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I overheard some of the men talking earlier. Apparently, their leader is an asshole worse than Abner, and that’s saying something. Ares’s father was pure evil, so this asshole must be the fucking Devil incarnate.
“More,” one of the old cronies’ commands and waves his hand before the piano starts up once more, and we’re met with another haunting melody. She moves gracefully, and I’m enraptured by her beauty. Each spin of her frame, every twist and leap make my dick harder, and I wonder just how much more I can take without strolling up to the center of the circle and claiming her as mine. But I know her father is somewhere in here watching.
He can’t know we’re here until we can get our hands on him. The moment Ares and Tarian have him subdued, I’ll move in. Dahlia is waiting at home, and I know she’s anxious to see her best friend again.
Once the music stops, one of the Crowns rises and stalks toward her, and it takes everything in me to restrain myself from racing to the front and grabbing her. But he doesn’t touch her when he reaches my little wolf. Instead, he stops, stares at her for a long moment, and utters six words that still my breathing.
“You look just like your mother.”
“What?” Her voice is a choked murmur and the shock painted on her pretty face is clear as day. Her mother is dead, so his comment is strange, and comes out of left field.
“That’s enough of this charade.” The man who I haven’t seen in more than ten years saunters into the space. The crown on his head tells me that he’s the leader of the faction. I glance at Tarian who’s glare is burning a hole through his uncle, but he doesn’t move, and I know there’s only violence racing through him in this moment. I cut my eyes back to the center of the circle to find Fergus trailing behind Tarian’s uncle, Thanatos Calvert, or better known as Thane.
When he walked out of Tynewood, we thought he was far away. He wasn’t much older than we are now when he was named as guardian to his nephew, but he wasn’t ready for parenthood and left Tarian to fend for himself.
Thane, as we all knew him, is in his mid-thirties, and I know, for a fact, he was in Europe for a long while after he moved out of the Calvert mansion. But now that he’s one town over, it has me wondering what his reasons are for returning to America.
Fergus doesn’t look at his daughter, his eyes scan the crowd, and I have to lower my hood once more. The tension coming from my left is palpable as my best friend watches his uncle grip Rukaiya’s arm and tug her closer to his tall frame.
“I trust you all enjoyed the entertainment tonight,” he says.
“Tonight, we celebrate a new member to the society, the person who stood by Abner throughout the drama brought upon the Sovereign. Our fearless leader may not be around anymore, but we are here. And we will ensure his vision will come to pass. We know, as a brotherhood, that we need to be there for each other. And the moment we start pulling away from the society, Crowns will fall.”
There’s a murmur of agreement around the room, but I say nothing. There’s a heaviness in the room, and I wonder just what this shitshow is meant to be for. Fergus steps forward, his hands bound behind his back, and that’s when I see the blade glinting in the low lights of the torches that surround us.
“Tonight, a Crown has stepped up. He’s given us his sacrifice for what’s to come. The rest of the Sovereign will fall, and we will take the helm. With Abner behind bars, nothing can stop us from taking all we want and need from this world.”
There’s a cheer from everyone. They’re here to kill Fergus. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would they kill one of their own? He’s been the right-hand man to Abner for years, and even after Ares’s mother was killed, he was still there, doing the bidding of the monster we put behind bars.
Nothing makes sense. Rukaiya’s eyes meet mine in the shadows, her cheeks are stained with tears. She’s been crying since she started dancing, and even though I shouldn’t think it, I can’t help but notice how alluring she is with those shimmering cheeks.
I want nothing more than to hold her, to taste her sadness and fill her with mine. We’re both so broken and tormented from our pasts, I wonder if we could ever be something more than two shards of glass piercing each other with every move we make.
Another man enters the room, and I watch as he steals my girl from Thane. They move through the back door and Ares’s hand on my shoulder offers a squeeze, giving me the go-ahead. I don’t wait. Silently, I move through the cloaked bodies and follow the hallway we entered from. I’m not sure what the layout of this place is, but in the candlelit hallway, I make my way deeper into the house. Even though I’m a floor below ground, I can tell where the front of the house is.
