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“You don’t have to thank me. You never do. Just kiss me.”
Just as he was leaning in, they felt her phone vibrate between them. It nearly shattered the fantasy-like flow between them, but not quite.
“Sorry,” she said, looking at the phone. “It’s Lila.”
She answered, her carefree expression stolen away by a ghastly grimace. When she hung up the phone, she began scratching at her neck, leaving long pink indents along the way.
“Someone broke into the store. Lila says they destroyed everything."
He watched as she swallowed immediate panic and grief. His wolf growled low inside him, angry at whoever had done this to her. Fletcher hated that they had to cut their private time short, but he wasn’t going to let her heart break in front of him. Not if he had anything to say about it.
“Come on. We’ll head there straight from the stables.”
ELEVEN
MADISON
Madison gripped the reins of Magic furiously. The horse galloped fast, picking up the energy of her worry. Madison’s cheeks became wind-chafed as she rode on, the bliss of the private gardens a streaked, ruined oil painting in her mind.
She could feel the king’s own concern like a pulsing fire. In the back of her mind, she wondered if that was their telepathic connection enhancing. It was a sweet thought, but she couldn’t consider it until later.
They left the horses at the stables and drove directly to the store. While squirming in the passenger’s seat, Madison pulled out her phone to check the security cameras, then cursed aloud when she found that they had gone offline.
“Fuck,” she grunted.
“What is it?” Fletcher asked.
Madison called the store number, shaking her head at the king as she pressed it to her ear. Lila picked up lazily after three rings, her lack of franticness somewhat irksome.
“Hello?” Lila’s smokey voice answered.
“Why are the cameras off?” Madison snapped.
“There was an outage, apparently. It’s being worked on right now.”
Madison hung up the phone, her anger finally getting the best of her.
“What’s wrong?” Fletcher implored.
“The cameras are out. I think someone caused the outage.”
They sat in silence for the rest of the drive over, which was short due to Fletcher blasting over the speed limit. When he parked, Madison nearly leapt out before he came to a full stop.
“Madison!”he yelled.
But the future queen wasn’t listening. She sprinted toward the entrance and jumped over the sprawling yellow caution tape that had been set up by Fletcher’s enforcers. She didn’t realize it at the time, but her agility was poignant, the anticipation of grief sharpening her wolf-like ability to a keen edge.
She soared inside, then stopped abruptly. The sight broke her heart in two like a glass splitting perfectly down the middle.
Everything was quite literally torn to shreds. Every piece of clothing had been systematically selected and taken to the slaughter via rather large and effective claw marks and tears. The furniture that sat outside the changing rooms had been flipped over and smashed to bits. Only pieces of small wooden splinters and glints of the fabric remained like confetti.
Her world narrowed into a single spot, her phone sliding from her fingers and dropping to the floor with a thud. She barely heard Fletcher enter and express a loud booming growl of disbelief and displeasure.
“Madison …”
She shrank away from him when he tried to soothe her. She went to Lila, who was standing behind the counter with her arms folded in a way that appeared lame and feigned.
“What happened?” Madison said without a greeting.
