Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
AUDREY
Aleksandr’s Bed
I was woken up by six-feet-four-inches of man the following morning.
Naturally rumpled dyed-blond hair, pale green eyes, and a leanly muscled body covered in tattoos met my vision as I opened my eyes, still gritty from sleep, to a pouting Cameron, snuggled in between the minuscule space between Aleks and me.
“You must’ve tired him out, Little Queen.
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to sneak in on him like this,” Cameron smirked as he salaciously leered down my body, jolting back a little when he realized I was only wearing an old hockey jersey of Aleksandr’s.
“I’ve been waiting forever for one of you to wake up.
Alistair already left…mumbling something about needing to purge your screams from his ears.
Moody bastard doesn’t know how to have any fun. ”
“So…you decided to come…up here?” I gritted out through clenched teeth, trying and failing to stay mad at him.
“Yup,” he replied, popping the ‘p’. “I am sooooo bored. Wanna enter—”
“Don’t. Finish. That,” Aleks rumbled, awake now and glaring at his puppy dog of a friend who refused to allow us any sleep. “Relax, brother. I wasn’t asking her to suck my dick. Figured her jaw already got enough of a workout a—”
Cameron yelped as Aleks forcibly shoved him away from me and onto the floor, then popped up to glare at his friend.
“That wasn’t very nice! And here I thought she would tone down the fucking arsehole side of you.
” Standing up, he straightened his clothes.
“Plus, we need to have a meeting. I think it’s time to go over all the tea. ”
He finally stomped from the room, leaving us alone again.
Closing my eyes, I rolled over, throwing my leg over Aleks' hips as I octopused myself to his body. I was debating dragging my hand down his chest and past his hips to grip his cock when a muffled shout was heard just past the now open door. “Five minutes! And no! That wasn’t a challenge to choke on his dick, Little Queen…” Cameron’s voice trailed off as he continued down the stairs, and a disgruntled Aleks met my eyes, upset and grouchy.
He had just been denied his favourite breakfast by his one and only friend.
Standing, I stretched my arms above my head, giving my arse a shake before making my way to the shower.
I called over my shoulder to the man whose gaze was burning holes into me.
“We should save water then, no?” Sauntering into the bathroom, I tossed his jersey over my head, knowing he would take the action as a challenge. Like a red flag being waved at a bull.
The cold air in his bathroom had my nipples hard and aching as I slid the shower door open, naked and ready.
I reached in to turn the shower on as I felt his presence shift behind me.
Tattooed arms banded around my belly as Aleksandr guided me under the spray, his heady scent already mixing delectably with the steam from the shower.
In a groan just loud enough for me to hear, he said, “Five minutes won’t be nearly long enough, but if you’re quiet, maybe we can convince him to wait.”
An hour later, the three of us surrounded the counter Cameron stood on last night. The atmosphere took on a much more serious feel. The Guilda had always been more myth than reality, at least for the common folk of this town and even this country.
It was stories of The Guilda that my mum would whisper in my ear at night. Stories that had instilled strength in my sister and me, ones that whispered warnings to never cower in fear, or bow to a man…or a king.
Whispers of The Guilda followed the five founding lineages dating back for generations.
Linking the chapter of Alabastor Cove to families like the Ellsworths and the vonBermeres—who were once treated almost equal to royalty in London—and even to the Volkovitch line, whose past was stained in red and unfathomable wealth.
Ties to the London Outfit, the Russian Bratva, and the Greek Mafia; families that had long stood united, arm in arm, under one code of honour: The Guilda Sanguis Venenati sacred blood oaths.
Names like Aleksandr’s and mine were pillars in this society of underground chaos, oaths, and honour.
Because no one betrayed The Guilda and survived.
If that didn’t make me want to spit on the graves of every name that came before me, then I wasn’t sure anything would.
But this moment, standing here in between Aleksandr and Cameron, it felt like I was standing on a precipice.
My whole life had been building up to this moment, the year I would turn twenty-one.
A damned fate my mum had put in place in her attempt to save my twin and me.
All the games I had played with Aleks, the collection of secrets and dossier of names I held onto in vain.
