Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
LOCH
DirtTGirl.
Holy shit, it’s Alena!
I auto-save my video call chats, but I don’t need to search my files to know her anywhere. Her dirty talk. Her fantasies. They’re seared into my soul. They shove me over the edge. I lose control for @DirtTGirl, and it’s…
Alena?
She’s so innocent, awkward, and sweet—and yet—she’s not.
Knowing her sexy secret, what it does to me. I’m half-flattered.
No, dumbfounded by Fate. You mean I’ve been with Alena online for three years?
But half of me is jealous. Of myself? Of @LuvPounder and his power over her? The dirty things he’s made her do, and she got off sending me videos? The banana in the dressing room last year?
How the fuck is this possible?
So, now what?
Alena wants @LuvPounder and me?
She’s been with him and is so damn loyal; does she love him? Can you love a faceless dick?
But now she’s found me, Loch. She knows we’re special, and so she’ll dump him?
Should I tell her I want to be exclusive? That’s the way I’m wired. Will that freak her out?
Or will she hide it? Will she be shy and lie to me about that side of her? Her kinky side making this so painful and pleasing because it means she’s even more of a match for me.
Because Alena would never deceive. Deception requires planning; you know you’re going to hurt someone, and she’d never do that. She stumbled into her lie, her secret with me, and she doesn’t even know it.
She’s a good person.
But clearly, I’m not.
I’m deceiving her.
I’ve been hiding who I really am, in plain sight, her entire life. In town. On the beach. At a convenience store. I’ve been a stranger to her, while she’s become everything to me.
If this Bratva bullshit didn’t exist, we’d already be together. We would’ve met at the Slurpee machine when we were teenagers. Or I would’ve approached her on the beach when she rescued that boy and taken her out for dinner. Either way, we’d be married by now.
But it doesn’t matter.
Because Fate’s doing it again. She wants us to be together.
Alena’s perfect for me. When she’s not being a dirty scientist or a fucking badass, she craves pleasure and submission. She’s starving to be adored, and it’s all I want to do.
I thought I was a loser, loving her from afar. But now, I’m not. I was right; we’re special together.
Love sends you signs. Accept them as gifts because not everyone receives them.
But right now?
I need to meet with The Queen and my brothers. Calls and chats won’t cut it. I got an eerie vibe about that young woman Alena rescued yesterday. Sasha. It was visceral and in my blood. Dark things are going on up here, and the fuck if I’ll leave Alena unguarded. I need backup.
So I embrace the stalking.
I shadow Alena’s old, dirty truck down the interstate while I call Axel on my Bluetooth.
“Yeah?” ONE appears on my dashboard’s screen. It’s Axel’s number. He’s The King in charge.
“I’m coming home with Alena,” I announce. “We’ll be there in three hours. Tell Nash to be at his house to greet her, and then I want everyone to meet me at the club at six.”
“You’re coming home with Alena?” Axel barks. “The fuck you are!”
“Bruh, you should’ve thought about this before you devised this crazy plan for me to be her secret bodyguard. It’s impossible. So, we’re friends now. She knows—”
“Friends?” His seething voice fills my truck. “You’re not fucking friends with Alena Allen. You guard her with your life, you stay hidden and safe, and you keep your hands off her. Understood?”
Why is Axel like this with Alena?
He’s not this way with Delphine, our other queen. Hell, he wasn’t this protective with his first wife either.
Katya, Axel’s first wife, was our first queen. She wanted it as much as Axel. Maybe it was her Russian lineage; she knew about the secret tradition.
But with her, our private initiation felt more sexual, less sacred. We used the boardroom in Axel’s office, and Katya wanted all of us. All the kings, and we gave her what she demanded. Me, in her throat. Axel in her ass. Sire in her cunt. Then Grant and Nash and Jace and so on. She was insatiable.
And I can’t lie; we enjoyed it. We felt it. What happens when brothers share a woman. Other cultures do it, and now I know why.
You don’t just bond with the woman, vowing you’ll always protect her. You bond with your brother, honored by his trust, sharing something that’s helped cultures survive the most brutal conditions. You’ll always fight by your brother’s side.
His children are yours. His wife—yours. His future is so intertwined with yours; nothing can break your bond.
That’s what created us: seven kings with seven queens. Led by the wisdom of The Queen. No war, nor Bratva Pakhan, can break us. We’re too powerful together.
But Katya left Axel almost two years ago, just fucking ghosted him, and he’s been a hyper-dick ever since. Broken. Bitter. But fuck, I’ll always love him.
“No, man,” I bark back, “you need to understand. Alena’s smart. I can’t shadow her without her detecting it. So now we’re friends, minus the fucking.”
