I blinked up at the pink sign that tilted slightly to the right.
Maria’s.
Oddly enough, the sign wasn’t faded or broken at all like the rest of the buildings’ signs nearby. It was as if it were brand new. It positively shined as if someone scrubbed it daily.
“This is peculiar.” I yanked on my hood again for the hundredth time since leaving the Merfolk Queen’s castle. “Is there anyone even inside?” There were no lights on, the building abandoned and the stone with cracks like spider webs growing from the ground up.
“We go around back,” Queen Alora answered. “I was confused at first sight, too.” She started walking toward a pitch black alleyway. “Come along.”
I walked directly behind Father. And my soul mate practically breathed down my neck from behind. I was thoroughly protected by dominating men, and, right now, I was not going to complain.
I flinched when a dog started barking furiously at us from inside a half shattered window. It was inside Maria’s, but there was no one else with it. At least, from what I could see—which was even more alarming a thought.
Queen Alora knocked on a door at the back of the decaying building, this doorway looking just as new as the sign on the front of the building. She pulled her hood down farther over her forehead right before the door opened.
A merfolk with muscles the size of my soul mate’s held onto the door and lifted a blue eyebrow as he scanned our group. “Yes?”
“We are looking to speak to the owner of Maria’s.” Queen Alora enunciated clearly. “Is that individual available?”
“No.” He started to close the door.
King Athon reached over swiftly and slammed his hand against the wood, holding it open. His lips curved at the edges in a cruel smile, and he stated, “I think you are going to let us inside, aren’t you, my friend?”
The merfolk stared. “You don’t want to do this. Trust me, walk away before you embarrass yourself.”
“Oh, I think I really want to do this.” King Athon shoved the door hard, breaking it straight off its hinges back into the merfolk. The man stumbled with the door wobbling in his quick grasp to catch it. The King of Shifters tilted his shoulders to squeeze past the Merfolk Queen, stalking right inside the doorway. He lifted a booted foot and slammed it against the door the merfolk was using as a shield, sending the man flying backward down a hallway in a heap of limbs and shattered wood pieces. King Athon grinned and rolled his shoulders, saying, “Yes, I definitely wanted to do that.”
King Traevon moved forward, also, squeezing past a frozen Merfolk Queen, and patted my soul mate’s shoulder as he maneuvered past him in the thin hallway. “Well done, King Athon.”
And…Father stepped right on the unconscious merfolk as he stalked farther down the hallway. My soul mate did the same, following in Father’s wake.
“Right,” Queen Mikko murmured. “As that just happened, I suggest we follow King Traevon and King Athon.”
“Correctly so.” King Elon snorted. “Are you well, Queen Alora? You are blocking the doorway.”
The Queen of Merfolk sighed heavily and pointed at the merfolk lying on the ground. “I will have to come back and fuck that man.”
The three us stared in shock at the back of her hooded head, while King Traevon and King Athon disappeared around a corner of the hallway.
“Pardon me?” I asked cautiously.
“The urge,” she stated bluntly. Then she walked through the doorway and stepped over him, continuing down the hall. She didn’t look back as she stated, “Let us go. We cannot keep those two waiting, lest they kill everyone.”
I glanced at the other two royals where we stood. I asked, “She should probably fuck him now, correct? What if this takes longer than expected?”
King Elon snorted. “Queen Alora knows what she is doing. She is old enough to know her limits.”
Queen Mikko sighed and walked inside.
I followed. And King Elon trailed behind me.
We did not step on the Merfolk Queen’s future bedmate.
Respectfully so.
Turning the corner where the other three had disappeared to, we glanced around our surroundings. It was another long hallway, dimly lit but impeccably cleaned. At the stairs at the end of the hall, we trotted down into the basement of the building.
There, the other three rulers waited.
