coffee does smell good. It has been a while since I had a dark cup of caffeine. The supernatural beings I lived with for the past few months don’t need the surge of energy in the morning.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” He pulls a bright blue cornflower from behind his back and offers it to me. “This is for you.”

I look at the single flower in his hand, I don’t make a move to take it from him. “Why?”

Dex shrugs. “They grow like weeds around some of the houses at the outskirts. I got a bunch this morning when I was walking around town.”

He stands there with the cup of coffee in one hand and the blue flower in the other. “Are you going to leave me hanging?”

I take the cup of coffee from him and take in the aromatic scent. I take a sip of the warm liquid and it warms my insides.

The flower dangles lonely in his other hand. “Don’t think anything of it. I got the other girls flowers too.”

“Other girls?” Curiosity peels at me. I haven’t seen any girls yesterday and I didn’t get the impression that girls lived here.

Dex chuckles. “Yes, and Kelsey has been dying to meet you.” Dex places the flower in the crook of my arm as I hold onto the warm ceramic cup.

He places his now free hands in the pockets of his jeans and nods his head down the hall. “There’s food downstairs. You must be hungry.”

My stomach gives a confirmative growl. The flower almost slips from my arm and I catch it. The bright blue cornflower gives off a subtle floral scent. “Thanks.”

——————

I follow Dex to the living room and a blur of pink jumps up and down and pulls me in a hug. “Oh my gosh, you’re really here.” Her voice is bubbly and sweet. There is a high pitch to it that makes her sound young.

I balance my cup of coffee in the air when the attack nearly knocks me over.

The girl is close to my height and her slender arms have me in a strangle. A blond, high ponytail tickles my nose and cheek.

I stand there rooted in place. “Uhm…”

“Let her go Kels,” Dex says and shoots me an apologetic look.

“Sorry.” The girl says and pulls away from me, but takes my free hand in hers. “I just cannot believe you’re finally here.” She springs on the balls of her feet.

The girl has a wide smile that reaches her eyes with a glimmer. Her blonde hair is long and bounces in large waves over her shoulder. “I’ve been anxious all night.” Her face is round and youthful, with high cheekbones and a natural flush.

She wears a pink crop top with matching pink shorts. I feel like I have to look away from her because the curves of her body will have any man salivating on his knees. She’s a combination of obscenely sexy and innocently sweet.

“But Alex said I couldn’t visit yet.” The girl looks at Alex, who is leaning back on the sofa with her legs stretched and her arms and ankles crossed.

“She even let me braid her hair.” The girl says with a giggle.

Alex is dressed in an army green top and has her auburn hair twisted in a tight braid. It makes her look even more badass.

The girl eyes me up and down and her smile widens even more. “Gosh, you’re so pretty.”

I’m a bit at a loss on how to handle this pink ball of energy.

“Tone the Kels down a peg, will you?” Alex calls as she gets up from the sofa and rests her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Let the girl at least eat first.”

She drops my hand wide wide eyes. “Of course.” She guides me to a dining table near the kitchen. “I’m Kelsey by the way.”

I chuckle. “I figured.” When Dex said she had been dying to meet me it just sounded absurd. But the giddiness and enthusiasm seem genuine.

I just can’t figure out why.

I eat with three strangers and wonder where my brother is. The meal consists of bread, eggs and marmalade. It’s nothing special compared to the creations Cecile serves daily, but I eat with gusto.

“I’ve already prepared your room,” Kelsey says as she pours tea in her cup.

I swallow a bite of bread. “My room?”

“The girls stay in the house next to this one. They don’t want to share with a bunch of boys,” Dex says with a smirk as he bites into a piece of his bread with marmalade.

“Can you blame us, you guys are disgusting,” Alex says with a grimace as she leans back in her seat and takes a sip of coffee.

The three of them banter back and forth and I silently eat my food. My mind wanders to the palace. I wonder what Hadrian is doing. They must have found out that I’m gone.

“Is there anything you need Emma?” Dex asks and three pairs of eyes watch me.

“Uhm, clothes I guess.” I look down at the shirt of my brother and my dirty jeans.

“You can wear my clothes, we’re basically the same size,” Kelsey says with a beam that could rival sunshine.

Alex scoffs with a raised eyebrow. “Sure, if you want clothes where a unicorn puked on.” Alex laughs when Kelsey sends her a scowl with a pout.

“How are things for training this afternoon?” Dex asks through her laughter.

Alex rolls her eyes and gets up from the table. “Yeah, yeah, we get it, duty calls.”

Kelsey takes a large swig of her tea and her cheeks blow up with the liquid. She gets up from her seat and bounces on her toes. “It was great to meet you, Emma.” She follows Alex out the door and sends me a final wave.

The house is quiet when the two women leave. Only Dex is still seated at the head of the table.

“Where’s Lucas?”

Dex stirs his spoon in his cup of coffee and tabs it at the edge of the ceramic cup. “He’s running some errands.”

I rub the crumbs of my fingers and they fall on my plate. I feel awkward staying here. “Oh, I’ll just wait in his room then.”

I move to get up from the table, but Dex stops me. His hand wraps around my arm and it makes me halt.

“I need to talk to you.” The easy charm he carries is replaced with seriousness and through his tone of voice I recognize his strong leadership.

“About what?”

He releases my arm and takes a sip of his coffee. “Your time in the kingdom of *mutants.*” His face sours with a grimace.

I’ve learned one thing already. Every time he talks about werewolves it’s with a great amount of disgust.

I sit back down and place my hands in my lap. “What about it?”

“There are human girls held hostage in their kingdom. The Alpha King knows we want to take him down.” Dex cracks his knuckles one by one. “He keeps them trapped in his capital as insurance.”

My brows pull in a furrow. “I never heard of any girls kept hostage.”

The only stories I’ve ever heard are ones where blue-eyed girls were getting killed, never that there were any survivors.

Dex nods in understanding. “We want to get them out, but we need your help.” His eyes are hopeful and sincere.

“My help?” I point at myself to make sure I heard him right.

Dex gives a firm nod. “You lived with them for months. We need your inside knowledge. Anything you can give us to take the Alpha King down.”

I swallow at his words. He wants to take Alpha King Magnus down. The baddest werewolf of them all. The one who makes me tremble in his presence. *Hadrian’s father.*

“These girls depend on you.” Dex draws on my values like he knows exactly what he’s doing. He plays into the one thing that I cannot refuse.

“Okay, I’m in.”