Queen of Diamonds

Chapter 33

The trap was set.

I’d cycled through it a million times, trying to envision this end differently, but it never changed.

A heavy set of cuffs designed for Alphas chained my wrists, and a gag was tight around my mouth. Ace had picked the location for a spectacle. He lounged upon a wooden chair that almost looked like a throne, and I knelt before him, chained to a hook fixed to the wooden panels of a grand stage.

We were in a huge theatre, with curtains drawn to reveal a sea of empty red seats behind me. We weren’t alone, though; I’d heard quiet footfalls from the balconies above. Silent watchers ready, I knew, to kill on Ace’s command.

I was shivering from the cool metal on my wrists and the chill in the air. From shock.

My heart clenched as my mind ran into dead end after dead end, pure panic fraying the edges of my sanity as I fought with tears.

I’d rarely seen Ace so tense with thrill. He had chained me here with deliberation. Anyone who stepped through the doors ahead and into the theatre would see the marks on my back. My hair was draped over my shoulder so they remained visible, a part of the art, he’d told me, which I knew was that threat that I would pay if I tried to shift it to cover the scars.

The scars that were a claim he could finally show to the pack I’d left for him.

“You’ll see them first. They won’t die straight away,” Ace told me. “I could just have him shot, but where would be the fun in that?”

I stared at him, my mind working through that, then I turned desperately, the cuffs making it difficult. My eyes scanned the theatre, the rows of seats, searching for?—

Then I spotted it, only just visible because I knew what I was looking for. The tiniest glimmer that didn’t fit, the warm light that spilled from the stage, catching ever so slightly on something hair-thin.

A tripwire.

I couldn’t see the setup, the device that would trigger the moment that wire snapped—but it could be anywhere.

“The poison your mates have a fascination with is broadly versatile. It’s a neurotoxin. You can adjust the speed of paralysis before it finishes someone off. At its base, it should kill an Alpha in thirty minutes, but if I give them a little… help…” He tugged a little silver square from his pocket; it looked like it held a pill. “This will slow their death. They’ll still be conscious, unable to move or speak as you cry over them. We could play a game if the other two decide to play the hero and get themselves caught—I’ll free them if you make the first one suffer enough before he dies…”

I shook my head, a choked sound in my chest.

This couldn’t be real.

They wouldn’t come.

They would take the freedom and go…

“I can be merciful, Omega. When we leave, at least one will walk, just so you know the price if you leave me again.” He smiled, his eyes too intent as he met my gaze.

It was rare for his scent to give him away. I’d never known an Alpha who could keep such tight control over it, but I caught the edge of pure thrill, an acid bitterness to his roses.

“And we start these games again,” he said.

I turned back around the theatre, eyes wide, but when I looked at Ace again, he’d glanced down at his phone, a smile spreading on his lips.

“Someone is outside.”

No…

I shook my head, adrenaline making the world around me spin.

He’d won.

I threw myself against the chains as the world swam through tears. I had to make him understand.

He didn’t need to do this.

“I can only imagine what you’re trying to tell me,” he breathed, leaning down and gripping my chin. Tears tracked my cheeks.

He’d won.

I would never leave again.

But my pleas died at my gag and he let me go, leaning back with a cruel smile. “Which of your mates will die today?”

The bond was tense and locked down.

I had an earpiece in to communicate with my brothers, but we hadn’t spoken in a while.

I was in a dim hallway of a vast theatre, gun at the ready.

One of three locations.

My heart thundered in my chest, guilt setting me on edge. Ace had so much more intel than I’d realised.

She was alone.

Afraid.

Mymate.

Just like I’d suspected, we’d found the traces of nesting in the cupboard beneath the sink in her bathroom. A bowl, my bracelet, and one of Zed’s rings. A piece from each of us. The beginnings of a nest. Omegas didn’t begin building a nest like that unless they felt safe.

And now… I’d failed her—left her to be taken from the place she should have been safe.

I had known, always, that I loved her, no matter the choice she’d made. She was my other half. A piece of me I couldn’t leave behind, or hate, not like the others had.

I flinched as a voice crackled in the intercoms above.

“You know, she swore to me you wouldn’t come for her…”

That was Ace.

This was it. She was here.

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath before I readied my weapon, whole body tense as I edged up to a corner. Around it was a flight of stairs. I’d entered through the basement, and the main floor was above.

