Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
ALENA
My mom used to say, “Speak the truth and shame the devil.”
But what if your father looks like a handsome devil? A devil, who you know loves you so much, he’ll kill anyone who hurts you.
Or in this case.
Fucks you.
I reply with a gulp, “Nothing.”
Not wanting another fight, but not seeing a way out of this one.
Dad narrows his eyes at me. “You didn’t just say nothing. You said something about your first.” His lip curls. “Your first what?”
“Drop it, Nash.” Loch tries to protect me. “It’s none of your business, and we have other problems to solve.”
“Problems?” Dad slices his glare to Loch, then back to me. “Oh, we’ll have a problem, Alena, until you tell me why you just put Loch and Axel’s names in the same breath with your first.”
My stomach twists as I glance around the room. All astonished eyes are on me. Except for one pair, Axel’s. They’re resigned and ready for me to take control.
I look at Loch, knowing I have his support, his love.
And me?
Maybe I’m like many women and getting really tired of this—my sex under scrutiny.
Kneeling beside Nadine, I rise, brushing lint off my jeans, before I lift my eyes, meeting my father’s glare...
Remembering the notes he left on napkins in my lunchbox. The books he’d read to me at bedtime. The year he taught me how to use a gun, choke a man, and change a flat tire.
I’m so grateful to be his daughter, but I’m not his property.
My answer is strong, sure, and swift. “I asked Axel to take my virginity when I was twenty-one, and he helped me.”
Cue gasps from the queens, and a rumble of “oh fuck” from the kings, but I keep my eyes confronting my father’s fury and lift my chin.
“My body, my business, Dad. I love you so much, but my sex is not property; it’s my right, and mine alone. It’s not up for debate or details.”
All the years I’ve dreaded this, I assumed my father would pounce like a lion and gnash Axel’s neck open. That I’d cry, screaming, trying to stop him by taking the blame, and by some miracle, my father would cease, inches before Axel’s death.
But it’s much worse.
My dad sits so stoic and so still beside Vale with his arm draped over her shoulder; it’s unnerving. Unsettling. Unlike him.
While Vale’s eyes search mine, silently screaming, “Oh my god! Axel was your first? Hell yes.” And, “Oh hell.”
But I reach for Loch’s hand. “Loch is my first love, my only love. He is my king, and I’m his queen, and this conversation is over.”
Is it? Because every muscle on every king is tensed, ready to vault into action. Every queen darts their eyes, ready to demand a ceasefire.
A bloodbath is imminent.
“No,” but my dad leers at Axel, the veins in his neck straining, his eyes distant. Deadly. Decided. “We’re over.”
Calmly, he rises, taking Vale’s hand. Silently, she follows, her face twisting with concern as he pecks my cheek before turning to Loch. “Protect her,” he orders before he aims for the front door.
Shocked, I glance at Loch, who mirrors my reaction. I check Axel, who looks wounded. When I look at Nadine, she arches her brow, teaching me, so I shout, “Dad! Wait! You can’t just walk out.”
He halts with his broad back to us. Rage ripping across his muscles, fury huffing from his lungs, I can tell.
Vale tugs his hand, softly pleading, “Talk to her, my king.”
“Yeah, talk to me,” I echo Vale. “Shout at us. Scream and yell, but don’t you dare walk out on me. I didn’t walk out on you when you ripped my world apart, so you will turn around and speak to me with respect. Like a queen. Like your daughter. Now.”
“Respect?” Slowly, he pivots, his eyes ignited with ire. “As a woman, I respect you, Alena. As a queen, I will not raise my voice at you. But as a father, you’ve broken my heart because respect”—he whips his glare to Axel—“respect should’ve kept his fucking hands off my daughter!”
“I’m sorry.” Axel’s tone falls with his face.
“No.” But I won’t collapse. “No, we’re not sorry because we did nothing wrong.”
I turn my stare back to my dad, and something snaps. Something breaks free and isn’t going back.
“How does a woman win, Dad? You say you want to protect me when the greatest risk to me is men not respecting my body, my choice. So, I chose a man I trusted. One of the few at the time who was kind to me, while the rest were cruel.”
“He should’ve said NO to you,” Dad seethes at Axel.
But Vale swipes a tear away, explaining to him, “No, Axel took care of her. You don’t know how mean boys could be to us. How much they bullied her.”
Ruby implores, “Axel helped Alena, even if it meant losing you.” She appeals to my dad. “And isn’t that what a king does? He protects a queen at all costs?”
“Protect her”—Dad glares back at Axel—“not fuck her.”
“Okay, hang on.” Wren smiles. “We’re not buying this double standard. It’s okay for you to keep fucking Alena’s best friend, but Alena can’t fuck yours once? Crass, but accurate. Yes?”
Sire grins because Wren’s right.
Dad sucks his teeth, caught in the hypocrisy, but this goes deeper than that. I know what speaks to him.
“Dad.” He looks at the tears brimming in my eyes. “My mom fought for her country. She knew if a woman can’t control her body, she has no freedom at all. And she died for that freedom, my freedom, and so will I.”
Slowly, Delphine claps. Wren and Ruby join her. Vale winks at me. Nadine nods. I feel the pride, too, but also my tears.
“Dad, I love you, and I know this is a shock. Trust me, I know how much it hurts. And for that, I’m sorry. You’re mad, but so was I about all the secrets you kept from me, but I forgave you. I forgave everyone because you taught me that.”
Loch rises, clasping my hand. “I’d say I forgive Axel, but I’ve come to realize there’s nothing to forgive about what happened that night. When Alena needed him, Axel was there. He protected her. It’s what we’d do for every queen in this room.”
I’m breathless, shocked at Loch’s change in sentiment, and so damn in love with him. He never fails to amaze me, to put his male ego aside and just love me. All of me.
“It’s how we survive,” Sire proclaims. “If I’m not here, protect Wren. Give her anything she needs. I only trust my kings to do it.”
Wren clasps his inked face. “But you are here and not going anywhere again.”
“Angel.” He brushes his lips over hers. “I came too close to death to not know how I’ll live every day, loving you. And that means asking my kings to love you too.”
“And we do.” Jace rises beside Axel. “We love all of our queens, and if Alena had asked me, I would’ve done the same.”
Nick adds, “If my pole could fly a flag for a woman, it would rise to help every queen in this room.”
“Same,” Grant declares. “I’d proudly do it.”
My eyes widen. “Seriously?”
Whoops. I said that. Sounding way too flattered.
But Axel focuses on my dad, vowing, “I never want to hurt another king. Nash, I swear, you know I love you. But my loyalty is to our queens, to my dying day.”
Sire jokes, “If y’all wanna big brawl again to get it out of your system, I’ll referee.”
“The hell y’all will.” Nadine rules. “No child of mine fights another.” Gently, she looks at my dad. “Did you hear me, son?”
Dad blinks, swallowing. He never knew his mother, but he loves his mom. “Yes, my Queen.”
“Good.” She nods. “Now, we have a missing princess to find.”
Ruby adds, “And a Bratva king who’s dying.”
“Dying?” Jace looks at her. “You mean Ruslan?”
Ruby nods. “Ruslan and Katya paid me a visit, too. They want Axel’s kidney because he’s rejecting Sire’s.”
Sire scoffs, “Course he is. The soul who sins shall die.”
“Hang on.” Wren raises her hand again. “Quick question.”
“Yes, Angel?” Sire chuckles.
Wren tilts her head, asking me, “Does this mean Axel is your second king?”
I look at Loch, who gazes back at me, able to rip any man apart, but all he does is pull me into a beastly hug.
And I can’t answer the question because I’m so in love with him, my king.