CHAPTER SIX
“I want her to help me.” Poppy pointed a finger at me, wavering on her feet. Then her finger swung in Alaric’s direction. “Not you. Sorry.”
I snickered quietly. I liked Poppy like this. She was much more pleasant.
Aside from the puke pooled next to her feet.
My humor died a quick death when Alaric turned a glare on me.
He argued with her, “If you fall, she can’t hold you, Poppy.”
Cassander was leaning against the train wall, trapped between the seats thanks to Poppy not moving. His head was tipped back, and his eyes were closed as he slurred, “She won’t fall. I’m sure.”
Alaric sighed and threw his hands up in the air. “Fine.”
The big man stormed out of his own train, leaving the four of us behind.
Rune cleared his throat, asking politely, “Cass, do you need help—”
One silver eye peeked open.
Rune snorted and shook his head. “Don’t get pissy. I had to ask.”
I held my right hand out to the drunken woman. “You’re gonna have to come to me. I’m not going anywhere near your spewed chunks.”
And what the fuck had Poppy been eating lately? A healthy diet of candy? ‘Cause that was what it looked like. Freaking gross.
I barely contained a disgusted shiver as she wobbled toward me, barely missing stepping in her own vomit. “That’s it. Almost there.” I caught her left arm and hefted it over my shoulder, holding her steady. “Rune, go down the steps in front of us in case Cassander is wrong.”
And please. Trusting the guess of one man?
Give me a break.
Rune was already on it, heading down the stairs. “Come on, beautiful. I won’t let you fall.”
A small grin edged my lips as I hauled Poppy toward the door, staring down at him. “Promise?”
He winked, his golden eyes staring up at me in the darkness. “Cross my heart.”
Poppy and I were slow moving. Each step down was a chore of balance and strength as she leaned this way and that. I grunted, holding tight around her waist. “Poppy, you need to lay off the sweets. I think you’ve gained some weight.”
“Or you’ve lost muscle mass.” She hiccupped and tilted her head—which tilted her whole body, keeping me on my toes. “You look thinner than the last time I saw you.”
I sighed. Even drunk she noticed. “Yeah. I’ve been on a poor person’s diet.”
Brown eyes blinked. “What does that consist of?”
“Not a whole lot,” I grumbled, but I smirked as we stepped onto solid ground. “We made it.”
Rune stepped out of my line of view, allowing me to see…the house. He shook his head in sympathy that wasn’t fake, murmuring quietly, “Not yet.”
My eyes widened as I stared at the mansion that was so, so far away. With a lot of damn stairs. I jerked my gaze to Poppy, and growled, “Tell me your bedroom is at the front.”
She hummed, mischief entering her drunken gaze. “It’s at the very back.”
“Holy. Fuck.” My chest rose as I inhaled deeply, and studied the terrain. Rocks and grassy patches. “Why the hell would anyone want to live here?” I didn’t give a shit if I was offending her. “Give me trees and more trees. Not this crap.”
Rune’s golden eyes sparkled under the moonlight. “You like forests?”
I nodded. “I like vegetation. And a lot of it. It’s beautiful.” This barren world was not.
“I like my home,” Poppy slurred. “At least, I used to.”
I cocked a brow. I wasn’t touching on the subject. That comment was filled with drama. Instead, I herded her forward. With each of her steps, she leaned more heavily on me, as if going to her house was dragging her down. I whispered, “You okay?”
She grunted, not remarking. Then a single tear leaked down her cheek as she stared at her home, lit brightly through the windows, the lights shimmering off the water surrounding it in a welcome home effect. Apparently, she didn’t believe it was very welcoming.
I swiftly wiped it off her face, and murmured, “Don’t start that right now. You’re strong, remember?” Her current life must be a living hell. Tragedy had struck her—that was certain.
Of what variety, I wasn’t positive yet.
Poppy cleared her throat and walked a little easier. Thank the moon above.
Cassander continued to stumble behind us. His bare feet must be taking a beating on the rocks. They weren’t only boulder size. A few were tiny and getting kicked up by my own shoes.
Rune walked directly next to me, pointing at spots for me to travel, helping me avoid any dips I couldn’t see in the night. His black, shiny dress shoes were silent with each of his easy steps. As we neared the stairs, he asked gently, “Do you want me to take over?”
“No, I’ve got her,” I mumbled. And I did.
It took fifteen minutes since Poppy started blabbering on and singing in a god-awful voice, stopping at every stair to chatter about pointless shit. But we made it to the top of the stairs. It was there, as we neared her front door when it finally dawned on me. Poppy was lonely. All her actions pointed right to that simple reality.
