Dangerous Lovers

by Becca Vincenza

  And he was looking at my sister like she’d hung the stars and the moon.

  When he reached us, he gave Nelly a shy kiss on the forehead and Jackson one of those secret-code handshakes. I just stood there, staring. It was obvious what was happening, but I couldn’t seem to wrap my mind around it. No way was the guy who I had beaten the crap out of dating my sister. No way.

  Daniel turned to me and smiled sincerely. I’m not sure what my face looked like, though I would assume shocked would just about cover it, but he laughed and held out his hand.

  “Alexa,” he said, giving a small bow. I was mortified. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Daniel Benson.”

  I wasn’t trying to be rude, but I couldn’t seem to process what was going on. After a small nudge from Jackson, I reached up and shook his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, slowly, nothing else seemed appropriate, “about uh…”

  Daniel waved a hand and finished for me. “Kicking my ass?” He laughed, and it made him look even cuter. “Don’t be. It’s the nature of the beast. You did what you were supposed to do. We all go through it. And now you’re one of us. Besides… you were pretty amazing. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast.”

  Maybe he was right. I still felt terrible about what I’d done. We all knew that I could’ve stopped the fight when he hit the ground and didn’t get up, and I still would have won. That’s what it was, plain and simple. The reason I’d been so miserable for the last week. I could’ve stopped the fight. I could have, but I didn’t.

  But if Daniel could forgive me, maybe I could forgive me, too. “It’s nice to meet you, Daniel,” I said, even though it sounded stupid. I darted my eyes between him and Nelly. “You coming with us?”

  He nodded and gave a shy look. “If that’s okay.”

  I began laughing uncontrollably as I took in the four of us. Not unreasonably, they stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.

  “You gonna share the joke with the rest of us, darling?” drawled Jackson.

  I had to take a few deep breaths before I was able to stop laughing long enough to tell them what was on my mind. Finally, I forced out,

  “Whose idea was it to have us match our dates?”

  Jackson flushed a little. “Mine, why?”

  Nelly caught on before anyone else, and she burst out into laughter too. The guys just stood there looking at us like we were crazy. Between laughs, Nelly said, “We look like we’re going to prom.”

  We all laughed until we reached our destination, and I was in a great mood by the time we made it to the Council building. But I sobered up quickly when I saw what was waiting there for us.

  The inside had been decorated with what seemed like thousands of white lilies. Small tables had been set up along the walls of the foyer and held vases with the flowers. Banners of suns that matched my tattoo hung from the walls, and through the glass ceiling, I could see thousands of stars lighting the night sky. However, that’s not what caught my attention.

  There had to be at least three hundred people standing in the foyer and more stood on the stairs and balcony. When we entered, they all stopped and stared, and then, as if on cue, they rushed forward and surrounded us.

  Every person I met wanted to shake my hand and gawk at my tattoo. They were dressed in some of the most elaborate clothing I had ever seen. Some wore ball gowns and tuxedos. Others wore cocktail dresses and tailored suits. One man, in a bright blue suit, approached me, and when he smiled his incisors grew into fangs and his crystal blue eyes flashed with desire. It was creepy. Apparently, Jackson didn’t like it either, because I felt him stiffen beside me.

  I leaned over to Daniel and whispered in his ear. “Is there always this many people for this kind of thing?”

  He shook his head, looking as nervous as I felt. “No. I mean, there’s always some people, but never like this. I guess they all wanted to see the Warrior. Everyone’s been talking about you since the fight.” “Oh, wonderful,” I muttered.

  He gave me a sympathetic smile just before we were mobbed by another group of people. I really hated crowds. Glancing all around me, I wondered if it was too late to escape.

  To my immense relief, someone came to our rescue. Scar and a few other men wearing all black with embroidered silver suns on the shoulders parted the crowd and approached me and my companions. When people saw them coming, they stepped out of the way. I guess that’s what Kayden meant when he’d said people would be scared of you everywhere you go. I’m not sure if it was the black uniforms or if they just knew all of their warriors, but everyone kept a healthy distance from Scar and his men.