Ace’s voice crackled overhead once more.

“…But she’s always such a liar when it comes to matters of the heart.”

We were on the back foot, and I wasn’t used to it, but I couldn’t get caught until I knew where she was. Gritting my teeth and knowing I would never leave this place without her, I took the steps to the floor above.

I took the last few steps to the main floor, reaching a set of double doors.

She was here.

“Guys?” Kyan spoke in my earpiece. “I think...”

He trailed off as Ace spoke into the intercom above.

“You still have time to turn around and walk away.”

The same voice echoed from Kyan’s comm, too.

“He’s playing with us,” I growled.

“I have the same.” That was Zed.

Fuck.

This was dangerous. Guns or not, one of us was walking into a trap. Maybe all of us. And yet, there was no choice. We were fighters, always had been. We had to hope that once it sprung, we’d be able to find a way out.

With her with us.

Kyan had gathered his whole stash of weapons. There was a gas mask clipped to my belt, and tubes of knockout gas in my pocket.

None of them would do us any good in most circumstances—not against guns in staked out locations, or places where they might be at risk of hurting her.

It didn’t matter.

Taking a breath, I pushed the door open, slipping around it and into a huge, empty theatre lobby.

It was an old building with worn carpets, aged wooden beams, and dated chandeliers.

Each of the locations had been theatres all across Vegas. No one was more likely to be the right choice than the next. All easily staked out, meaning Ace would know if we didn’t come alone.

And we’d had only hours—not nearly enough to make a better plan.

If we wanted a chance at getting her back, we had to take the bait.

I couldn’t think about what would happen if we failed. About the fact that I’d been wrong all this time.

Ahead of me, in the silent lobby, there were two huge double doors. Beyond, I knew, was the theatre.

Beyond, I would find her.

“Last chance,”Ace taunted above. “Walk away and leave me to my prize.”

There were so many pieces of this puzzle we didn’t have, but I knew now we’d made a mistake. She wasn’t the enemy.

I would rather die than leave her behind.

I’d drawn the queen of diamonds, and it had led me to my mate.

I stepped through the doors into the vast theatre to find her. Beautiful and tragic, she was chained to a hook on the ground, straining to turn toward me. Before her, lounging in a chair like a king on a throne, was Ace.

My brother. Every hair on my body stood on end as I stepped in, not lowering my weapon.

Ace looked unarmed, but I wouldn’t be fooled. My gaze darted to the side, but the lighting in the room was exclusive to the stage, and I couldn’t see anything. I reached to my ear, pressing the button on my comms so it was open for my pack to hear.

“Brother.” Ace’s voice carried easily across the space as he spread his arms. In one hand, he held a black device—the microphone he’d been using to taunt us through the building’s intercoms. “I hoped it would be you.”

With another step, I took her in properly. She was gagged, and wore a red dress that dipped low upon her back, revealing… my heart tripped.

Her back was covered in scars. Old wounds she must have had for a long time. Deep enough I could see them from here. They seemed to form a deliberate pattern or shape. I took a step forward, unable to understand what it was, but Glade let out a wounded sound, throwing herself against the chains, eyes wide as she twisted desperately toward me.

She shook her head, tears tumbling down her cheeks.

It broke me seeing her like that. My pulse picked up, instincts threatening to steal me away, but I warred with them, knowing I needed to keep my head.

I knew the risk. I knew how vulnerable I was as I stepped out from beneath the balconies above and into the huge room.

Ace wouldn’t be here alone.

But I had a gun trained on him, and he knew my aim was true.

“Name what you want.” I forced my voice steady. “Let her go.”

“What I want from you?” Ace laughed. “What could you possibly offer? The night our father called you into his study for the last time, you handed me all you would ever be worth.”

I took another step, mind racing.

What did that mean?

“Three months?” My father was furious. “Three months since Kyan failed his assignment to kill Lily Romano. Since you convinced me to wait before taking action.”

I stared at him, working through the answer I hadn’t been prepared to give him. Lily was her birth name, but she was Glade to me. The name she’d chosen to hide her identity while we courted her. A name just for us.

“You waited three months to bring this truth to me?” my father asked. “You scent-matched her?”

I gritted my teeth, weighing my options, but he knew already. “We decided to…” I faltered on the word ‘court’. He wouldn’t react well to that. “To convince her to take our side.”

“You… what?”

