Ten
“ Y ou can’t ignore Rhodes forever, pet,” Edison whispered to me, his mouth close to my ear as the car we were in left the estate.
It was the night before our wedding and we were meeting the branch families for the rehearsal dinner.
At least, everyone was calling it the rehearsal dinner.
But I knew better.
I knew it was a chance for the family to judge their leader’s chosen bride. The one who—only a few short weeks ago—had walked down the aisle to marry an Amante pack.
“I’m not ignoring Rhodes.” I turned away from him, ignoring the way his warm hand felt on the small of my bare back. The shimmering silver dress Oona had put me in was relatively conservative in the front, coming up into a clean mock-neck that highlighted my shoulders, but in the back it dropped low and exposed most of the pale skin of my back, stopping just before my bottom.
Edison had been more… touchy over the past couple of days. Holding my hand when we walked places together in the estate, brushing my hair behind my ear when I helped him take care of the plants in the greenhouse, and more.
It made my skin buzz with the memory of his words on that first day during our negotiations.
Edison told me that I would want him to touch me by the time my heat finally rolled around, but I never could have imagined the way my skin would start to buzz at even the anticipation of physical contact.
“Really? Is that why you made him ride in the car behind us?” Edison didn’t sound angry—more amused than anything at my refusal to ride in the same vehicle as Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Why-Shouldn’t-I-Care.
I would never admit it out loud, but his words had hurt more than I could ever begin to explain.
Which was completely stupid.
I didn’t even know Rhodes McCreary and it wasn’t like he was the one I was marrying tomorrow.
So why had his flippant answer to my question about why he cared about me pushing myself while swimming laps that morning hurt my feelings so resoundingly?
I could still taste his rich chocolate scent, mingled with chlorine from the pool, on my tongue and it confused every nerve ending my body possessed.
It was a perfect pair to Edison’s vanilla, almost as if they were meant to go together.
And yet Rhodes built up a boundary, drawing a line in the sand.
You’re going to be Edison’s wife, why shouldn’t I care?
The memory of it was quickly starting to sour my mood again.
Shifting away from the flat of Edison’s palm, I pressed myself up against the door of the car and stared out at the approaching lights of the city as we crossed over the bridge to enter it. “He can ride with us on the way home.”
“Oh, come now, pet, I wasn’t trying to upset you,” Edison insisted, but he didn’t close in the space I’d created between us.
No, Edison was nothing if not polite when it came to physical touch. Almost mind-numbingly so.
I never considered myself much of a sexual being—it was kind of hard to do so when you’re scrawny, losing your hair, and sick from chemo and radiation—but in just a few short weeks Edison had seemed to flip on all of the switches that I hadn’t even known I possessed.
Like a switchboard operator on Broadway, the man knew exactly what to do to charm and make me utterly melt.
And we hadn’t even kissed yet.
Even still, I dreamt of his ring-covered fingers on my body, waking up in a pheromone-soaked sweat that I hurried to wash off before Oona could come in to do her usual cleaning of my tower bedroom in the morning.
But Edison’s hands unfortunately weren’t the only ones dancing through my dreams.
“Rhodes means well. He’s just a bit of a stubborn ass at times,” Edison continued, oblivious to the heated turn of my thoughts. “Believe me, he’s said his fair share of dumb shit to me as well and I’ve always found it in me to forgive him.”
The man’s expression softened as he spoke about the other alpha, the seemingly permanent crease in between his brows easing.
Turning to him fully, I drank in his expression as the same tugging sense of something filled my chest.
Sometimes, the way Edison spoke of Rhodes, it was almost as if they loved one another in a way that was more than brotherly.
Everyone I brought it up to insisted they were best friends and had been inseparable since they were children. Even the old-as-the-Earth omega that made a trek to the mansion every day to teach me about the birds and the bees of the ABO dynamics insisted on it.
“Keane leaders don’t have a pack. All of their progeny must be their own that bear the signature golden eyes,” the old woman had announced in a shaking voice as she clicked through the ancient, yellowed slides of a projector that was probably used to record silent films a hundred years ago.
