Knightly
“You were really just going to set her building on fire?” I glare at my father as we make our way up to the apartment.
“Yeah,” he confirms as if it were no big deal.
Phoebe looks around the elevator and then leans into us for a sniff. My father and I exchange glances. Shit. Midnight has this insane sense when it comes to trouble. I’ve never seen it miss, and I don’t want to be the idiot to ever not listen to it.
“You okay, Angel?” I ask her.
“Something’s wrong.” she rotates her shoulders. In the reflection of the doors, I see her eyes are bright red. “Someone was here.”
“Was?” my father asks.
The three of us bolt out of the elevator as soon as it opens wide enough, with Phoebe leading the way. My father wraps his arms around her before she can get to the door. He covers her mouth and pulls her against him. She tries to get out of his hold, but I stop her. I put my hand to my lips and reach for my gun.
She nods and tries to breathe through her nose. I shake my head so he doesn’t let her go. The door is open. Fuck. My heart drops as I push the door open slowly. I clear the entrance, head into the apartment, and go for their bedroom. I stop lowering my gun when I see Ashley on the floor.
I push the door open. There’s a fucking mess, but there’s no one else here. I crouched down next to my little sister and checked her pulse. She’s alive.
“Knight.” Phoebe cries out when my father lets her go. She runs straight into the room.
“Go, I’ve to her,” my father says, reaching for Ash.
Phoebe is standing at the foot of the bed with Ayrie’s camera and a green blanket in her hands. The aura around her is silent. If it were dark, I wouldn’t know she was standing there. Phoebe isn’t here right now, and the thing that takes the lead is about to go into full hunting mode.
“Midnight?”
“The Queen Luna was here,” she says quietly. “They took them.”
“Let’s go get them.” I step closer.
I pause when she spins around quickly; her hand shoots out to grab me around the mouth. I put my hands up to show her I’m not going to fight her on this or ever.
“No,” she shakes her head. “She’s not going to hurt them.”
“Phoebe wouldn’t-” she digs deeper into my cheek bones, cutting me short.
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“This has to stop,” she growls. “I like her life the way it is. She’s perfect. No war. No darkness.”
“What do you have in mind?” I ask because so do I. She’s brought a bright fucking light into my life and all I’ve been able to do is dim it.
I shake my head when she releases me. My face aches where she dug into me. She doesn’t make a sound as she walks past me into the living room. My father jumps out of the way when she walked past him where he had placed Ashley.
“Oh, fuck. This shit again,” he whispers as she goes over to my sister.
She kneels down next to her. She places her hand on her throat and presses down hard. Ashley sits up, swinging her arm. Midnight catches her fist in her hand and pins her. The two of them stare at one another for a moment as Ash takes deep breaths.
“What did you see?” Midnight asks her. Her voice is deep and very animalistic.
“I’m so sorry, Phoebe.” she starts to cry. Midnight puts her hands on her face.
“Tell me what you saw,” she growls in a low tone. The command goes right through me. My wolf bristles as the power of it goes through us.
“I don’t know where the guards were. There were so many of them. They tried to help,” she started to cry again.
“Royal guards?” I ask. She nods, pushing her hair out of her face.
“You’re okay.” Midnight pats her head. “Good girl.”
My sister looks up at her as Midnight stands and turns back to me. The last time she was like this, Midnight did some shit that I’m never going to forget. It was a very old Perry–like manner that took over. I see it bright in her eyes now. She knows more. She has much more information than when she first woke up. Not to mention the training and peaks at the information, Phoebe doesn’t care for.
“You have this look in your eyes,” I say, and she smiles.
“This is the first time I’m going to disobey her. It will be a very long time before she trusts me enough to let me out the way she has. I’m sorry to both of you, but the situation has changed. Buddy and I will be taking over until we retrieve our pups.”
“You can’t do that. I have full control-” she charges me.
“No,” my father shouts.
I growl when her teeth sink into my throat. I grip a handful of her hair and try to pull her off. My father wraps his arms around her waist to pull her off but the fucking monkey has a tight hold on me. She bites down harder, and I feel the instant that our bind snaps into place.
My hand instantly relaxes, and I go limp. Midnight stands looking down at me with blood dripping down her chin. Eyes glowing red. Fangs out. She’s fucking glorious. I understand why Phoebe thought it was an attack when I marked her. My sweet Angel
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must of been so fucking confused when the wave of pure bliss flashed through her body.
My entire being is responding to her. Buddy is reaching out for the only thing he’s ever wanted, but it’s not enough. I’ve had to control him for so long that it’s not an even fight anymore. I can feel the wound knitting itself back together. I can feel our bond cementing and it’s the best fucking high I’ve ever experienced.
A wave of pure rage floods my body, and it’s then overwhelmed with a mass of something I’ve only recently discovered: happiness. There is so much of it. A lust for everything. An undeniable need fills my eyes with tears.
Her memories flood into my head. I’m suddenly standing in a cold, damp basement. There’s a bed against the wall facing the door. It’s covered in a skyblue fabric that shimmers in the light coming off a lightbulb hanging from a power cable above her.
On the bed is my mate with a couple of fashion magazines open in front of her. There are balls of paper littered all around her. She’s humming my first song to ever hit the radio. I’ve Got Nothing. There’s a Toxic Rose Thorns poster on the wall behind her. She has on a pair of crappy baby blue earbuds.
“Phoebe?” I call out.
She pulls an earbud out and looks up, a little alarmed. She quickly starts to put everything together. She hides the magazines under the mattress, picks up all the paper balls, and stuffs them into her backpack along with her tiny metallic blue iPod. She runs over to the stairs to grab a shovel. She returns it to the bed and crouches in
the corner.
My mate doesn’t look afraid. She’s determined to protect herself. She stands when the door at the top of the stairs opens. The cat lets out a loud screech. Phoebe jumps on the bed, holding the shovel like a bat. I watch as she swings it, hitting the massive black panther right in the face. It cries out, flailing around, disoriented. It scrambles back up the stairs, and Phoebe doesn’t hesitate to run after it. She desperately shuts the door and holds it as the giant cat tries to get back in.
I gasp for air, trying to shake the memory. I’m greeted by darkness. I sit up, looking around until my eyes land on her.
“Is this real?” she laughs.
“Daddy!” Ayrie jumps on my back. Aizen comes over to us and takes a seat beside me. He offers me a potato chip/
“What the fuck?” is what comes out of my mouth.
“Swear jar.” Phoebe points at me, laughing. “Did she mark you?”
“Yeah.” I nod. She takes a deep breath and looks over at the kids.
“Some really bad stuff is about to happen. I’m usually here alone with the big guy and the puppies.”
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“Who’s the big guy?” I ask.
“Buddy,” she cups my face. “This is where he went when you put him away. Guess all four of us are going to need anger management so something like this doesn’t happen again.” She stands up and faces the twins. “Especially now that we’re the Rogue Royal Family.”
“Oh, shit.” I blow out. “Arnold might get what he wants after all.”
E
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