Royally Mine: 22 All-New Bad Boy Romance Novellas Page 26

  “Absolutely.”

  “Yup.”

  His three friends responded immediately.

  Katelin felt goose bumps break out on her body. She squeezed Shayla’s arm. This wasn’t the first time they’d faced danger together…first as foster kids in a home with a man who thought the children coming in and out of his house were free game as far as sex went, then as single women living and working in Seattle…but this was the first time she had a really bad feeling about whether or not they’d come out unscathed.

  The man who’d last spoken came up beside Katelin and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her away from Shayla. One of his friends went to her other side and grabbed hold of the arm Shayla had been holding.

  She struggled and looked over and saw that Shayla was similarly flanked by the other two men. The stench of booze was strong and Katelin wrinkled her nose.

  “Thanks, but we were just going up to that coffee shop,” Katelin said, indicating the twenty-four-hour café a block ahead of them.

  “Awwwww, but we’re just getting to know you,” one of the men holding Shayla said.

  Then, as if planned, which it probably was, the men steered them into a dark alley off the side of the street.

  Katelin immediately screamed as loud as she could. She and Shayla had been to a few self-defense classes and the first thing they were taught was, when in danger, to make noise. You couldn’t be saved if no one knew you needed saving.

  As soon as the first screech left her mouth, the large man holding her slapped a hand over her face, covering both her mouth and nose at the same time. “Shut up, bitch,” he snarled. “Me and my friends just want to show you a good time.”

  Katelin struggled in the two men’s grasps. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. She looked over to Shayla and saw she was also being manhandled by the men holding her.

  Just when Katelin thought she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, the man moved his hand so it only covered her mouth. She inhaled through her nose, frantic to get some air into her lungs.

  “Here’s how this is gonna work. I’m gonna fuck you. Then my friend here is gonna take his turn. You’re gonna keep your mouth shut and let us. If you don’t, I’ll choke you until you pass out, then fuck you. Either way…you’re gettin’ fucked.”

  His words only made Katelin struggle harder. The hell if she was going to let this asshole and his friends rape her.

  She was slammed against the side of a building and vaguely felt the pain of her head hitting the bricks behind her and something scrape along her back, but she was more concerned about the hands that were trying to shove her skirt up her hips.

  Katelin tried to knee the largest man, but he and his friend were both standing off to her sides, so the angle was wrong for her to make a good connection. She curled her fingers and tried to scratch their faces with her fingernails. They simply laughed at her efforts.

  Everything she tried to do, they countered. Their superior height and strength were no match for her. Maybe if there was only one of them, she might’ve been more successful, but she’d never imagined she’d be in a situation where she’d have to fight off two men at once.

  Katelin turned her head to look for Shayla.

  She’d seen her earlier on her knees, trying to get away from the other two men, but now she was standing with her back to the brick wall, her hands being held over her head by one of the assholes who’d attacked them. Their eyes met, and even without words they communicated so much.

  Horror.

  Disbelief.

  Sorrow.

  Anger.

  Katelin continued to struggle even though the outcome was inevitable. She would not stand there and docilely let these men take what she wasn’t willing to give.

  Just as she felt a hand rip her panties in two and wrench them down her legs, she heard a loud, pissed-off voice from the street they’d been dragged off of.

  “What the fuck?”

  Chapter Two

  Cale and Cain Alexander walked swiftly down the deserted street. They exchanged worried glances. For weeks, they’d been shadowing the two women who had caught their eyes. The first time they’d seen them in the hole-in-the-wall pub, simply called The Bar, they’d been intrigued.

  They were as different as night and day from the women who usually came on to them, partly because they never did come on to them. Both were petite, but that’s where the similarities ended.

  Cale was immediately attracted to the brunette. Her medium-length brown hair seemed to have a mind of its own, never staying confined in whatever hairstyle the woman had put it in. She was constantly pushing it back behind her ear as she smiled and laughed with her friend. But it was the streak of purple that mostly caught Cale’s attention. It was as if that one lock of hair refused to conform to the societal norms the woman herself was forced into. It reminded him of both himself and Cain.

  They were the fourth and fifth sons of the King of Sistonia. Which sounded a lot cooler than it was in reality. Yes, they’d grown up with the proverbial silver spoons in their mouths, but he and his twin would’ve preferred to have less money and more love. Their parents were too worried about the press and being proper to spend any time with the children they’d made together.

  So the twins grew up with—and had learned to depend on—only each other. As soon as they’d graduated from university, they’d left their country and moved to Seattle. Their father was sure they’d fall flat on their faces and come home with their tails between their legs, but instead they’d flourished.

  They now owned their own Fortune 500 company, which had netted over a hundred million dollars last year. They’d spent their twenties frolicking with women and earning more money than they could spend in twelve lifetimes. They’d rebelled against their parents and their royal blood by getting tattoos and thumbing their noses at anything resembling propriety.

  That didn’t mean their father still didn’t try to rein them in.

  But since their three older brothers had a total of fourteen male children between them, the chances of Cain or Cale ever becoming king were so low, it was almost laughable.

