The King's Maid

Chapter 2

LJ’s POV

We picked up a white jewelry box, and handed it to the girl, who was still getting dressed. She made an excited squeal and jumped towards us but didn’t take the box as we expected.

“I like the blue one,” she said with an unfamiliar gleam in her eyes as she continued to eye the drawer we’d left open. Without thinking, we followed her line of sight, looking at the boxes left. White was diamonds, red was rubies and blue was sapphire. We picked up the blue one and handed it to her.

“It’s a sapphire,” we replied with a smile, hoping she’d be happy now.

“Really?” she replied suggestively and bit her lip seductively. “I was told that f*****g you had its benefits.”

That comment somehow drains the smile from our lips. Yeah, usually we didn’t date---ok, we never dated! We had a lot of one-night stands, but with this one – with Audrey – we had hoped…

We looked back at the drawer. There were many boxes left, but many boxes had gone. The white ones had been especially popular, but the looks of it.

Would we really ever be seen are that? As a good f**k with benefits?

“Why don’t you take another one?” we asked, feeling bitter disappointment grip our heart. We had met Audrey at a club close to our old campus and she’d recognized us. We once had a couple of classes together and we liked her. She had a smile that could captivate you and humor, that left you breathless. We’d spent the night together – nothing unusual there! – but when I asked her on a date she’d agreed. One date had become two, and two had become three…

This was the first time she was at our place, and we’d thought we would mark the occasion with a special gift. Ok--- perhaps not the best idea, to give her something we gave to all our one-night-stands, but the idea had been an impulsive one and we acted on it without thinking.

Now we wish we hadn’t taken her to our place at all…

Our home was, in a way, our sanctuary. Our get-away from the double life we were living and, right now, we felt like someone had invaded it. Violated our trust… Yeah, it was stupid to think that, but our feelings ran hotter than most – even for other werewolves.

“What?” she gasped, eagerly eyeing the content again. “Can I?”

“Sure, why not?” we shrugged, turning back to the bed that was still tousled from what we’d just been doing. “It’s the reason you f****d me, isn’t it?”

“What?”

The surprise in her voice was enough to tell us, that she hadn’t expected that. Hell, if we weren’t off by much, we’d say there was even some hurt in there…

“In fact,” we spat anyway, not caring if her feelings were hurt. “Take them all! I don’t care.”

We grabbed our clothes up off the floor and threw them in the hamper, but – like always – we missed. We wondered for a second if that had something to do with the incredible clumsiness we suffered, because of our abnormal size in wolf form, or because it had become a habit to piss off mom in our teen years. Although we couldn’t remember a time when we actually did hit the hamper, Mom had drilled the habit into us since before we could talk. She used to laugh and say it was a left-over trade from her maiden days. Dad always smiled when she said that. Like they had some kind of inside joke. Something only they knew.

Something special…

“You know what,” Audrey snorted--- reminded us that she was still here. “I don’t want it!”

Yeah, now she was pissed. And hurt. And that should probably get us to ease the f**k off, but we didn’t. We were sort of a jerk like that…

“But you should take it,” we replied, leaving a healthy dose of mockery in our voice. “That’s the reason you f****d me, so you shouldn’t leave without your prize.”

“You’re an asshole!” she spat with tears in her eyes and threw the blue box back at me. We caught it easily, which only seemed to infuriate her more. She turned around, getting dressed faster than before, and stormed for the door.

“For pointing out that you’re a slut?” We gritted out, not caring that our words were hurtful and mean. “So be it.”

She slammed the door hard enough to shake the walls. We growled and sat down, still naked and very much alone. The bed still smelled like her. Normally, it only smelled like us, considering we’d never taken anyone home before.

We thought she was special…

We groaned and got up again. Changing the bed would at least get rid of the smell. Worst case, we had to buy a new mattress, but that was OK too. We’d just sleep on the couch or in the guest bedroom in the meantime.

Missed the hamper – again…

And just like that, we snapped! We gripped the bedsheets and tore them to pieces. The hamper, the clothes… everything in sight! The pain in our chest felt like someone was stabbing us with a sword. The hurt left behind all the soft words that had been spoken. The humiliation of laying your heart out…

We ripped it apart until nothing remained…

We panted once nothing else was left to rip apart. We didn’t know why we felt the urge to do it. We just felt so…

Lonely!

Even when we grew up, we felt lonely. We had our family, but we were alone because we weren’t like them. We could feel Mom’s wolf, but even if she was like us, she wasn’t like us. Not really anyway. Her abilities were limited and ours were growing every day. Becoming stronger and more powerful with each day that passed. It felt like it wedged something between us – between our parents and siblings. The more we tried to downplay it, the more we struggled to be a part of them, and the lonelier and emptier we felt. We laughed and remained the same playboy-goofball they all expected us to be, but in truth, we weren’t.

We were alone in a house full of people…

We sighed, looking around the room. In our rage, we’d broken the drawer with the gift boxes. They now lay shattered across the room. The content spread all over the floor.

