Chapter 126 The Real Fun
Kira’s POV
Time to have some actual fun.
I pushed off the mirror, adrenaline already buzzing under my skin like I’d chugged five energy drinks.
My hands were steady for once as I yanked open the closet in the suite. Adrian’s stuff hung there…big shirts, black everything. The closet smelled like him, clean and woodsy, and I hated how my stomach flipped at that.
Whatever.
I shoved my arms through and found my luggage. I pulled out a black tank top and a matching shirt and threw them on.
Then I twisted my hair up into a messy ponytail with a hair tie. Quick glance in the mirror. I looked ready. Not princess-ready. Warrior-ready. Like someone who was done being the punching bag.
Adrian said he’d handle the Summers. I knew that. I trusted him…sort of, in that weird new way my chest kept doing flips about.
But screw waiting.
Miranda needed a lesson right now. The kind that taught her exactly what happens when you mess with the wrong girl twice. Killing me in my old body wasn’t enough? Trying to finish the job in this one? Nah. Time to flip the script.
Leah cackled in my head…actual evil-wolf laugh, all sharp teeth and mischief. ‘Oh, I’ve got an idea. Something quick and dirty that’ll soften her up before whatever big plan our mate’s cooking. She won’t see it coming.’
I froze mid-step toward the door. “Who the hell are you calling ‘our mate’? Gross. Call him Adrian. Hearing you say mate makes me think you’re talking about some random dude. I’m already confused enough without you making it sound like I’ve got a side piece.”
‘Adrian it is then,’ she said, still chuckling. ‘But you’re gonna have to get used to it, Kira. He’s ours. Deal with it. So…we sneaking out or what?’
Before I could answer, every hair on my arms stood up. Someone was coming. Footsteps soft down the hall, but to me they sounded like thunder.
This new update I just got is amazing.
My new senses picked up everything…the faint scent of lavender shampoo, the quick heartbeat. “Someone’s coming,” I whispered to Leah.
‘It’s just Victoria,’ she said, calm as ever. ‘Relax.’
Right on cue, a soft knock. “Princess? Are you sleeping? Can I come in?”
Panic shot up my throat like bile. What if she walked in, saw me dressed like this, and either locked me down or ran straight to Adrian? He’d probably chain me to the bed…okay, bad visual, focus. “Can she come in?” I asked Leah desperately.
‘I don’t know, girl. I’m not your personal decision box. Neither am I Alexa.’ She paused, then added, softer, ‘But she stuck her neck out for us in the woods. Ready to die in our place. Make her our ally.’
I grinned despite the nerves. “Knew you’d have good advice. You’re better than Alexa and that Dora’s map that tells her everything.”
Leah groaned loud in my head, like I was the world’s biggest pest. ‘I shouldn’t have awakened,’ she muttered, and I felt her curl up in the corner of my mind like she was trying to nap through my chaos.
I opened the door.
Victoria stood there in fresh clothes, eyes wide and worried. The second she saw me, words tumbled out.
“Princess, I’m so sorry… I left you at the restaurant for two seconds and you got kidnapped and then the woods and the hunters and I thought I’d lost you and—”
She stopped dead when her eyes dropped to my outfit, the ponytail, the boots I’d already laced up. Her face went through five stages of no. “No. No. No, Princess. Whatever you’re thinking…no.”
I flashed her my biggest, sweetest, most unhinged grin.
Victoria groaned, shoulders slumping like I’d already won. “Goddess help me.”
Ten minutes later we were ghosting through the service stairs, hearts hammering so loud I could hear both of ours.
Victoria had nailed the distraction…burst out yelling that I was convulsing, foaming at the mouth, the whole dramatic bit.
The guard Adrian posted outside the suite had gone wide-eyed and bolted for help without a backward glance. Poor man.
We slipped past like shadows after he was gone.
Now we were on the street, night air cool on my face, city lights blurring as we moved fast.
“We’re going to visit my dear friend Miranda,” I told Victoria when she asked for the tenth time where the hell we were headed.
“Just follow. And hope you didn’t drop the extra clothes.” Leah had drilled it into me…shift and shift back, I’d be naked every damn time. Like in the car earlier.
Heat crawled up my neck just thinking about it…Adrian’s big hands on my bare ass, firm squeeze, that low growl in his throat.
My brain went straight to filthy places…him pinning me, mouth hot on my skin, those strong fingers sliding higher, me gasping his name while…
I stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk and Victoria slammed into my back with an “oof!”
‘These are not mine… These are not my thoughts,’ I screamed at Leah in my head. ‘I can’t be thinking about that…with Adrian? Stop it!’
Leah’s laugh was pure evil. ‘Fine, fine. I’ll stop. Just because you begged so nicely. But you’re the one picturing his hands all over you, not me. I just gave a little push.’
“Shut up,” I muttered out loud, face burning.
Victoria blinked. “Uh…where are we going exactly?”
I pulled out my phone…Miranda’s number still burned into my brain like a scar. How could I forget?
“I’m calling someone. When I do, you introduce yourself as a reporter. Say you have a video she’d rather not see end up with the wrong people. Video of her and her family pushing Kira Summers off a building.”
Victoria stared at me like I’d grown a second head. “Okay…hold up, Princess. Kira Summers? Miranda? What the hell is going on?”
I grabbed her shoulders, calm but dead serious. “I’m not commanding you, Victoria. I’m asking. Please. Do it. I’ll explain everything later. Tell her to meet at the center of the field behind the old mill in ten minutes.”
She hesitated, then nodded once…loyal, brave, probably regretting every life choice that led her here.
I hit Miranda’s number, put it on speaker, and shoved the phone at Victoria.
The line clicked. Miranda’s voice dripped arrogance. “Who is this? If this is another reporter begging for an interview about the funeral, I swear—”
Victoria cleared her throat, perfect professional tone. “Miss Summers? This is Elena from Channel 7. I have something you’ll want to see before it goes public. A video. Clear footage of you and your family pushing Kira Summers off that building which led to her death. I’d rather not hand it to the authorities…or the press. But if you don’t meet me at the old mill field in ten minutes, I will.”
Silence. Then Miranda’s tone cracked from smug to sharp. “You’re bluffing.”
“Am I? The clock's ticking.”
“What do you want?” She asked angrily.
“I just want to talk,” Victoria said and I gave her a thumbs up. She could pass as an actress.
Another beat. I could practically hear her calculating. “Fine. Ten minutes. But this better not be a prank.” Click.
I ended the call, pulse roaring in my ears. “Stay hidden until I signal you,” I told Victoria, already moving toward the dark field behind the crumbling mill.
The place smelled like wet earth and old secrets, moonlight slicing through broken fences.
Victoria caught my arm right as I stepped onto the grass. Her grip was tight, voice low and urgent.
“Princess, what is going on? The King will never forgive me if anything happens to you again. Please, just tell me…what’s on your mind?”
I looked back at her, grin wild, heart slamming with pure chaotic fire. “Nothing’s going to happen. I just want to play.”
She let me go then. Minutes later, the wind picked up, carrying the faint scent of expensive perfume and fear. Footsteps crunched on gravel ahead. Miranda was three minutes early.
I couldn’t stop the slow grin that crept across my face as her heartbeat filled my ears…wild, frantic… like a deer caught in a hunter’s trap.
My lips curved a little wider as I took a step forward and streched my body.
Now the real fun begins.