  Now that they were thirty-five, the twins wanted more in their lives. They wanted love. True love, not the fake crap that had been spewed at them more times than they could count. They wanted women who would love them for who they were, not for their princely titles—and definitely not for their money.

  The first time the brothers had seen the two women at The Bar, they’d been skeptical, thinking the way they’d sat in the corner and literally kept their heads down, looking at their phones the whole time, was a ploy to somehow garner interest from the men who were eyeing them.

  But when the next weekend came and they did the same thing, and then again, Cale and Cain realized the women had no clue of their own beauty.

  Somewhere between the second and third month of going to the crappy bar and watching the friends laugh together and huddle around their cell phones, the princes were hooked, and had decided they wanted them for their own.

  The men had been following the women home for two months, trying to figure out the best way to approach them. It wasn’t as if they were exactly unknown…magazines had been printing their pictures for years. Royalty was royalty, and anything they did seemed to be fodder for the gossip rags. It hadn’t bothered either Cale or Cain before, but they had a feeling the women who liked to sit in a corner wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to be pursued by royalty.

  “Where’d they go?” Cain asked anxiously, his eyes scanning the dark street.

  “They weren’t that far ahead of us,” Cale said. “They should be here.”

  The men walked faster, hands curling into fists at their sides.

  “If they—” Cale’s words were interrupted by a shrill scream coming from ahead of them somewhere.

  The men immediately began running. There could be only one reason why women, one of their women, would scream like that, and only one reason
why it had stopped so suddenly.

  Taking precious moments to peer into each alley as they passed them, Cale and Cain operated in tandem, as they’d done their entire lives. They couldn’t read each other’s minds, but spending so much time together had made them instinctually understand what the other was thinking.

  They ran past the next alley, but immediately stopped and turned around and, without any hesitation, ran to help.

  Cale had eyes only for the woman he’d long ago claimed as his, if only in his mind. The brunette was struggling in the hold of two men, and one laughed as he held up her ripped panties. “Look what I found!” he exclaimed to his buddy, the one who had his hand over his woman’s mouth.

  The thugs weren’t expecting company, that much was obvious, and Cale used that to his advantage. He attacked the man with his hand over his woman’s mouth first, grabbing the arm that was holding her and spinning him around so violently the thug had no choice but to let go.

  “What—”

  It was the only word he got out before Cale struck. He hit him in the face, then in the stomach. As the man was trying to get his breath, Cale hit him in the jaw once more. Then again.

  By the time the man was swaying on his feet and about to go down, his friend had jumped into the fray. Cale took him down just as quickly as he had the first man. He spun and threw his elbow back toward the man’s face. Blood spurted from his broken nose even as Cale was kicking out with his foot. He made contact with the other man’s knee and he went down like a rock.

  It had taken only seconds before both men were on the ground, groaning. Cale turned to his brother, but saw that he’d taken out the other two men just as easily and was holding the blonde close to his side.

  Done thinking about the assholes, Cale turned to the woman who’d caught his eye from the moment he’d seen her a couple of months ago.

  She was standing stock still against the brick wall. Her hazel eyes were huge in her face and the purple streak of hair was lying against one cheek. Without a word, Cale stepped toward her and slowly brought his hand up to her face.

  Doing what he’d dreamed about doing for months, he gently smoothed her hair behind her ear. “Are you all right?” he asked softly.

  She continued to stare up at him with those huge eyes, now filling with tears. Cale continued to move slowly, so as not to scare her any more than she was already, and pulled her into him. He was so much taller than she was, her head nestling naturally onto his chest. He held his breath until he felt her arms ease around him and clutch at the back of his shirt. As she began to shake, Cale hurried to reassure her.

  “Shhhhh, I’ve got you. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you now.”

  “It all happened so fast,” she whispered, snuggling into him as if she were trying to bury herself in his chest.

  Cale’s arms tightened and he looked over at his brother. He was still holding the other woman against his own chest. With a chin lift, a raised eyebrow and a nod, they’d made their plan for how the rest of the night was going to go.

  “Come on,” Cale said, turning them to face the street. He shifted the woman in his arms until she was snuggled against his side. One of her arms was around his back and her other hand rested against his chest, right over his heart. His own arm was around her waist, holding her to him, and with his other, he reached into his pocket for his cell phone.

  “Where are we going?” the woman in his arms asked softly.

  “To my place.”

  She stopped at that and looked up at him.

  Cale had no idea what she saw in his eyes, but she turned her head and looked over at her friend. As if they could communicate just as he and his twin could, she finally turned back to him. “I’m not going anywhere without Shay.”

  “She’s coming too. Me and my brother live together in a loft not too far from here. I’m fairly sure we got here before those assholes could do much, but we’ll look you over and make sure you don’t need any medical care.” He didn’t ask. He told her what was going to happen. Because now that he had his hands on her, he wasn’t letting go.

  “But after, we can go home?”

  Fuck no, but he wasn’t going to tell her that right now. From this second forward, her life had just changed…for the better. But since he didn’t want to freak her out, he said, “Of course. You aren’t a prisoner, and I’m not kidnapping you. I’m simply helping you.”

