King Of Me (Pernicious Red Book 1) Read online

  KING OF ME

  Pernicious Red Book One

  Natalie Bennett

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Copyright © 2016 by Natalie Bennett

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my boys. You are the reason I am determined to succeed and give you the best life possible. You guys are my world and I want to show you that you never have to give up on your dreams.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter One

  It was cold, the kind of cold that's bone deep. Her left side was completely numb. Her hands were now tied because she had broken one of her captor’s noses. Which he deserved. This whole situation was humiliating. She was Raelynn Munroe, eighteen year old top graduate of the Huntsman Guild for her uncanny ability to locate and efficiently take out lycans and vampires. The second top graduate and the girl tied across from her angrily spewing around the gag that had been placed around her mouth was her best friend Trinity Greer. They had been lured to a trap by a colleague who thought he could trust the lycans. If he was still alive he would be regretting his stupidity. Of course they had killed him in a hot second before taking her and her friend. She shuddered at that memory.

  They had been placed in a dark blue windowless utility van. They were completely ignored. When they had stopped after what was probably five hours but felt more like days for them to use the bathroom she had broken the nose of one of the lycans that had snatched them. Which resulted in her being backhanded, kicked in the stomach, drug by her hair and roughly tossed into the back of the van and her hands tightly bound together. Her stomach still hurt. Trinity had been gagged after calling them every derogatory name imaginable and she was pretty sure throwing a few of her own in the mix as well.

  That had been she

  estimated an additional seven hours ago.

  She had no idea where they were going. The men were speaking to each other in whatever language lycan's spoke. She was so hot. She knew she had to be a sight. Her straight dark red hair she usually kept pulled up was messily down all over the place and she couldn't move it. Her lips were chapped. She had been wearing her guild uniform. Tight black shorts, a black skin tight racer back tank top, black finger-less gloves and black boots. The same uniform they had rudely shoved her in the mud in. They had of course also taken her dagger and her mist bombs the local mages supplied them with. She had been lying on her side the whole time. She needed a shower. A warm bed would be nice. So would some food.

  She must have dozed off because when the van suddenly jerked off road she slid forward and smacked into the driver seat. Before she could curse the driver he went over a bump that had her bouncing around the back of the van. Trinity wasn't faring much better. The assholes sat in the seats laughing at them. Finally no longer bouncing she did her best to scoot back and try to get comfortable flipping onto her right shoulder. It was so hot out. It was summertime in Fallow Woods. They clearly didn't have A/C in the van. The van went for about another half hour before jerking to a stop. The two lycans got out of the van and slammed their doors closed before walking off somewhere.

  When she was sure they weren't immediately coming for them she began working to get her ropes off. Trinity grabbed her roped hands with hers and used her hands to start undoing the knot. They heard laughter from somewhere and paused for a minute. Not hearing anything they quickly went back to their task. Finally getting her ropes free, she immediately undid Trinity's hands. “We need to get out of here.” Trinity said ripping her gag off. “Hang on.” She told her friend before crawling between the front van seats. It looked like they were in the middle of an African plain. There was one very large, massive house that the van was parked in front of. Actually it was more of a fortress than a house. Besides that it was bare wasteland, complete nothingness.

  Well be completely in the open. “There's nothing out here to cover us. We have to run fast and quick.” She told her friend getting ready to fling open the van doors. “Got it, fast and quick.” Trinity winked at her with a mischievous grin. 3...2....1! She counted down in her head and flung the van doors open. They practically levitated out of the van. They ran up the dirt road the van had clearly come down and didn't glance back once. It was unbearably hot. She was already sweating and hadn't even been running five minutes. Gross. She heard shouting in the distance from the direction they had run from. “Not good!” Trinity suddenly gasped out.

  Glancing back she seen blurs of fur coming up on them fast. Glancing back also caused her to trip like an idiot and fly forward. Damn it to hell! She never looked back exactly for this reason. She landed on the hard ground her hands now stinging like a thousand bees had just dug into her palms and went fishing from attempting to catch herself. She was almost back off the ground before something landed on her back efficiently smacking her right back into the dirt. Trinity was jogging back towards her, ever the loyal friend, and also stupid.

  She smelled it and knew what it was without having to see it, and her weird senses kicked in like they always did. “Get off of me!” She thrashed around but the big black wolf was going nowhere. Its large front paw came down near her face and she did the most disgusting, savagery thing she could think of, also the dumbest and bit its leg as hard as she could. Nasty, filthy, what is wrong with you!? Her inner self demanded. It kind of worked. The big beast snarled and jumped away, only to forcefully shove her down and sit on her. “I wasn't even running anymore, get off of me!” She looked up to see Trinity failing pathetically to dislodge a big brown wolf off of her.

