Chapter 1
Chapter One
Mackenzie
I gaze back at Dmitri watching me from across the quad. Under the weight of his icy blue stare, my breath snags in my lungs, suddenly feeling harsh and rough, like jagged rocks are piling up inside me, fighting to break free.
Those eyes hold mine captive, making sure I see him, and his menacing presence sends wildfire rushing over my skin, stopping my heart.
Spiky blonde hair with the same honey hue as mine blows in the wind, striking against the black clothing covering his body and the inky black scorpion tattooed on his neck.
His colossal Viking-god stature that makes me look like a gnat exudes raw power that blurs everything around me into a dull, static hum, but Kyle’s words repeat through my mind, keeping me rooted to the spot.
Dmitri Valneko owns you now.
Dmitri, my ex best friend, bought the Valkyrie contract from Kyle with the deeds to me .
How crazy is it that the one guy I’ve always wanted and was told I couldn’t have now owns me. He literally owns me. I belong to him, and I…
I don’t know what the hell to think.
In all our nineteen years on this earth, this is the craziest thing he’s ever done.
We’ve been dancing this dance of uncertainty for years. Lately, it’s been worse, because all we do is stare at each other from across a room, across a crowd, across a space like this.
I knew something was coming. It was bound to happen eventually.
But this ?
How am I supposed to understand this when our families are still at war?
That damn contract was supposed to be a clever ruse I used against my father to break his control and power over me. It was the only thing that would stop him from marrying me off to Levi Sluskia— an absolute asshole . More importantly, the contract kept my dance career safe.
The women in Levi’s family don’t work, so all my dreams would have died with my vows.
I couldn’t imagine that my father had knowingly signed my life away to such archaic people. I’ve wanted to do ballet for as long as I can remember, and he didn’t care that marrying into the Sluskia family would have crushed me.
Dad was in the process of working through the terms of the marriage contract when I learned about the Valkyrie auction and arranged with Kyle to win me.
The contract we agreed on prevented my father from binding me to anyone else until Kyle released me next year.
Within the foreboding world of the Knights—one of the most infamous secret societies in this world—that contract is seen as a blood oath ritual that is only breakable by the one who owns you. That was supposed to be Kyle.
He agreed he was going to release me today. That was the plan.
So, how did he come to be making other arrangements with Dmitri?
Now I’m still trapped. Trapped in my own game of defiance.
My plans backfired on me, ensnaring me in a position that’s so much worse.
“Mackenzie?” Kyle touches my arm, reminding me he’s still beside me.
I look back at him, my hands trembling, and it feels like the fabric of reality has splintered around us, stretching the seconds into eternity.
“Are you okay?” He studies my face, and a lock of his inky black hair falls over his eye.
My lips part as the ghost of an answer flickers through my mind, but nothing comes out. Nothing can. No words. No sound. No way to figure this out.
Instead of trying to speak, I return my gaze to Dmitri. And of course he’s walking away. As usual . These days, I see more of the back of him than I do the front.
I want to run over and stop him. I want to grab him and shake the answers I need from him, but lead flows through my veins, making my body feel like it’s going to sink into the earth.
Weakened by the heaviness in my soul, I take in my surroundings. The lustrous summer glow covering the campus grounds taunts me with its perfect contrast to the war raging inside me.
Raventhorn University has some of the most beautiful gothic architecture with the kind of buildings and statues and gardens you find on postcards. Like many other students here, I’ve spent hours admiring the scenery. But right now, the same buildings and statues and gardens loom over me like a black blanket of smoke reminding me that I live in the world of the Knights.
How can I be surprised that this has happened to me when I attend a college for the heirs of the Knights and their allies?
I’m one of them.
I’m the daughter of a judge on the Knights Council, yet I’m acting like I don’t know that this is a place where being ruthless, heartless, and merciless is as common as breathing air.
You can never break free from the restraints the Knights have on you. Even when you think you can, there is no winning.
That said, I nearly did. Dmitri was just a crazy wild card I never saw coming.
“Hey, I didn’t think you’d be this shocked. You two are always staring at each other.” Kyle’s deep voice draws me back to face him.
His expression is calm, a juxtaposition to the screaming thoughts crashing around in my mind.
“I… are you sure Dmitri meant to take over the contract? It makes no sense.” Finally, the words come, but my voice sounds frail and fickle, like it’s caught on the edge of the wind.
“He wants you.” His answer cuts through me like glass.
“But this can’t happen.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. It’s done.”
My head spins, and I feel dizzy, but that spark of determination that’s been carrying me for months compels me to stand my ground. I can’t just accept this utterly crazy decision. “Why did you make a separate deal with Dmitri? You and I had an agreement. You were supposed to set me free.”
At least Kyle has the decency to look guilty. “I know.”
“Then why?” My voice is a fractured whisper. As weak as the rest of my body. The only things keeping me upright are the scraps of my dignity.
“Let’s just say he kind of made me a deal I couldn’t resist.”
“What kind of deal?” My father tried to make Kyle an offer, too, and he turned it down like we agreed he would.
“I’d rather not discuss that.”
From the edge in his tone, I assume Dmitri must have found some kind of dirt on Kyle he used to blackmail him.
Typical. That’s what he does. Outside of playing football, Dmitri has a penchant for finding things out. Even when he wasn’t studying computer science or had the tech savvy skills he’s known for yet, he could find out the kind of unsavory shit and secrets a person wants to keep buried in the furthest corner of hell.
