I needed to regain the upper hand in this situation. My mind swam until at last, I found my voice again.
"Listen, pretty boy. I have chocolate here I need to eat, so if you'd excuse me?" Probably better things to say, but there you go.
He looked over my shoulder, and I followed suit. There was nothing there except a car in the distance, probably owned by the bitchy cashier. The rest of the darkened car park was empty. Given that it was stupid o clock in the morning and only insane people were out buying chocolate at this time of night, it wasn't a surprise.
"We don't have much time. You need to come with me. We can protect you, Your Highness."
The world spun a little right there. Another person had said those exact words to me this morning.
Nope, can't be true. It was simply a coincidence. What I needed was to get away. I should have listened to my gut and stayed at home in the relative safety of bickering cousins, senile aunts, and drunk uncles with big moustaches.
I looked around me, scoping out the place. I was feet away from my car. All I needed to do was get the best of him, and I had a fighting chance of getting out of this parking lot with my head still attached to my body. Because for all I knew, he was a loon.
I took my chance when he glanced over my shoulder again. I kicked him straight in the balls and darted to my right to make it to my car. I had the door open in seconds and was moments away from freedom, when I felt hands around my waist. And those hands felt divine and familiar, and my brain was fighting with my body to fall back into him and sigh.
"Fuck, no." I was held against a strong chest before being turned around.
"Calm down, Carina. I won't hurt you." His green eyes were intense, and his mouth was set in a hard line.
"Why are you doing this?" Today was too much. I was close to tears, but I swallowed down a sob. My hands fisted into his t-shirt, my bag hooked around my wrist, and I was very aware of his hard chest underneath. I was ashamed of myself. I was being attacked, and all I could think was how right it felt in his arms. Like I'd been there a thousand times before.
"We will protect you. We are sworn to you, but we need to go, now."
And with that, the air shimmered around us, and the world went dark.
I held onto my chocolate for all I was worth.
Chapter Two
The world was off kilter as I stumbled out of the man's arms. I looked around me, not knowing where the bloody hell I was.
What was happening?
My brain was lagging, and I forced it to catch up, ticking the things off in my mind.
Sexy man? Check.
Abducted? Check.
No idea how I shimmered? Check.
No idea where I was? Check.
Chocolate? I looked around and was relieved to see the bag right next to me. Check.
I made a beeline for the haul, digging out my favourite bar and devouring it.
The chocolate gave me a little strength, considering the last time I'd eaten was breakfast—right before my father had passed away.
A tightening of my chest had me gasping for air. I wasn't ready to deal with his loss right now. Would I ever be? Unshed tears clogged my throat.
Not that he was a great father. Nope. He was an asshole of the biggest kind. It was knowing the secrets he'd held until his dying breaths. The rambling of an old man, I'd put it down to—but honestly? They...scared me.
And maybe, just maybe, they weren't fiction after all.
I turned around finally, knowing I'd come face to face with my captor. He was standing there, right where we'd landed, and was watching me intently. He was so close, I could see the flecks of black in his eyes as they danced mischievously.
"Feel better?" He looked down at the screwed up wrapper in my hand. And I dropped it back into the bag.
He smiled then, and he looked like a wolf. I shuddered and knew I was going to hell for wishing he'd ravish me now.
Long moments of silence extended, and I wondered whether this was a weird form of torture. Because being next to this gorgeous man had my heart rocketing in my chest, and I was pretty sure I might croak at any given time.
"My name is Jaz. You'll have questions," he said at last.
Did I have questions? My mind was blank right now. Maybe too much had happened today, and my circuits were going into meltdown? And his name was Jaz. My brain played with the word, and I realised it actually suited the formidable beast in front of me.
When I didn't open my mouth, he turned slowly and went to sit in a chair by the wall. I finally took a good look at my surroundings. The walls were stone, the floor was stone, and the furnishings were basic and sparse. It looked like I was in a medieval castle.
"Where the fuck am I?"
He sat forward in the basic wooden chair, his elbows resting on his knees. "This is your castle." He watched me intently.
I looked around again, attempting to be diplomatic in my answer, but failing. "Look, whatever this illusion is of you disappearing and reappearing and turning up in this weird stone room, I'm impressed. Seriously. You should put this shit on YouTube. But today isn't a good day. I want to go home."
No, I didn't want home. Home was toxic. Home was family I didn't want or like. But he didn't need to know that right now.
"Your father was a guardian, like I am."
My father. The fact that he was even mentioning him made me immediately nervous.
"He was sworn to protect
