The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,48

you couldn’t find any volunteers?”

“There you go again, with the questions.” He shook his head slowly. “You need to leave.”

“But—”

“I do not think you understand.” He lifted his head again, and yep, those eyes were definitely starting to glow. He stared at me like… like he was hungry. Starved, really. “You need to leave now.”

A wave of shivers rolled over my skin as an innate sense forced me to take a step back from him. The atmosphere around us seemed to thin and charge with static.

The Prince turned, tracking my movements with a near predatory glint to those glowing faint blue eyes. “I won’t tell you again. If you don’t leave, you won’t have the choice to.”

Chapter 17

He didn’t have to tell me again.

I got out of that condo as fast as my two legs would carry me and I made it down the long hall, to the steel elevator doors before I stopped and looked behind me.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, knowing I should just hit the elevator button and go. He wasn’t my responsibility and just because I could appreciate his hotness didn’t mean I liked him.

Because I didn’t.

I stared at the elevator button.

Plus I had to figure out what the hell I was going to tell Tanner and Faye about Elliot and his weird as hell eyes. It would take Faye no leap of logic to jump to the conclusion that if Elliot had gone all evil fae, there was a good chance her cousin had too.

Turning from the elevator, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. “Damn it,” I muttered, folding one arm across my stomach as I called Tink.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey, Lite Bright, I was getting worried.”

“I’m okay, but there is a problem.” I glanced up the hall. “I’m with the Prince.”

There was a pause and then, “Like the Prince?”

“Yes.”

“As in Fabian’s brother?”

“Yes, Tink, unless there are other Princes I’m unaware of.”

“Why are you with him?” Tink demanded. “Oh my God, did you really have a date tonight and then lied about looking for younglings? Oh, my God, you hussy.”

“Tink—”

“Hussy Brighton got good taste, though. Hold on, I need popcorn for this conversation.”

“Tink,” I snapped. “Come on, I’m not on a date with him and you don’t need popcorn for this conversation. I was out looking for the youngling and I ran into the Prince.” I figured I’d leave the whole Elliot part out at the moment. “He was shot multiple times.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Yeah, and he’s in pretty bad shape. He didn’t want me to call his brother or anyone from Hotel Good Fae.”

“You just called me,” he pointed out.

“I know that.” Exasperated, I closed my eyes and kept my voice low. “I called because he’s in bad shape and he hasn’t fed.”

“He should still be okay. Probably needs to sleep it off—”

“He hasn’t fed in two years,” I cut him off.

“What?” Tink shrieked. “Are you serious right now? I need to call Fabian—”

“Don’t call him. He asked me not to.” I had no idea why I was following his orders. “Look, is he going to be okay or not?”

“No, Lite Bright, he is not going to be okay!” Tink yelled, and my stomach sunk. “If he hasn’t fed in two years, he’s basically mortal except it’s just going to take him longer to die!”

“Crap,” I muttered, turning back toward the Prince’s door. “Well, this sucks, because he’s alone at his place, and I’m not sure I can lure a human back for him to snack on.”

“You can feed him.”

“What?” I almost dropped the phone. “Are you out of your mind?”

“It’s not a big deal. Trust me. You’ll probably like it.”

My mouth dropped open.

“Brighton, he can’t die. Do you understand me? If he doesn’t feed, he will die and if he dies….”

“He’ll be dead?” Screw this. “Go ahead and call his brother. I don’t care if he gets pissed at me. I’m—”

“There’s no time to call Fabian. He’ll be dead by the time Fabian can get to him. You either need to offer yourself up as an all you can eat buffet of Brighton or you need to go kidnap some person and serve him up a dish of unwilling human.”

I had no words.

“And considering his background and all the terrible shit he knows he’s done while under the Queen’s spell, I’m sure he’ll be down for that,” Tink continued on.

There was another pitch to my stomach. “That sucks, but this isn’t my problem.”

“You called me, so obviously you