So where the fuck was Mr. Godric King? Did he run off with some other woman?
If so, I’d be tempted to kick his ass. I didn’t know Poppy all that well, but she deserved better than that. Damn asshole with a God complex.
But I quickly changed my mind. It must be some type of “lion complex.” Because there was a most obnoxious and enormous, golden lion statue parked right next to his front door. My nose wrinkled in revulsion, and I muttered, “What the crap? Is that real gold?”
Poppy snickered—a little sadly. “It’s hideous, isn’t it?”
“Hell yes, it is.”
Behind us, Cassander slurred, “Don’t say that too loud. Alaric made it for God.”
My mouth snapped shut. I didn’t want to tick off the giant of a man.
Rune opened the front door and held it open while I maneuvered the drunkard inside. The four of us continued into the house with Rune leading the way. Cassander banged into the walls a few times on the route, cursing occasionally, but managed not to break any of the expensive pictures hanging on the walls. My chest pumped in exertion and sweat dotted my brow. Her room had better be coming up. We’d already been walking for five minutes.
We stepped into a small living room full of comfortable and plush couches, the area dimly lit for the evening. A few drinks sat on the tables and books cluttered the space. A single man sat in a recliner, the seat leaned back and his feet up. His eyes were closed and his hands linked together over his chest.
I squinted. I could have sworn I had seen him somewhere before.
Maybe twenty or thirty years old—odd how I couldn’t really tell. He had dark honey-colored hair currently in disarray as if he’d been tugging at it. He wore a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt, his feet bare, the soles pointed right at us in the entryway to the room.
Without opening his eyes, he asked softly…slowly, “Who the fuck is with you?”
My spine stiffened, all alarm bells of self-preservation blaring in my mind.
Danger! Danger! Get the hell away from him…
Cassander stumbled forward and fell backward onto a couch, half hanging off it. “That’s Megan Marshall. She’s with Rune and is currently helping the escape artist—who’s presently drunk off her ass.”
Poppy grouched, “Look who’s talking. You’re just as drunk as me.”
Instant. “I walked inside all on my own.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too.”
The honey-haired man opened his eyes slightly. Dark orbs stared out at me, his cool gaze taking its time to evaluate every inch of my rigid frame. Like a storm passing, they closed once more and stayed that way. He grumbled, “Megan, huh? The woman who was kidnapped with Mina?”
Somehow, I didn’t think that was really what he was asking.
Rune took one careful step in front of me. “Yes.”
“Hmm.” Not bothering to sit up or even open his eyes again, the dangerous man stated with candor, “Megan, I’m Theron King. Welcome. My advance apologies for not being more courteous. It’s a trying time right now.”
I swallowed on a dry throat. “Thank you, Theron.” Then his words truly hit me, my blink ever so gradual, as excitement from new information unfurled in my belly. “Did you say King?”
Rune turned, placed his warm palm on my back, and pointed to a door in the far corner. “That’ll take you to her room.”
Another blink and I yanked my attention away from Theron. I stared up into golden eyes, the warning clear not to ask any more questions. “All right. I’ll get her into bed.”
Poppy’s feet dragged even more as I headed to the door. Goose bumps popped up along my flesh in foreboding.
She didn’t want to go in there.
I halted just outside the closed door and glanced at her. I pressed my mouth directly against her ear, ignoring the smell of unwashed flesh, and whispered softly, “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. If these men are keeping you here without your permission, I won’t let that happen.”
Her exhale was a shaky breath. She shook her head. “Don’t bother whispering. They can hear you. And this is where I need to be. Where I should be.”
My neck craned to the side as I glanced back. All three men were staring directly at us where they rested. It didn’t matter if one was drunk and another half-asleep. Each set of eyes was watching with intelligence as if they had heard my comment. My nostrils flared, and I demanded to know, “Is it safe in there?”
Whatever was behind that door wasn’t good.
Rune stated with blunt honesty, “There are cameras in there and alarms. It is as safe as it can be.” He shook his head of black hair gently, his eyes turning to Poppy with tenderness, his voice softening. “She won’t sleep anywhere else. Anytime we move her, she goes right back to their room.”
I stared. “Cameras and alarms?”
He merely nodded. Once.
My black brows puckered, and I reluctantly turned my attention back to the door. What in the mighty fuck was behind this door? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. There were secrets in families, and then there were secrets. The dark and deadly kind you could never escape.
Poppy took the decision out of my hands and leaned forward. She grabbed the door handle and twisted it, opening the door wide. Her brown eyes scanned my face as I took in the view, her words quiet. “Now you know.”
I choked, “Shit.”