“She’s ready to accept an offer of alliance.”

“Accept…?” He cocked his head, lips drawn in a flat line as he examined me, fury spiking in his eyes. I took a breath, cooling my nerves.

That had been a mistake. I had to tread more carefully. “We need her father on board. Now, she can?—”

“Need?” my father asked.

“If we want an alliance with the Romanos,” I said carefully. We did, but I’d hit a nerve. Joshua Maverick was a prideful man.

“You think your own family is too weak for a war?”

“I want us to be as strong as we can be.”

He sneered, getting to his feet. “And you believe we need a Romano whore’s help for that?”

My anger flared at those words, but I bit my tongue, mind racing, searching for a way to calm him.

It was why I would never tell him the true plan. That I loved her—and she, us.

I realised as the red crept up his pale neck that it was too late. Far too late. “Go to your pack. Tonight, one of them will finish the job they should have finished three months ago.”

My blood turned to ice. “You want us to kill our own scent match?”

“I didn’t raise you to be soft.” His eyes were glacial, and his next words were like a knife to my heart.

“Prove you’re worthy of taking my place.”Back in the theatre, Ace spoke, echoing the final words of my father before he’d left the room. “See she’s dead by the end of the night.”

He laughed coldly.

“You were there?” My throat was dry.

If Ace had overheard that conversation with my father, and then followed me, he would have known what happened next.

“I’d seen her sneaking into your room one night. I knew you were about to screw up, the way I’d been waiting for. And sure enough, you made sure someone was dead by the end of the night…” Ace grinned. “And all of it, the perfect gift for me. Father was dead and I caught Kyan with that poison. I had a tape that would have seen you all murdered by the Brotherhood for treason that very day.”

My chest was tight as I looked from Ace, down to where Glade was chained. There were tears in her eyes as she stared back at me.

“I would have, too, until I realised there was one more thing of yours I could take.”

No…

“Your mate…” He shifted his foot, tipping his boot to nudge her chin toward him. She twisted away, and I staggered another step toward her, a growl in my throat. “… More intelligent than her designation should ever allow for. She was visiting you that night, and she found out what I’d seen. She offered me a trade. If I spared you, she would choose me.”

My stomach dropped, and I almost dropped my aim on him as I looked back to her, heart like a cold rock in my chest.

She couldn’t have… but I saw sorrow crest her fear for just a moment as she met my eyes.

I heard a flicker of static in my ear, as if one of my brothers were going to speak, but nothing came through. Or I didn’t process it as Ace went on, his voice faint beside the pounding blood in my ears.

“She would offset my claim, handing me just as much as that video would—my brother’s own scent match—key to an alliance that would do nothing but bring us strength, walking away from destiny to kneel before his younger brother. And in exchange, I would destroy the evidence, show you mercy and banish you instead.”

I’d… I’d handed him everything he needed to take her from me. Right down to the gift I’d given her—the chance to fall in love with us.

And she’d fallen so hard she’d done what no other Omega would have—not like an Omega bonded for alliance and nothing more.

She’d given everything for us.

And I’d… Bile burned my throat.

I’d believed, all these years, that she was the devil.

Ace continued, voice cruel. “I’ve never met a whore quite as stubborn. She never wanted me. Not really, but I’m not a complete monster. I won’t claim an Omega who doesn’t want me. I told her I would claim her, but only if she asked.”

My gaze drifted to the scars.

What… were they?

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen loyalty like hers. Heat after heat, she would suffer.”

My gun had never trembled in my grip before, but it did now.

“I admit to taking it a little to heart. She was in heat, I was right there and still, she never asked…”

Another numb step down the central aisle, and I was halfway to the stage.

Glade threw herself against the chains, turning again, more frantic. Her eyes were wide and terrified, glittering with tears as she tried to scream to me. For me?

I didn’t know.

But I was here. I would die before leaving without her. My gun was still trained on my brother as he spoke, but I dared not pull the trigger. Not until I could be sure she wouldn’t pay.

“…Instead, she’d say the same three words, over and over and over…” Ace’s voice dropped to something cold. “…until I got sick of them.”

He shifted his foot, catching the edge of the chains, dragging them toward him sharply enough that Glade was ripped toward him.

I finally understood.

The scars on her back were three carved words, and reading them made the earth come to a standstill.

They were our names, etched into her flesh.

Kyan.

Knight.

Zed.