Even taking my adoptive family’s name, which I had done unwillingly.
All done in preparation for how I could gain leverage over the ones who attempted to entrap me.
Each had been a stepping stone provided to me in the harshest of ways, as life normally did. Every choice I had made was finally culminating into how I would outmanoeuvre The Ludi and live. For them.
As soon as I saw that first invitation, I knew this year would be different. Being an Ellsworth, I had been born with an automatic seat in their ranks. The fact that I now had to compete to prove my worth—to claim my seat—would be an insult if I had any family who would champion me.
Being the last full-blooded Ellsworth heir had weakened my voice and the fear my last name once carried had dwindled over the years.
Their mistake of not accepting me would prove just how ignorant they were though.
All those generations of men who liked to demand loyalty all for the sake of power and deals, would regret underestimating me when I successfully outwitted them.
Looking from Aleks to Cameron, I debated how much they knew and how much I should reveal.
It was not my safety I feared, but theirs.
If what I was doing were to backfire it could prove to be detrimental.
Deadly. They had never truly attempted to hide from me that they were members of The Guilda, inducted as children as every blooded heir was, and forced to earn their spots during their respective—chosen—years.
Cameron’s past was darker and much more twisted than mine.
His name was called into servitude upon his first breath, erased from his family tree as soon as his mum pushed him from between her legs.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I released a harsh breath, deciding ripping off the Band-aid would be better than attempting to avoid the outburst coming.
“They have been targeting me. Pitting me against the others—Lilah, Lexington, Wentworth, and Ellery,” I began, catching the wince from Cam as I listed the names of two people he had been dying to learn about.
Not that his poor attempts at stalking had gone unnoticed by me.
“As I told Aleks, my first trial was both the same as theirs and not. I had to overcome my fear of being left in the woods, alone and in the dark.”
Aleks snorted, failing at his attempt to hide his amusement. I shot him a glare most men would fear, but he just licked his lips instead, finding it amusing.
“Guys, seriously! C’mon, haven’t you destroyed her pussy enough already, man?” Cameron gagged like he wasn’t the one who had finally pushed us together three years ago, the night I had celebrated finally turning eighteen.
“Karma is a bitch, brother.” Taunting him, Aleks slapped my arse and slung his arm around me, his hands resting around my throat like a collar, just tight enough that if he pressed, I might struggle for air.
“Remember when we couldn’t even tolerate seeing one another?
Let alone be together in the same air like this? ”
I shook my head, leaning into his side as I picked up where I was before I was rudely interrupted.
“Instead of my trial being over with that, I was also instructed to find the weak link. They dubbed me the ‘deceiver’, which means they know something about me I don’t want them to.
” Wetting my lips, I nervously continued.
“They tasked me with marking the person who won’t complete The Ludi, the one who will be sacrificed in the name of the initiation games. ”
Cameron let out a strangled hiss as I finished telling them my role. “You know what that means, right, Little Queen? Only four of your five will make it out alive. If they’re lenient, that is…”
“It’s an impossible choice. One where nobody wins. The question is, how much more will they demand before the choice gets taken out of my hands? Worth is already crumbling at the seams, and Ellery has pretty much retreated completely into himself since Lilah’s engagement news was announced.”
“It’s easy. You do what you must, Lenochka. And if you ever need a reason to be strong, just hold out a hand. I won’t let you fall.” Calm as ever, Aleks pulled me to his side and dropped a kiss to the crown of my head, before nodding to Cam and shifting his eyes to the stairs.
“Whatever it takes, Printsessa. You know what—or who—will be taken if you fail, and this world doesn’t need to see what type of monster I would become if either of you were forced away from me.”
“The Ludi is merciless. That much I have been able to learn. Calling in names of members long forgotten in this town and faces of the past. Ones I would much rather leave unturned for right now. Mishka needs to be safe. Secrets have a way of turning us on each other, and The Ludi have shown that they want something from me.”
I closed my eyes, recalling something Cam said years ago regarding an entirely different situation, but honed in on a point that stood true today. You’ll never have anything to fear from him.