Junior gripped my thigh under the sheets in warning.
And I knew what that warning was.
Ash was either about to go crazy, or he needed us.
Both did not bode well for our current naked situation.
I stared blankly ahead. Trying to mask the fear lurking beneath my skin at the thought that my final moments in this world would be my cousin seeing me naked in my best friend’s arms while he slit my throat.
Asher finally stopped pacing and then moved down until he was resting his arms on his haunches. He didn’t look up. “I need a favor.”
Not what I expected. I almost breathed a sigh of relief.
Junior’s grip on my thigh deepened. “Anything you need, brother.”
Ash slowly lifted his head. His eyes were wild, and then as if a switch had been flipped, a calmness descended over him. His shoulders relaxed, his lips pressed into a firm line. “I need you to swear fealty to me. Loyalty to me and me alone as the heir to the Abandonato Family.”
I stilled. “What?”
Both of us were heirs, but technically Ash’s blood was purer than mine because a long time ago… people fell in love, then they fell into hate and cheated, and the result? My dad and Chase almost being closer than cousins.
Ash sighed. “Each of us will be bosses or underbosses one day, one way or another. But I need you to swear fealty to me as your leader. I need you to make a blood oath to sacrifice yourself for me. To keep our secrets.” He was quiet and then. “To create a new family line within the families.”
It was death.
It wasn’t done.
And it wasn’t just frowned upon, it was a slap in the face to the bosses, to our fathers who protected us, bled for us.
It was a slap in the face to me since I was the heir, but that wasn’t exactly true, because we all knew that the true heir had always been Chase, which meant Asher was next in line if I chose to hand over my crown.
A peace washed over me as I realized it was exactly what needed to be done in order to protect myself—in order to protect our future. A leader was needed, and I’d been leading so long that I was sick with it.
For the first time in my life, I wanted to follow.
And I wanted to choose Junior despite the expectations that were thrown on us.
Even though this wasn’t right, I realized I would do it. Because if I kept Ash’s secrets.
He kept mine.
Protect the kingdom at all costs, right?
Heavy was the crown that Ash would wear, and even heavier? The keys, the secrets that our new kings would carry.
Junior must have had the same thought because his next words were, “Did you set us up? Hope to find us like this, so we had no choice?”
“Yes.” Ash didn’t even hesitate as he clenched his jaw and lifted his chin in defiance. “But even if I didn’t. You owe me. You fucking owe me. And you owe Claire!”
“You’re right,” I whispered as guilt slid around my neck and squeezed until I almost stopped breathing. “What about the others.”
“Waiting for my text,” he rasped.
“So the kids, the next generation…” Junior bit his lower lip and shook his head like he was trying to put it all together. “We create our own alliance.”
“The Elect,” Ash whispered. “We are what they made us. And we protect our own. This is our way of making our promises, our bond, just as powerful as that to each of our families. And in the end, if you have to choose, you choose each other.”
It was madness.
It was blasphemy.
It was right.
A tear slid down my cheek. “You ask us to swear our lives to you over our own blood promises to our fathers?”
“They can co-exist,” Ash said in a harsh voice. “I just need to know that no matter what, you’re fucking with me.”
“No matter what,” Junior repeated thickly, “we are with you.”
The next few minutes went by in a blur as I quickly got dressed and pulled my hair into a ponytail.
Ash turned toward the door and texted King, Breaker, Maxim, Violet, Kartini, and Izzy.
And one by one, they all came to the guest room.
A room I’d just made love in.
Ironic, how minutes later, we would start a war.
Ash held a blade over his hand and sliced as drops of blood fell to the hardwood floor in slow motion.
“Our kingdom,” he said through clenched teeth. “Our rules.”
“Our kingdom. Our rules,” we all repeated.
He passed the knife around as each of us made a cut across our palms.
And as we all stood there holding our bloody hands, Ash locked eyes with us and said. “This is our clean slate. May the sins of our fathers—” He shared a look with Junior. “Be forgiven. Amen.”