Bloodbath of the Fallen Crown

32

I sat up in the bed, sleep still clogging all my sense. Nicolas turned towards me, wrapping an arm around my waist. He kissed the skin of my hip, toying with the hem of my underwear. "Where you going?" His voice was coated with tiredness. We had barely slept last night. Celebrating his first week of moving in and all that fun stuff.

Honestly? It was just another excuse for him to convince me to have sex. Not that I needed much convincing. We've been trying to cram two years worth of time in the last seven months.

"The phone," I yawned, covering my mouth. "I need to get it. What if it's important?"

He groaned, scooting back and pulling me down on the bed. "What if it isn't? Lay down with me. I miss you."

I smiled, turning towards him. "Miss me? We've been tied at the hip this past week, baby. And tied from head to toe all of last night."

The phone stopped ringing. Nicolas wrapped his bare leg over me, humming in delight. He kissed me, smiling into my lips. "I really liked last night."

"Me too." I snuggled into him, about to fall back asleep when the phone started ringing once again. Nicolas groaned, pulling me to him stubbornly.

I laughed, "Nick, come one, I need to make sure it's nothing important. If it were important they'd probably come--"

We both stood up lighting fast when someone knocked on our door. Nicolas looked at me from the other side of the bed, pointing towards the living room. "Get the phone. I'll get the door. Don't come out unless I say it's clear. You've got the keys to the window, right?"

I nodded, grabbing my shorts from the floor and putting them on. I tied my hair up and grabbed a gun from the drawer, throwing it his way. "Be careful. Shoot first, ask questions later."

We met at the exit of the room. Nicolas grabbed the back of my neck and kissed me hard, painful even. We didn't say another word before I made way to the office and he stalked to the entrance.

I picked up the phone, holding it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Tasia!" Mateo's voice was frantic. The radio silence in the background made me nervous. He was calling from the private warehouse landline. If he's at the warehouse, it should be buzzing with people working. Considering today was a big shipment that we had with the French.

"Mat?" I moved to the door of the office, opening slightly to peek through. I couldn't see Nicolas from here. "What's going on?"

"You need to get here now." His tone meant business. It made me nervous. "We've been... attacked." He didn't sound so sure.

"What happened?" I asked, holding the phone in my shoulder and opening the closet and taking out a gun. "What's the severity level?"

He breathed heavily over the phone, not saying anything for a few seconds before sighing. "Crimson. Don't take too--"

The line cut off, throwing me off. I grabbed the phone and tried calling back, but got no answer. I grabbed another gun and extra ammunition, waiting for Nicolas.

What the fuck? My mind couldn't stop racing. Something told me there was something very wrong with that phone call. Something worse than what Mateo was letting on.

I gripped the gun when the office door opened, spinning to see Nicolas enter. He eyed my hand quickly, before watching me closely. "We have a problem," he said slowly. He looked back into the living room and sighed. "Who was calling?"

"Mateo," I answered. The air was heavy and we both felt it. Something told me it was for completely different reasons, though. "We have to go to the warehouse. Right now."