“You look like your mother,” Marcello commented, his fingers gripping the leather steering wheel.
“Shame,” I bit out. “Maybe if I were ugly, Luca wouldn’t want to marry me.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Our father would have forced the marriage, anyway. The fact you’re gorgeous only sweetened the deal for Luca.”
“Have you thought about taking Luca’s place?”
Marcello stopped in front of the gate, waiting for them to open inward so we could drive onto his property. “As the head of the family? No, never.”
“I mean with me.”
He licked his lips. “Yes.”
Luca
I sat on the throne at the front of the ritual room in The Devil’s Knights temple. A few of the local Knights gathered before me with Aiden Wellington at the center of the group. Dirty and exhausted, he could barely keep his eyes open as he shoved his long, blond curls off his forehead. The scar from the accident dipped beneath his hair and spanned the length of the right side of his face.
He no longer reminded me of his twin sister. In the past year, he had changed so much I wondered if Alex would recognize him when they were reunited. Only a few more weeks until Aiden would become one of us. I was a bastard for keeping them apart, but we had rules all Knights had to follow.
When I joined the Knights, I couldn’t speak to my family for nine months. Not even my dad. It was the hardest nine months of my life. I’d endured challenging tasks with the men in this room, bonding experiences that not only indebted us to the Knights but also brought us closer.
Aiden wasn’t the pussy I once thought, and we needed his help with the Albanians.
“Your sister is in danger,” I told Aiden. “She was almost kidnapped a few weeks ago.”
We hadn’t spoken to him since before the attack at my estate. As part of his Initiation, Aiden had spent one month with a different group of Knights throughout the country. He was at their beck and call, performing whatever duties they required. Technically, I didn’t lie to Alex since her brother wasn’t in Devil’s Creek until recently. He’d just finished his tour across the country, one step closer to joining our ranks.
Aiden scratched the stubble along his jaw. “Is Alex okay?”
“Physically, yes.”
Aiden stepped closer to the dais. “And mentally?”
“She’s fine,” I assured him. “Alex was too worried about Marcello to process what happened to her.”
He lifted a confused eyebrow at me. “Why would she be worried about Marcello?”
I explained the attack at my house and Marcello’s near-death experience.
Aiden shot a look at Marcello. “How is she handling our separation?”
“Not well,” Marcello admitted. “She misses you. Wakes up screaming your name in the middle of the night.”
Aiden scrubbed a hand across his face and sighed. “Three more weeks,” he groaned. “Can I see her then?”
I nodded. “We’re at war. The Albanians have made several attempts to grab Alex. So far, they have been unsuccessful but they are ramping up their efforts, finding new friends among our allies.”
He rubbed his tired eyes. “How can I help?”
“You have one more task to complete.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my thighs. “Callum and Finn will explain on your way to New York. Try not to get yourself killed.”
He lowered his head, keeping his opinions to himself. Before I’d saved his life, he always had a smart ass comment or rebuttal. But he understood our organization had a structure, a certain order that he was expected to follow.
After Aiden left the room with Callum and Finn, the Knights stared at me, awaiting my next instruction. My eyes swept over the group before falling to Marcello.
“Go get Alex,” I told him. “It’s time for her to remember. We need our queen.”
Marcello gave me a weary look. “How far are you going to take this?”
With our enemies getting closer, we had to pull our queen out of her head and bring her back to reality. Alex was remembering what we did with the Knights last year in the temple, but I was sick of waiting. I’d been patient for too long.
“As far as we need to go.”
Alex
Rough fingers slid down my thighs as I drifted in and out of consciousness. A man lifted me in his arms, cradled me against his hard chest with his hand on the back of my head. I couldn’t find the strength to move an inch. My eyelids felt heavy as he carried me down a flight of stairs.
The man laid me on a soft bench. Leather mixed with the saltiness of the sea filled my nostrils. Someone sat beside me and brushed my hair off my face. Gentle, in a loving way.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered.
Okay.
We moved forward, and the man placed his hand on my back. He made slow circles to put me at ease, his feather-light touch sending a shiver down my arm. I rested my head on his thigh as he coaxed me back to sleep.