The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  He sounded stressed out and pissy. And not two minutes after I told him I was engaged he hung up on me. Bastard.

  We had also broken the news to Amelia’s parents last night when we picked them up from the airport. I retroactively asked Jean for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He consented but I suspected only because it was obvious Amelia wanted to marry me. The jury was still out on his exact feelings about our relationship.

  I’m sure it didn’t help that he didn’t even know we were dating before we were engaged.

  But none of that mattered because we were engaged.

  Amelia wanted to be my wife.

  “You look happy, brother,” Kiran commented, sidling up next to me.

  We stood on the throne platform overlooking the party. Our friends were gathered, dignitaries that needed to see a wedding like this and people I had never seen before were here to celebrate the first public marriage between a Titan and a Shape-Shifter since before Derrick was King. This was a momentous occasion.

  “I am happy,” I replied casually, but the truth of the words rang deep and loud inside my chest.

  “When will you announce your engagement?” Kiran smiled at me like he knew a secret; probably he was thinking over what I was in for as a married man.

  “Not for a while yet. I want to get through this Terletov thing and give Lilly as much attention as she deserves,” I explained.

  “She’s probably hoping you’ll take some of the spotlight away from her,” Kiran laughed.

  He was probably right.

  “I’ll never let her get away with that,” I joked and then further answered his question. “We are thinking the All Saint’s Festival, a year from now.” Amelia and Eden started to make their way over to us and for some reason them together while Kiran and I waited for them felt like the most perfect moment, it felt like our family was complete. Eden and I had more than just each other.

  “Will you be heading back to the Citadel with us on Monday?” I asked Kiran. “I need to make sure everything will be ready for the Festival.”

  “Yes, I think so. Sylvia has agreed to come back with us, which has put Eden at ease,” Kiran answered. “Thank you for that by the way.”

  “It was just a suggestion,” I replied humbly.

  Eden and Amelia were sidetracked by a very pissed-off Seraphina. I tried to hold back a smile, but Seraphina had this way of making it look like her head could actually detach from her body and spin around in a complete circle when she got mad. Her long blonde hair flipped around her face and her hands held their deadly pose on her small waist.

  Oh boy.

  “Seraphina and Sebastian are no longer together,” Kiran answered my unvoiced questions. “Seems, they were too different after all.”

  “She doesn’t look happy,” I mumbled.

  “She is rarely happy,” Kiran muttered back.

  “Sebastian better watch out,” I warned and Kiran nodded stoically beside me while we watched Seraphina dramatically flail in what could only be a reenactment of their breakup to her wide-eyed friends.

  “Do you think-“ Kiran started but Gabriel interrupted our thoughts, appearing out of nowhere.

  His tanned, Hispanic skin was pale and ghostly, his orange eyes on fire with rage, burning brightly against the pallid color of his skin.

  “What is it,” I demanded, taking in his aggressive stance immediately and noticing a cellphone in his hand, gripped so firmly his knuckles had stretched tight across the black smart phone.

  “Silas,” Gabriel growled. “They were attacked near the colony. They took,” his voice faltered and his eyes darted around the room desperately searching. “They took Silas. They took him alive.”

  Under other circumstances “alive” would have been a good report, or at least encouraging. But we all understood the dire consequences of being a prisoner of Terletov’s. What it could mean for Terletov to capture Silas, one of the oldest and most prominent Shape-Shifters I could only guess. He was an advisor, a good friend and a mentor. My belly burned with anguish and the desperate need for retribution. I needed to find Silas alive and unharmed or my crown would mean nothing to me; I would take my revenge slowly and properly.

  My hands clenched into fists at my side and I prepared to end this party now. We had to move. My mind started tying up every lose end here, who would be responsible to clear out the club, clean it up, see the more prominent dignitaries back to their hotels, get Amelia and Eden to safety. I assembled a team of the present Titans to go with me and handpicked my own men. This all happened in four point two seconds and then my magic flared with warning and the Titans surrounding the room for protection took a collective step forward.

  Immediately I lost the sense of goodness and hope that had only seconds ago filled my blood. A deathly cold haze settled inside my veins instead. A startling snap of an ominous premonition flashed in my vision and before I could put the pieces together it was too late.

  The upstairs door crashed open, the heavy wood splintering into miniscule slivers as it shattered in the door frame. Before I could even utter an order the stairs filled with dangerous Immortal men. They paired off down the long staircase and spread out into the suddenly quiet room.

  There were initial screams and panic, but by the time Terletov’s men filtered through the room my people were silent. Everyone in the room had, at best, just recently been informed of the unhinged psycho that is Dmitri Terletov; now they faced his men in the flesh while we wore our best party attire; they wore black fatigues and pointed those damned guns in our faces. We held champagne glasses and wore expensive jewelry.

  Simmering rage and vengeance exploded into a hot boil just under my skin. My magic buzzed around me in feral aggression. I was no longer amused, this would end tonight.

  I found Amelia immediately; she stood face to face with an Immortal wielding a gun. Eden was tucked protectively behind her and I wanted to growl in frustration. Amelia did not belong here with these men, nor should she be trying to protect my sister who was perfectly capable of defending herself.