  “Helping me,” she said in wonder. Then she looked up at him with her eyes still sparkling with the tears she’d shed earlier. “It’s been a long time since anyone other than Shay has helped me with anything.”

  Vowing right then and there to always be there for her to lean on, Cale asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Katelin. Katelin Kriss.”

  Cale licked his lips. Katelin Alexander. It had a nice ring to it.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Katelin. Let’s get you and your friend out of the chilly night air and safe. Huh?”

  “Okay.” The word was whispered and very soft, but Cale heard it.

  He started walking with Katelin at his side as he punched in a number on his cell. Bringing it up to his ear, he waited. When the person on the other end of the line answered, he said, “There are four men in the alley at Seventh and One Forty-Third streets. They need to be dealt with.”

  He paused, then said, “Yes. We are absolutely pressing charges.” Cale could feel Katelin’s eyes on his face, but he refused to look down. “Thanks. We’ll be home in five. Please have Doctor Archer on standby. I’ll call if I need him. No, Cain and I aren’t hurt. Yeah. Later.”

  “I don’t need a doctor,” Katelin said. “You got there in time.”

  “Let me be the judge of that…okay? I just want to make sure you’re all right.”

  She looked up at him for a long time, then nodded.

  Cale hugged her to him briefly. “Thank you. Our place isn’t far from here. If anything starts to hurt, let me know and I’ll carry you.”

  “You can’t carry me!” she exclaimed.

  “I can, and I will,” Cale told her firmly.

  “I’m too heavy,” Katelin mumbled.

  “Like fuck,” he said. “You’re the perfect size. Now hush…unless it’s to tell me you’re in pain and I need to carry you.” He looked down in time to see her eyes roll. His lips twitched.

  “Whatever,” she muttered.

  Cale wanted to laugh, but the thought about what might’ve happened to Katelin if he and Cain were one minute later was too much. It was bad enough he knew she was naked under her skirt. He hadn’t asked how far the assholes had gotten, but he’d seen her delicate pink panties lying on the filthy ground in the alley. He’d make sure to find out exactly what happened as soon as he got her safe behind the door of his and Cain’s penthouse. The thought made him want to go back to the alley and beat the shit out of the two men again who’d had their hands on his woman, but when he felt Katelin shiver against him, he put it out of his mind.

  Taking care of Katelin came first. He’d let his head of security take care of the trash. Katelin and her friend would probably have to give a statement to the police, but they could deal with that later. His first priority was Katelin…and would be from this point forward.

  Glancing over at Cain, he saw his brother was holding Shayla exactly as he was holding Katelin. Both men walked a little bit faster, wanting nothing more than to get behind closed doors with their women.

  Chapter Three

  Katelin knew her eyes were huge in her face, but she couldn’t help it. It was as if she and Shayla had entered an alternate reality. First, they’d been attacked. Before she’d begun to deal with the fact she was about to be raped, the men had been lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp. Then, as if she were in a fairy tale, Prince Cale had swept her into his arms and told her he was taking her away to his castle.

  Okay, it wasn’t exactly a castle, but the penthouse in one of the most expensive buildings in the city might as well have been one.
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br />   She’d recognized the princes as soon as she’d been able to focus on something other than being violated. Not only did she and Shay stalk the Internet regularly for new pictures of their crushes, they had a picture of the twins on their fridge back in their tiny apartment. They’d been featured in People Magazine last month, and neither she nor Shayla had been able to resist tearing out the picture accompanying the article and displaying it in their kitchen.

  The men were beautiful, but Katelin was definitely more attracted to Cale. Even though he and Cain were twins, there was something about Cale that she was drawn to. He had a five o’clock shadow that she was dying to get her hands on. He was wearing a long-sleeve, button-down shirt, but Katelin knew underneath was art so beautiful, she could spend hours looking at him and it still wouldn’t be enough.

  Neither man allowed photographers to take pictures of their bare chests, but the paparazzi had snapped enough shots of them in T-shirts for Kaitlin to know they had amazing tattoos. The ink that ran down their arms were enough to grab anyone’s attention.

  But she also knew, from reading a plethora of articles about him, that Cale was very sensitive to the fact that people sucked up to him because he was either a prince or rich. She vowed not to be another in a long line of women to do that. She would play it cool and treat him just like she would Bob Watson at work…as if he was just another guy.

  But later, when she and Shay were home and back in their own world, Katelin knew they’d squeal and act like the worst kind of fangirls.

  Once they were inside the penthouse apartment, Cale turned her to a hallway on the right side of a huge living area. Katelin got a glimpse of the lights of Seattle twinkling in the enormous windows that lined one entire wall of the room before Cale steered her away.

  “Wait,” Katelin said quickly.

  Cale immediately stopped and the grip he had on her waist loosened a fraction. “What? Are you okay?”

  Katelin looked across the large room at Shayla. Cain had turned to the left once they were inside, and was leading her down a hallway on the opposite of the room.