Chapter 8 Blood Oath #2
I cross my arms over my chest. “Give him his money back.”
“Oh?” Adrian makes no move to do that. “So you’re not going to Claim her?”
“Nope. No point. I’m not waiting until August to make her mine. We’re already engaged.” I glance at Dallas. “So, technically, you won.”
“No the fuck I didn’t. I told Adrian that there isn’t a woman in Harmony Heights that would ever convince you to settle down. You’ve had most of them already—”
Can’t deny that. “Guilty as charged.”
“Right. So why would you marry an Offering?”
“She’s not an Offering,” I tell them. “Not anymore. She’s convinced she’s been demoted.”
Dallas frowns. “My dad did the same shit to her that he did to Loni?”
Adrian’s jaw goes tight, though he doesn’t say anything. He was only able to arrange to kill Jack Collins once, but whenever he remembers that he spent ten years separated from Loni because of the former King, you just know he’s imagining resurrecting him if only to watch him suffer and die again.
I shrug. “Don’t know. Someone did, and I know it wasn’t you. It doesn’t matter. She thinks a marriage of convenience is her only way out of it.”
Dallas gives me a pointed look. “And you didn’t tell her that she doesn’t need to go through that?”
I grin, and Dallas groans.
Adrian shakes his head. “I knew it. You agreed to marry her without thinking it through.”
Maybe, but the way he says that… it’s like he thinks this is just another way for me to rebel, to take the Order’s traditions and ideals and wipe my ass with them. And while that’s normally something I would do, I’ve been on my best behavior since Dallas took over for his dead dad.
I hate the Order, but I really do love these guys; Connor, too, even if he has to stay home with Haven.
I wouldn’t do anything to fuck up Dallas’s reign now that he’s reluctantly the head of the Order.
I know only too well how vindictive and cruel some of the other Owed can be.
If he shows any weakness at all, he’s a target, and I would never do something to fuck with him.
This isn’t about the Order. This is about Annaliese and me, and I need my friends to understand that.
“Screw you, Adrian,” I say, though there’s not any heat to my words. “I promise, I thought enough.”
“Sure you did.” Adrian arches an eyebrow. “The question is: with which head?”
That’s easy enough to answer. “If it was just about sex, I already banged her in the bathroom of the Last Prayer.”
Dallas groans again to hear the name of the bar where I first met Annaliese, and Adrian chuckles softly under his breath. “Fuck me, Bas. You’re such a sap.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’s the one who got away, isn’t she? The one that got stuck in your head.
That’s what this noble, knight-in-shining armor bullshit is about.
Annaliese Crawford is the mysterious woman who walked away from you, and now you’re going to…
what? Marry her because she’s the first woman who ever got a taste of you and wasn’t immediately begging you to fuck her again? ”
I flip Adrian the bird. “Sorry. We can’t all lurk in the shadows and wait a decade before taking the woman we want.”
“I had a plan—”
“A plan that had Loni almost ending up as Des’s wife,” I remind him. “Sure, you made those hours at the shooting range count. You’re happy. She’s happy. Now, I might be reckless, but I’m not stupid. If Annaliese is willing to marry me, I’m snapping that woman up before someone else Claims her.”
As usual, Dallas watches our back and forth with interest. “You’re serious.”
“As a fucking heart attack.” I lean forward.
“Listen. It makes sense. She wants a husband. I want her. Alexandre’s off the hook since at least one of us Reynolds will marry and satisfy the Order’s ridiculous requirement that members of the founding families have to get hitched.
When the old guard comes down on you, tell ‘em to fuck off. You got Bas Reynolds in line. Even if we didn’t go way back, that should be enough to earn you a little wiggle room. ”
I hate that Dal needs it. He’s been a kickass King so far, but the Order fucking sucks. One wrong decision, one wrong step, and there will be someone ready to try him for his figurative crown.
He does have some of the old guard in his corner, like Stephen and Oliver. The young guys all worship him, and his fellow enforcers know what he’s capable of. At the very least, he’s a Collins. You don’t want to fuck with him, and if they try, I’ll always have his back.
I just… I also want him to be cool with me marrying Annaliese.
Dallas sighs. “Okay. I know you’re not asking me for permission, Bas, but it’s fine. Go ahead. It’s… what? A year, right? That’s what you said. This marriage of convenience thing she’s after was only for a year.”
Right. “Yeah. About that… she thinks it’s for a year.”
“And what do you think?” asks Adrian.
In answer, I yank my pocket knife out of my jeans pocket. I flip it open. One quick slash over the brand on my palm, blood welling up instantly along the slice, and I show it to my friends.
“Got a piece of paper? And, Dal… I’m going to need you to seal this.” I pause, the blood beginning to drip down my wrist. “And, fuck, I owe you a hundred bucks, bro, because Adrian’s right. I…I’m gonna Claim Annaliese Crawford.”
After all, that’s how you make a blood oath in the Order of the Owed—and with one of those, no one can ever take her away from me.