When I’d asked her why I’d just received a cryptic “it is the way,” from the woman before she turned her attention to masturbatory practices for the omega sex.
Definitely not something I wanted to hear from a woman who looked like she’d seen both World Wars.
It all seemed stuffy and traditional. Besides, it had been a while since I’d taken a biology class but I was pretty sure that, even with only Edison’s genetics, there was a pretty big chance that any child we had wouldn’t have gold eyes.
But outside of a few glances heavy with meaning and the way they spoke about each other, Edison and Rhodes seemed to be the best friends they presented to the rest of the world.
“Perrie?” Edison’s voice cut through my thoughts and I blinked, meeting the golden eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dim light of the car. The same golden eyes that any future children we had were supposed to also have. No pressure on me and my own genetics.
“Sorry,” I hurried to give myself a mental shake. Now was not the time to be giving into a spiraling imagination of the two alpha men kissing and how it made my insides warm, nor was it the time to try and remember how Punnett squares worked. “What were you saying?”
“That we’re here.” Edison nodded to his door where, outside, Rhodes and the rest of the security team were waiting for us under the fancy red awning of the hotel where the dinner was being held. “Are you ready?”
He held a hand out to me, the Keane signet ring he always wore on his thumb flashing in the dim light as the etched wings of a bird flashed on the face of it. It was a white-tailed Eagle I’d learned from the history lessons Oona had given me in my spare time.
“No,” I admitted, sliding my fingers into his and finding them to be pleasantly warm. “But do I have a choice?”
“You always have a choice, Perrie.” Edison lifted my hand and brushed a kiss over my knuckles, sending a lightning bolt of sensation down my arm.
He wasn’t wrong.
Edison had given me the choice to marry him on that day and I’d agreed. With that choice came a surprising amount of freedom—like my college classes that started next week. Certainly more freedom than Amante and Pack Ricci had ever offered me.
But it also meant that I would need to do a job tonight.
I wasn’t familiar with every aspect of the life of a mobster’s wife, but I would have to fake it till I made it tonight or risk embarrassing both of us in front of his family.
Sucking in a deep, steadying breath, I met Edison’s eyes again with what I hoped was more confidence than before. “Let’s do this.”
The corner of the man’s mouth pulled up into a half-grin. “Should we do a football huddle before we exit the car?”
My eye roll was automatic. “Just open the door, Edison.”
His grin widened. “I do love it when my pet bares her fangs. Keep them out, Peregrine, you’ll need them tonight.”
Before I could ask him exactly what he meant, he was opening the car door and stepping out onto the fancy carpet that sat at the entrance of the hotel.
A light rain had started while we were sitting in the car and someone—Rhodes I realized as I let Edison help me step out—was holding a dark umbrella over our heads, his brown leather jacket getting wet in the process as droplets clung to his brown hair.
“Last time I checked,” Edison said, pushing the umbrella so that it was further over his friend to keep him dry. “You are the head of my security, not an umbrella holder.”
Another security officer, one who was unfamiliar to me, hurried to open the umbrella he was carrying and hold it over all three of us.
“It’s not going to hurt my pride to hold an umbrella for you, Mr. Keane.” Rhodes’ voice was all sorts of formal as he spoke to Edison, but his dark eyes sparkled with a barely hidden laughter that cooled as soon as they shifted over to me.
“Best get her inside before it really starts coming down, that dress looks like it’s liable to melt if it gets wet.”
It looked like he was still mad that I made him ride in a different car. Rhodes McCreary, for all of his scary-ass looks and stone-faced expressions, was actually pretty sensitive.
The man in question turned and hurried inside, probably to clear the hall the same way a secret service agent would for the president of a small country.
And judging by the way people seemed to part like the Red Sea for Edison, in this world, he was the president.
Or, I guess the title of king would suit the man more. Presidents were elected. Kings were born.