  But then there was the baby to think about.

  I seethed in frustration. I shouldn’t have to think about which scenario was better. I shouldn’t have to weigh my options and decide if the blue smoke could heal an unborn baby if something was to go wrong. But Amelia could not be the one to protect Eden either. She could not.

  This was just all around bad news.

  I braced myself for the men to open fire, but when nothing happened I grew restless. I wanted to move to Amelia, to get her out of here as fast as I could. But I couldn’t leave my people…. And the longer we stood in silence the worse the situation seemed to grow.

  My bad feeling only intensified as the Immortal attackers stayed eerily still, watching their prisoners like hungry animals. Their eyes gleamed with a perverse pleasure that twisted the moral part of my soul and made me ill.

  And then he entered the room.

  I felt the magic first. His magic. Only I couldn’t call it his, because it wasn’t. Whatever surrounded him was unnatural and stolen, that much I was sure. He appeared at the top of the stairs, standing proud and confident. He slithered down the stairs as if he were floating, his abnormal magic detached around him, infecting the air with the repulsive disease he carried. I had only ever seen him through Eden’s own memories, but I knew him at once.

  He felt just like the Immortals that died at the castle. Except here he stood…. strong, tall, confident. Nothing made sense anymore when it came to him. How did he get that magic? And how was he functioning without his own magic?

  “This is a private party,” I stated with my entire air of authority. “You were not invited.”

  “And yet here I stand,” he sneered at me once he reached the bottom step.

  The entire room stood still under the watchful glares of his henchmen and their guns. But I had my own men. This room was filled with my army and we would fight to the death before innocent people were harmed.


  “I’m going to have to ask you to leave, of course,” I declared casually.

  I found it a little strange that none of his men had come to cover the throne platform where I stood with Kiran. We were positioned in the back of the room, but still we were obviously in charge with our crowns positioned crookedly on our heads. Yet, none of the intruders made a move toward us.

  I wanted, desperately wanted, to believe it was because they were afraid of us, but as my eyes darted around the room I realized how wrong I was.

  “I can’t do that of course,” Terletov crooned in his thick Russian accent. He was standing in front of Lilly and Talbott and as he spoke he ran long, boney fingers down the length of Lilly’s bare arm. I shuddered with Lilly and Talbott exploded in rage.

  “Do not touch her!” he shouted before launching himself at Terletov.

  The sound of Talbott shouting and then one lone shot rang loudly in room. More screams and Talbott dropped to the ground unconscious. A bullet to the head, clean and clear. A small trickle of blood ran down his temple and his magic beat faintly in the air. Not dead. He was not dead.

  I took a breath to steady my nerves, to clear the red haze of pure, unfiltered rage that pumped in my heart frantically.

  Lilly had her hands covering her mouth as if to smother a scream. When my vision cleared completely I saw the gun pointed at Lilly’s forehead, the gun that kept everyone else planted firmly where they were. Lilly saw no gun. She only saw her fiancé lying in a puddle of his own blood.

  He was not dead.

  He was not dead.

  Not yet.

  “Terletov you will pay for that,” I ground out, my voice trembled just the slightest. But it shook with fury and promised vengeance.

  He ignored me on a long sigh and turned his beady eyes to my sister. “You have something of mine.”

  Eden shook her head firmly and pursed her lips. We opened our connection to each other simultaneously. She stood her ground; she wasn’t scared, she wasn’t afraid. We had been here before. Eden was trained and prepared.

  He has Silas. I offered quickly.

  She acknowledged me with an internal head nod and then to Terletov she said, “And you have something of mine. If you leave now and return Silas I will give you your magic back.”

  I felt more than anything else the powerful force Kiran was turning into while his wife addressed Terletov. I didn’t blame him. I was ready to tear his sadistic head off just for standing near Amelia.

  “That is a very generous bargain,” Terletov smiled at Eden, his mouth twisting unnaturally and he looked more deranged than ever. “On my part.” He finished.

  Well, it was worth a shot.

  “Here is what is generous,” I called out, unwilling to let my sister talk to him any longer. I felt, almost like an audible sound, every eye in the room snap my direction. His goons stared me down with utter hatred and bitterness vibrating out of them and I wondered for half a second if this was what Lucan felt like when he stood against my men. “I will give you five seconds to leave this Club and return Silas and every other Immortal you’ve kidnapped for your sadistic experiments before I rain down my righteous judgment on you and your sheep.”

  “That is a nice offer as well,” Terletov mocked me with a somber expression but a disdainful voice. “However, I must decline. I am conducting important medical research and need just a few more volunteers before my work is complete. Anyone here is welcome to join my cause. If you have the pure blood of the higher races you will be allowed to cross over this invisible line and help cure the disease that runs through our tarnished race. And if you are one of the animals that sees your purpose as something greater than a bottom feeder, we welcome you to offer your life for a greater cause.” The glow of his face and excitement in his eyes was enough to make bile rise in my throat and my stomach to threaten, for the first time in my life, to empty itself all over my shoes. But these were my people and he was treating them like lab rats.

  Or worse.

  To their credit, nobody in the room made a sound.

