Wolf's Claim (The Royal Heir #3) - Jen L. Grey Page 0,69

He stood straight, and his eyes fixated on the door as it opened.

"What do we have here?" Richard walked in as the dim light reflected off his greasy black hair. "I thought you were staying upstairs."

"I heard a noise and came to investigate." He pointed at me. "She was crying in her sleep."

"Aw, are you hurting?" Richard cooed at me. He walked over to me and stuck his finger in the cut that was only beginning to heal on my shoulder.

It hurt so bad a whimper escaped me.

"Stop playing with her." My aunt entered the room looking like she always did; overdone makeup and heavy floral perfume. "We just need to figure out how to get something over that crazy-ass vampire witch. Right now, we're all little pawns in her game."

"Wow, you're lumping all of you in with me now?" I was surprised that she would be so willing to stoop to my level. Mason, please tell me that you’re there. The tension in the air was so thick that there was no way this was going to end well.

I’m here, baby. In fact, we’re close by. We finally found you. His tone had an edge. What’s going on?

"Oh, hell no." She shook her head. "All I care about is Richard being king. He can't do that with you here and alive." She pulled out a gun and held it so it pointed at my chest. "So we can just take care of that now."

"Do you really think that's going to work?" I needed Mason to get here fast. This wasn't going well at all. The longer I stayed here, the more people either wanted to hurt or kill me. "She's a witch and a vampire."

"But we could at least have some kind of illusion of control." She cocked the gun. "Do you know how much I've had to sacrifice? I had to marry that buffoon, Darren, and get it into his head why we deserved this. Still, he had to fuck it up by not making sure you were dead thirteen years ago. This is the only way we can do that now."

Needing to talk to him one last time. Just remember I love you.

You better hold on. His voice was deep with fear and concern. We're going to be there any second.

It may be too late. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Just know I'll always love you.

Elena, what's going on? Elena!

She fired the gun, and the bullet sailed directly toward my heart when King Adelmo moved to fall onto his knees right in front of me. The bullet hit him in the back, going through his abdomen.

Adelmo. I thought I'd screamed the words out loud, but I didn’t feel it in my throat.

He groaned as he clutched his side, and his eyes landed right on mine. "I'm so sorry."

Warm liquid spilled all over me, and the strong, rust smell of his blood filled my nose. There wasn't a way either one of us was going to make it out alive.

Chapter Twenty

Something loud crashed upstairs as my hands searched for King Adelmo's wound with blood-covered hands.

"Mom, we've got to go upstairs." Richard grabbed at his mother and pointed to the door. "We can't let them get down here to her."

We're here. Mason's fear was almost palpable through our bond. Where are you?

I'm in the basement. No matter how hard I tried pushing on Adelmo's wound, my hands slipped off. Adelmo is wounded badly. We need help fast.

My aunt's cold, heartless eyes stayed on me. "Why do people keep protecting you?" As she lifted the gun at me once more, several loud footsteps pounded down the stairs. Right as she cocked the gun, Mason blew through the door and grabbed her wrist as the gun went off.

I closed my eyes, ready for the pain, but nothing happened.

"Dad?" Louis appeared at the door and ran toward the king while Tommy went straight for my cousin.

"What happened?" Louis squatted beside me and saw that I was covered in blood. "Did he hurt you?"

"What? No, your dad protected me." I lifted my hands, and they were covered in thick, dark red blood. "He saved my life. We need to lay him on his back. I think the gunshot went completely through him." I couldn't do anything with the blood on my hands, and my chains were holding me tightly in place, making it hard for me to turn him.

"I've got him." He gently clasped his father's shoulders and turned