  “His men” included Kayden.

  As soon as I saw him, I averted my eyes. I didn’t like the way my heart always seemed to beat out of my chest and how my hands grew sweaty whenever he was near me. I also didn’t want to admit that I might have a little crush on him. If you can call non-stop-Kayden-filled thoughts a crush. It didn’t matter. I knew he didn’t feel the same way about me. In fact, I was a little pissed off that he had been avoiding me since the night in the infirmary. I decided to ignore him.

  Scar reached us first, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw him. He smiled back and gave a formal bow. I didn’t know if I should bow too and felt awkward at his gesture. I wished people would stop doing that. What was this—Japan?

  “Hey, S-Gavin,” I said, catching myself before I said something rude.

  The smile he gave me did wonders for his normally serious face. “Thought you could use some help getting through the crowd,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” He looked me up and down.

  “You look beautiful tonight, Warrior, as do you, Miss Nelliana.” “Thank you,” Nelly and I replied in unison.

  He nodded. “I hope you’re ready. If you think this is a lot of people, wait to you see the ceremony room.”

  I’m not sure what my face looked like, but Scar let out a deep rumble of laughter. Then he and his men turned and started marching up the stairs with Jackson, Nelly, Daniel and I following as closely as we could. Two of his men, one being Kayden—not that I was paying attention—waited for us to pass and then brought up the rear of our group. Just like before, people tripped over themselves to get out of the way.

  I couldn’t help myself, so I snuck a glance over my shoulder at Kayden, pretending to scan the room. He was staring straight ahead with an inscrutable look on his face. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought that I saw a little anger behind his eyes. I turned my head and kept my chin high as we walked. What did he have to be mad about?

  I decided that I would think about it later, because we had just entered the ceremony room. Scar had been right; there had to be a thousand people packed into the large room. I clutched Jackson’s arm, and he gave me a reassuring smile.

  “Don’t be nervous, darling,” he whispered. “You’ve faced much more intimidating things. You’ll be fine.”

  I smiled up at him. “You always know what to say to make me feel better, Jack.”

  He gave me that adorable, mischievous smile of his. “I know how to do a lot of things that would make you feel better.”

  I raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Watch it. Pretty sure I could kick your ass.”

  He considered this. “Yeah, pretty sure you could.”

  We were ushered to the front of the room and given seats in the first row of chairs. All of the other seats in the room were filled. People were even standing in the back. In front of us was a large stage with stairs on both sides leading up to it. Scar gave my shoulder a light squeeze and then went to take up a position near the wall, where other men with the same all-black ensembles were standing. I guessed Warriors worked security for events like this.

  A few minutes later, a short, chubby man entered the stage from somewhere beyond the enormous red curtain that hung along the back of it. His appearance struck me as odd for some reason, but it seemed to be just beyond my mind’s grasp. He approached the podium and cleared
his throat into the microphone. The crowd grew silent, and he began speaking.

  “Her Majesty, Queen Camillia Anne Monteleone,” he said in a regal tone.

  Everyone in the audience rose to their feet. A heartbeat later, I followed suit.

  Not surprisingly, the woman from my Council meeting entered the stage and walked gracefully over to the podium. The short man gave a small bow and stepped quickly out of her way.

  “Please, be seated,” she said.

  After everyone was seated, the queen began her speech. I think she said something about tradition and honor, but I couldn’t be sure. My attention was directed elsewhere. I scanned the room and saw Kayden standing by the wall near us. He looked over at me, as if he could feel me watching him. We met eyes for the briefest of moments before he jerked his gaze away, staring straight ahead once again.

  Okay, what was his problem? Was he mad at me for deciding to fight? Maybe he had just been comforting me in the infirmary but was kind of freaked out when I started crying like some two-year-old. Whatever the reason, I was going to find out. After I got out of this stupid ceremony, I would confront him and ask him.

