Rogues: Rise of The King

Six

Alexie:

    Brandy and Hyde got here early in the morning. Sloane and Sin went with Brandy somewhere and they took Daniel with them. Ash and Tristan had arrived a little while ago. The four of us are waiting on Heather. She's going to help me transfer all this paperwork into the computer mainframe that was moved into the room under the wine cellar.

    "So," Ash finally spoke up. "I feel like I've seen you before, new guy," 

    "That's Titus," I shook my head, looking at my i***t brother. In his defense, Titus is a lot bigger and is in serious need of a shave or a trim if he's keeping that thing he calls a beard on his face.

    "Oh, s**t. No way," he nodded. "Holy s**t, you are Titus Emory. You said he was Sloane's friend," 

    "Yeah, one of her killing buddies," 

    "I like that girl more and more every day," Tristan smiled from behind the fitness magazine he had been reading since he got here. Titus finally cracked a smiled. "She has killing buddies,"

    "How do you cope with this s**t?" Titus asked. I looked at my brother and the other fang boy. 

    "No, idea," I answered honestly.

    I had promised Sloane I would try to get along with him. Granted we were both naked and she was on top of me when I promised but I still have to keep that or she'd make pay for it later. 

    "Aw come one. We're not that bad," Tristan chuckled, putting his magazine down. 

    "I hate you," Titus stated it calmly. "Ash, I'm okay with. He's just a remixed version of us. You, I want to rip apart,"

    "I didn't turn your little vixen," Tristan vexed. Titus was on his feet and going for him in an instant. I jumped up, intercepting him. I pushed him out the back door with me. 

    "You two are done for today. Go home Ash," I ordered. 

    "Come on, you ass hole," Ash groaned, grabbing his friend by the collar of his jacket. 

    Titus is on the verge of shifting. His breathing is uneven. The sound of his chest rumbling makes me feel for the guy. He had killed Claire. I know that. He had gone after her with those intentions. If I were in shoes I wouldn't want to see my girl like that. It killed me to see what my brother had become. I love him but there are days when I doubt all of his intentions. He's a vampire now. Just like she was. 

    "You good?" I asked after his labored breathing calmed down. 

    "Why do you keep those things around?" he asked. "They're just watching you. They aren't here to help you," 

    "I know that," I said sitting next to him. "Sloane has this thing about Ash," 

    "You mean she used her power on him?" he asked. 

    "You know about that?" 

    "She didn't tell you how we met?" that made me want to hit him. 

    "She told me you guys killed people together," 

    "That's not how we met," he scoffed, sitting on the beach chair next to me. "She stopped me from doing something stupid. She used her affinity on me. It's kind of like a compulsion. It strips away the bad. I was in a f****d up place for a really long time. She was gunning for the Britt. Will Sterling. She intentionally got herself thrown into prison. That's where she found me," 

    "You were caught in London? There were rumors you were killing your way through the states after- after she died," I sighed, stopping myself. 

    "I killed her," he said confirming my assumption. The way he said it makes me feel bad for him. It was caught between regret and need. "I did kill my way through the states. Vampire after vampire. I was looking for the piece of s**t that turned her. He was in London. Motherfucker threw me to his dogs. Will was protecting him. I don't know how long I was there but I had nothing but time to think about what I had done to her," 

    "Why did you kill her?" 

    "You didn't see what they turned her into, Alex. What she became after our bond broke. She was dead inside. All that mattered to her was her sire. I tried to convince her at first. To come back with me. I told her we had a treaty here with the nobility. She had a way with words. She asked me to stay. When I accepted she turned on me. They strung me up in the middle of the mansion and they would cut me open and drank from me whenever they wanted," he lifted his sleeves to show me he had gotten his arms sleeved up with tats. "Look closer," 

    I leaned over and grabbed his arm. The detail along the lines caught my attention. Hundreds of thousands of small dots lining against the detail of the ink. The skin slightly lifted from the scarring he had gone through. I looked up at him angry with myself for thinking he had no right to take what she had chosen from her.

    "This is silver damaging," I whispered.     

    "They put an I.V  on me. It kept me alive, but whenever they wanted a fix they'd come and stick me with a f*****g needle. Our blood with Wolfsbane in our system is like crack to leeches. She never fed off me and it wasn't because she didn't want to. She couldn't. Feeding off of me would have triggered that sense of humanity that is lost when they turn. So she left me there. Once in awhile, she'd come to see me. She'd sit in a corner and watch her little leech brothers and sisters feed," 

    "She never said a word?" 

    "She had plenty to say. Like I said, she had a way with words. She said I had brought it on myself. Oswald turned her into his personal bodyguard. I was put up in the center of their mansion. She would bring humans in for them and they'd all kill them. When they held meetings, he'd snap his fingers and she'd pounce. She gave him everything and she forced me to watch. It- she got off on the pain," 

    "How did you get out of there?" I asked. 

    "One of the new recruits was from here. She took pity on me. Claire was sitting in the room watching them all take from me. Her name was Gwen. She injected me with her blood. It heeled me in an instant. It gave me this boost. If I would have died that night. I would have come back as one of them. I wouldn't have cared so as long as I got to rip that b***h's head off. Once she saw it took effect she locked them all in there with me. I killed all of them. I got out of there as fast as I could. Gwen drove me to the airport. She gave me money and a list of locations. Then she just disappeared," 

    "Gwendolyn Loveheart," I said looking at him. 

    "You know her?" 

