Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
LOCH
Nash swirls his cognac, grinning with his praise. “Wren’s our next queen, that’s for damn sure. She may be young, but she can run circles around him.”
Jace chuckles. “Sire’s finally settling down. ’Bout damn time.”
Even Axel smiles about Wren before hissing an amber sip over his lips. Behind him, his office wall of shelves with leather-bound tomes imposes its wisdom over the room, while I’m ready to share mine.
“Alena should be a queen too.” I shock my brothers, who whip their stares at me. “She can run circles around the four of us. She’s a badass.”
Like a lion, Nash snarls, “My daughter is our princess. She doesn’t need to be a queen.”
“God, man.” I toss my chin up, frustrated. “Alena’s not your little girl anymore. She’s an adult.”
“And you’re not a father,” Nash reprimands. “You don’t know how your daughter will always be your little girl.”
I aim my glare at him. “You’re her father, yes, but you’re not stupid either. In your heart, she’s your little girl, but your head knows she’s a grown woman. She doesn’t belong to you.”
Axel lowers his brows. “Then who does Alena belong to, baby brother? And just how do you know she’s a grown woman?”
Because she claims my soul every time I come inside her.
This fucker. Why is he so fierce about Alena?
“Because she’s mine!” I boom. I explode. I turn my world into fire and ash for her. “Because I love Alena! I’m so goddamn in love with her! She makes me blueberry pancakes for breakfast, I pack her turkey sandwiches for lunch, and then we fuck all night until she falls asleep in my arms.”
“Oh, shit,” Jace murmurs, quickly reaching for his phone.
I know who he’s summoning, but Sire can’t stop me now.
“You fucked my daughter?” Nash leaps, pouncing like a lion on top of me. It topples my chair over while I let him punch my face. Once. Twice. Three times, I promised Alena I’d let him, but I’m no one’s bitch or baby.
I throw a right hook, catching Nash in the nose, hoping he’ll stop when I hear it snap before it pours blood.
I broke it, but tell that to Nash, who won’t stop punching me. With a left jab, he cuts my eyebrow open. Blood blinds me while Nash hits me with blows to my body and heart.
Forever, I let him do it.
“My daughter? You fucked my daughter? You piece of shit! I trusted you!” With brutal uppercuts, he attacks my ribs.
“You’re not my brother. You’re not my fucking brother if you laid a fucking hand on my daughter.
” Over and over. Fucker knows what he’s doing.
I can’t breathe. “I’m gonna fucking kill you. ”
I twist and block, not fighting Alena’s father. I’m fighting my instinct to kill Nash. I fucking could. I’m bigger. I could flip him over and gouge his eyes while I smash his skull open. I’ve done it a dozen times, and I’ll do it again.
But for Alena, I take his rage. I let him whale on me, putting my arms up, blocking more punches to my face. Each one, a memory jabbed of growing up with Nash. Of loving Alena.
What the fuck am I supposed to do?
“Get off him.” Jace wraps his arm around Nash’s neck, choking him. “Don’t make me hurt you for him,” he warns. “Goddamnit, you two. You’re my brothers. Chill the fuck out!”
Nash finally surrenders, putting his hands up seconds before Jace chokes him out.
Licking his bloody lips, Nash rises over me, snarling, “You’re fucking dead to me.”
“No, I’m not.” I climb to my feet, ribs broken, but I stand eye to bloody eye with Nash. “I live to love Alena. Always have. Always will.”
“Why Alena?” Axel stalks toward me. “You can have any woman. Why her?” With a right hook, he punches my jaw.
“Because, Dick!” So I uppercut his gut, then jab Axel’s big mouth. “I love her!”
My eyebrow won’t stop gushing blood as Axel lunges for me. “She deserves better, you fucking—”
He tackles me to the carpet, but I roll on top of him, cocking my fist to punch his mocking mouth. I’m tired of being told what the fuck to do when I hear THE voice.
“Hurt my brother, and I will strike you down!” Sire booms like God above.
I glance up at my eldest brother, shocked. “You’re defending Axel? He fucking started it!”
It’s like somehow Axel knew about Alena and me. How?
Sire growls, looming over us. “I’m defending both of you, and I will fucking finish both of you if you don’t stop this shit right now.”
I drop my fist.
“Jesus.” Jace leans against the arched window, rolling his eyes. “They’ll listen to you but not me?”
Sire leans down, getting in my face, then Axel’s. “Because they know I’m fucking crazy when I’m mad, and nothing pisses me off more than our family fighting.” He thumps my forehead. “Get the fuck off him.”
I crawl up, relieved. I don’t want to hurt my brothers, but I’ll kill them for Alena.
I glance at Nash, pacing like a bloody lion contemplating my murder. Guess the only thing stopping him is that deep down, he knows I’d never hurt her.
