The Future King and the Commander's Daughter

Practically Offical Pt. 2

I pulled the demon woman aside. I asked, “What’s your name?” She answered, “Lisha.” I pointed out, “You do not fit with that group. They don’t know they are supernatural’s, but you’re full blooded and obviously do.” She admitted, “I don’t think I was an intended target, but I ended up being a bonus.”

She nodded her head towards the group explaining, “That girl with some demon blood is my family. She’s in my oldest brother’s line and I check on them for him.” I replied, “She’s not a half demon.” She agreed, “My brother is quite old. His partial son had a child with a human, and when that child was older she had her. I was checking on her when everything went down. I killed several of them before they got this medal bracelet on me. They had forty men to take one girl with demon blood. It doesn't make sense.”

I studied her theorizing, “It does if you have Royal blood.” She admitted, “I do.” I shook my head, “You need to bring her in then should you want her to live and not end up where she was going. She needs to be home with you all, and I’d suggest finding all of your line's relations because someone knows who they are which means they are all in danger.” She cringed, “I figured that. My family would’ve come for us within the next twenty-four hours. I was going to miss a check in.” At least that was smart to set those up.

I nodded explaining, “We are handling this.” I gave her a card with Remmington’s office line. I told her, “Your brother or your dad can call and set up a time to talk with us about this. We’ve obviously got this sect, but the information of your bloodline is clearly out among the Ring. I’d protect them if I were you.” She frowned, “We thought we were giving them the best life considering their blood.” I responded, “Until someone decided to use them for this. Do you know where these girls were going?” She frowned telling me she didn’t.

I told her, “We’ve stopped several of these and we will find evidence these girls were sold as s*x slaves. You, I’d imagine, would’ve been used for other things.” She asked, “What other things?” I admitted, “I came across a few women with more supernatural blood being experimented on. They’d flood their system with whatever element made them weak to see how much they could take. The things I’ve seen are sick.”

She looked away and muttered, “Well, thank god they got your attention then.” I agreed, “Yes, since my intel had me going to another place.” Her head snapped back, “In the suburbs?” I nodded. She told me, “That’s the first stop before they bring you here. They had someone come in and evaluate us. Girls get their hair done to someone’s preference. They all recognized the woman who lives there and does hair. I obviously didn’t.” The hair preference would be for whoever bought them.

I called, “Dawson, we are rolling.” He came up beside me. I told her, “Your family can call that number, Lisha. We will try and help you if we can. You can take my advice about your line or not, but I’d imagine they are all in danger if they aren’t with you.” She nodded and I hoped she took me seriously, but you could never tell with demons.

Dawson and I left. I went back to the van I stole. Dawson asked, “Where are we going?” I told him, “The place I thought was their operations is their initial phase house. They change the girls' appearances for whoever bought them.” Dawson scoffed, “These people are sick. Also, who dyes or highlights some women’s hair then sticks them in a cell and doesn’t let them shower? What man is like yes I want her hair this way, but if she reeks of body order because she hasn’t showered; and that gets their motor running.”

I shot him a look. He said, “Hey, don’t get me wrong. If I haven’t seen my woman and I find her hot, sweaty, covered in mud; I’m all over it. If I find my woman in a cell scared and unshowered, well then I’m going on a killing spree. I’ll murder a whole horde of people while an army of people I trust get my woman a shower and make her feel safe until I’ve killed everyone involved and can do that myself.” I agreed, “I’m with you there. If anyone put Astrid near a cell, let alone in it, they would regret it with every single fiber of their being.” Dawson snorted, “I would hope at this point everyone knows that.”

I asked, “What are these people after? We rarely see humans in these groups, but these women have NO idea they are supernaturals. What’s the f*****g point? The demon line was royalty. Are the others? Is this about Royal lines? There’s too many we’ve found for that to be true. Does some group of degenerates have a supernatural blood fetish? Just not enough to have powers to fight back? Or they can’t get their own women so they find partials? What the hell is their deal?”

Dawson answered, “Sometimes evil is just evil, Bjourn.” I admitted, “I know that more than most, I do. This just feels bigger like something is coming or someone. Could they really set this up for a specific person? Perfecting it over these years so they have whoever they want?” Dawson sighed, “It could be. Demon partials have the most power besides our partials, but we protect ours. Maybe they have that demon line because they have some insight that one is coming that’s super powerful. The fairy partials are few and far between, but they do have an allure. They honestly seem to be leaving them alone.”

