Claimed by the Primals

Chapter Nine

So, remember when I told you my dad was in the military? Yeah? Good for you, get yourself a cookie. That's how we pay attention. Now that you have a snack, hang onto your seat. It's about to get messy.

"Guys," I asked nervously. "What's wrong?"

"I'll talk to Thorne," Warrick spoke directly to Kade, ignoring me entirely. "He can smooth things over."

"Thorne's not going to be able to shit! Christ, it's no wonder this is so fucked up, he's her fucking father!"

"Guys!" I shouted.

"Godric Stryker is the most powerful magical creature in the United States," Warrick explained without looking at me. "Both primals and standards bend to his will. The only reason we are able to operate in the country is with his blessing."

"And we just slept with his pre-claimed daughter," Kade hissed. "He's going to fucking kill us."

"Pre-claimed? What the fuck!?"

"Your father sold you," Warrick snapped, turning his back on both of us and waking away. "That Matthias guy and his set own the rights to claim you as their female."

"Matthias? No... no way, the guy is like my brother! And my... my dad is a ranger, what the fuck are you going on about?!"

Warrick stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at Kade. "We don't have a choice. We have to take her back."

He vanished upstairs and I whirled around. "What is going on? My dad is in the military, for gods' sake! He isn't some-"

"It's a cover," Kade said over me, and still wouldn't look me in the eye. "It was an easy way to explain to you, as a kid, why you never settled in one place for long. The travel, the guns, the protection, and the same men being around and your mom being at the center of it all. He's not military. He's... Christ... he's the primal version of the mafia. Anything to do with the magical world within the United States goes through him. He doesn't tolerate outsiders coming in and interfering with his business, and we, Warrick and me, are outsiders."

"Kade-"

I stepped closer to him and reached for him, desperately needing someone to ground myself to. But Kade jerked away, avoiding my touch and his face twisting in obvious distress. "I'm sorry, Jayden, but Warrick is right. We don't have a choice. You don't have a choice."

And with that, he followed Warrick up the stairs, walking around the far side of the island to avoid coming near me again. I remember just how lost I felt at that moment. It was exactly how I felt right after my mom died. Like the carpet of my life had been torn out from under me. I realized that I had just barely been hanging on by the two threads attached to Warrick and Kade. Now that they were gone, all of the emotions and conflict and shock finally hit me.

From there, things happened in a blur. I don't know how much time passed before they came back downstairs with their bags packed. Their voices sounded far off and dull, to the point where they practically had to push me out the door and towards the elevator. I didn't have the energy in me to fight, and I couldn't bring myself to consider what kind of life they were taking me back to.

I spent ten years with Matthias. Trusting him. Confiding in him. He was the brother I never had. Had he been waiting all this time just for me to present—whatever the fuck that even means—so he could claim me? With Anthony? All those times when I thought my boss was getting a little too comfortable with me made so much sense now.

Fuck... I'm so fucking stupid.

We were silent the entire drive. What was I even supposed to say to them. So much for being each other's perfect match, is what I remember thinking bitterly. Kade spent a year getting Warrick out of his arranged claiming, but wouldn't spend five seconds on me? I had never felt so abandoned and insulted, and that includes the fact that my father sold me.