    "Yeah, she's here actually. The Princess's first creation. She's known as the Dutchess here. She's a sweetheart. When Ash first turned, she kept my sister updated on how he was doing. They were close before she turned. It stayed the same when she came back. Lance killed her mate when he challenged him. He made the guy submit but he wouldn't stop. There was no way around it," 

    "You Victors are all ass holes," he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I didn't think I'd ever come back here. When Sloane called and gave me the news, I couldn't stop laughing. What are the odds of her being yours and me finding her first?" 

    "Don't give me that s**t. She wouldn't have touched you," 

    "She didn't. She doesn't like being touched. The only time I put hands on her was to pull her ass out of a burning basement. I had to carry her ass out when she was shot. We were in Romania," 

    "Yeah, she told me you both saved her a couple of times," 

    "It's nothing compared to what she did for us. I never thought I'd trust anyone again. You're lucky motherfucker," 

    "So are you. Sin is a beautiful girl," 

    "I'm not with her. Sin is a f*****g b***h. The only reason I tolerate her is because of Slo," I rolled my eyes. 

    "Dude, you two have it in for one another. It's something unspoken," 

    "f**k you, Victor," 

    "You know your front door is wide open your kingship," I looked back at Heather. 

    "Ash and Tristan left," I said. 

    "Is that Titus Emory?" she asked. 

    "Sup Heath," he smirked. 

    "You ass hole. Where have you been?" she laughed going over to him. I had never seen Heather smile like that or hug anyone in my life. 

    "Why is my door wide open?" Sloane asked. I turned to look at her. She holding a gun in one hand. Sin is standing behind her looking at Heather, also with a gun in her hand. 

    "You didn't shut the door behind you?" I asked.

    "I walked in to make sure you were okay," she shrugged. Sin walked back outside. I looked at Titus and Heather. He's still holding her. Brandy and Daniel walked in by themselves a few minutes later. 

    "Let's get started. I need to see what we're working with," I tried so we can get away from this awkwardness.

    "Where's Samsin?" Sloane asked Brandy. 

    "She went to walk her wolfie," Daniel said reaching for me. "Hi, daddy. Mommy got me a new haircut. Like yours," 

    "Nice. You look sharp, kid," I laughed taking him from Brandy. God, he's adorable.

    "You too, Daddy," he beamed. "Are you and Titus friends now?" 

    "We'll see," Titus answered. "I'm going to see if crazy pants is okay," 

    "Nothing going on, my ass," I whispered when he walked past me. He flipped me off making sure Daniel didn't see him. 

    We started going through the big ass treasure chest filled with papers. Heather and Sloane set up a system and started separating the papers to put them in order while Daniel and Anya worked on food in the kitchen. Titus and Sin didn't come back for a few hours. When they did, he had a black eye and a claw mark raking down the front of his shirt. I pressed my lips together. 

    "Not a word, Victor," he said going over to the room Sloane had given him. 

    "You okay?" my mate asked Sin. 

    "I'm fine. Some people don't understand what 'get the f**k out of here' means," she groaned, dropping on the floor next to her. "What are we doing?" 

    "Grab a laptop. Take this stack. These are the names of the soldiers in each branch. I want you to sort them by skills. Use yourself as a comparison," 

    "That's kind of a high standard," Sin said taking the papers. Her tone is serious it isn't bragging, it's just a simple statement. 

    "Yeah, I know. I want to bring in some muscle. Elianne was pretty pissed last night and she's only going to get angrier as we progress. I also pissed off some other wolves and I want to make sure I have real soldiers if and when they come. I don't want p***y ass bitches around if they can't handle their own," 

    "Mommy, bad words," Daniel scolded from where he was sitting coloring. 

    "Sorry, Danny," she apologized. 

    "We need to start a swear jar," Titus suggested sitting next to me. 

    "That's a great idea," Anya interjected. 

    "Why don't you go f**k yourself?" Sloane shot a paper ball at Titus hitting him in the face. 

    "That's a dollar," he laughed. 

    "Shut the f**k up," Sin growled. 

    "That's five," I added. The three of them looked up at me. "What? I like his idea. Daniel shouldn't be hearing that,"

    "Says the Rogue King planning an interception of a cartel mass all over the world," Sin laughed.

    "I didn't hear a single bad word in that," Titus pointed at her.

    "Me either," Daniel added. She flipped me off. 

    "The bird is two dollars," Anya laughed. 

    "There's a bird?" Daniel asked jumping up. "Does it talk? I want to see it," 

    "I love this kid," Titus laughed pulling Daniel to him. Daniel laughed as he tickled him. 

    "There is no bird. We need to finish this. Get to work," Sloane ordered handing Titus a laptop and a stack of papers. 

    "Ty, what happened to your face?" Daniel asked him bringing his coloring book and crayon box to the table. 

    "Sin hit me," 

Daniel gasped looking over at her disapprovingly.

    "Sammy no," he whispered, tapping her hand. 

    "He was being mean to me," Sin rolled her eyes. 

    "You don't hit people. Mommy, tell her," he demanded looking at Sloane. Sin pinched her arm and my mate's reaction was punching her in the arm. "Mommy, that's not nice," 

    "She pinched me," Sloane defended, rubbing her arm. 

    "Stop. Both of you," I growled. They all turned to look at me. "Sin stop hitting Titus. Titus stop being mean to Sin," 

    "Yes, dad," the three of them said in unison. Heather and Anya laughed. 

    "Thanks, Daddy," Daniel beamed, kneeling on the floor and went back to coloring in his book. Did I just parent three adults?