Chapter 41: 41__How to survive being a novel character

Maia stared wide-eyed and speechless at the people before her as they bickered with low-toned but sharp and ruthless words.

She shook her head slowly from side to side, unable to process the situation. How did she get here?

This was, without a doubt, it.

*An Unlikely Romance.* That infuriating romance novel that she hated but had read over five times!

Maia had never read anything more frustrating. A female lead character with little to no personality, two men who love her, brothers. One man, Nick, was always the sweetest, most gentle person to her and the other, the bastard called Jaxton, was always a mean jerk!

How Elaine had picked Jaxton over Nick had never made sense to Maia! She’d read the book over and over, trying to understand, but she never had!

She shook her head.

How had this happened? By what kind of sorcery had this happened to her?

Maia couldn’t understand. One moment, she’d been thrown into a dark alley closet by the Shifter who’d been posing as Rogan, and now she was… inside a *novel*??

It didn’t even make sense when she thought about it!

“Elaine!”

Maia gasped, blinking herself back into focus.

“Y-yes?”

The man with the kind green eyes looked closely at her. “You okay?”

Before Maia could respond, he took her hand.

“Come on, let’s go for lunch.”

He started to lead her out, but a loud slam stopped them both in their tracks.

Both Nick and Maia turned back to Jax, Maia's gaze lowering to the hand he’d slammed onto his office table.

She flinched. Gosh, that must have hurt.

“Don’t you dare walk out when I’m talking to you,” Jaxton Black growled. “Both of you.”

Nick didn't back down. “It’s lunchtime, Jax.”

“Ms. Cranberry has lunch when I say so,” Jax growled, his blue eyes full of cold arrogance. He pointed at Maia. “You. Stay until I say you can leave. Or you can kiss your job bye-bye.”

The girl who’d been righting her clothes behind Jaxton touched his shoulder, her brows raised at him. “Babe, we’re supposed to spend time together. Ag, just let her leave!”

Jax pushed her hand off of his shoulder. “Get out, Kris. I’m busy.”

Maia watched the woman’s face slacken from shock and nearly snorted. What was she so shocked about? Jaxton had done the same thing to another girl just last week.

Maia froze, her eye brows drawing together in a questioning frown. How the hell did she know what this guy had done last week?

Was it because she’d read the book a gazillion times? Or had she really somehow become the main character of this horridly soppy novel, Elaine Cranberry?

This didn’t make sense. None of it made sense.

“You said I was the only for you, you bastard!”

The heartbroken girl by Jaxton’s side whipped her hand back, delivering a hard smack to his face. The sound snapped Maia out of her thoughts and she blinked herself back into focus once more.

With a broken sob, the woman gathered her things and scampered out of the office, leaving Jax with a proper hand mark on his face.

Maia stared at him, her mouth going dryer than it ever had from the insanity of her current situation.

Buttoning his shirt up properly, Jaxton sat back in his seat with a sigh and waved a hand to the door. “Leave, Nick. Now.”

Nicholas Black looked down at his brother with annoyance sizzling in his blood, but sighed nonetheless.

He looked at Maia. “Will you be okay, Elaine?”

Maia turned to him with raised brows. “Huh? Oh…” She glanced back at Jax, noting the anger that the writer described to always be sizzling in his blue orbs. She nearly snorted. This jerk. How many nights of sleep had she lost fighting the urge to scream because of how angry this jackass made her in the novel every time she read it?

Maia's lip curved. Whether or not this situation was safe, whichever way she got here, she’d make the most of it.

Maia was going to give Elaine’s totally pushover, whimp-like personality a gigantic makeover.

She looked back at the sweet and gentle Nick Black who’d stolen her heart the first time she read the book and smiled at him. “Yes, Mr. Black. I’ll be okay, thank you.”

*******

Rogan slammed the large padlock closed and pounded on the door of the carriage.

Morris, the driver poked his head out from the front. “I’m leaving it all in the back house then, Master?”

Rogan nodded curtly and gave Morris a sharp look. “Mm. And it all better be there, you understand? If I find even one speck of magic dust missing from my supplies this time, I’m going neatly slice your sticky fingers off and throw them in a stew for you to eat. Clear?”

Morris gulped and very slowly retracted his head, hearing no lie in Rogan’s threat. “Y-yes, Master Rogan. Apologies, Master.”

The carriage took off, rolling smoothly along the perfectly paved cobblestone streets.

Finally done. Rogan flexed his neck and massaged the muscles there.

A group of women passing by him on the street threw flirtatious looks his way.

“Good afternoon, Master Rogan,” they called, batting lashes and pouting lips.

“I’ve got good hands, Master Rogan. Care for a massage?”

“You look dashing this afternoon, Master Rogan.”

“I feel rather frail, Master Rogan. I'll be by for some treatment later on.”

Rogan nodded tiredly and waved them away.

With a sigh, he turned to leave. Maia. He’d left her at the Hostel all damn day and the thought of her wouldn’t leave his head.

How annoying. He had plans to go over there, yank her up onto her toes and shake her until her bones rattled, demanding why she didn’t at least have the decency to butt out of his head!