  “Alexa Montgomery, please come forth.”

  Jackson nudged me and I stood up, walking over to the steps leading up to the stage on autopilot. I tried to hurry without tripping in my heels. I wasn’t sure, but I doubted the queen would take kindly to being kept waiting. I tried not to look at the audience, though I knew they were all staring at me. Crowds have always made me nervous, so much so that I had never even been to a concert. Still, I held my head up and refused to let them see my discomfort.

  As I approached the podium, the queen turned toward me and I bowed. It felt stupid and ridiculous, but I didn’t think it wise to show disrespect in front of all these people. It’s always better to be rude behind closed doors.

  She smiled, but I didn’t miss the fact that it didn’t reach her eyes. “Young Warrior,” she said in a low voice. “You look nervous.” My eyes darted to the crowd and back. She smiled. “Oh, I see. Well, I would imagine you’ve faced things more terrifying than a crowd.”

  I nodded, and she turned back to the podium. “For her victory in the arena, I present Alexa Montgomery—”

  I’m not really sure what else she was saying because a strange noise caught my attention. I looked all around me to see where it was coming from. Leaning closer to the podium, it became louder. It was just a low clicking sound, the kind a clock might make. I doubt a human would have been able to hear it, and as I listened, the clicking sound gradually picked up in pace.

  I’ll never be entirely sure what made me do what I did next. Maybe it was just instinct, maybe it was fate. Whatever it was, it was a good thing I acted when I did, because a second later and something really bad could’ve happened.

  Grabbing the queen by the shoulders, I yanked her back from the podium. Everyone gasped, but I shoved her as hard as I could toward the rear of the stage. I just had enough time to tell her to run before the podium exploded.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The blast sent me flying into the air. I landed hard on my shoulder and hit my head on the floor. For a second, I thought I was going to black out. I pulled myself to a sitting position and shook my head, wincing as pain shot through me.

  Everything in the room was eerily silent for about half a second, then chaos erupted. People started screaming and rushing for the exits. It was like watching a stampede, everyone was pushing and shoving and trampling over anyone who got in their way.

  Kicking off my heels, I stood up slowly. I began searching the crowd for Nelly, but it was impossible to make out anyone in this frenzied mess. A million things ran through my mind in that moment. First, things first, though, I had to find my sister and get her to safety.

  Stumbling down the steps to the main floor, I caught sight of Nelly and rushed toward her. Before I could reach her, someone tackled me to the ground. Something whooshed past my head, ruffling my hair with a breath’s worth of wind just before I fell to my back. I looked up and saw that it was Kayden who had taken me down. Turning my head to the right, I saw a silver dagger stuck in the front of the stage.

  I pushed Kayden off me and stood up, heading once again toward Nelly. Kayden caught my arm and began dragging me in the opposite direction.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I shouted.

  “Saving your life,” he growled.

  “Let me go! I have to get to Nelly!”

  “You have to get out of here before whoever threw that dagger takes another shot,” he shot back.

  I hesitated as his words sunk in. Someone had tried to kill me. That much was obvious… Still. “I have to protect her.”

  He blew out a frustrated breath. “You can’t protect her if you’re dead!”

  When I still didn’t move, he looked me in the eyes and a desperate tone took hold of his voice. “Please, Alexa, trust me.”

  Hearing him call me by my name made my heart flutter. He usually just called me “Warrior.” I hadn’t even known he knew my name. I had to stop thinking so much about him. It was starting to happen at really inconvenient times.

  I didn’t know what to do. I shot a look at the place where I’d last seen Nelly. She wasn’t there. My eyes scanned the crowd. I couldn’t find her. Finally, I nodded. Kayden grabbed my arm and led me around to the rear of the stage and down a long hallway that led to an exit door. He threw it open and we stepped out into the cool night air.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere safe.”

