Alex laid on the bed beside me, tracing her nails up and down my arm. The soft, soothing motion signaled my cock that it was time to wake up. I fixed myself beneath the blanket.
She leaned over me, her sweet scent invading my nostrils. I closed my eyes as my skin pebbled with goosebumps from her delicate touch. Her skin was so soft and warm, and she smelled good enough to eat.
As she stared into my eyes, her nails raked down my arm. She woke up at night screaming for her twin brother. It was me or Aiden she called out for in her sleep. I would never forget the promise I made to her brother right before he left for his initiation into The Devil’s Knights.
Three days after we forced Alex to come back with us to Devil’s Creek, I picked Aiden up from the house we rented for him in The Hills. This way, he was still close to Alex without being too close. That was one rule of initiation—no contact with anyone outside of the organization for six months.
Aiden had asked for my help to approach The Serpents. My cousins were artists who used their talents for deviant purposes. They knew how to forge everything from bank checks to notable artworks that were worth millions of dollars. Their special skills often came in handy with some of our underworld clientele. Because of Aiden’s skills, Luca had agreed to let him work with The Serpents after he completed initiation. He was more suited for their line of work than ours, anyway.
I’d been friends with Aiden since high school. We maintained the illusion we hated each other in front of Alex and my brothers. It was better if they didn’t know we spray painted together in secret. Despite how Luca felt about Aiden, he wasn’t bad company. I thought one of us should give him a chance since he would eventually be family.
Aiden slid into the passenger seat of my Maserati with his eyes focused on me. “Thanks for doing this. I didn’t know who to ask.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror and reversed out of the driveway. “No one can know we talk.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Aiden shot back. “I know. What’s with all the secrecy, anyway?”
Luca had plans that involved Aiden, and I wasn’t about to reveal them to him. Carl Wellington had clarified that Aiden would choose the correct path, regardless of how we had to get him there. If Aiden didn’t become a Knight, he could never ascend to The Founders Society. And since he had no interest in joining either of those societies, we had to force his hand.
“Luca doesn’t want Alex to know,” I said as I flew down the hill that led to Beacon Bay. “Trust me. It’s better if she’s not involved. There’s too much at stake.”
Aiden rested his elbow on the armrest and glanced over at me. He looked like fucking hell, his eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Two days ago,” he admitted with a sigh.
“You need to get your shit together. Seeing you like this makes Alex upset. When you come back from initiation, I expect you to be clean and off the drugs.”
He ran a hand through his messy curls that were longer than usual and nodded. “You care about my sister, right?”
I clutched the steering wheel and floored the gas down the steep hill as we left Devil’s Creek. “She’s going to be my queen.”
“C’mon, Marcello.” He tapped my arm with his fist. “I know you have a thing for Alex. I’m not blind or stupid.”
“I don’t expect you to understand what our queen means to us.”
I’d wanted Alex from the moment I saw her. She was a knockout. What man wouldn’t want her? But I knew beforehand that she would marry Luca. No matter how much I wanted her, she would never be mine.
So I watched her from a distance. I observed every move she made to ensure her safety. Though, I often checked on her just because I wanted to see her. I needed to know she was happy.
“My sister’s involvement with The Devil’s Knights is another thing I wanted to talk to you about,” he said with a groan. “Alex deserves better than this shit. The whole concept is fucking ridiculous. Why do you need a queen?”
“Your grandfather is the reason we even have a queen. This was his doing.”
“I don’t care what Pops wants me to do. I will never submit to Luca,” he fired back. “I have tried so hard to keep Alex away from him, and no matter what I do, I can’t stop her from running back to him. I don’t want her to become your queen.”
Aiden was aware of what would happen at Legare. The thought sickened him. A few times when we were drinking at The River Styx, he’d expressed his disgust. If he had his way, Alex would have been halfway around the world painting and selling her art. He never wanted this life for his sister, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Promise me one thing, Marcello.”
I turned onto Beacon Parkway and looked over at him.
“If anything happens to me, promise you’ll keep Alex safe. That you won’t let her fall apart without me.”
“I won’t let anything happen to our queen,” I assured him.
“I’m not worried about you protecting her from your enemies. If this job goes south, Alex will go off the deep end. Her condition is fragile.”