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I think that was what scared me the most. Callum Prinze was a dangerous man, and what if whatever it took…
Left nothing but ash.
*
A fleet of more than one car rolled up to the cabin later that morning, security. Brielle had told me they’d come before we’d hung up so I wasn’t surprised. I got dressed, and by the time I got downstairs, the dark prince had already let them inside.
He was hugging one of them.
“How you holding up?” the guy asked Dorian, and I recognized him. I’d met LJ and Dorian’s other god dads at Bru’s birthday party.
LJ was a tall man, broad-shouldered, blond. He had a sea of dirty-blond locks that, at the present, he wore tucked in a bun behind his head. Coming away, the man folded a hand behind Dorian’s neck. “You both get through the night okay?”
I saw Dorian nod, but just barely. A beautiful redhead obstructed my view a little, and I knew her to be LJ’s wife Billie. Brielle had mentioned Billie and her husband were coming over with security to be with us.
“Hey, sweets,” Billie said to Dorian, hugging him next. The dark prince swallowed her up with his size in comparison, but that didn’t matter to Billie. She squeezed him so hard his shoulders bumped like he’d laughed a little.
I hoped he had.
The security team who’d come with them started filling up the house, and when one greeted me, Billie and Dorian both broke away from their hug. I gained LJ’s attention too, the tall man coming forward.
“Good morning, Sloane,” he said, taking his wife by the hand. His other went to Dorian’s shoulder, and I noticed the dark prince looked at anyone other than me in the moment. He’d merely pocketed his hands, his eyes to the floor. LJ smiled at me. “I’m LJ. Met you at your brother’s birthday party.”
I remembered, raising my hand to him. “Thank you for coming.”
“We’re happy we could be here for our friends,” he said, putting an arm around his wife. “You recall my wife Billie too?”
She reached out, taking my hand. “How you doing, honey? You both good?” Her attention traveled back to the dark prince.
“We were good last night,” Dorian said, my stomach souring when his gaze completely bypassed me and focused directly on Billie. “Didn’t have any problems.”
Not with his grandpa, no. So I guess he wasn’t lying about that.
LJ rubbed Dorian’s shoulder. “Good. Well, we’re here to make sure you kids are okay.”
“Any updates finding my grandpa?” Dorian asked, his frown heavy. “How are my parents and Ramses and Brielle? Knight, Jax, and everyone else?”
“Everyone’s fine.” LJ patted the air. “And they’ll give us updates when we need them, and I’ll give you kids updates when you need them. Your parents and the rest of the families are handling this. We haven’t found your grandpa yet, but trust us to.”
“What’s going to happen when you do?” Dorian questioned, and it felt kind of bold to. I hadn’t asked this question.
I didn’t want to know.
It turned my gut that people were laboring to fix this, and all because of me. No, I didn’t want to know, but I wasn’t surprised Dorian did.
His hand on Dorian’s arm, LJ leveled him a look. “I need you to trust us adults, and I promise you, I will give you updates as you need them. As far as you’re concerned, your grandfather is a nonissue and nothing you need to worry about. Either of you.”
Except for the fact that we did worry, and definitely if he was missing.
I swallowed, a silent dread in my body. I was well aware of what we were dealing with here. There were like a dozen women and men in here with guns. This security detail was for us, and Dorian and I weren’t even involved in where the war was supposed to be. I’d overhead Dorian’s mom tell him Callum was still in Maywood Heights, so all this was just backup for a man who had power.
Who instilled fear.
“So, with that out of the way, I’ve also been tasked with ‘monitoring’ you kids,” LJ stated, air quoting. He eyed the dark prince. “As far as all that, I only have to say one thing. I’m not either of your moms and dads, but also don’t want to know.” He raised a hand. “We’ll go with an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach regarding all that. I remember what it’s like to be your age so, yeah. We’ll just do that.”
LJ scratched the back of his neck, awkward, and Billie laughed. She rubbed her husband’s chest. “Oh, honey.”
LJ shrugged, and I tried to hide behind my hair. Dorian, on the other hand, stared coolly in my direction. His lips thinned.