I asked, “Then why try to take Lilly?” Dawson answered, “That guy got a hard on for her, and she rejected him. He clearly didn’t do well with it.” I rubbed my face and parked several streets over from the house. He asked, “What’s bugging you?” I said, “Why are they leaving the partial fairies alone? What if they are laying a false trail for us? So we think they are safe when they aren’t. What if they are taking them somewhere we don’t see?”

Dawson replied, “That’s giving them a lot of credit they don’t really deserve. Fairies check on their partials a lot. They love their kids. It’s probably harder to take them.” I inclined my head because that was also true. Fairies loved their children and were fiercely protective of them.

We got out of the car and Dawson followed me to the house that looked like a perfectly normal house. The humans would be scandalized to know what horrors happened in the house. We went to the back and Dawson picked the lock and we were inside. A woman hissed, “They hit our place! We lost all those girls and we have buyers coming tomorrow. What the hell are we going to do?” A man answered, “I already told them the sales were off and refunded the money. I told them we’d get new girls.”

A woman huffed, “We researched those girls and they were all perfect. How did this go so wrong?” I answered, “For starters, you got my attention.” She screamed and I covered her mouth. Dawson had the man and kicked out two of their dining room chairs. We tied them up. I told them, “This can go fast or you can piss me off. I think we all know you don’t want that. See, we have women to go home to and we are late for the ball. Which means they went with other people. So, I suggest you talk fast because I owe my woman a dance.”

Dawson agreed, “Same.” The woman sighed, “Look, we are just a house for them.” I snorted, “I heard you say you researched the girls and I recognize you, just to be clear.” I broke her finger and she screamed. I told her, “I would advise not lying to me. I get testy when lied to.” Dawson asked, “Where did you see her?” I answered, “She’s the girl at the front desk at the kickboxing place and she’s a bartender. I bet a lot of those girls went to those kickboxing classes. They have supernatural blood and they’d be very good at it. It’s a great place to scope out for supernatural’s needing to get aggression out.” I was pretty ticked at myself for not thinking of that.

My dad was sending me his concern because I was late. I sent him back my feelings that I was coming and I had information. I felt his pride and I couldn't deny that feeling made me happy. My dad was the best, and he never hid his pride for us. Something I saw was rare with Kings. They were hard on their kids, and rarely showed their affection. My dad showered us with love, but he was hard on us. He made sure we were strong, and the best of the best. Our training was intense, but he never let us or anyone else doubt how much he loved us. He always told us when he was proud of us. He was the perfect King and I aspired to be just like him one day. I would make my own changes, but my dad was my idol.

The woman huffed, “I knew I should’ve pulled Lilly from the group when I saw you two talking after class.” I winked, “I was always onto this house though, and I’ll just bet you’d have given up the other location. You definitely should’ve left Lilly alone. You traumatized those women for no reason.” She scoffed, “They all felt out of place. You guys get your partials at sixteen because that’s when they need you. You help them channel everything they’ve felt and that anger into something good. Everyone else, except werewolves, leave their partials to feel out of place in their lives forever.”

Dawson scoffed, “So you’re what? Helping them find their place? Human trafficking helps them find their place? Being ripped away from the life that they have forged. Gosh, you’re practically a humanitarian. We’ve got it all wrong here, B.” The woman frowned, “B? His name is Chad.” Dawson laughed, “They bought you as a Chad? Oh god, that’s the worst alias you’ve had. Someone was f*****g with you by calling you Chad.” I rolled my eyes. It was my Uncle and he was definitely messing with me.

The guy insisted, “We are helping them. They learn about the supernatural and why they feel the way they do. Their own race leaves them out to flounder, but we don’t.” I sneered, “You cannot be serious. These women have lives you don’t even ask them or educate them. You kidnap them.” The woman taunted, “Then you missed the men we take.” The guy kicked her chair. f**k! She was right, we hadn't found any men.

I shrugged as if that didn’t piss me off, “So you’re an equal opportunist plucking people from their lives for a lifetime of servitude they didn’t sign up for. With men or women who beat them and use their bodies. Somehow, you see yourself as some kind of helper to them because they learn about the supernatural? It doesn’t occur to you that if any of those people escape and they find the hunters, they will join because they would hate us all and for good reason. Are you looking to exterminate the supernatural's on earth? The two of us would be fine, we don’t have to come here.” I pointed at Dawson.