In pieces…

In the beginning, it had been a blast, being able to seduce and f**k any she-wolf, supernatural or human female that crossed our path. That’s why we’d gotten the bloody gift boxes in the first place.

It didn’t mean anything…

But it changed…

We’d been feeling the change coming slowly for almost a year now and although we were only 23, we knew we wanted more.

We wanted a mate!

But with the reputation of a f*****g playboy with apparently profitable benefits, we didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Or at least not before we f*****g lost ourselves to the darkness and emptiness we felt inside. We knew that werewolves were social creatures, but that wasn’t enough for us anymore.

We wanted more!

We wanted to possess someone, to keep someone, and to love someone. We wanted to feel complete…

We groaned and threw ourselves back, lying on the floor and looking up at the ceiling. Our oldest brother came to mind and his mate. Landon’s beloved had literally walked into his room. We were definitely going to tease the hell out of him, that she’d been his maid – just like Mom had been Dad’s – but what was more, he seemed happy. He was the Master of Sin City now and had claimed his beloved – his mate…

Perhaps that’s the problem with us. We were trying too hard. Perhaps we should take a break from women. Take a back seat and do fewer females and focus on other things. Perhaps then the right woman will come to us…

That actually sounded like a sound plan…

And as fate would have it, we already had a job that would be plenty enough to take our mind off things.

Namely, being the f*****g King of the Werewolves!

We picked up our phone and pressed one. Instantly, the number we wanted popped up, and we pushed the green button, waiting for the person to pick it up.

“Somebody better be dying, Your Highness,” the sleepy voice replied after the fifth ring. We glanced down at the phone--- and we noticed that it was 2 o’clock in the morning.

Oops!

“You’re already dead, Giles, so stop whining,” we replied with a grin and probably felt less sorry about waking the un-dead man than we should. Giles was a vampire who took care of most of the official royal businesses, which we were too stupid to know, and he was also the only one who knew that King Leviathan and LJ Stone were one and the same person.

Just the way we wanted it…

We started the ruse unintentionally, only letting people see us in wolf form when we were at the palace. We’d been so infuriated when we saw what the king had done to Mom, we lost it and shifted. And we didn’t shift back until three days later when the challengers were dead, and order was back in place.

And that’s when we realized that we were in WAY over our head!

We didn’t know what it took to be king, or even what the f**k a king did. The only thing we knew about him, was that he was a power-hungry ass! And that he was supposed to take care of the packs, playing judge, jury, and executioner from time to time to settle disputes between the packs! Disputes that were mostly settled by the Sentinels – pack police of sorts…

And don’t even get us started on the Hunters!

Apparently, there was a division of wolves – Foreign Affairs – that dealt with everything human-related. Among them was the problem of the Hunters. The structure was similar to that of the human police force, but we took one look at the report from them and---

And at that point, we screamed in frustration!

Dad had helped in the beginning, but what really turned the tables was when Landon introduced us to Giles. He had once been a king--- no, literally! He was a king back when he was human! Got screwed over by some “friends” and got turned into a vampire.

And the guy knew how to do magic!

Not literally---! But the guy knew paperwork and reports like the back of his hand! He helped us clean up the mess the previous king had made by being a lazy, corrupt ass and got a lot of things back on track. Not that everything was running smoothly yet, but it was a start…

“We’re going to the palace tomorrow.” We confessed, feeling rather restless. “Anything you need us to do?”

While Giles made sure everything in the day-to-day business ran smoothly, we focused on clearing out the mess and weeding out bad guys among the packs, leaving Luka to keep the peace in the capital. But from time to time, we did help Giles with the finances, considering we did have half a degree in Business Finances.

And yes, we were the weird type that actually liked numbers…

“A girl stood you up again?” Giles asked, his voice heavy with sleep, but the grin on his face could still be heard. His British accent made him sound like whiskey mixed with honey no matter when you got a hold of him and, because of that, he never – like us – had a problem luring women to bed.

“No,” we sighed, wishing that actually was our problem. We were tired. We wanted more but didn’t know how to get it. We were superior to everyone here, but in so many ways --- inferior!

We wanted a connection!

“You’re quiet,” he continued, and for a second we thought he might actually sound worried. “Is everything alright?”

As well as being our royal ass-buster, he was also our friend. Something we appreciated a lot, even if we’d only known each other for a little less than a year.

“We’ve just had our head stuck up our ass for far too long,” we replied and shrugged, although he couldn’t see it. “We’re just stopping to smell the roses for a change.”

“s**t for you, but glad you noticed,” Giles replied mockingly. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but…”

“Shut it, English,” we cut him off, using the nickname we dubbed him on the day we met.

He laughed.

“Be at the palace at 9,” he ordered. “Get in through the servant entrance. I’ll wait for you in your office.”

“We know the drill,” we said. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Your Highness,” he replied in an overly chivalrous tone--- before dropping the act and letting his annoyance bleed through. “Good night! And don’t call again unless it’s an actual emergency!”

Now it was our turn to laugh.