Syn

My eyes stayed glued to his retreating figure as he walked back into the house and closed the door. With his departure, I blew out a breath and dropped the act. I couldn't have him knowing how fucking close I was to losing my shit. Especially after hearing about his plans.

"Tell me he can't do that," I hissed lowly at my father. He didn't meet my eye. Instead, he ran a hand down his face and looked up at the sky, making my uneasiness grow. "Speak!"

He sighed. "Well, generally...no," he said.

"Generally?" I pushed. "What does that mean?"

"They can't reproduce," he answered. "But...Queen is Lilith's daughter. I'm not fully certain of the science, but hypothetically—"

I grabbed the collar of his shirt, my fingers tightening around the material as I glared at him. "Is this a fucking joke to you?!" I snapped.

"Of course not," he objected, his fingers moving over mine as he tried to pull away. "Queen is family to me—"

I felt Xavier's hand on my shoulder, trying to defuse the situation but I couldn't be reasoned with right now. "She is not your family! She is mine."

"And you're my family—"

"This is all happening because you had a fucking existential hard-on over a bitch that wanted nothing to do with you," I responded. "It's me that continuously pays for your mistakes. If something happens to Queen— if a single damn hair on her head is harmed, you won't have to worry about whether or not we're family—"

Xavier interjected. "Syn, that's enough—"

"I will kill you," I finished, ignoring Xavier's plea. "For your sake, a solution to this shit better be found quickly."

"Syn," he began.

"Just go." I let go of him, not sending another glance his way as I ran a hand through my hair. I pinched the bridge of my nose- countless images of ways this could play out running through my mind. "I need you all to go and help Drake find a way to kill him before this barrier drops. Because as soon as it does, I'm taking the opportunity to go in and get her. I'd rather be prepared when it happens, but I will go in regardless. I don't care."

"You're staying here?" Xavier asked in disbelief. "You have to know that's a death wish, Syn. You're only going to piss him off more and get yourself killed—"

I tried not to make anyone but my father and Aiden be the victims of my anger tonight, but I couldn't hold back anymore. I had given out an order- a direct and clear one.

Right now wasn't the time for any pushback.

"If I wanted your advice, I would have asked for it, Xavier. Now isn't the fucking time," I said, my tone angrier than I intended and he looked at me in surprise. I'd apologize when everything was over, but right now I needed absolute silence. I needed to think on my own- I didn't need the fucking guidance. "Believe it or not, there is a reason why I am still alive and King— I'm capable of figuring shit like this out on my own. I don't need you to be my friend right now. I need you to do your fucking job and listen to orders. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." His lips shut into a thin line.

"Fucking great," I replied before looking at the three of them. "Now chop-chop! Go." I clapped and my father and Xavier spurred into action, my father snapping his fingers and creating a portal. "Get me something I can use." They nodded, each of them stepping into the portal and I blew out a breath of frustration.

I walked toward the barrier, my hands in my pockets as I focused on the balcony facing me. Just past those double doors, I could hear her— snoring away without a care in the world. I couldn't stop the bittersweet smile that spread across my face at the sound. I wanted her to know that something was going on— that she was in true danger...but I also wanted her to just sleep.

I had this strange urge forcing me not to raise hell out here so she could have just a few more hours of peace.

It was gross...but I had come to terms long ago with the fact that I had a soft spot for her.

I used to hate the thought of that— thinking that letting someone have that hold over me made me weaker, but I couldn't have been more wrong. That soft spot within me where Queen was concerned held every single remaining good thing about me. My peace, my sanity, my patience— as little of that as I had...all resided in that little spot.

It was where I drew my strength.

Even now as I held myself back for her to just sleep, I was forced to think instead of reacting and making this worse for the both of us— like I used to.

I wasn't close to perfect. There were days— there were going to be more days where my anger would get the best of me and I'd lose my resolve with her, but I'd never give up.

I fucking loved her.

Growing up, I used to wonder why I was born heartless. My chest was a barren and empty cage...lacking a steady beat—my only fuel for living was the thought of watching the world burn. I thought that something was wrong with me. I was always told that there was. But that, along with everyone's lies was proven false the moment I saw her.

I realized then that I wasn't born without a heart.

I had one— alive and beating.

It was just in her chest instead of mine.

I didn't know how I survived this long without her. There'd be times when she was sleeping- I'd just look at her and wonder just that.

Where were you?

I'd think about how she was before we met—when she was younger; was she rebellious? Was she the one nerd that ate lunch alone in the bathroom stalls at school...or was she one of the quiet and mysterious popular girls; like the ones in the movies...