People who I guessed were a part of the extended branch families that made up the Keane clan milled around the elegant lobby in their best finery. It almost felt as if tonight was our wedding rather than the one that was planned to take place at the estate tomorrow.
“Edison!” one of the men greeted us as we passed, stepping into our path and stopping us. He was an older man with, and I kid you not, a ridiculously villainous mustache that twisted up at the ends.
Oona had shown me pictures of all of the branch families, but I definitely would have remembered a mustache like the one this man had.
It took everything in me not to laugh as he attempted to exchange greetings with Edison. My fingers gripped the inside of Edison’s elbow tightly as I tried to hold it together because laughing at one of the branch family members was probably not a good look for the future wife of the clan’s leader.
“Greetings are for after dinner, Liam,” Edison said with a sigh as if he was reminding a small child rather than someone much older than him.
The man’s face flushed a bit, but after a beat he seemed to take it in stride and his smile was back. “Apologies, Edison, I just saw your lovely bride and got a little bit ahead of myself. I wanted to introduce her to my wife as they are of the same age.”
My brows rose as the man snapped his fingers behind him like he was summoning a dog and a tall blonde scurried forward and tucked her hand into her husband’s waiting elbow.
The muscles of Edison’s forearm stiffened as he got a good look at the woman, but his face remained impassive.
“This is Yulia, my lovely wife, say hello, Yulia.” Liam gave the woman a shove and she nearly collided with the both of us.
“H-Hello, Edison,” she greeted the alpha softly, her blue eyes locked onto his face.
Little alarm bells rang in my head as I looked between the two and a thread of something nasty wound its way through me as I watched the woman stare up at my alpha with soft longing.
I reeled back a little bit at the sheer possessiveness running through me and it was enough to make Edison glance over at me, his neutral expression shifting into a concerned one.
Then he turned and looked over Yulia’s head at Liam. “I didn’t realize you’d gotten married, and to one of our clan’s widows at that.”
“Volkov made the introduction after my wife died a few months ago and seeing as we’ve both lost spouses, I couldn’t help but fall head over heels for such a beautiful woman.”
There seemed to be an entire conversation going on between their cordial words and Edison’s golden-eyed gaze seemed to frost over as he digested the man’s words. “I see. Well, don’t forget that I, as the leader of your clan, should be approving all marriages. I will overlook it this time, seeing as you’re so… happy … but please remember to inform me when your next wedding rolls around.”
Liam’s face dropped, his mustache seeming to wilt before my very eyes as Edison’s words finally registered.
A barely concealed snort came from behind us and I shot a surreptitious glance over my shoulder to find Rhodes hovering over Edison’s shoulder, his face just as unreadable as Edison’s aside from just the slightest upturn of the corners of his mouth.
Liam began to sputter, but Edison ignored him, gently guiding me around the pair and towards the large double doors that two employees were waiting to open for us.
Yulia looked as if she wanted to say something more to Edison as we passed, her pale-fingered hand even lifting like she was going to stop him, but I hurried to put my body between them.
It probably wasn’t very ladylike nor did it reflect the lessons that Oona and my dusty omega teacher had given me, but I didn’t care a bit about that at this moment as I exchanged an icy look with the woman.
I may not have been fully versed in the criminal life, but Edison Keane was mine now, for better or for worse, and I’d be damned if I let another woman touch him—especially in public.
Turning my face away from her completely, I stuck my nose in the air like a snob and tugged Edison towards the door. The alpha was looking at me as if he’d never seen me before, his mouth slightly agape as we waited for the employees to pull the doors open so we could walk together into the banquet hall.
“Damn,” I heard Rhodes mutter under his breath behind me but I ignored him.
I’d never been a good actor, but I was going to channel every ounce of talent and the one elective class I’d taken in high school in order to survive the night and protect the hard-won freedom that Edison was offering to me.
Pasting a smile onto my face, I glanced around the sea of faces and muttered under my breath: “I guess it’s time for lights, camera, action.”
