King for a Day (The King Trilogy #2)(9)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“Married isn’t the right word. It’s more like an extreme form of ownership. The Club members are allowed to make one person completely off-limits. Most of them pick someone they love or at least want. A lot. Romantically.”

Huh? That couldn’t be right. It just…couldn’t. “How do you know all this?”

Justin hesitated for a moment. “I, uh…went to Vaughn’s place once. I saw another woman with a brand and asked about it. Hers was a ‘V.’”

I wanted to stop and allow myself a moment to feel extreme pity for that woman because there could be no worse fate in this world than belonging to Vaughn. However, my mind was too busy reeling with powerful emotions of my own. King had branded me, but not just as his property. He’d branded me as his…his…I didn’t know what to call it.

“I didn’t agree to this!” I protested in vain. “And he never said anything.”

“Look at the man, Mia. Do you think him or any of the people in that club ask permission?”

“No. I saw him sleep with some random woman.” I didn’t actually see King ha**ng s*x with her, but he had. And he’d made no apologies for it either. Not that I would expect one because we weren’t a couple. Still, the weirdest part had been that she looked like me, and I could’ve sworn he wanted me to see them together, that he’d wanted to make me jealous.

Justin slowly shook his head. “Only the person wearing the mark has to be monogamous, Mia. He owns you, not the other way around.”

Holy Christ. I held my hand over my mouth. Did King really think he could possess me like this? As his exclusive sex toy, whom he could do with as he pleased? Then there was the issue that the tattoo could be used by King to track me down at any time. With it, he could also control me like a mindless robot by merely laying his hand over it.

“Did the woman say anything about,” I swallowed, knowing how ridiculous I would sound, “her tattoo’s powers or how to remove it?”

Justin looked at me kind of funny. “No.” He shook his head hesitantly. “The tattoo didn’t have any powers. Why are you asking?”

“Are you sure? Did you ask her?”

“No, Mia. But as far as I saw, it was a tattoo. Nothing else. Are you saying yours…does stuff?”

“Everything. For him, anyway.” I covered my face and groaned, putting all the pieces together. When King and I went to Palenque in search of Justin, King lured me to an ancient Mayan temple. Scared out of my mind, I passed out. And when I woke up the next morning, I discovered he’d tattooed me. Yes, while I was passed out, the bastard. Then he’d said that he “borrowed” some of the temple’s energy to unlock my Seer abilities and to mark me. But, of course, this was just another of King’s half-truths. Because he didn’t just mark me with a letter “K,” he’d somehow connected us with it. And now, I understood the full meaning. He’d performed some creepy, 10 Club marriage ritual and gave it the “King special upgrade.” Dammit. The bastard even served me champagne that night before we left!

Then I started thinking about all of the other weird stuff he’d said. How he’d admitted once that he wanted me but was willing to wait like he had all the time in the world. It was because he believed he did. What was the hurry when he already owned me and saw me as his personal game of sexual chess?

Then, stupid me, I’d believed that his actions—saving my mother and my brother—were signs of genuine compassion. But the man was simply manipulating me, wanting to see if he could win me over. After all, it was always about the challenge for the Club’s members, wasn’t it? King was no exception.

Fuck. And what an ass I’d been.

Justin floated his hand over my back. “This is my fault. If I hadn’t gotten involved with Vaughn, none of this would have happened.”

Oh my God. Vaughn…This just kept getting worse. I hadn’t told Justin about the party or the fact that Vaughn attacked me and lost his arm when King tore it off of him.

“Well,” I said, “if you know how depraved Vaughn is, then you understand my life is over no matter what I do. If I don’t find King, Vaughn plans to take me.” And pick the flesh from my bones, as he’d said. “If I find King, then I end up being his prized toy.”

Justin looked livid. I felt livid. One man wanted to kill me. The other wanted to own me—inside and out.

Don’t give up, Mia. Yes, my chances of living if I ended up in Vaughn’s hands were zero. However, my chances of living in King’s hands were good. If King survived, I would, too. That meant I’d also live to find a way out of being “his.”

Bastard can want me, but he’ll never have me.

“Justin, you have to tell me,” I pleaded, “anything you know. Anything at all about where to find King.”

He covered his face and groaned with frustration. “Fuck.”

“Stop saying that. Tell me what happened with Vaughn. King told me you were planning a trap or something.”

Justin bobbed his head. “Vaughn had been hunting me for weeks and finally found me. When he did, he made it clear that he’d kill me, you, Mom, and Dad because I welched on our deal and ran with the Artifact. He said all I had to do was call King and set up a meeting and use the Artifact as bait. That was it.”

“Then what happened?” I asked.

“Not much. I contacted King and set up the meeting. Later, though, he called and said Mom was sick. He also knew Vaughn was pulling my strings, but promised to ‘take care’ of him.”

I knew that wasn’t the entire story because with King, there had to be a deal. “What did he want in return?”

“Not much. He just asked me to deliver the Artifact and continue pretending to work for Vaughn.”

“And the last time you spoke to King? Did you see him in person?” I asked.

“No. He called. He told me to drop the Artifact at some address in London, which turned out to be an empty apartment. Then he said to get on a plane home.”

I scratched my head. “And you’re sure it was King calling you?”

Justin shrugged. “It sounded like him.”

“Did you get a look at the Artifact?”

“Yes. I’m the one who dug it up.”

“What is it?” I couldn’t believe Justin had actually seen it.

“A rock.”

“A rock?” I asked. I guess I’d been expecting an ancient tablet or some sort of holy relic like a grail. But a rock?