Denial (Goblin's Kiss Series Book One) (33 page)

But it came. It
proved boring in the danger department yet easily nerve wracking in
the comfort level with Emma. She felt the same as we waltzed around
each other all morning. I asked her if I could make her lunch. When
her smile lit the room around me on fire, I set out to make her the
best red wine spaghetti and meatballs I
’
d ever attempted.
She
’
d already learned I could cook and often commented on how
well I was at it therefore making me want to impress her
more.

It never took
much to impress human girls, but with Emma and her unfortunately
accurate assessments of me last night, I was determined to not live
up to the stereotype she
’
d originally placed me
in.

With the table
set, she came in from the bedroom she
’
d hid in for an hour. I was
curious, but didn
’
t ask.

At the table she sat waiting and
watching me. No pressure.

She went
overboard with how much she loved it. I didn
’
t mind, but the two
twits at the table with us kept making annoying cat noises and
twirling their finger in the air when she would look away meaning
she had me wrapped.

So what if she did. Was that so
bad?

We kept the conversation light
though Trigger had a way of always coming back to some form of
perverted comment about the way the food looked or how the food was
arranged. I just wanted to plaster him to the wall.

“Oh, you two just get it on and
ease the tension in the room. It would make us all a little less
edgy.” Trigger had no qualms about embarrassing the crap out of
her.

Her wide-eyed innocence only urged
me to beat them down more. She took the trash back out front and
Trigger took the opportunity to shoot his mouth off like he
does.

“Human girls are even more
emotional and irritable than any of our kind.”

“I hardly see
how that
’s
possible,
” Wicker chimed in acting less
like himself every day. “And another thing, don
’
t let them hear you
say something like that or that you even think it.
You
’
ll be treated like a pariah for a week until you can gravel
yourself back into their good graces or seduce them into
what
they
want
only, not what
you
want.”

Trigger
snorted.

“Just saying.”

“And
you
’
re the expert?”

“Three sisters!”

I stayed the heck out of that
dangerous conversation.

Emma returned
and offered to clean the kitchen letting me get in some time on the
Xbox. Trigger played against me in a game of World at War Zombies
while Wicker took first watch around the house. I
didn
’
t bother telling Emma my reasoning for extra detail was the
loaded question of why all the traps were closed when Trigger
checked this morning. She needn
’
t
worry.

Engrossed in the
game, I didn
’
t hear her move to the back of
the house. Feeling nervous and oddly cold at the moment, I went to
check on her.

When she
wasn
’
t anywhere in the cabin, I knew of only two things I could
confirm. I wasn
’
t wrong about the chill her body
left when she was far from me and I knew something was
wrong.

I will just go for a short run in
the back. It has been so long my legs might give, and I will stay
on the perimeter. Besides, they found nothing last night or this
morning and all probably amounted to a bunch of hoopla guys needed
to feel important.

My eyelids felt like weights. I
felt myself fade again from lack of sleep and knew I needed to get
out.

The air on my
face was freeing. Cooped up for so long, I missed the earth. Going
to the goblin realm hadn
’
t been an appropriate
outing.

I remained in a circular pattern
on the grounds around the cabin. I even tried to follow the traps
telling myself I was being helpful. Still, it was nice unwrapping
the tight muscles that were wound up from too much
stress.

I thought back
to the comment I
’
d made about his violent
nature.

A barrage of
images folded out in my brain at what he
’
d probably done in his past.
It mattered in the sense that he
’
d seen pain and even caused it.
What didn
’
t matter was if he felt that being a leader included such
behavior or even to protect loved ones. If he felt the only
solution to every problem was violence, then I
’
d have to let him go
on his own. I couldn
’
t live within that kind of world.
It hurt all the way to my heart to think about being away from him,
but I would if I had too.

And then, he
answered it like he
’
d heard me. His sole purpose
wasn
’
t to first hurt others, but to keep them from pain. I should
have caught that image instead when I
’
d first seen his little knives,
but all I saw then was the danger he could cause. I guess being
deadly isn
’
t a crime, but how you use
it.

I passed a trap
that was half closed and wondered aloud if it was supposed to be
that way. No one but the trees heard my complaint, so I moved on at
a jogging pace. Around my third rotation, I bunged my feet into the
dirt just past the same trap that was now completely closed not
four to five minutes after I
’
d just seen it half
open.

I searched for
unknown footprints, shady spots of disheveled patches of earth,
things like that. I
’
d watched all three guys do the
same and even begged them to explain how their intuitive natures
caught on to such things. I was far from trained, but
I
’
d
paid attention.

I bent down to examine the trap
careful to keep my fingers far from any eliciting tricky springs.
Something blurred in my side vision making me look left and as I
hurdled up to standing. Someone grabbed my elbow and yanked. My
mouth covered from screams, I was dragged backward into the woods
as I heard the sound of every trap snap simultaneously. A fear rose
in my heart, but a hope hid there too. I just knew that one of them
would have heard the traps.