“Besides, Dmitri is a member of the elite. His plans don’t need to make sense.” Kyle cocks of his head slightly, his expression firm and resolved, telling me without words that he’s already washed his hands of me. “When it comes to those guys, you can’t argue when they want something.”
He’s right.
The elite is the group of students here who will become the next line of leadership in the Knights. They’re the lords of the campus, who can have whatever they want, be it a thing or a person. And you have to give it to them.
Dmitri will take the Knight’s Oath in three months’ time through the initiation ceremony. When he does, it will be near impossible to be free of this contract. Then he’ll be an elite Knight, and he’ll have more power because a different set of rules applies to him that people like me can’t break through.
Regardless of what I feel for him, I don’t want to be owned by anyone . Least of all a man who can never truly be mine. “Is there really nothing you can do? You’re a Knight.”
Kyle doesn’t have the same status as Dmitri even though he’s been a Knight for the last two years, but surely, he can do something.
Slowly, he shakes his head, snuffing away my hopes. “No.”
“God.” I bring a weary hand to my cheek, pressing my fingertips into my heated skin.
“Here’s your copy of the contract.” Kyle retrieves an envelope from the inside of his jacket and hands it to me.
I take it, pull the document out, and scan the words. They blur together, but I can see well enough that it’s a done deal.
Dmitri is my new owner, and this contract will only be terminated if he says so or if any extenuating circumstances make it null and void. Since I can’t think of anything that would fit the latter, I’m screwed.
Tearing my gaze away from the damning terms and conditions, I meet Kyle’s large brown eyes again. “Did he tell you anything else? Anything to tell me?”
“Not really. The only thing he said was we’re supposed to pretend I still own the contract.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. I guess you’ll have to wait for further instructions from him.”
I stare back at him wanting to say more, but I’m frozen, held captive by the sheer force of this new bomb that has landed on me.
“See you around, Mackenzie. It’s a shame it didn’t work out between us.”
I press my lips together and give him a curt nod. I know he means more than just the contract. We liked each other. Or rather he liked me. He liked me enough to help me.
We just weren’t a good fit. No one ever is for me because I’m always comparing them to Dmitri. It was obvious every time I saw him. Kyle didn’t deserve that.
He offers me a small half-smile then backs away, looking me over with concern before leaving.
Damn it . What the hell am I going to do now?
This is an absolute clusterfuck.
Everything is out of my hands.
I’m powerless. I can’t fix this situation with one of my clever ideas.
The contract was supposed to be one of those.
Fuck… what will happen when my father finds out?
Stay away from that Valneko boy.
Pick anybody but him.
Have absolutely nothing to do with him and his atrocious family.
Those are only a few of the warnings my father has thrown my way over the years. I’ve also suspected that he may even go as far as cutting me off if I were to ever defy him.
I understand his hatred for Dmitri’s family, and I can’t blame him. Dmitri’s father put mine through hell and nearly destroyed all of us. But as monstrous as he was, I understand him, too. He lost a son and never got justice. He acted out of pain.
It’s been difficult for me to heed my father’s warnings.
Dmitri was my very first friend in life. We’ve known each other since we were toddlers because our fathers were friends from college—here at Raventhorn.
Our ties with the Knights have always bound us. We went to the same high school, had the same friends, and now we’re attending the same college.
Kade, his best friend, is engaged to my best friend, Isabelle. And … the biggest connection of all is that our families are still next-door neighbors.
He was my proverbial boy next door .
It was and still is near impossible for us to avoid each other.
My father is mad enough at me for wiggling my way out of his previous arrangement, he’s going to blame me for this, too.
I never denied what I did because I wanted him to know I was fighting for my career. But this is different. It’s next-level bad.
I don’t want to even think about the consequences of the repercussions.
I’m still covered under the contract for another nine months, but I doubt it’ll go unnoticed that Kyle and I no longer have an agreement.
I should tell Dad what’s happened. It would be best if he heard it from me because it’s inevitable that the truth will come out. But what do I say?
Dad still has plans to marry me off, and he knows Kyle and I aren’t madly in love.
I also know he’s still looking for ways around the contract so he can find a suitable match for me that will benefit him, too, sooner.
He’s been obsessed with finding me a husband since the year began and acting like a desperate man.
I didn’t want to believe it at first because my father is such an influential man throughout New York and Boston who is renowned for his entrepreneurial success.
But his actions tell me something is going on. Something bad he’s trying to keep secret. I fear he may be in trouble. Money trouble .
Those words sound ridiculous in my mind because Dad is a media mogul. We’ve never had money trouble. My father’s wealth is so vast and endless, none of us should have to worry about money for several lifetimes. But I know something is wrong.
The gentle afternoon breeze wraps around me, lifting my hair and caressing my cheeks with invisible fingers trying to pull me out of my daze.
I look back to where Dmitri stood. All that remains is the wind rustling through the fallen leaves that have gathered on the evergreen grass.
The ghost of his presence lingers in the wind like the memories of how we used to be taunting me.
Why do you want me now?
I don’t get it.
Why now after everything that’s happened between our families?
The pain can’t be fixed.
Nothing will bring his brother back from the dead.
The horrors of the past ripped us apart. They ripped me apart. And this crazy impromptu idea will do the same thing to me.
I’m constantly torn between my feelings for Dmitri and the consequences of pursuing them.
We’re not the spider and the scorpion anymore . We’re not the boy and the girl who vowed to be friends forever. We’re not supposed to be together.
Although my heart leaps at the desire I shouldn’t entertain, I know I can’t always get what I want. He should know that, too.
Now I have to wait and see what he’s going to do with me .
What a hauntingly demented way to end my freshman year.