Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
I have no time and no patience for this right now. The only thing on my mind is finding my princess and bringing her back here. Back home.
“Need to know the location of the woman I was with. The future queen.”
I don’t elaborate because Zion is the best of the best. He’s paid handsomely for the work he provides me, so he knows exactly who I was with tonight, probably before even I did. And he’s had eyes on her since I stepped out of that room with her on my arm.
“We have a car waiting out front for whatever you need, sir.”
I step out into the cool night air and walk directly to the black SUV that’s waiting with its back door open. As I suspected, he’s anticipated my next move and planned ahead.
“We’ve been able to get camera footage of the cab she left in. We’re tracking it through closed circuit television and have pinpointed a location just south of here.”
“Excellent,” I say, getting in the back of the SUV and turning on the monitor in front of me. A beacon appears on the screen as Zion climbs in the front passenger seat and tells the driver where to go.
There is another SUV in front of us and one behind us. The king goes nowhere without his guard. And protecting the queen is part of that deal. She may have been scared and ran, but I’ll find her. There is no place on this earth where she is out of my reach, no dark corner where she can hide.
I stare at the beacon, watching it try to get farther from me. Making sure Zion is facing forward I pull her panties out of my pocket, putting them to my nose and smelling the mixture of our love-making in an attempt to get myself under control. We are closing the distance, but she’s had too much of a lead, and I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to keep the signal.
“Your Highness, we’ve lost it,” Zion says, and I see the beacon disappear. “We’ll track it to the last location we received. We’ll find her.”
I hold my clenched fist to my mouth as I look out the window and watch the dark forest pass by.
“I forgot to tell Giselle how much I love to hunt.”
7
Giselle
I sniff as I run my hand along my nose, trying to make myself stop crying. But the stupid tears just keep coming. I can’t remember ever crying like this in my life.
“I’m sorry I showed up like this. I know it’s late,” I say to my sister through a sob.
She pulls me into a tight hug, trying to get me to calm down. I’ve been here for ten minutes already and I haven’t really gotten a word out. I scared her husband off when I first got here, and he left us alone. I think a crying woman showing up on his doorstep was something for his wife to attend to.
“You’re always welcome here, no matter what. I hope you know that, Giselle.”
I hug her back, feeling a little better. When I took off this was the first place I thought to go. I knew I couldn’t go home. If Karim was looking for me, the first place he’d go is my father’s home.
“What’s his name?” she whispers into my ear.
I lean back and look at her green eyes that match my own. It’s the only similarity between us. She favors my father’s side more than I do, while I look identical to our mother.
“You’ve got heartbreak written all over you, sweetheart.”
I have two sisters and a brother, all of whom are way older than me. I’ve always been closest with my oldest sister, Melanie, who took on a motherly role with me. Our mom was never the maternal type and was gone most of the time. It still baffles me that a woman who didn’t really want children had four of them. But I’m thankful I have Melanie, because she’s exactly the kind of mother I want to be.
I shake my head, dropping my gaze to my lap and fiddling with my fingers. It’s something I do when I’m trying to avoid a topic. Or I’m nervous. I’ve never really talked about my future with her before, and I’m not sure what she’ll think of what happened tonight.
“Go on, tell me who it is.”
I let out a little breath and look up at her. “King Karim.”
She lets out a small gasp, and she puts her hand over her mouth like she’s in shock. It makes me think that maybe I shouldn’t have said his name.
“What?” I say, feeling a little more panicky now. I was already freaking out, and that’s why I ran to begin with. Somewhere deep inside me I have a feeling I’d be Karim’s if I wanted to be or not. I can still feel the stickiness of his release inside me and on my thighs. The sweetness of that feeling is long gone. Now I feel dirty. Like he gave me something that wasn’t as special as I’d thought it was. That I wasn’t as special as he’d made me feel.