The Knights jumped to their feet, looking to me for instructions.
“Marcello will stay with Alex,” I told them. “She’s safe here.”
“Add a few more guards outside her balcony and on her floor,” Bastian suggested. “Just in case this is a trap.”
“Text Marcello,” I told him. “But tell him to be discrete. He’s too forthcoming with Alex.”
He shoved a hand through his dark hair, sweeping it off his forehead, and removed his cell phone from his pocket to text Marcello.
I grabbed my guns from the table and shoved them into the holster strapped to my chest with a smirk. “Let’s go hunt monsters.”
The Knights grinned in satisfaction.
Alex
We took the elevator to the third floor, where Luca occupied most of the west wing. I pushed Marcello in a wheelchair, despite his protests. He tried to walk up the stairs and ripped his stitches, so I forced him into the damn chair.
We entered Luca’s office that had high ceilings, a long mahogany desk set between a wall of windows, and a patio that overlooked the bay. Drake, Damian, Bastian, and Cole Marshall gathered around Luca on couches in the sitting area. Sonny and his brothers, Finn and Callum, were on the opposite side. They leaned into each other, their whispers ceasing when I entered the room with Marcello.
Luca sat in a chair by the fireplace with his shoe propped on his knee. As I took in the sight of my handsome Devil dressed in a navy suit with gold cufflinks and a gold tie, my mouth watered. I hadn’t seen him much in the last week, mostly in passing. And I couldn’t deny that he had an instant effect on my body. As usual, his eyes stripped me bare.
I waved to no one in particular and said hello to the group. Some men spoke, while others tipped their heads in greeting. Sonny fired off one of his boyish smiles.
“Over here, princess.” Pops flagged me down, a big smile on his face. “Come sit beside me.”
I wheeled Marcello next to Sonny’s couch.
Sonny shook his head, laughing. “Look at Cello milking our queen’s precious time for all it’s worth.”
“Shut up,” Marcello growled. “I’m only in this chair because Alex insisted.”
Finn Cormac, the second oldest of the Cormac boys, chuckled.
Marcello attempted to get out of his chair.
I stood over him. “Sit down. You don’t have to prove anything to them. You barely survived.”
“She’s right,” Sonny said. “I’m just fucking with you. For real, we need you up and running soon. So get better.”
Sonny tapped his best friend on the shoulder, and Marcello smiled, a real one for once.
“With Alex as my nurse,” Marcello said to rub it in, “I never want to heal.”
“Ooh,” Sonny said with his eyes on me. “You giving out sponge baths? Because I’d get injured just to have your fine ass soap me up.”
“Sonny,” my grandfather warned.
Sonny cleared his throat. “Sorry, Mr. Wellington.”
I smiled so wide my cheeks hurt, then dipped down to whisper in Marcello’s ear. “I hadn’t even thought of that. Maybe if you’re a good boy…”
I heard Sonny and his younger brother’s laugh as I rushed over to Pops, throwing myself into his arms.
He patted my knee with a reassuring smile. “How are you holding up, princess?”
I released a sigh. “Okay, I guess. I’ve done everything you said for Marcello. His wound is looking better.”
“That’s good.”
My eyes swept over the room. “What’s going on?”
“You know about The Devil’s Knights,” Pops said in a soothing tone. “But I haven’t told you much about them since your breakdown.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s a secret society.”
“It’s more than a secret society,” he said. “The Knights are a brotherhood. There’s a hierarchy in our world. We start as Knights before we can ascend to The Founders Society. You will become the Queen of the Devil’s Knights.”
“What if I don’t want that?”
He bit the inside of his cheek. “Alex, we’re not like other people. We have legacies to maintain. Each of us carries the responsibilities of our families.” He tucked a loose curl behind my ear and grinned. “And you, my beautiful girl, are going to carry on my legacy.”
My stomach twisted into knots. Was he giving up on Aiden? He would have carried on the family name, not me.
“Which means you need to marry a Salvatore.”
“I don’t want to get married,” I said, resolute about my decision.
“Alex, please.” Pops’s tone hardened. “This isn’t about you and Luca. The Knights need a queen. They haven’t had one since Eva’s death almost twenty years ago.”
I thought of Evangeline Franco, my idol, and my insides set on fire.
“How did she like being their queen?”
My grandfather glanced over at Arlo. “You want to take this one?”
Arlo leaned forward with his elbow rested on the arm of a leather chair. “Eva was an excellent queen. We ruled together for twelve years before her death.”