She frowned, “They can’t escape.” I snorted. Dawson agreed, “Sure, someone who learns they aren’t really human and have better abilities than they’ve been told about their whole lives. Knowing they have a literal advantage wouldn’t have them plotting. It’s not like supernatural’s are known for playing the long game. Oh, wait, we are. The only ones that are known as impatient are fairies. Demons will wait decades to plot their perfect revenge.”

I said, “Wolves tend to rip throats out.” Which Dawson himself enjoyed. Dawson chuckled, “But they clearly know that. They aren’t looking to take pack members because Alpha’s would reign down hell.” Good ones would. I added, “Plus they have allies they would bring.” Dawson inclined his head agreeing. The man said, “We don’t really mess with werewolves. We mostly do demons. Lilly wasn’t…” He trailed off.

I prodded, “Lilly wasn’t what?” The woman answered, “The plan. Lilly was never in the plan or her friend. I TOLD them she wasn’t a good option, but she rejected that warlock over and over and over again. He couldn't take it. He had little man syndrome.” She made my point from earlier. He wasn’t a little man but they all thought he was. Dawson sighed, “This realm and its ideas about height, man. I really can’t understand it.” I agreed, “I know.”

The woman sneered, “You’re both tall.” Dawson agreed, “Yes, but my youngest brother is the shortest out of all my siblings, and he gets more p***y than us all. I’d argue he gets some pretty damn fun missions because of his size. No one thinks any less of him because he’s shorter than us. Also, no one thinks more of us because we are tall. My mom is a tiny little thing, but if you cross that woman I fear for your life more than if you cross my dad. My very giant sized tall dad.” That was true his mother was definitely a tiny dangerous woman.

The woman sighed, “We just offer girls up as suggestions then I do their hair to the preference of their buyer.” I told Dawson, “Get their computers. We will get them back to our tech department.” Dawson went off to do that. The man asked, “Are you going to leave now?” I snorted, “Not yet.” I took my knife from my shoe and cut him open from his neck to stomach. The woman screamed and I grabbed her by the hair.

I said, “You are a snake giving up these people who are just trying to live their lives and do what they can. You can see yourself however you want, but in hell you’ll know that you were awful.” I stabbed her in the lung and twisted. Her breaths came out in pants. She pleaded, “I can’t…”

I cut her off, “Breathe? I know. Your lung is collapsing. Maybe think about all the women and men who pleaded with you to help them and you just did their hair. You offered them up on a silver platter and ignored their pleas as I will ignore yours. Maybe think about how they felt in those moments in your home now before you sent them to a cell in a dungeon. Hopefully, we find them and set them free. You’ve altered their lives though. They were living perfectly fine, and you showed them the awful underside of life because you’re a selfish b***h who wanted some money.”

She gasped several times saying, “Please…” Over and over but that meant nothing to me. I wondered how many times she’d heard that herself from innocent people she offered up as sacrificial lambs.

Dawson came back after she stopped breathing. He announced, “I got it all, and some people just can’t die with grace. They always gotta plead as if we know they heard thousands of pleas for help and ignored each and every one.” I stood, “I agree and I’m glad you’re done. We have a ball to get to.”

I opened a portal and threw the bodies through to the dungeon and closed it. Dawson had opened a portal to my wing. We both walked through. I snorted, “You portaled us to your designated room in my wing?” He winked and ran to the shower yelling, “Last one ready gets to their woman second.” A challenge? Really? I never turned down a challenge. I left and ran down the hall to mine and Astrid’s room.

I stopped and had to smile when I saw Astrid had put out the suit and tie that would match her dress with a note on it. A note I always checked our room for when I returned. I picked it up.

Bjourn,

I know that you might not make it back in time. I waited until the last possible minute to go to the ball without you. I know you were out there making us all proud and running down leads. If you make it back this tie matches my dress. If you don’t then I better see your ass on your birthday. I have plans for you, my world. Don’t you dare mess with them unless you are with me at midnight.

Astrid

I had to laugh and knew exactly what she would’ve done with this note if I hadn’t been back in time. She would’ve come back and written a note below it telling me how much trouble I was in if I wasn’t back for my birthday. Then if my birthday passed the note would’ve gotten longer until I got back and she spanked me for it. I’d gotten a few notes like that before.

She was so my woman. She always had my burner phone I was in the field with and knew she could text me or leave a voicemail, but she felt that gave away her intentions. I couldn't wait for our bond to kick in. I’d feel everything from her I’d always wanted. I knew she’d still do these notes instead of texting or calling these things. We even talked a lot when either of us were gone. She just left these notes and her plans for me to find when I came home. To be honest, I looked forward to them every single time.