  We headed into the trees that encased the rear of the Council building. Then we exited the forest and were in a part of the city I had never seen before. It was still beautiful, but much less opulent than the area I’d become acquainted with. We reached another line of trees and again, went straight into them. Finally, we arrived at a small cabin set back in the woods.

  He opened the door and led me into a living room area. It had a small fireplace, a sofa and a big-patterned rug, but no TV. There was also a large bookshelf that took up an entire wall and was filled with books. I sat down on the couch and spots danced in front of my eyes. I guess I was more banged up than I had thought.

  Kayden disappeared into another room and returned a few seconds later with a first aid kit.

  “Do you live here?” I asked.

  He nodded and began taking bandages and disinfectant out of the kit. When he reached up to push the hair out of my face, I caught his hand. “I’m fine.”

  He gave me a stern look, and I sighed and tucked my hair behind my ear. Something wet and sticky touched my fingers. I looked down at my hand to see that it was covered in blood. “Oh.”

  He shook his head and poured alcohol on some gauze. Reaching up, he touched it gently to my forehead.

  “AHHH!”

  His eyes widened in alarm. I laughed. “Just kidding.”

  He blew out a heavy breath and shook his head again, but I saw a small smile turn up his lips. That goofy-happy feeling swelled in my chest. I liked making him smile. I liked it a lot.

  He returned to cleaning my forehead, and I clenched my teeth. It actually did sting. The pain was but a token of payment for the view, though. His golden eyes examined my wound with such intensity that my breathing grew shallower and shallower as he continued his work. He was so perfect. The most glorious man I had ever seen. His dirtyblond hair hung in his face a little bit, the same color as the short whiskers covering his strong jaw. Before I knew what I was doing, I reached up and brushed his soft hair gently to the side.

  His eyes met mine, and my heartbeat rivaled a hummingbird’s wings. For a moment, I thought I could see desire lurking behind his gaze, but a second later he looked away and grabbed a clean piece of gauze. Covering it in more alcohol, he returned to his work.

  “Are you mad at me?” I blurted out.

  His eyes met mine again, and a look of surprise came over his face. “Why would I be mad at you?”

  I looke
d down at my hands. “I don’t know. It’s just… Why have you been avoiding me then?”

  A guilty look came over his face, and my earlier anger at him returned. “See? You have been avoiding me. Why? Was it because of that day in the clearing? Because, honestly, I think I had every right to react the way I did.” Even though I still felt stupid about it.

  He dropped his hand from my forehead and sat back on the coffee table in front of me. I wondered at how it held his weight.

  When he just sat there, I threw up my arms. “Alright, whatever.”

  Standing up, I said, “Thank you for saving my life, I appreciate it. But I’ll take it from here.”

  When I went to move toward the door, he caught my arm. The touch almost made my knees go lax. “I’m sorry, Alexa. Don’t… leave.”

  I eyed him warily, but if I was being honest, I didn’t really want to leave either. I really liked being around him. I really liked him. I worried that I was starting to get addicted to the way he made me feel. I sat back down on the couch.

  When I opened my mouth to speak, he held up a hand. “I’m sorry about how I treated you that day. You were right. I had no right to tell you that you shouldn’t fight. It was none of my business.”

  “Then why did you?”

  He hesitated. I blew out a frustrated breath.

  “I just wanted to give you a chance to realize what you were walking into. You’re so young. You have your whole life ahead of you. I thought you should be given a chance to choose something other than… this,” he said, gesturing to my forehead.

  I looked down at my hands. “I guess I just don’t get why you would care,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

  He reached up, calloused but gentle fingers taking hold of my chin. My lips parted slightly as my breaths grew short again. “I don’t think you understand just how special you are,” he whispered.

  I held his gaze for a moment. Then I looked down at my right arm. “I don’t think this makes me very special. Actually, it kind of just makes me mad.”