I flipped him off. He’d already made fun of my name twice now. He didn’t get a third chance.
“Hey, that’s not what a princess should do. Is that your royal finger?”
“Okay, I’m done. I need to go. I need to make sure everyone knows that I’m safe.”
“We can make that happen.”
“You keep saying ‘we.’ Who do you mean by we?”
“My team. I sent Sparrow and Olly to look at the site from last night. We don’t know who was shooting at you, but it looked like a professional job. So you’re not safe. We’re going to make sure you’re safe. I’m going to make sure you’re safe.”
“Sure. While you do whatever it is you do, I need to contact my brothers.”
“We will. But first, you’re going to give me your phone.”
My gaze widened, tension crawling up my spine. “Okay, now this sounds like you’re taking it. Once you have it, what’s to stop you from just abducting me? You can’t have my phone. You can’t have anything. I’m going home.”
Home, where apparently, I was supposed to marry a duke and have babies and never have a choice in my life.
That option sounded better than being dead, sure, but there had to be a third option. One where I wasn’t in a room with a man who was prowling around me like a caged lion. One where I wasn’t hurt because I’d been shot at and run off the road.
I scrambled off the bed, this time with Kannon letting me do so.
“I need to call my brothers.”
“We’ve got that handled. And I’m sorry, but you need to give me your phone.”
I whirled on him. “Why? So you can call for ransom?”
He gave me a beleaguered sigh. “No, so we can make sure that nobody can trace where you are.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’ve been taking care of business like this for a long time. In cases like these, people like this, they don’t give up. They’ll be back. Which means they feel confident in their ability to find you again. And the easiest way to find someone is to track their phone.”
“And I’ve dealt with security professionals before. For my entire life, actually. So no, I’m going to call my family, and they’re going to take care of me.”
His sharp blue gaze narrowed. “You like that? People taking care of you?”
“You’re trying to do the same thing to me!”
“Maybe, but it’s my job.”
“I didn’t hire you.” I was yelling now. I didn’t want to yell, but my panic was rising.
“No, you didn’t. But me getting shot at? That kind of puts me on the job no matter what. And I’m more than a little pissed off that someone took shots at me. I’m not a fan of someone trying to take a piece out of my ass. Like it or not, I’m going to figure out who shot at you, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.” His voice rose to match mine.
“Stop yelling at me!”
“You’re yelling right back, princess.”
“You don’t talk to me like that.”
“What are you going to do about it, princess?”
“I’m going to leave. I’ll take my chances. Worse comes to worst, I’ll go back to the airport and go home.”
“If you do that, someone’s going to find you, and they’re going to shoot you. Just like they tried to last night.”
“Don’t you try and scare me. I’m already there. It can’t get worse. What do I have to lose?”
“I’m not trying to scare you, princess. I’m just telling you the truth.”
“Stop calling me princess.”
“It’s what you are. A precious little protected princess who’s never seen the real world. And suddenly someone’s shooting at you. I get it. It comes with the job. Well, my job is to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Now, give me your damn phone so I can make sure they can’t find you. And then we’re going to call your brothers and see what they want.”
Un-fucking-believable. “And what about what I want?”
“You want to stay alive? Then give me your phone.”
He pushed to his feet and loomed over me. I could feel the waves of heat emanating from his body. What the hell? It was just the adrenaline spiking through me, the confusion of everything.
I was not attracted to this man. He was a caveman. A bossy one at that.
But someone had shot at me, and someone had known where I was and tried to kill me. He wasn’t wrong. You need to trust him.
Bile filled my throat, my hands started to shake, and I cursed at myself. I was just hungry. It was just a blood sugar issue. That was it. I refused to let fear take over.
Kannon gave me a pitying look, and I wanted to hit him again. I wanted to scream and to thrash and to just make everything go away. Because I didn’t have control here, and that was the one thing I’d strived for all of my life. The control to do something. But every time I turned around, someone kept stripping it away from me.
“Let me help you with this, and we’ll get you home. Then you never have to see me again.”
I didn’t really have any other choice. “Fine.”
“You can relax. I’m not going to hurt you. Right now, I’m whoever you need me to be.” And with that line, he moved past me, riffled through my purse, and pulled out my phone. I wanted to throw something. I wanted to say something. But instead, I just stood there, my hands fisted at my sides, glaring at him.
“You’re taking a lot of liberties.”
“I’m trying to save your life.” He turned away to look down at his phone as if I hadn’t spoken. Jerk. “We’ll contact your brothers, and we’ll see what they say.”
“And I don’t have a choice?”
“When it comes to your safety? No, not really.”
I hadn’t felt safe in a long while, and the last twenty-four hours were just one more step into that inevitable cage that was my royal throne.
Chapter 6
Kannon
This is going to be a problem.
Scratch that.
She’s going to be a problem.
Walking away had been for the best, or I would have turned that princess over my knee.
Fury surged through me, but I did my best not to pay attention to it as I looked down at London’s phone. Lock it down. Every emotion. Tuck it away.
I was good at that. There was no need for me to let emotions influence what I needed to do. Alden’s Princess might not have hired me for this job, but I’d be damned if I let anyone else down on my watch.
I knew she was scared. But she didn’t understand. If I wavered for even a moment, she could get hurt or worse.
Memories of screams echoed in my head, a woman calling my name. I dug my hands into the sides of my head, trying to push those images and sounds out of my mind. There was no use dwelling on them.
I wasn’t that person anymore.
Also, fuck those memories.
I needed to deal with the London situation, and then I’d be back to even. She was right; she wasn’t a client. I’d do the minimum to make her someone else’s problem and walk away. Get her to safety. That was all.