Dinner was one of the most boring two hours of my life.
I’d always assumed that a dinner with the Irish mob would consist of smoke-filled rooms and people coming to kiss Edison’s signet ring as they professed their sins against the family like some sort of quasi-confessional with their priest.
But instead it all seemed pretty normal?
The filet mignon on my plate was divine and I had to keep myself from moaning after every red-wine glazed bite. It took up most of my attention as people gave long-winded speeches about the history of the Keane family, their exploits over the past two hundred years, and how they’d razed the town in their youth.
It was quickly becoming very obvious that, in all of their bragging, very few of them actually mentioned Edison.
They talked about the past heads of the family—Edison’s father, grandfather, and so on—with an almost reverent zeal. But when it came time to talk about the past few years that the Keane family had been under the leadership of Edison they shifted gears and just verbally patted each other on the back, continuing on with their old man circle jerk.
It irritated me to watch, but every time I glanced over at Edison the man just looked like a bemused ruler overseeing a court full of jesters.
While all of the older men were heartily laughing at each other’s jokes, it became very clear to me that anyone Edison’s age or younger was paying very little attention to them.
Edison’s security team lined the walls, their faces impassive as they watched the man from earlier—Liam—make a grandiose speech about how the Irish always survive and how their forefathers came to the United States on steam-powered ships and took over the world.
I’d barely finished high school, but even I knew the Irish struggled to find their place in the landscape of American life for a long time. With the way they were describing it in their overexaggerated storytelling, they made it seem as if Irish immigrants had struck gold by coming to the states.
“Relax your expression, pet,” Edison’s mouth was next to my ear as he spoke. “We’re supposed to be madly in love, remember?”
That was the ruse we’d agreed on before I signed the marriage contract that day.
The story we were telling the world was that Edison caught a whiff of my scent the day he met with my father and fell instantly in love with me—which was why he risked angering the Italians and crashed my first wedding.
That was all well and good, but tonight was the first night that we actually had to prove it.
Turning to meet his golden-eyed gaze, I offered him a soft smile that I hoped looked like I was a girl in love and reached up to cup his face. “Doesn’t it bother you?”
“What?” he asked as his pupils seemed to expand and his nostrils flared as he tucked his nose into my palm. For a moment, Edison was just an alpha and I was just an omega. I could feel my pheromones start to swell between us and I started to pull my hand away but he caught it and pressed it more firmly to his cheek.
Swallowing hard, I jerked my head slightly in the direction of where Liam was still giving the equivalent of a standup comedy set much to the raucous laughter of the other older men in the audience. “That they don’t respect you? They’ve taken over the entire dinner.”
His chuckle vibrated against my hand. “They haven’t taken over anything, Perrie. But it’s better to keep stupid people busy or else they start to ask questions. Now, have you finished your dinner? I’m going to send you to the restroom for a couple of minutes while I handle some business.”
Something about the way he said it sent a shiver down my spine.
I nodded, my mouth suddenly dry, and Edison nodded to Rhodes who’d been standing behind our chairs for the entire meal.
“I’ll see you outside in a few minutes,” he said, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss to my forehead.
Standing, my gaze swept the room as the people sitting in the crowd laughed uproariously at whatever Liam was saying. None of them paid attention to my leaving, not even bothering to turn and look as I slipped through the large double doors and into the quiet lobby.
“What is he going to do?” I asked Rhodes, forgetting all about the fact that I was supposed to be ignoring him still.
Rhodes shrugged. “Probably nothing good, kid. Have you ever heard the phrase: when the cat’s away, the rats will play? Well, our cat has finally had enough.”
Understanding dawned on me as Rhodes held the door to the restroom open.
I turned to him before going in. “Is he going to kill someone?”
Rhodes snorted and shrugged. “Probably not? Edi’s in a pretty good mood tonight, so they’ll most likely get to keep their lives. But the ones who decided to take advantage of him being so distracted over the past couple of weeks are definitely going to learn their lesson the hard way.”
