King of Me (The King Trilogy #3)(9)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“Good. So what did you want to tell me?” I asked to hurry the chat along.

“Something is wrong with King.”

I burst out laughing. “Yeah, no shit.”

“Goddammit, Mia. I am serious. He’s not himself.”

My laughter trailed off, but I couldn’t help still smile. “Really, now?”

“You need to be careful.”

“Are you trying to warn me that King is dangerous?”

Hilarious. Tell me something new.

“No. Not like before. I mean…” He looked down at his leather sandals, searching for the right words. And, as off topic as it might be, I thought to myself how odd that was, Mack wearing sandals. Handmade, worn, brown leather sandals. So, so out of character for a lethal, ex-military assassin type who flew private jets and had his muscular arms covered in tattoos.

But what do you really know about this guy?

Nothing.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said, frustrated, “but you need to be careful. Don’t be alone with him.”

“That’s pretty impossible, given I’m supposed to marry the guy so that we once again avoid his property being seized by the 10 Club. And, might I remind you, you are considered his property, too.”

“Mia,” Mack leaned in and whispered, “he got Miranda put in charge of 10 Club.”

“What?” Miranda was Vaughn’s wife—Christ…widow—and Mack’s ex-owner. She was just as cutthroat, demented, and vile as Vaughn had been.

Mack nodded. “He asked me to deliver this to her.” He held out an envelope.

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “but I have a feeling I’m not just delivering a letter; I’m delivering myself.”

King had saved Mack from Miranda. It was the reason Mack remained loyal to King from what I could tell. That, and King had once “found something” he needed. God only knew what that was.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“It’s a gut feeling.”

If I were him, I’d open the damned thing and find out. But that was Mack: loyal to a fault even when his own neck was on the chopping block.

“As f**ked up as King is, he would never do that,” I argued.

“That’s why I’m telling you. The King I know—we know—wouldn’t do that.”

Maybe this was a trick. Maybe this was simply paranoia. Frankly, I didn’t care. Mack had made his bed, and I wasn’t about to lie in it with him or get anywhere near those sheets. Not after everything he’d done, including pretending to be looking after me while really acting as King’s pawn. He had made sure on several occasions that I moved myself across the chessboard in a direction behooving to King. The last straw, the final straw, had been when he’d allowed me to be taken by Vaughn. Later I’d discover that King was Vaughn’s prisoner, too, only the bastard was there on purpose so he could get closer to the Artifact. King had hoped, erroneously, that Psycho-Britches had the cursed rock in his possession. Luckily, I’d gotten free, but not without paying a steep price. One I didn’t care to relive.

“All right. You told me. What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He reached into his pocket and held out a silver cuff bracelet. “But I won’t be back, no matter what, so I want to give you this.”

“What is it?”

“Your freedom.”

Huh?

“It’s—it’s…” Mack cleared his throat. “You have to run this time, Mia.”

I’d heard that advice from him before and hadn’t listened. Too much had been at stake to walk away. And, unfortunately, the same rang true in this very moment. “Now I know you’re up to something, Mack, because you know I can’t run.”

“Forget your brother, Mia. He’s gone, and frankly, your life is worth more than his, anyway.”

Asshole. He didn’t have the right to pass judgment on my dead brother. And why did everyone think this was only about Justin? My mother and father would be devastated without him, and that alone was worth trying to bring him back.

“You will move on eventually,” Mack said, anticipating my argument.

“You’ve apparently never loved anyone, because if you had, you’d know that no one ever moves on. Not really.”

His eyes narrowed. “Quite a bold statement for a woman who knows so little about me.”

“I know everything I need to; you can’t be trusted.”

“Mia, I can be trust—”

“Why would I believe that? Because you say so?”

“No. Because I’m risking my life to save you. King won’t hesitate to end me for telling you to run.”

“You’ve told me to run before.”

“This time is different,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because before, it was King who wanted you to run. He wanted you to have every chance to leave, and I wanted you to stay.”

His words shocked and confused me. “Why?”

“You think I’ve never loved anyone, but you’re wrong. It’s what got me into this f**ked- up mess to begin with. It’s why I’m standing here now.”

Something itched in the back of my head, but I couldn’t quite reach it. “I don’t unders—”

“For f**k’s sake,” he barked, “you don’t need to, Mia! Take the damned bracelet and run.”

“Even if I wanted to, he’d find me.” I held up my wrist and showed him the “K” tattoo. With it, King had not only staked his claim on me with the 10 Club, but he could find me, too. It connected us—permitted him to hear my thoughts, and allowed me to see him with little effort on his part. When he wanted to be seen, of course.

“Thus the bracelet.” He shoved the silver cuff into my hand. “It’s from King’s arsenal. The catalog says it has the ability to ‘hide’ a person. It ensures there are no traces—physical or otherwise.”

“Otherwise” meant whatever weird magic King used to track me down.

“Wear it over the tattoo and never take it off,” he added.

I stared at the thing. Was it possible that this small, curved hunk of metal with odd symbols could prevent King from hunting me?

“Where would I go?” I asked purely out of curiosity. After all, it wasn’t like I had money to travel because King had made me quit my job. Also, any friends or family I had were no secret to a man who knew every corner and crevice of my mind.