Into The Wild ~ Book 3 ~ The Royal Blood Collection

Chapter 9

I woke in my hotel room which was a little surprising. The last thing that I remembered was being in the bar with Silas, drinking heavily. Far too much for this girl who drank but not so heavily that she had little memories of the daylight hours.

What I did have in the way of memories were few and far between. I remember that I'd managed to get Silas out of Oasis, that certainly lifted my mood. Pieces of the night when we reached the bar, talking about the creatures beyond the ridge and why Silas didn't want to go back.

Every time he saw a woman with a baby, he could see Emmeline and the child that she'd had with Alaric. He could even see the baby that had been saved; she was being raised by Oliver and Nisha. Silas wanted to save them all but he couldn't, not when the alphas were hanging around.

He said that it was like they knew that they weren't going to be a part of the deal and retaliated in truly gruesome ways. Silas was at the point where he was so damned blind drunk that he started telling me about what he'd seen. Gruesome was not enough to cover it.

Opening my eyes to avoid visualizing what he'd said, I remembered that I'd cut him a deal to lift his spirits. A night of drinking and merriment. I hoped that it would help me get things moving positively, I hoped he would call his family. If that would happen yet, I don't know. Maybe I needed a little more time to convince him.

My head hurt, it was like nothing that I'd ever felt before and even though it could cause me more pain, I searched for the details of the deal.

I could remember pieces of it, details that made me smile and other parts that made me want to bang my head against the wall because of my stupidity. Our daylight hours together were a blur, but the fact that I had a smile on my face said a lot. I didn't mind that I'd cut the deal, even if I struggled with certain aspects.

Dread filled me when I saw a folded piece of paper propped against the lamp; my name scrawled on it. Lifting from the bed, I realized four things that were incredibly wrong. One, I was alone. Two, one of my hands were handcuffed to the bed. Three, I was naked. Four, I could feel that I'd had sex. Things were a little tender.

Reaching out for the note, I huffed. He'd screwed me and fled when I fell asleep. I was not surprised that he'd waited until I fell asleep. As for fleeing after sex, that was rather low.

Dahlia,

Thanks for the entertaining day. You are certainly a girl that knows what she likes.

I'm sure it comes of no surprise to you, but I cannot remain here. Rest assured, I will call my family and let them know that I am okay. As for your fee, I will tell Alaric to wire the funds to you. After all, once I've called them, your mission is done.

I will leave the key to the cuffs with the front desk and ask that housekeeping lets you out of them.

Try not to take failure too hard,

Silas.

I narrowed my eyes, pressing my lips thinly — arrogant bastard.

Tossing the note aside, I looked around the room. My bag was on the floor near the window. Getting off the bed as far as I could, I reached my foot out and tried to grab the handle. It was too far away, so, I dragged the bed away from the wall.

With a satisfied hum, I tried again and pulled the bag closer. Dumping everything on the bed, I turned the bag inside out and ripped open the lining. Inside was another key. Within a second, I was free.

Dressing quickly, I packed my bag and straightened the room, ignoring the marks on the wall. I didn't want to think that it had been so good that we'd damaged it. I didn't want to think that I couldn't remember it. That certainly sucked.

I'd left one item on the bed beside my bag; it was my phone. If anything, I could be grateful that Silas was not a thief. I had my backup plans with everything, but I hated it when my phone got stolen.

Opening the tracker app, I activated it and smiled.

"That'll teach him."

Dumping the phone on the bed, I wandered over to the desk and picked up the room service menu. I was starving, and I had a terrible hangover, two things that I was not used to.

Lifting the phone, I pressed zero and waited to be connected.

"Front desk."

"Hey, it's Dahlia Robards, two-five. Is there a man down there acting strangely?"

"No, ma'am."

"Okay, can I get room service please?"

"Of course. I'll put you through."

After placing my order, I sat down on the chair and thumbed through the hotel magazine that was nothing but advertising for their store. I didn't need merchandise with their stupid logo all over it. Well, I didn't need to pay for something that I didn't need. My life was nomadic, I had a home, but it was quite some distance from here.

Tossing the magazine aside, I tried to find something to distract me. I didn't need to be looking at luxury bed linen or fancy bath products. I didn't need a memory of the past.

A knock on the door roused me from my thoughts. Wondering which of the two possibilities it could be, I walked over to the door and opened it. I was surprised to see the trolley full of food being pushed in.

"Good afternoon, ma'am."

I was about to say something in return, but he just kept talking, telling me everything that was on the trolley. Leaning on the door, I felt the haze of the hangover slide over me. The terrible part of the hangover, the part where everything decided to come back up for a violent reminder of my stupidity.

"That's great," I said when he finished.

Holding out a twenty, I hoped that he'd take it and leave. Quickly. His eyes brightened as he took the note and offered his pleasant goodbye. Gritting my teeth, I smiled and shut the door. Perhaps too fast, I don't know, I wasn't hanging around to find out. The past few hours were eager to say hello again.