Chapter 8
Eight
E lias
I drank down a hefty swallow of whiskey after finishing another conversation with a well-wisher at the reception and moved to the periphery of the room. This entire day was nothing but an excuse for Ozias to flaunt his wealth, our rivals and friends to mingle and keep track of each other, and the elite of society to find new gossip.
It was a production, a finely tuned machine made of many cogs and wheels working together to give the impression that Avra and I were the quintessential couple heading into a life of matrimony with all the well-wishes and congratulations we could ever want.
It couldn’t end fast enough so Avra and I could escape .
Barely a second after I’d kissed Avra on the altar, I’d fought the urge to lay my mouth on her plump lips again and devour her. That brief taste had set to life a craving I needed to satisfy.
And for me to accomplish any of my carnal goals, it required privacy, something unavailable to me until this whole charade ended.
I planned to take my time with Avra, on her mouth with her sharp, clever tongue. I had a fascinating need to explore and taste every part of her. Sex with one woman for the rest of my life never appealed before, but I had a feeling it might with Avra.
There was no chance of doing anything with this joke of a reception, where I stood around receiving nonstop praise and congratulations.
The dinner and the couple’s dance exacerbated my annoyance at this display of excess. Having her in my arms and watching the flush creep up her skin sparked a caveman desire to throw her over my shoulder, take her to my suite of rooms, and consummate this marriage.
Instead, we avoided any conversation and made as much eye contact as possible.
Now, here I lingered, ready for another tumbler of whiskey to maintain the pretense the Xenos family ruled this section of Greece.
But I knew better, as did everyone else.
With Avra’s return, with her sisters here in the room, the tide prepared to change.
The shock of seeing them healthy, strong, and very much alive rippled throughout not only the attendees of the wedding but also the entire territory, if not Greece.
The Vitalises were royalty with ties to the old ways of our world.
Anyone who studied the sisters would see the unmasked intelligence in their eyes. They were every inch Juno Vitalis’s daughters, cunning and dangerous.
Especially the one that was mine.
Mine.
I couldn’t help but smile. I had married a beautiful predator, a perfect match for someone like me. I couldn’t wait until she learned I could hold my own with her.
Setting my empty glass on a counter, I searched for Avra.
Instead of her, I saw another woman who shouldn’t be here.
Francesca.
The blond glided through the guests, mingling near the ice fountain. The fact she hadn’t been invited and seeing her here incited suspicion about her motives.
Her focus landed on me, and I braced for some type of altercation. It looked as if she still refused to accept our association was over.
Immediately after the engagement became official, I broke things off with Francesca. She hadn’t taken the news well, begging me to reconsider and stooping so low as to offer to keep things as they were. She proposed to continue an affair after I married Avra.
There wasn’t any pondering my response, so I declined. Unlike my father, I wasn’t a cheater .
This only caused her to sob, wail, beg, and pray.
She changed her tactics when she realized I wouldn’t bend, accusing me of using her. I’d used her body just as she had mine. She knew marriage wasn’t part of our arrangement from the beginning. If she thought otherwise, then that was on her.
Her eyes brightened as she drew near, but I passed her, taking a different route and giving her a wide berth.
That was when I spotted Avra speaking with Cristo Caras, Morisi Bella, and Pello Korba. They were Ozias’s closest allies and the co-conspirators who’d helped him create the situation for Juno Vitalis’s murder in the middle of the city.
Those were the last men I expected her to be with. The cold anger blazing in her eyes as she spoke told me she’d rather set them on fire than look at them.
And from the angry scowls on the men’s faces, they were no fans of hers.
“What the fuck,” I growled.
It wasn’t as if I was unaware of her ulterior motives for our marriage. At least she could have waited until after the reception to start poking her enemies.
These men weren’t known for logic or reasoning. They acted before thinking and then regretted their actions.
I rushed over, curious and impatient to see what was happening and drawing nearer in time to catch bits of their discussion.
“Being in charge is something you’ll never know about, girl. ”
“Keep believing whatever you want. Just know, this little girl has no fear of you.” Avra pointed from her eyes to theirs and then said in a calm, almost melodic voice, “I see you. I see all of you. Remember, your landlord is coming.”
“Being Ozias’s daughter-in-law gives you no power. Don’t think otherwise,” Morisi stated. “He’s the one you should warn. You are no match for us.”