“And you.” Sire puts his finger in Axel’s face. “You should know better. I make the heads roll in this family, not you.”
“Did you know?” Axel spits blood on his carpet. “Did you know about him and Alena?”
“Yes.” Sire turns to Nash. “I’ve known Loch has been in love with Alena since before you told him to guard her.”
He did? Shit. Was I that obvious? Asking about Alena at every kings’ meeting? Sitting in the back of Sire’s church when she’d go to his sermons? Volunteering to give up my dream to be a Marine so I could protect her?
Yeah, guess it didn’t take a fucking genius to figure it out. Just a brother who cares.
Nash charges toward Sire. “You fucking knew?”
“Yes.” Sire stands in front of me like I need his protection. I don’t. I’m ready to crack skulls for my woman.
“Because he loves Alena,” Sire reasons with Nash, palming his chest. “And that’s all you should want; a good man who loves your daughter and—”
“I’d never let anything happen to her,” I interrupt.
The deadly, bloody glare I exchange with Nash holds over twenty years of trust built, of memories shared, of bloodshed together. He knows the kind of man I am.
The one who lives to love his daughter.
He can fight me over her, but I’ll fucking win.
“Um, guys.” A cute voice sings. I turn to see a tiny woman raising her hand. “Can we press pause on this beefy brawl while someone points me in the direction of a first aid kit?”
Axel points to the empty office behind her. “In the break room, on the right, under the sink.”
Sire winks at her. “Thanks, Angel.”
Ah, she must be Wren.
“No problem,” Wren chirps. “You know, it’s gonna be a bitch getting that blood out of the carpet.”
She breaks the tension in the room. I watch Nash exhale while Jace laughs. “She’s the smartest one of us all. She’s trying to fix this shit while y’all keep fighting about it, which is fucking dumb because you can’t help who you fall in love with.”
Jace is defending his heart and mine.
But Axel yells, pointing his finger at me, “You will marry her! I won’t let you break her heart!”
What the hell? Why does Axel care so much about Alena? She’s mine.
“Fuck you!” I shout back at him, plopping down on his desk.
It’s either that, or I’ll kill him and regret it.
“I already bought her an engagement ring today. So, don’t turn this into some arranged marriage bullshit where you think you can tell me what to do, and I have to listen.
I guarded her because I wanted to. I was already in love with her, but then she fell in love with me, too, and now, we’re getting married. ”
Have I asked her yet? No. Will she say yes? Please god, it’s my only wish.
But right now, the devil in me needs to tell my brothers to go to hell.
They’re not in charge.
I am.
While Alena’s been at the spa with my mom, I’ve been ring shopping, trying to find one that’ll look perfect on her finger and complement the dirt I love that’s often under her nails. And I did.
I’ll marry Alena to prove to Nash that I love her. He needs to accept it: she’s mine.
To my point, he seethes, “When were you going to ask my permission to marry my daughter?”
“Um,” I deadpan, “after you punched my bleeding eye, but before you tried to break my nose.”
“Here. Use this. Apply pressure.” Like an angel, one appears by my side, handing me a piece of folded gauze. “I’m Wren, by the way.”
“Thanks, Wren.” Accepting it, I grin. “I’m Loch.”
She winks. “I figured.”
“How were you going to do this without our support?” Axel demands to know, “How are you going to marry Alena without her finding out about us?”
Boldly, Wren hands Axel gauze for his bloody lip, bossing him, “That’s gonna need some ice, too.”
Oddly, Axel looks calmed by her. “Thanks, Wren.”
We all are. It’s what our queens do: save our dumb asses.
Cutely, she shrugs. “No problem.”
Fuck, I wish Wren could meet Alena. They’re so much alike, blurting and not giving a shit.
“He’ll marry her.” Nash glares at me. But then he remembers we’re brothers and says, “And we’ll never tell Alena who we are—”
And then there’s this shit again: Nash and his refusal to tell Alena the truth.
“Here,” Wren interrupts him, handing Nash gauze for his broken nose. “Lean forward and pinch your nose,” she orders. “Don’t tip your head back. That’s a misconception.”
“Uh…” Nash obeys. “Thanks, Wren.”
“You’re welcome.” She turns, shaking her head like she can sense my frustration.
She makes Jace snort and Sire laugh.
“What?” she asks them.
Sire adores her. “Want to tell us why you won’t stop shaking your head at us?”
Her topaz eyes widen. “Was I?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jace puffs. “Because they’re dumbasses, right?”
Wren shrugs, warning, “Any man’s a dumbass if you think you can keep a secret from a woman for long. From what I gather, Alena doesn’t know who you are. That you’re ex-Bratva?”
I wince, fearing Wren’s right.
This secret will explode, destroying Alena and me one day.
Axel, the king charged with guarding our hidden identities, sneers at Sire, “And just how does SHE know who we are?”