Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
WREN
In minutes, I’m changed and knocking on Axel’s door.
“Yes, Princess?” He opens it, naked and wet, like he just took a shower.
I glance down at Axel’s body, covered in muscles and ink. That’s why he’s not shy.
He scans my curves in a white string bikini, and swallows. His body reacts to mine, but his face doesn’t. He’s stoic, and I like it.
“Who is she?” I ask, handing him a pair of black swim trunks.
“She?” He takes them, standing there.
Still naked. Still getting hard. Still looking at me like he’s seeing someone else.
“Yes, the woman you’re in love with. It’s sweet. I can see her in your icy eyes. Not your dick. But your eyes.”
Axel lowers his husky voice. “I’m working on her. Okay? She’ll be my queen, I know it, but I need time. She won’t be easy.”
I tilt my head. “Can I help?”
I’ve shocked him. Suddenly, he looks like he’d kill for me, too.
“Yeah, you can help me. Don’t tell anyone. Okay? I don’t need shit for this.” He swallows. “I don’t want to lose her.”
“I won’t tell.”
“Thanks.” He leans over, stepping into the trunks.
“But can I ask you something?”
He chuckles. “Can anyone stop you?”
“No, so tell me. I love how you love your brothers. Y’all have no idea how special it is. A family is all I ever wanted. So, tell me, even when secrets are revealed and they hurt, can you forgive them? Isn’t that what a family does?”
Silently, he tugs the trunks up. Respectfully, I don’t watch him wrangle his long snake while doing it.
I search his glacial eyes and see … Axel’s hiding more than his future queen. It’s obvious by the way his eyes melt.
“Yes, I’ll always forgive my family.” Sweetly, he leans forward, pecking my forehead. “I just pray they’ll forgive me, too.”
He leaves me wondering what the hell he meant, while I aim for Nash’s door next.
I knock, and he doesn’t answer naked. No, he answers with a white towel wrapped around his waist, his snake obvious and hanging long, too; my libido can’t take much more.
It’s a pressure cooker about to blow.
Them.
I flit my hand. “Is this a mafia thing? Lion tattoos, lethal muscles, and long dicks?”
He smirks. “Don’t forget all the blood, too.”
I roll my eyes, handing him the navy trunks. “Here.”
He takes them, trying to focus his eyes on mine, and not my body. “Wren, we need to talk.”
“Okay. Should I come in?”
“And have Sire behead me? No. Just…” He glances down the hallway. All doors are shut. “Listen, I’m honored that you want me to be your second king, but I can’t.”
My chest falls. “Why not? After Sire, I feel closest to you.”
“Because I’ve always loved Vale. Still, I used to be able to fuck others and not care, but now, I care too much.” He stresses. “I see her every day, but I can’t have her, and I can’t be with anyone else, and I’m losing my fucking mind.”
I nod, warmth flooding my heart for Axel and Nash. They’re just like Sire: deadly beasts with big, beating hearts.
They’ll protect me, and I’ll defend them, too.
“But,” I plead my case, “doesn’t every king have to claim a queen and a second queen? I mean, once everyone’s found their love?”
“Yeah,” he sighs, resigned.
“Vale will be your queen one day. I believe it. But who will be your second queen? Sire has Zar. Loch has Delphine. Axel will claim a second queen, too. So, who will be yours?”
He can’t answer me.
That’s how much Nash loves Vale.
“Let me be your second queen, and I’ll help you.
” I touch his hand. “I respect your love for Vale. We don’t have to do everything together, but I want to be initiated.
I want to be Sire’s queen, but he’s too protective of me.
He thinks I’m not ready. Like I’ll break, when I won’t. Help me make him see it.”
“See it?”
“Yes,” I insist. “Every queen has tests, right? To make sure she wants to be initiated?”
He nods.
“Then help me. Test me tonight.”