I quickly showered and then put on my tux. I was tying my tie as I walked out of the room and ran into Dawson. He smiled saying, “I guess we both win. I can’t wait to see our women. Our off period is going to be over the second I lay eyes on her. How about you?” I joked, “Have we met?” He threw his head back and laughed.

We walked into the ball together and my eyes instantly found Astrid. She looked stunning. Dawson groaned, “Oh shit.” Fury filled my veins when I saw who had their hands on her. Marcus and Drake were moving to me. Marcus said, “Welcome home…” He trailed off when I sent him my anger.

Rhett’s hands were on Astrid’s waist. She shot him a look that I knew meant she wanted him to let go. I asked, “Is he her date?” Drake answered, “Through a series of events….” I interrupted, “Is he her date?” Marcus sighed, “Yes, but she was waiting for you and he didn’t ask anyone else so…” I made strides across the room.

I didn’t care that she had a date, I cared that it was HIM. Of all people he should never have his hands on her. She deserved the best and he was so far from it. Plus, she was clearly annoyed with him. Kashe spotted me and her eyes danced with amusement until she spotted Dawson behind me then lust filled them. She told her date, “So, later.” Her date shook his head, nodded to Dawson, and went to the singles group.

Astrid whispered, “Rhett, move your hand or…” I finished, “I’ll rip it off.” They whirled to me. Astrid squealed and jumped into my arms. She whispered, “You made it!” I squeezed her tightly trying to calm down. Rhett unwisely said, “She’s my date tonight, Bjourn. You’re on an off period.” Astrid pulled back, “Rhett, I told you that if Bjourn came back…” He interrupted, “So, we will see you later.” He grabbed her hand and my fist moved before I could even think.

I hit him and yanked Astrid away and I was on him. I slammed his hand on the ground, “You do NOT lay hands on any woman in this realm that doesn’t want it. ESPECIALLY Stella Mea! (My Star)” Astrid yelled, “BJOURN!”

I beat the s**t out of him before my dad grabbed my hand. He said, “I’ll take it from here, son.” I spotted my mom and nodded to her. She was trying not to laugh. Briar was in the group watching. She was glaring at Astrid, casting worried glances at Rhett, and then lustful ones at me. She made no sense, but I didn’t have time for her.

I threw Astrid over my shoulder and started walking. Astrid told me, “Put me down.” I spanked her and kept walking. We left the ball and ended up outside on the beach where an afterparty was happening apparently. Aesir, give me strength. I put her down and backed her up against the castle. She glared at me stating, “You didn’t even say hi.”

I replied, “Hi.” She smacked my chest. I practically growled, “The whole of the realm except those mated were your choice for dates and you chose HIM?!” She glared at me, “I was WAITING for YOU! He asked me and I said no he said he’d wait. When it was clear you couldn’t come he offered to take me. It’s not a big deal.”

I reiterated, “A whole DAMN realm of people and you went with him! He is not worthy to come with one hundred feet of you!” She argued, “He’s my friend and we were on an off period.” I replied, “I know that we were. It’s not about the date. It’s about the date being him. He yet again did not respect you. I saw your face when he was touching you, you didn’t want it.”

She retorted, “I was handling that.” I pushed my body flush against her, “He’s still breathing so I don’t agree. No one will ever touch you in a way that you don’t like. Then he disrespected your choice again by trying to drag you away!”

She rolled her eyes, “We both know that I wasn’t going to let him get away with that. I could’ve handled it. You didn’t need to beat him within an inch of his life.” I told her, “If my dad didn’t stop me, I’d have killed him for the disrespect he showed you.” She frowned, “You should be more upset about the disrespect he showed you. I am.” I told her, “Si plus de levibus mihi quam tibi curae esse putas, non attendis (If you think I care more about slights to me than you, you haven't been paying attention).”

She rolled her eyes again and I warned, “Stop doing that, Stella mea (my Star).” She looked at me and rolled her eyes again deliberately. She told me, “Attendo tibi omnia de te. Hoc modo turbat me c*m contemnant te. (I pay attention to everything about you. It just upsets me when people disrespect you).” I ground into her, “Tu scis quid fit c*m oculos tuos in me devolves et hoc ter in ordine fuit (You know what happens when you roll your eyes at me and that was three times in row).”