Then he’d kiss her.

“Gosh, look at you,” came a low rumble.

Rogan turned to his right and paused, staring at Aiden who stood in the shadows. He held a tall round lollipop in one hand and all over his hair were planted little flowers of different kinds and colors, strangely complimenting his royal garments.

Rogan felt his stomach roll and cringed as he fought the nausea. “Look at me?” he asked Aiden. “Look at *you*!”

When Rogan scoffed and kept walking, Aiden hopped out of the shadows and joined him, brows raised in denial.

“What about me? You’re the one who’s threatening to chop off people’s fingers and giving the most beautiful group of girls in this kingdom a withered, half-hearted greeting. Do you no longer care about your reputation?”

“I never did,” Rogan murmured, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walked.

“Blessed be the King,” people said over and over, bowing to Aiden as they walked through the streets.

Rogan rolled his eyes. “You look like a damn fairy with those flowers in your hair. How anyone can show you such respect at this moment is beyond me.”

Aiden laughed extravagantly and waved a royal hand. “Well, my dear Rogan, that is because I do things like this.”

Rogan paused and watched as Aiden strolled over to a little old lady with a street tea shop. She was bent over her cauldron of water, fussing over the fire which wouldn’t light.

When she saw Aiden, she forced a smile into her worried face and bowed to him as best as her aged body could allow. “Greetings, my King.”

Giving her a gracious smile, Aiden crouched and, from the palm of his hand, created fire to restore the burnt out coals beneath the lady’s cauldron.

At the sight of the flickering flame before her, she gasped and clapped her hands once in astonishment and delight.

“By Gemini!” she said, her eyes teary. “I'd been so frustrated with this, my King. And you solved it in a moment! Indeed, you are Aiden, the god of fire! May you be blessed, King Aiden of Geminor!”

Aiden smiled huge at her as he accepted her praise, the warmth and friendliness of his personality blatant for everyone to see. Rogan thought he should hide those qualities, they weren’t the best to have, in his opinion.

“See?” said Aiden when he joined him again and they continued their walk. “The people bless me over and over and that’s why I never run out of anything. That’s why Geminor is a hundred times as peaceful and wealthy as it was when my tyrant of a father was King.” He sighed and gave his lollipop a lick. “I just do it better.”

Rogan scowled when Aiden licked the lollipop again. Why did he have to do such a thing while walking with Rogan?

With a rapid flick of his arm, Rogan smacked Aiden’s hand so that the candy fell onto the ground and broke into pieces.

Aiden stopped, looking down at his murdered candy as Rogan, the murderer, kept walking.

“The orphans down by the well gifted me that, you jerk!” he barked.

Aiden complained all the way to the Hostel, telling Rogan to change his ways, become nicer to people and all such nonsense. Rogan had no intention of changing any of his ways.

“Anyway, the Ball’s in three days,” Aiden said as they reached the Hostel gates.

“Not going,” Rogan murmured.

Aiden’s beautiful face went slack with shock. “What? Why not?! I’ve made the grandest preparations just for you! Zainab’s getting matching outfits tailored for you two.”

Rogan wasn’t listening. He stared at the Hostel gates with a frown. Something was off.

“Rogan—”

Rogan placed a finger over Aiden’s mouth. “Shut up for a sec."

Aiden glared silently at him as Rogan continued frowning to himself.

“She’s not here,” he murmured. He lowered his hand and turned, facing the busy street. “She’s not even anywhere near here…”

Aiden raised a brow, leaning over to peak at the Hostel doors. “Who? Are you talking about… Cassidy Germaine Philips?”

“Maia.” He couldn't sense her anywhere near him. It felt like she'd ceased to exist. Whirling around, Rogan pulled open the gates and shoved the doors to the Hostel open. “Cassidy!”

Aiden hurried in after him. “What’s going on?”

“Cassidy! Cecile?! Claudia, Cleo! Where the hell are you guys?!” Rogan called.

The women came running from different directions, eyes wide and faces pale.

“What is it? What happened?!” Cecile asked worriedly.

“Oh, God, you scared me!” Claudia said, her mouth barely moving because of her tightly dried face mask. “Why’re you screaming?”

“It better be important!” Cassie barked, her heart racing at a hundred miles per second.

Cleo was the most calm. “Has something bad happened, Master Rogan?”

Rogan ran a hand through his hair in edgy frustration and pointed around at the Hostel’s front hall. “Maia. I left her here. Where did she go? Why did you guys let her leave?!”

They blinked. “Maia was here?”

Cecile crossed her arms and shook her head in puzzlement. “But, Master Rogan, she left with you! Why’re you asking us where she is?”

Rogan frowned. “Left with me? Cecile, I left her right here with you and went my way. What do you mean, she left with me?”

Cecile pointed at the door. “She followed you right out! And then when I pulled open the door to tell her that it was no use and she should just come inside, you two were walking off together.”

Rogan had turned to ice, staring at her.

Maia had left with him? So, in reality, Maia had left with some bastard pretending to be him.

“Fuck. That wasn't me, Cecile. Maia's been taken.”