The men laughed, mocking Avra. Her expression remained serene.
“Go ahead and underestimate me, gentlemen.” She gave an exaggerated sigh and then shrugged. “Just know, in the end, only one of us will remain, and it’s the one with ovaries.”
For fuck’s sake.
Each of the men lost their smiles and laughter.
Their expressions fell, crumbling as they stared at her heated vow. I had to defuse the situation— now . This wasn’t the time or place for this kind of complicated confrontation. And it looked like my new wife couldn’t have cared less about when or where she made her thoughts known to them.
I quickened my steps, coming up behind her. Even if she registered my presence behind her, she gave no outward acknowledgment, only holding the angry death glares of the men with her cool, unaffected one.
She showed no apparent reaction as I wrapped my arm around her waist, sliding it along her back and side. I drew her back, and a jolt of awareness struck me, but I fought to ignore how right she felt against me.
With me .
Once we were alone, I anticipated a scolding for interrupting her. Still, she had no idea the danger she was treading in.
Cristo barely glanced at me, keeping his sneer firmly in place as Avra settled her palm over my hand. “You think you’re so smart.”
“There is no think in that equation. It is a fact.”
My hold on her tightened. Why couldn’t she keep quiet?
“Here is some truth,” Morisi added. “The wisdom of leaving the past in the past is best for your health and your sisters’.”
The muscles in Avra’s back tensed, and the anger in her radiated out. She turned toward me and lifted her hand, placing it on my chest. Fire burned in her eyes as she stared up at me.
It was my turn to step in.
So that was her game.
This was all about putting on a show and letting everyone see how seamlessly we fit together as a couple, fake smiles and forced touches and all.
I knew if I remained quiet longer than necessary, nothing would stop Avra from rendering another stinging retort.
I shifted, aligning my position with Avra’s. “Then can I assume the three of you learned from the past and plan to leave it there?”
I held each man’s gaze as I spoke the last few words. “There were many mistakes. Ones that no one plans to repeat.”
I tugged Avra closer to me, almost hugging her with the urgency I felt about pulling her out of this situation. There was no de-escalating the tension she’d built against them.
I had to get her the hell out of here. But first, I needed to ensure Ozias’s cronies understood my statement.
“Isn’t that right, gentlemen?” I asked them, daring them to argue with my advice.
Cristo grunted, lifting his glass to his lips before realizing it was empty.
“Sure,” Morisi agreed. “Sure, sure. The past stays in the past.”
That wasn’t what I fucking said.
“Congrats,” Pello replied, avoiding any acknowledgment of my words regarding old mistakes.
All three gave the impression of agreement while meaning none of it. They regretted nothing. To them, Juno Vitalis had made all the mistakes by trusting them. They were just like Ozias, possessing not a single ounce of remorse for their actions.
Greedy bastards, all of them, drunk on power and full of egos. I couldn’t wait to unseat them. Slitting their throats one by one would be a bonus.
Avra stiffened in my arms as the men turned away. Her rigid posture warned me that her temper had yet to cool.
I doubted she’d appreciate how I’d come in and taken over her conversation. I had known she disliked anyone talking over her from our first dinner, but there had been no other option here. The fact she knew when to give over to me said she understood the politics of this, even if she hated every moment of it .
As she turned to me slightly, fisting her fingers on my shirt, I wondered what would happen if she ever released the torrent of anger she locked away inside.
She bunched the fabric with a trembling rage, even though the relaxed expression on her flawless face gave the impression of peace and serenity.
“There will always be consequences for one’s actions,” she uttered darkly.
I knew she was talking about my statement to the men. If she wasn’t happy with my handling of the situation, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass.
It was time for her to deal with me.
“Very true.” I hugged her closer. “Your actions have them as well.”
Before she could say anything, I rushed her out of the large room.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Ignoring her protests, I guided her through the crowd and to the back of the house into one of the receiving rooms, far enough away from the guests to avoid an audience.
She wrenched herself free from my grip, breathless and radiating fury. “You asshole. What is your problem?”
She wasn’t the only one pissed off.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I resisted the urge to yell. “You’re the one out of your mind. How could you confront people like them at our wedding?”
I locked the door, not wanting to chance anyone walking in.