"I think I would've had a crush on you." I looked down at her, rubbing her jaw with my thumb as a smile spread across her lips. Her dark curls were fanned across my pillow, the sheets dipping to her waist and exposing her exquisite body. She shook her head at me, biting her lip and I raised a brow. "You don't think so?"

"I probably would not have been on your radar." She grinned.

"Hmm." I pulled her body closer, my fingers trailing her side. "And why do you think that?"

"Because you're hot," she whispered, her brown eyes widening as if she were divulging some sort of hidden secret and I smiled down at her. "And you were probably hot in high school, too. I'm sure girls couldn't keep their eyes off of you."

"I was homeschooled," I told her. "But if I did go to a traditional high school and you were there, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else," I said, making her laugh softly. "I would've been a horrible boyfriend though..."

"Oh, I can only imagine..."

"But we would've been cute."

"You would not have been interested," she repeated with a laugh. "I looked horrible in high school- I had a late glow-up."

"I don't believe that. I would have loved you," I replied lowly. "As much as I could've been capable of, anyway." She reached out, her fingers grazing the stubble on my jaw as she glanced down at my lips. I swallowed a breath, my eyes studying and framing every delicate detail of her beautiful face. "Where were you, hmm? Why couldn't you come along five years earlier?"

She grinned, exposing her dimples and I raised a brow as she raised her hand to my hair. "Pretty sure that would've been illegal." She squinted her eyes up at the ceiling as her hand toyed with my hair. "I would've been...what— fifteen, sixteen? And you would've been like...twenty-one, Syn."

"Hmm." I hummed in thought. "What's that one movie with the vampires- and that weird girl?"

"Twilight?" She whispered.

"Twilight," I said lowly with a nod. "How old was she?"

She shrugged under me. "Seventeen? I don't know."

"And wasn't he over a hundred years old?" Her eyes met mine, a slow smile spreading across her lips as she began to realize where I was going. "That's an age gap. What would have five years been for us?"

"That's not the same!" She laughed, smacking my chest.

"Well, of course not. I'm not a hundred years older than you." I took her wrist, placing a kiss on it before placing one on her lips.

"That's definitely not...what I meant," she said, muffled into my lips. I climbed on top of her, moving her lips to either side of my hips, the sheets tangling between us as she leaned into the kiss.

I pulled away lazily, my mouth moving to her jaw and neck as she moaned under me. "I could've been your first boyfriend- your first everything..." I whispered, feeling her shiver under me and a smile reached my lips. "That doesn't appeal to you?— make you wonder in the slightest?"

"Would I have been your first too?" She giggled and I raised my head, looking down at her.

"Oh, you would have had to come many years before for that," I said and she rolled her eyes.

"You're going to have to tell me about your first time someday." She pouted.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious," she said.

"We both know how this will go," I said lowly. "I'll tell you- you'll have questions...I'll answer and then you'll get jealous—"

Her mouth dropped. "How could I get jealous over something that happened so long ago—"

"I don't know, you continue to surprise me." She frowned at my joke and I placed a kiss on her forehead. "Relax, Princess. You know about all my firsts that meant anything to me. They were with you."

Her frown slowly lifted, drawing my eyes to her lips as they morphed into a smile. "You mean that?"

"You know I do."

She grinned, biting her lip as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "You always know exactly what to say, hmm?"

"It's not hard when it's the truth." She shifted beneath me, spreading her legs and I tugged at the sheets, irritation beginning to gnaw at me and she laughed. I needed her and I couldn't wait. The sheets were becoming more of an intruder than an ally to the cold as the seconds passed. "Oh, fuck this shit."

I flipped onto my back, pulling her with me. She yelped, her palms flat on my chest as my back hit the mattress and I held her hips. Her hair hung down, grazing my face and I scrunched my nose at the tickling feeling. She laughed at my face and held out her wrist for me. I slid off one of her dark hair ties and shifted under her until I was slightly sitting up against the headboard.

She straddled me, her hands on either side of me with her head bowed. "Yeah," I started, gathering her hair into my hand and tying it into a ponytail— a sorry excuse of one, but it'd serve its purpose. "Last thing we need while you're bouncing on my cock is me sneezing."

She squinted, tilting her head as she adjusted the ponytail into a bun. "Why? That could be hot."

"Hey," I looked at her, my head resting against the soft headboard. "If you like it, I love it. Let it loose, Rapunzel."

She raised a brow, her hand moving to my jaw as she looked into my eyes deeply. I felt her soft fingers holding me in place, and I held back an emerging smile. She was adorable. "Hey! Let that be the last and only time you say another bitch's name when you're about to fuck me."

"She's not real, Princess," I whispered.

"I'm sure there's a person somewhere in the universe with the name and their ears are probably ringing right now because of you," she said.