Until I make her mine. Until our love can survive my lies. It’s the only way.
“She’ll stay home with Nash,” I add. “His place is a fortress. And me and Mutt will stay with Sire. I’ll say he’s a friend. That I went to his church. Whatever. I have a backstory, so get off my ass and meet me at the club. I got some other shit I need to tell you.”
Axel sighs heavily.
Deep down, he’s a dick because he cares. He hides scars from our evil father, and it’s like he swore he’d be the best father, not a good brother, to me.
Sire’s my eldest brother, and he doesn’t judge. I think it’s because he fears judgment himself, so I can tell him anything.
My other brothers are pretty much the same. We’re so alike that we can be ourselves with each other. They’re just shit at lying, even for a good reason.
But Axel?
He’s loved me like a dad, pushing me like a father. He’s been tough, but he’s always been there. He’s always pulled me into a hug and grumbled, “I’m proud of you, man. Love you.” Though he makes it sound fucking painful to say it.
“What’s wrong?” He calms down about Alena.
“We had a water rescue yesterday. A naked young woman who had escaped her traffickers. They’re using RVs up here to move them around. I’m already on their trail. Ask Jace and Grant. They’ll fill you in.”
I check my speed. We won’t risk tickets or criminal records. Our father could find us that way, so I slow down. Though Alena’s got a lead foot, I know where she’s going. She’ll stop at the convenience store on Folly Beach, and I’ll meet her there at the Slurpee machine.
“But this victim,” I explain. “Her name is Sasha. Or that’s the name she gave. But fuck, she looked familiar, and I don’t know why.”
“Probably because we rescue too many like her,” Axel reasons.
“They have a certain look in their eyes, a fear that’s unmatched, and it makes us want to slice the throats of the men who put it there.
In fact…” He must be walking along The Battery, the historic seawall in Charleston.
I can hear a ship’s horn in the distance.
“Sire got some intel. We’re arranging another buy in a couple of months. Florida, I think.”
It’s what we do. Rescue girls and women from the fate our mother suffered. Some people don’t want to admit or stop how a few powerful, evil, untouchable men have destroyed thousands of victims.
Until it’s your daughter.
Even though Nash isn’t our blood brother, he loves our mom. But it’s like our fight means even more to him because he has a daughter. He’d kill every man alive for Alena, and I get it.
Though she’s an adult now, Alena is the first child of one of our kings. There will be more. How we rally to protect her from our enemies, Bratva or traffickers, sets a precedent for our future kids. They’ll come after them, too, and the only way to protect them is together.
“Florida? Fuck, man.” I groan, sickened. “Are you serious? More girls?”
Sire gets all the tips. Some of his parishioners are undocumented, and they trust him to help when they’re targeted. They tell him who to go after.
We could stop doing this dangerous shit, but that would be selling out the future of every victim who needs someone fighting for them.
Like Maxim fought for our mom.
“Yeah, man, more girls.” Axel sounds as sick as I feel. “So, we’ll meet at the club, but who’s guarding Alena while we’re there?”
“Easy.” I need to lift the mood, and this does. “She’s going home to visit her dad, then to visit her best friend at work.”
Axel chuckles. “Oh, Nash will love that. His daughter going to visit Vale at the South’s most exclusive sex shop.”
I share his amusement. “Where Vale, Nash’s secret obsession, unknowingly works with our brothers? Yeah. Tell Jace to stay there. He’s already clued in.”
“Clued and glued.” Finally, Axel’s shooting the shit with me. “Ever notice how Jace is glued to that shop, even when he’s not guarding their door?”
My stomach drops. “You don’t think Jace is into Vale? I mean… she’s Nash’s girl.”
“Uh, Vale doesn’t know that.”
“But Nash does. He’s in love with Vale; we all know it.”
“Maybe Jace is into another babe.” He sounds oddly happy. “They’re like magnets to that sex store.”
Axel’s so busted.
“Oh”—I laugh—“so you’re back at Delta’s, shopping for more anal-plug fans?”
“And nipple clamps,” he boasts. “They sell the best ones, but no. I’ve got my eye on someone else.”
A smile hits my face. I worried Axel’s ex-wife had broken him. Deep down, I fucking love my brothers. I only want them to be happy.
“Who is she?” I ask.
“She just left my office wearing a purple dress,” Axel reveals. “I’m following her now.”
The fucker’s being coy. “And her name?”
“Is MINE.” He pauses, sucking his teeth. “And I meant it about Alena. Hands off.”
And we’re back to Axel in dick mode.
Why?