  She began to wiggle like a worm. This was beyond pathetic. Never had she had a lycan sit on her and take her down so effortlessly. Suddenly the weight was gone; she immediately went to run forward when she was yanked back against a firm hard chest. Strong muscular arms locked around her.

  “Stop struggling, it's pointless. You’re not going anywhere.” The voice was smooth, seductive and masculine tied up in a nice little bow. She almost listened, almost. She threw her head back and heard a satisfying string of curses fly from her captor’s mouth as she connected with his face.

  “My king!” She heard a man gasp. King? She thought momentarily giving up her struggling. “It's fine Virgil.” The man holding her responded. She was suddenly spun around and looking up at heaven. Heaven? Really? She couldn't believe she just thought that about this creature. Not that lycan's were ugly hideous beast by any means, well not all of them, but she was trained to hate them not look at them as anything other than parasites. She had never seen a lycan that looked anything like he did. He had the oddest yet most gorgeous eyes. It was like looking into two milky clouds surrounded by a black dark ring. He had thick yet not untamed black eyebrows, sexy light stubble of mustache and beard that connected to the blackest hair she'd ever seen that was styled straight back and neatly tucked behind his ears barely longer than that.

  “You done?” He asked with a smirk. She hadn't realized she'd just been staring at him like a lovesick schoolgirl. “Let go of me!” She demanded again, glaring at him now. He laughed at her now like she just made the world’s gra
ndest joke, a man that looked strikingly similar to him but with dark brown hair walked past carrying a struggling Trinity who was back at her derogatory name calling.

  He was actually laughing as he carried her back in the direction they had run from. She was about to yell at him to put her friend down when she was suddenly scooped up and being carried like a sack of potatoes.

  “Put me down!” She yelled hitting the back of the man carrying her. It didn't seem to bother him at all. She finally just decided to quit spazzing out and actually assess the situation rationally. They were trapped, assaulted, tied up and seemingly being brought here. But why? Was the real question. Quicker than humanly possible they reached the fortress. “You know, you need a bath. You stink.” She couldn't believe he just said that. “I wonder why that is!” She snapped at his stupid back. “I have the perfect remedy for that.” She could hear the laughter in his voice. The ground suddenly turned to gorgeous white stone concrete. She didn't have time to look around at her surroundings as he suddenly sent her sailing through the air.

  She landed in water like a fat whale attempting to do a back flip and failing. She came up sputtering. She was in a huge in ground pool in the back of the fortress, the chlorine burning her eyes. She heard laughter and looked up to see the mutt laughing his ass off next to the other mutt holding a squirming Trinity. He turned and started walking up a path that led to a pair of large French doors carrying a Trinity red in the face. She was left treading water staring at the odd lycan. “Come here, I'm sorry.” He said smiling down at her from the edge of the pool. “No!” She yelled glaring at him. She swam backwards to the middle of the pool and continued her glaring.

  “Do I really have to come in after you?” He asked still smiling.

  “No, you can just act like this never happened. Let me and my friend go and I won't kill you.” She said flatly. He started laughing again. “Okay, have it your way.” He said sighing heavily. He stepped out of a pair of large black boots and pulled his tight black t-shirt off over his head. She was embarrassed to admit she stared, hard and quite obvious. His body was chiseled, muscled perfection. He had a perfect sun kissed tan complexion and some kind of tribal tattoo going around his forearm and left side of his chest. He smirked again clearly seeing her check him out. Then he dove in the pool.

  She'd like to say she swam away towards the pool stairs like a shark heading towards its first meal in months. Sadly her boots and clothes weren't made for swimming and she was actually pretty damn tired. So she wasn't surprised when a strong arm wrapped around her yet again and began swimming with her towards the side of the pool and then proceeding to lift her up and out like she was a weightless piece of paper. He smiled back at her and now she could see he had a strong jaw line but he actually didn't look much older than her. “Let's go.” He scooped her up again ignoring her protest and walked up the same stone path Trinity had been taken.

  He pulled open the door and she was immediately hit by the cold air of air conditioning. He still carried her. From what she could see they had just entered into some kind of supersized sun room that led to the pool. There was a large wicker sectional in a corner, a large pool table and a huge stainless grill and a small bar in a corner. He pulled open another door and from her angle she could see large, smooth square, light gray stone tile flooring. She was then being carried up a very nice open staircase. The flooring changed to light gray new hardwood at the top. About a minute later a door was shoved open. He walked in a room and unceremoniously dumped her on the floor.

  “Ouch!” She cried out. He pushed the door shut and she quickly glanced around the room. It was a very large masculine bedroom. A huge king sized canopy bed was against one wall decorated in elaborate royal blue and plush dark gray pillows and comforters, the large canopy being tied open all the way around was a matching sheer blue material. There was a massive dark gray fireplace a wolf paw carved into the mantle and above it a large flat screen mounted on the wall across from the bed. There was a set of large glass doors looking out onto a balcony on another wall, outside of that there was a white wood door leading into what she guessed was a bathroom. “What are you going to do to me?” She asked looking up at the man now studying her intently.

