Free My King (Two Prince's Book 1) by Mary Martel Page A

down scared the living daylights out of me. I’d never, not once in my whole freaking life, been witness to a man tossing a woman around like that before. And, if I hadn’t grabbed ahold of his arm, I know he would have hit her. That was not normal or acceptable behavior, and honestly, I didn’t think he was capable of doing such things, he had been nothing but sweet to me. Then again, I’d only been in his presence for a whole two days so what did I really know about him – nada.
    I did not know what to think of his actions. On one hand, he scared the crap out of me. On the other, I didn’t think he’d ever turn on me like he had this stranger. It was odd, to think these things so soon after having met him, but here I was thinking it anyway. I think I might have hit my head a whole lot harder than I realized because my actions since had been completely out of the ordinary for me.
    This silence, watching them stare each other down, clearly battling it out with their eyes, was making me extremely uncomfortable. Or, I should say, more uncomfortable because it was safe to say I was already really freaking uncomfortable. I sat there trembling, waiting for someone to blink.
    Before I could get up and possibly lock myself in the bathroom for, oh I don’t know, eternity maybe, Riley barrels in to the room, knocking the door against the stopper with so much force it swings right back at him and hits him in the shoulder. It doesn’t even faze him.
    Catching sight of the woman on the ground in front of his brother, his face goes soft and he whispers, “Collette.”
    “Riley,” she whispers back, looking broken.
    Oh boy.
    Here we go again.
    I wonder who this woman is to them. Going by their reactions, apart from Ian screaming in her face and throwing her around that is, I’d have to say she is someone who means a great deal to them. Or, at least she was.
    I really hoped Riley wasn’t planning on getting physical with her like Ian had. I don’t think I could handle it.
    I tuck my shaking hands beneath my thighs and wait.
    “What’s she doing here?” Riley asks Ian, finally tearing his eyes off of this mysterious Collette.
    “We haven’t gotten there yet,” Ian replies, “I was waiting for you.”
    “Appreciate that, brother.”
    They both look to the woman still on the ground, towing over her with their huge, muscular bodies.
    “Well?” Ian rudely barks at her.
    “I followed your trail here from the girls’ house,” she says, gesturing my way with a wave of her hand when she says girl.
    For whatever unexplainable reason I find myself immediately disliking this mysterious Collette.
    “She is not just some girl to you,” Ian growls at her.
    “You are right, of course.” She looks at me and tips her head down regally, “You have my sincerest apologies, my Queen.”
    Again with the Queen bit. This lady was just as nuts as the brothers were.
    “Somehow I doubt that,” Riley mutters, for some reason I get the feeling she’s insulted him in some way.
    “Cut the bullshit, Collette.” Ian snaps, ignoring his brothers’ comment. “How did you know where to find her house?”
    She sighs dramatically before speaking. “There is a Vampire, I don’t know if you would remember him, his name is Wiley. About a month ago during a council meeting he told the council members that he saw the two of you walking into some seedy bar. He swore up and down it was you. As you can imagine, this caused quite the uproar because the two of you are thought to have been dead for the last ten years. Of course, not a soul believed him, myself included. Roland had him thrown out of the throne room and that was the last time anyone has seen him. He cannot be found anywhere. This is odd behavior for a Vampire such as Wiley. He is older than I and I have known him all of my life. He is a man that measures every word before saying it.
    “This did not sit well with me. So I started to ask questions, questions I had been too overwhelmed