Chapter 499: Episode 497: Tell me everything

The broken pieces of the white coffee cup were quickly swept away by a nice waiter.

When the Kings had jumped up from their table, looking ready to fight an entire army, Roxy just waved her hand at them and gave them a reassuring smile. She told Lira her fingers had just slipped. She kept the wild, crazy thoughts about the giant wolf to herself for now. But from that day on, a beautiful, unbreakable bond was formed.

Several weeks passed by in a happy, bright blur.

Roxy and Lira became completely, totally inseparable. They spent almost every single day together. After being locked away in a dark basement, and then trapped in a quiet hospital room, Roxy finally got to do normal human girl things again.

They went to fancy spas and spent the whole afternoon wearing thick, fluffy white robes with cool cucumber slices resting on their eyes. They got their fingernails painted in bright, pretty colors. They walked through the busy city streets, carrying shopping bags and eating giant ice cream cones before dinner. They talked about clothes, books, and silly jokes.

For the very first time since she arrived back on Earth, Roxy felt entirely normal. The heavy, dark sadness that used to crush her chest was completely gone.

However, her six giant husbands were having a very hard time sharing her.

The Kings were the most powerful, scary, and richest men in the entire city. But when it came to Roxy spending time with her new best friend, these massive, terrifying men acted ridiculously, hilariously jealous.

One Friday night, Torian had planned a special movie night just for the two of them. The giant White Tiger had set up the massive media room in the penthouse. He had built a huge fort out of pillows and soft blankets on the floor. He had made two giant bowls of buttery popcorn and bought all of her favorite sweet candies. He was so excited.

But right before the movie started, Roxy’s phone buzzed. Lira had a bad day at work and asked if Roxy could come over to her small apartment and eat pizza.

Roxy gave Torian a sweet kiss on the cheek, grabbed her jacket, and ran out the door.

Torian was devastated. The giant, seven-foot-tall muscle man actually pouted. He sat right in the middle of his carefully built pillow fort, holding a huge bowl of popcorn, sticking his bottom lip out like a sad little boy who had dropped his ice cream.

"She canceled on me," Torian grumbled, throwing a single piece of popcorn into his mouth. "For a human girl. I built a fort, Zarek. Look at my fort."

Zarek leaned against the doorframe, trying very hard not to laugh at his brother. Kaelen walked past the room, shaking his head. "Get used to it, Torian," Kaelen teased. "Lira is her new favorite person. We have been replaced."

"I should buy the building Lira lives in and just kick everyone out," Syris muttered from the kitchen, looking very annoyed that his wife wasn’t home.

But despite all the funny jealousy and the loud complaining, the Kings were secretly thrilled.

They would never admit it out loud, but they loved having Lira around. Before Lira bumped into her at the store, Roxy was smiling, but her eyes always looked a little bit tired. She was healing, but the scars on her heart were still fresh.

Lira was exactly the medicine Roxy needed. Lira’s sweet, happy energy washed away the very last bits of Roxy’s terrible trauma. Because she had a friend to laugh with, Roxy started sleeping better. She ate more food. She sang softly while she cooked in the kitchen. She was glowing with life.

The Kings had been very worried at first. They thought Lira might be a trick or some kind of magical trap left by the gods. So, Syris had done a massive, deep background check on her.

He dug into every single human computer system in the country.

"She is painfully normal," Syris had reported to his brothers one night while Roxy was asleep. He pushed his reading glasses up his nose, looking at his computer screen. "She was born in Ohio. She went to a normal school. She has a normal job working at a flower shop. She has zero connection to magic, zero connection to our enemies, and zero criminal record. The fact that she looks exactly like Lyra from our world is just a very strange, crazy coincidence of a face."

Because Syris confirmed she was safe, the Kings allowed Lira to come up to the highly secure penthouse whenever she wanted.

On a quiet Tuesday afternoon, the penthouse was calm.

The Kings were sitting in the massive living room. Zarek and Syris were looking over some important business papers on the coffee table. Ren was reading a thick book by the bright window. Roxy was sitting on the big, velvet sofa, flipping through a fashion magazine, wearing soft, cozy lounge pants.

Suddenly, the private elevator chimed out in the hallway.

The heavy front doors opened. Lira walked inside, because the security guards downstairs knew she was always allowed up.

But the second Lira stepped into the living room, Roxy dropped her magazine.

Something was incredibly wrong.

Lira did not have her usual bright, bubbly smile. Her wavy honey-colored hair was a messy pile on her head. Her hands were shaking so hard that she dropped her small purse onto the floor. But the scariest part was her face. Lira looked incredibly pale, like all the blood had completely drained out of her skin. Her big brown eyes were wide and filled with pure, absolute terror.

She looked like a small, scared rabbit running from a wolf.

"Lira?" Roxy asked, jumping up from the sofa. She rushed across the thick rug and grabbed her friend’s shaking hands. "Lira, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you hurt?"

Lira squeezed Roxy’s hands tightly. She let out a shaky, broken breath, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked over her shoulder at the closed elevator doors, almost like she expected a monster to bust through them at any second.

"Roxy," Lira cried softly, her voice completely breaking. "I... I didn’t know where else to go. I’m so scared."

Zarek, Syris, and Ren instantly stood up from their seats. The big men didn’t say a word, but their bodies went completely tense, ready to protect the room.

"Hey, it’s okay. You are perfectly safe here," Roxy promised, rubbing her thumbs gently over Lira’s cold knuckles. "Nobody can hurt you here. Tell me what happened."

Lira squeezed her eyes shut, and a single tear rolled down her pale cheek.

"It’s my ex-boyfriend," Lira admitted, her voice dropping into a terrified whisper.

Roxy frowned. Lira had never mentioned an ex-boyfriend before. "What about him?"

"He is a really, really bad person," Lira cried, shaking her head. "He used to hurt me, Roxy. He was so mean, and he hit me. That’s why I moved to New York. I ran away from him two years ago. I changed my phone number, I deleted all my pictures, and I hid in this big city so he could never find me."

Lira opened her eyes, and the fear in them was completely heartbreaking.

"But he found me," Lira sobbed, her shoulders shaking violently. "I don’t know how he did it, but he found out where I live. He was waiting outside my apartment building this morning. I saw him standing across the street, watching my window. If he catches me... he will kill me, Roxy. He promised he would."

The living room went dead silent.

The sweet, happy atmosphere completely vanished in a split second.

Behind Roxy, Zarek’s golden eyes narrowed into deadly slits. Ren’s jaw clenched so tight his teeth ground together. Syris slowly closed his laptop, his face totally blank and terrifyingly calm. Any man who hit a woman was absolute garbage to the Kings.

But it was Roxy’s reaction that truly shifted the air in the room.

The soft, fun, normal human girl completely disappeared. The woman who loved spa days and shopping was suddenly gone.

Roxy let go of Lira’s shaking hands. She stood up a little taller. Her posture became perfectly straight, and her shoulders went back.

When Roxy looked at Lira, her bright green eyes were no longer warm and friendly. They turned completely, terrifyingly ice cold.

Her Matriarch instincts completely took over.

She was a Queen. She was a survivor who had fought monsters, lived through absolute torture, and ruled over the most dangerous apex predators in the universe. She knew exactly what it felt like to be hunted by an abusive, evil man. And absolutely nobody was going to hunt her best friend. Not while she was breathing.

Roxy reached out and gently put her arm around Lira’s shaking shoulders. She gave Lira a look of pure, unbreakable power that made the scared human girl instantly feel safe.

"Come in and tell me everything."