"Oh, yes...of course." I nodded, momentarily indulging in her delusion. "Perhaps I shouldn't say your name either. There are people out there with the names Queen and Princess— far be it for me to cause them any undue 'ringing'."

"No, no." She dropped her hand down to my neck before gliding it down to my chest. She licked her lips, pressing a kiss against my jaw, her teeth grazing my skin. My cock stirred under her and I groaned, closing my eyes. "Let it ring— deafeningly loud. Say my name..."

I snapped out of my head when I heard a rustling behind me. I tore my eyes from the balcony and glanced at Paris. He arranged two chairs from Drake's dining table a couple of feet apart, facing the cabin and I raised a brow at him. "What are you doing?"

"What?" He paused, glancing up at me. "Were you planning on standing the whole time?"

I eyed the chairs. "You brought two."

"One for me." He pointed at himself and I noticed the two beers in his hand. "And the other for you."

I shook my head and sighed. "I thought I gave you guys an order. You need to—"

"I quit." He sat in one of the chairs, taking a swig of one of the beers as he looked up at the cabin. I looked at him for a long moment- not knowing what to say and he glanced at me. "What? If you're going to be a dick about me following your rules, I quit. Now what? Sit down, have a beer." He held the unopened bottle out.

My jaw clenched, my head wanting to snap at him or argue but I doubted he'd listen anyway. He was too close to everything that was happening- he knew I wasn't as strong as I pretended I was with everyone.

With that, I took a seat and crossed my arms, looking at the house and wondering exactly what Aiden was doing. I knew he wasn't sleeping- this shit would be down.

I saw the bottle of beer move into my peripheral and I glanced at Paris before sighing and accepting it. I opened it, taking a quick swig before relaxing into the seat the best I could. This was going to be a long fucking night and if Aiden was telling the truth about how he affected the time in there- I could be here for longer than I thought.

"We're going to be here a while," Paris said, pointing out the obvious.

"No shit."

"Let's play a game."

"I don't want to play a game—"

"So I'll ask you a question, and you answer. Then if you'd like to ask me something, I'll let you," he said. "If we're going to be here for days, it doesn't have to just consist of us staring at the house. I do this all the time with my brothers on stakeouts, it'll be fun."

I turned my head slowly toward him, my expression lacking any patience for his idea, and raised a brow. "First of all," I started. "That's not a fucking game. That's called an interview— one thing I should have had with you before you were hired." He grinned at me. "Secondly, I didn't ask for you to be here. You can go back to Drake's or better yet since you've quit- you can fuck back off to wherever you came from."

"Good." He nodded. "You're asking me where I came from."

"That's not what I—"

"I was born in Oklahoma, but I've been all over," he answered. "My turn. What exactly do you plan on doing if this barrier thing comes down?"

"That's more of an 'act now, ask questions later' thing. Maybe I'd have a solid plan if you stayed back instead of coming here— speaking of...my turn, right?"

"Right."

"Why are you here?" I asked. "You know it's dangerous and you have greater odds of dying than I do. Why are you so willing to risk your life?"

He swallowed his beer, a cringe appearing on his face as he pointed a finger at me. "That's two questions. Maybe you don't get the game—"

"Why?" I repeated.

"I can't just be here because I care?" He asked. I raised a brow and he sighed. "We're keeping Cain in the dark about this for everyone's safety, I know that and I think it's for the best," he said. "But I owe Cain a lot. One thing I refuse to do is let his sister get hurt or even worse killed— I'd rather die myself."

"Hmm." I eyed him curiously.

"That's the answer to both of those, I suppose."

"It's not because you have a crush on my girl or anything?" I asked. He laughed, staring ahead at the house before taking a sip of the beer. My eyes remained on him, waiting for an answer and when he noticed, he looked back at me.

"That's a serious question..." he said in lingering question and I nodded. "Don't get me wrong, she's stunning, and if she were single...maybe." I scowled at him, a wave of anger threatening to pass through me and he laughed. "I'm joking. That was a joke, I don't have feelings for her."

"You better not," I warned.

He smiled. "But she is a good girl...I'm just not into emotionally unavailable women."

"She's not emotionally unavailable..."

"I mean that as in she loves you, very much," he said and I looked back at the house with a knot in my stomach. "Don't go there, she'll be fine. Just try to relax or you'll worry her."

I scrunched my brows before looking at him. "What do you mean worry her?"

"That bond shit." He drank. "Isn't that how that works?"

"I forgot about that..." I said lowly, an idea slowly popping into my head. "Would you happen to have a knife on you?"

He hunched over in the seat to his shoe and pulled out a small blade, flipping it in his hand and holding out the handle for me. "Always," he muttered. "Why?"

"I might have an idea..."

Sorry, Princess.

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