Then I lost consciousness.
Alex was the one person who linked all of us. She was the answer to our current problems, the queen who would balance the scales of power in our corrupt organization. Our queen could never just go with the flow. She had to fight against the current, refused to follow orders.
We stood in front of the altar in silence, a moment of acknowledgment passing between us. I knew all of my brother’s secrets, and they knew mine. There were no barriers between us.
Except for one.
I wanted to marry Alex.
But I had made a promise to Luca when we were teenagers, an unbreakable vow. Back then, I didn’t know what he was asking of me. Knowing Luca, he knew exactly when he would ask forthatfavor. My brother did nothing without a plan.
He had taken most of the abuse from our father. Shielded me from the violence as much as he could. Even jumped in front of me and let our father whip him, cut him, whatever Dad needed to satiate his dark desires. And even though it killed him, he had to relinquish some of his control to The Devil’s Knights.
She was their queen, too.
Alex rolled onto her back on the ceremonial altar and groaned. Her chest heaved with each deep breath she took, then her eyes opened. She stared up at the ceiling, her hand rested on her racing heart.
Luca and I moved closer to the altar. Our sudden movements turned her attention to us. Her eyes widened as she scanned our faces, then her gaze swept over the room.
She shot up from the table. Without a bra on, her nipples poked through the thin fabric of her pajama top, her big tits bouncing. I loved her tits. When we first met her, she was skinny and malnourished. Now, she had curves for days and a thick ass I wanted to slap.
My dick strained against my pants. Fuck, I wanted to devour her.
We’d all agreed we would share her, but it was different with Alex. She could marry any Salvatore, but if she didn’t choose either Luca or me, we would lose our birthrights.
We would lose everything.
Bastian and Damian would never allow that to happen. So they constantly pushed her out of her comfort zone, made her feel like a toy.
A pet.
I wanted to throw my hat into the ring, but Luca wanted to win the game. And the stupid deal I’d made… I didn’t have a choice but to let him have her. It was only a piece of paper. Nothing more than a merger of our families.
She would still be a Salvatore.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Alex’s top lip quivered. “Why did you bring me here?”
Luca placed his hand on her thigh. “You need to learn more about the Knights.”
She scanned the room with suspicion. “What is this creepy ass place? I’m barely dressed, and it’s freezing down here. You couldn’t have asked me to come with you in the daytime? When I wasn’t fucking sleeping.”
“We don’t allow outsiders to see the entrance to our temple,” Luca told her, trailing his fingers down her thigh.
Only the town’s founders and the Knights knew about the underground tunnels beneath Devil’s Creek. The catacombs connected each of the founders’ houses to the temple and The Founders Club. Alex would have spent hours chasing her tail if we hadn’t come to rescue her. By the time she passed out in Luca’s arms, she looked like she’d gone mad from spinning in circles.
She wiped the sweat from her brows, breathing heavy. “What the fuck is going on, Luca? You said I can leave.”
He clutched her thighs, moving between them, his fingers sliding up her smooth skin. “It’s okay, baby. I got you.”
“What do you want from me?”
“You.”
My brother was slowly coming around. After I yelled at him on our way to marina, he took my advice about Alex. Maybe it was because we walked into an ambush and were lucky to leave with our lives. Or maybe it was the fact we had a ticking clock dangling over our heads.
Our time was almost up.
She grabbed Luca’s hand, slid it up her leg, and stopped right at the seam of her shorts. He continued his slow exploration of her beautiful body, shoving her shorts and panties to the side so I could see her pretty pussy.