Then he put his hands on my shoulders and wheeled me around so that I was facing the doorway of the bathroom again and gave me a little shove. “Go inside and collect yourself. You’re going to be the wife of a mobster, Perrie, that was the agreement you signed. If you’re going to look like a scared kitten every time Edison maims someone, the rest of your life is going to be like one long scary movie.”
Rhodes let the door swing shut and I was alone in the fancy bathroom, staring at my own shocked face in the mirror.
“Get it together,” I told her as I turned on the sink and let cold water run over my fingers. “You knew exactly what you were in for when you agreed to be his wife.”
Back at the estate it was too easy to forget that my future husband was the leader of one of the most notorious groups in the city. I’d reasoned with myself that he was a hands off sort of leader who rarely needed to get his hands dirty. Pure denial on my part, I realized now as I stared at my wide-eyed reflection.
My future was always going to be intertwined with this sort of life. Whether I married Pack Ricci or Edison.
But seeing it so plainly in front of my face was going to take some getting used to.
A few minutes later Rhodes knocked on the door. “Perrie, we’re ready to head into the ballroom now.”
“Already?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
I couldn’t have been in the bathroom for more than five minutes. Could Edison really have finished his business that quickly?
Looking in the mirror again, I schooled my face into what I hoped was cool indifference and opened the door.
Rhodes looked me up and down, some unsaid emotion behind his dark eyes before he finally stepped aside to let me pass. “Good girl.”
The praise slipped warmly over my shoulders like I was sinking into a freshly drawn bath and it made my spine straighten just a degree more as I swept past him and found Edison waiting for me in the lobby.
As my eyes scraped over him, there was no immediate sign that he’d done anything remotely violent while I was gone. In fact, he looked just as dapper as when I left him, not a strand of his black hair out of place.
Then he turned and I saw the bloody wet wipe he was using to clean his hands.
Breathe , I told myself, keeping my face neutral as he held a now-clean hand out to me. This is what you signed up for .
My lips pulled up into what I hoped was a charming smile and I put my hand in his, ignoring the spot of red that I saw on the cuff of his shirt. “Did they finish their speeches already?”
The sound of a pained moan coming from the slightly ajar banquet hall doors met my ears as Edison tugged me towards the ballroom that was across the lobby.
“They did, but I’m afraid some of them won’t be joining us for the second portion of our evening, pet.” Edison’s own smile was slow and dangerous as he tucked my hand into the crook of his elbow and leaned in close to my ear. “They didn’t know what was coming to them, disrespecting me and my future wife like that.”
His words should have terrified me, but instead a shudder of pure need shot through me like a bolt of lightning and the smell of strawberries welled up between us.
A growl that I’d never heard before rumbled out of Edison and his eyes seemed to turn into molten gold as he stared down at me.
“You two have another hour and a half before we can leave, so unless you’re planning on taking her to the floor in front of the entire clan then you better get your shit together,” Rhodes’ dry voice came from behind us, making us both jump.
Letting go of his arm, I hurriedly dug through the little beaded clutch I was carrying for my descenting spray. I quickly doused myself in it, trying to get rid of my scent before my inner omega got the better of me and I jumped the mobster that was making my insides tingle with his scary ass words.
Then I turned and sprayed Edison, ignoring his raised eyebrows as I got rid of any trace of his delicious vanilla scent.
Finally, without thinking, I sprayed Rhodes down too before dropping the glass vial back into my clutch and standing up straight again.
“What?” I asked as they both stared at me with equally thoughtful expressions.
“Nothing.” Edison gently tucked my hand back into his arm.
My face flushed a little bit as tiny little whispers asking me why I’d also sprayed Rhodes down invaded my brain.
But I shoved them down, fixing my face into a pleasant smile. Finally, I faced the closed double doors of the ballroom and nodded at the waiting employees. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Yes ma’am,” the two men chimed in unison, amusement evident in their voices.
Rolling my eyes, I stepped into part two of what was shaping up to be the longest night of my life.