  He slowly walked towards her. It was in this moment she realized how dire her situation was. She was little red riding hood and he was the big bad wolf, sad how literal that was. Just toss a grandma and an ax in the scene playing out and it was almost a remake. A crappy remake where no one was being torn apart but her and there would be no grand comeback ending.

  It was also in that moment she knew she would go down swinging till the end. She pretended to act scared but as soon as he got where she wanted him she jumped up and drop kicked him in the stomach. His pretty face quickly changed to surprise as he flew back and fell. She wasted no time running for the door briefly considering kicking him for added bonus. She just grasped the door knob when she was lifted off the ground and soaring through the air again this time landing on his bed before bouncing off of it like a trapeze artist and landing hard on the floor.

  He wasted no time in quickly pinning her to the ground holding her hands above her head and clamping her legs down with his. She struggled pointlessly. “Enough!” He yelled down at her. She stopped struggling seeing the look on his face and knowing she wasn't in the best position to fight. Actually she was in no position to fight at all. Like crashing from a sugar rush her body was suddenly beyond sore, her limbs felt like spaghetti noodles that had been cooked to long. She had a headache, she was starving, she was tired, and when was the last time she held her toothbrush? She looked up in his eyes and a warm feeling started to spread throughout her body.

  She immediately looked away and focused on the wall. She didn't know what that was and she wasn't trying to find out. “Where's Tink, I mean Trinity?” She suddenly asked. How could she of forgotten her friend so quickly? That made her feel like a grade A jackass. “She's fine I promise you.” Because I trust you so much? She didn't voice that aloud. She knew nothing about this weird lycan except he had been called king and he was beautiful. She hated admitting the last part. She wasn't blind though and she was still just a young woman after all.

  “We’re going to talk like this.” He said looking down at her. She didn't respond so he continued. “Your name is Raelynn, sometimes known as Rae your friends call you Red.” She suddenly got the creeps. How did he or any of the lycans know anything about her? The hunter’s identities were supposed to be top secret. She didn't answer him. “I can tell by your face I'm right.” He grinned down triumphantly. She wanted to claw his face off. Since he still had her arms pinned she settled for her trademark glare.

  “Your best friend and only family is Trinity who you call Tink, you've been best friends since you were seven and were raised together. You two are the top graduates of your class and have the most lycan and vampire kills of your generation”. He said that last part darkly. She tried to keep her face impassive but she was actually starting to panic inside. He should know none of that, and about Trinity to? Something wasn't right here. She still wouldn't look at him.

  “They said you were stubborn, made stupid decisions and only had half a brain.” He said sighing. She immediately felt undignified. He didn't even know her! So maybe she made stupid choices who didn't? She wasn't stupid though, a little reckless maybe.

  He suddenly gripped her chin gently and lowered his forehead to hers and shut his eyes. She laid there waiting for him to move. They were far to close and this was beyond awkward.Ugly, dumbass, creepy, mangy, weird, dirty, stupid beautiful, dingy mutt. She thought bitterly trying to get him to move his head. He started to laugh randomly finally lifting his head and looking at her. “You think I'm ugly and beautiful?” He said smirking down at her. What the hell? Did he just read my mind!? She blinked up at him. “Did you just read my mind!?”

  Chapter Two

  “Yep.” He replied nonchalantly finally getting up. “What, how?” She quickly wen
t to a sitting position. “Easy. I can for one, and two, your mine.” He held out his hand to help her up. “Excuse you!? I am nothing to you, and what do you mean you just can!?” She smacked his hand away and stood up. “So many questions, alas they can wait. I will send Alice in with some clothes and food. You can bathe and then rest. I will see you in the morning to discuss everything.” He started for the door after that. “Wait, you can't just leave me in here!” He ignored her and shut the door. She heard a lock click into place. Got dang it!

  She looked around the room looking for any sign of escape. The French doors were locked tight, she had even attempted kicking the glass out. No luck. She was in the middle of trying to find a way up the fireplace when the door swung open. She heard a throat clear and spun around. There was a petite blonde with large blue eyes standing with a stack of clothes in her hands. “These are for you. Everything you need is already in the bathroom.” Then as quickly as she came in she slammed the door shut and left.

  Going to the pile of clothes she found a comfortable pair of black sweatpants, a navy blue tank top and a pair of small black tennis shoes with socks on top. There was a matching lace dark gray bra and boy shorts set. Everything was in her size. She didn't find that strange though. She chalked it up to there probably being a female lycan or two that wore her size. The clothes looked brand new though. The bra and underwear still had the tags on them. Poshmish? $400?! for a bra and underwear set!? These people are insane. Not that she didn't like the finer things in life but that was plain dumb and wasteful.