“Oh.” She crossed her arms and jutted one hip out. “I’m supposed to be the meek, silent wife? The fool who smiles at them and lets them?—”
“Yes,” I growled, keeping my voice down. “Those three don’t think before they act. They will put a hit on you for something as minor as insulting their ego, not caring you’re my wife.”
I stalked toward her. Instead of retreating, she stood her ground as if daring me.
The damn woman was infuriating.
“I will not apologize.”
“I’m not stupid. I wasn’t asking you to.”
“Then don’t expect me just to roll over and be happy that the very people who killed my father showed up to my wedding.”
“Like you give a fuck about the wedding. About marrying me. It’s just a play. Just an act, and don’t try to tell me otherwise.”
She slammed her lips together even tighter, and the sight of her so mad, so riled up, so alive , tempted me to take out my outrage on her the way I’d wanted earlier.
Fucking her into submission might be easier than getting her to listen to logic.
“It doesn’t matter. They had no right to come here today, representing the families who ruined mine.”
I gritted my teeth, reaching out for her but knowing that’d be my first mistake. With how furious I was and how deeply she taunted me.
I knew that the second I touched her I wouldn’t want to stop. “You married into one of those families. They are my father’s allies. So you need to get used to it.”
She lifted her hands, shoving at me and growing angrier when I wouldn’t budge. I gripped her hands and brought her nose to nose with me.
We stared each other down, our breaths unsteady.
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
I squeezed her wrists, wishing I could shake some sense into her. Or some answers out of her.
“Why did you want to marry me, Avra?”
She tipped her chin up, stubbornly silent.
“Why?” I demanded again. “What is it you gain by marrying me?”
Her laughter bubbled up, low and dark, as she smirked at me. “Isn’t it obvious after that scene?”
I moved closer, refusing to heed this raging desire that Avra’s rebelliousness, her defiance, spawned in me.
I stepped forward, setting one foot between her braced ones, our bodies close enough to brush. I resisted this electric tension that consumed me every second she pushed back.
“Spell it out for me,” I ordered.
She leaned up, bringing her lips to my ear.
“Revenge,” she replied.
I reared back, shaking my head. Still holding her wrists, I kept her close as I looked her in the eye. “That was a grave error on your part. I’m not the type of man to be led around by my dick. If that’s what you planned, it won’t happen.”
She yanked her hands free and slapped me. As the sting spread over my skin, I stared down at her, the outrage etched over her features.
“I’m not some whore,” she shot back.
“You’re wrong.” I lurched forward, grabbing her and pinning her to the wall behind her back.
She panted, sheer violence radiating out from her. She lifted her hand, clenching it as if to punch me, but I grabbed it and her other one, trapping them above her head.
“Let me go, you asshole.”
“I’m not an asshole. I’m your husband.”
“Same thing,” she seethed.
“I brought you in here to have the actions and consequences discussion. However, you need a demonstration.”
“Don’t you dare.” Her chest heaved with hard breaths, pushing her breasts against me.
“Dare what? Fuck you? Make you my whore?”
“I said I wasn’t a whore.”
“But you are. You are my whore. My wife. Mine to do with as I please.”
A flush crept up her cheeks, and lust glittered in her eyes, replacing the volcanic rage.
Through clenched teeth, she said, “Keep dreaming, Eli.”
I grinned, liking how she’d shortened my name, something only the few closest to me ever used.
“No dreams needed. It’s reality.” I brought my face a hairsbreadth from hers. “You will submit.”
“No.” She held my gaze, pupils dilating and challenge in her eyes. “Never to a Xenos.”
This back-and-forth sparring aroused her as much as it infuriated her. Avra wasn’t a woman to allow anyone to dominate her, and now here she was, pinned against a wall with me looming over her.
I lowered one hand, gliding it down the column of her neck, and gripped her throat. “You married a Xenos. That makes you one. It labels you as mine.”
“Never,” she growled, jerking against my hold even though she knew struggling was useless.
I wouldn’t let her go.
“Mine,” I repeated in a dark growl.
She continued to thrash until she accepted there was no freedom for her.
Breathing heavily, she remained quiet, only glaring at me with loathing and volatile hunger.
The blood in my veins heated, pushing at the rabid animal inside to take this woman and make her mine.
Her focus shifted to my mouth before she closed her eyes and muttered, “Fuck, I so hate you.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I groaned right as I slammed my mouth to hers.