  “Terletov, you will not finish your research,” I spat the word out, “because you will not leave this room alive.”

  Terletov kept speaking as though I hadn’t said anything. “Or you can follow this traitor to your death, this replacement tyrant just as bent on the destruction of this race as the last King. But a warning, if you do decide to stay aligned with this corrupt Monarchy, know that you will not last long. Your time is up King Avalon. The Kingdom should belong to those who have the future in mind, who want to build up our race and rise to our potential.”

  I didn’t want to think about what kind of potential we had if we killed Shape-Shifters and experimented on humans. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. This had to end.

  Three things happened at once. I nodded to the Titus and Xander who had been standing close to Sebastian before we were invaded. They immediately turned on the gunmen closest to them. Titus shifted into a bear and attacked two of the gunmen by clawing their heads together in a resounding crack of bones.

  I moved to Amelia at the same time, determined to get her and Eden to safety before this fight became a blood bath and they got caught up in the middle of it. I pushed and elbowed my way through the closely packed bodies.

  And finally, Terletov grabbed Lilly by her styled red hair and turned her around so the gun was at her throat.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Two of Terletov’s henchmen grabbed for Eden but she was prepared for them. She shifted out of their way, dodging at least one bullet and if she got hit by the other her blue smoke healed her before it was obvious. With Eden pushing back from the gunmen, Amelia was snatched up in the struggle. Terletov fled with Lilly, using her as a body shield up the stairs, his men fighting off every Immortal that got close. They were relentless without restraint, shooting a bullet straight to the heads of those that tried to save her. The men who grabbed Amelia took off to the back corner of the club where a hidden door led to a staircase that would rise to street level.

  Lilly.

  Amelia.

  My people.

  Chaos ensued. The sounds of gunfire bounced loudly from the ceiling to the walls and drowned out the screams of innocents all around. Terletov had placed his men thick on the stairs so his escape was easy and met with little resistance. My men, the Titans that had been placed around the room, responded with their own gunfire, but they were ill-prepared against Terletov’s shooters. They drew their swords, but unless they were close enough to strike they couldn’t use them. And usually if they got close enough to use the sword a bullet had stopped them short of their goal.

  And apparently our bullets did not hold the same kind of strength Terletov’s did. Where his wounds resulted in unconsciousness immediately, our bullets seemed not to even phase Terletov’s men. They fought on as though there was no weapon in the world capable of inflicting pain on them.

  The whole thing felt stupid. I felt like I was trapped in a cartoon. My men looked ill prepared and elementary compared to the military-esque training and cool these bastards had. And weapons…. I might as well have armed my men with rocks and squirt guns for as much resistance as they were putting up.

  I shoved my way through the crowd, desperate to get to Amelia. There were too many people I cared about in this room. I made my decision, I would get to Amelia first. I had to. I couldn’t think straight with her being carted off by that kind of evil. Once she was with me I would be able to reassess. Once I knew she was safe with me I would be able to think clearly and get everything back under control. But even as I fought to get to her, I took stock of those I cared about most.

  Gabriel had somehow managed to maneuver to Sylvia who was one of my prime concerns simply because she was mortal and I cared about her. Kiran and Eden had found each other in the crowd and were actively fighting together. Their joined magic, navy blue with their unprecedented strength and speed, was able to incapacitate the henchmen with a swift shot to the f
ace or chest. They were working through the bad guys but not quickly enough. Lilly had disappeared with Terletov through the upstairs and Amelia was almost to the door, caught in the grasp of two goons.

  I noticed that she was not the only hostage being forcefully removed. It seemed this was a cash and carry kind of event and if one of Terletov’s Immortals could grab a victim and cart them away they were. The door to the street was open and bad guys and innocents were being herded through it one and the same.

  There was no way to instruct the Immortals fleeing in pure terror that inside the room was safer, that on the other side of that door was a whole new kind of evil. The sound level was deafening in the underground club and they were so diluted with fear they most likely wouldn’t have listened anyway.

  A bullet sliced the air next to me, causing me to duck down and lose sight of Amelia. When I stood back up she was struggling fiercely in the arms. She tried her magic, zapping the men holding her but they ignored her efforts with surprisingly calm detachment. Finally, fed up with her lack of results, she bent forward and bit one of them on the hand that held her. I was encouraged by her ingenuity and pushed forward.

  Another bullet my way, this time hitting the guy just in front of me. The silver metal pierced his skin and he dropped to the floor on impact. I ducked down again, trying to stay out of sight of the shooters.

  A bullet might not knock me out, but it would slow me down and I had precious seconds to get to Amelia before she was out the door. I tripped over a fallen Titan that lay still while the battle raged on above him. His gun had clattered away from him and was being kicked around underfoot, but his sword stayed lodged in his hand.

  Until Eden was kidnapped four years ago, the Immortal swords were the only real threat by way of weapon to an Immortal life. Titans were trained with them from the very beginning and every Immortal had grown up fearing them and the life they could take from you.

  Guns were an entirely new weapon for our people. And the destruction these guns had the potential of carrying out was sobering. Still, the sword wasn’t a terrible weapon to have in a fight. It could still get the job done if you knew how to use it.