“You will not
scream when I let your mouth go or I will kill him the instant he
comes near you.”
Joshlin
’
s voice was dead with poison.
Would he really kill his own? Yes, I think he would if he was
willing to do the other things he'd intended. Just not on his
own.

His hand was
sticky against my mouth and the seal broke with a smack making me
forcibly wipe my mouth clean, but not clean enough. “How are you
here? I thought you always had others to do your dirty work?” I
felt the sweat run down my forehead and off my nose. I
wasn
’
t dressed properly for my last uncomfortable situation. Gawd,
what I wouldn
’
t give to go back to last night
instead of the present circumstances.

Joshlin
didn
’
t answer me.

“Did you make the traps do that?”
I asked him still facing away.

“Technicality. Calling card if you
will. Either way, my brother will give you up if he wants you
alive.” I was spun around to face him feeling his hand walk down my
arm causing prickles of disgust.

“You admit aloud he is your
brother?”

“Not by blood. But, of course, you
only know this my little princess because of your nosy ears that
were led by my doing.”

“You set me up!” I yelled at him.
And it so happens I'd already guessed it.

“You needed to
know what a liar my little brother can be. He
hasn
’
t always done the nicest things in his lifetime. Maybe you
should reconsider his commitment to you once I fill you in on a few
family secrets.” Joshlin was dressed down for his norm in what
anyone would call “normal” human clothes. He resembled the classic
bad boy charm with the oozing smile that to me said evil, but I was
sure would come across as swoon worthy to others. Black leather
pants and jacket with his regular boots, he looked like a biker
without the tats.

He was too tarnished to be
considered worthy of his good looks.

“You done gawking princess. Ames
might not like you looking at other men.”

“It would if he knew what my
thoughts lingered around when it comes to you,” I spat back at
him.

“Watch it. Anger
me and I
’
ll have to use this.” He pulled out a roll of duct tape. Not
the most inventive item I
’
d have guessed the magical goblin
king to use against his foe.

Yet, he was
kidnapping me to keep me. Some enemy. I couldn
’
t help but think back
to my fast read internet research of kidnapping goblins and what
the history might have right. I tried really hard to ignore the
facts.

She was gone. GONE! The second I
heard the traps I knew it inside. Not even the cold feeling that
ached stronger and stronger made me doubt it.

Wicker flew
through the front door and screamed in a far from respectful tone,
“
She
friggin
’
left you worthless dip. Why did you let her leave?” He cursed
under his breath with words unsuited for remembering and continued
his flight all the way to the back door.

“You know Caydon will take her the
second Joshlin is alone. Joshlin is a putz and Caydon will have her
claimed, marked, and whatever else he can do to make her unwanted
just to spite you.”

I permeated my face into his with
my next less than thought out statement, “It will not make her
unwanted.”

Wicker swallowed making his neck
twitch and nodded sending the unsaid return of what he understood
in the small, but powerful statement.

“He will brand her with his mark
to be sure.”

Disgusting way of describing a
wedding night. I was appalled at myself for even thinking about it
myself.

“No, he will
not. I won
’
t let him.”

Not another word from Wicker, but
his back to the door.

After my initial shocked reaction
I was right behind him. Scouring the perimeter for which traps were
affected, I found my prediction correct.

Wicker was faster with his long
legs and deft amount of tracking skills. He had the grounds covered
and was back to the spot where she was taken as I bent down to
examine the tracks myself. She was dragged.

Bile rose in my
throat. My unfiltered mind made the huge mistake to picture him
hurting her and it only filed me as a murderous raving lunatic if I
acted on it. Knowing
he
did it made it all the worse.

I knew his way
of things even if he
’
d never stepped out of our realm
before. He was navigated here, but he took her all by
himself.

Either way, I
had to have a plan with a level head. Joshlin would pay for this.
Yeah, I knew what could happen, but sometimes when real events hit
your own reality, they force you into corners you claimed
you
’
d never enter. I would save Emma. And I would take down
Joshlin in the process.

“Inside now!” Joshlin pointed into
a lavish room decorated much like the fancy sitting area that had
been my prison of eye-opening discoveries.

“
Could you try
being nice to me if I have to be stuck with you?” I wanted some
small win. I wanted to buy time. It was like I was being locked up
in the tower and stored away for a later date. I just hoped that
fate didn
’
t include sacrificial virgins or waiting for the beheading
cart to be wheeled in. That would be my luck.

“Like you were nice when you
knocked me out with your voodoo!” he sneered shaking the door at me
like it might make me move faster. Think again.

“I
didn
’
t mean to do that,” I gritted my teeth. “Remember, you guys
chose to keep me in the dark for, I don
’
t know, eighteen years.
Besides, if I could, it would have been a lot
stronger.”