Chapter 59
LUCA
Alex looked like the perfect sacrificial virgin as she slept on the altar.
Except I had taken her innocence a long time ago.
Nothing about her was pure. My sleeping angel was just as fucked up as the rest of us, tainted by the corruption and hatred of our families.
We had a long road ahead of us, one paved in the blood and bones of others.
With her head turned to the side, her blonde curls covered part of her face.
A soft purr escaped from her perfect pink lips.
She was so beautiful that it made my chest ache.
I liked to break things. Alex was one of my pretty, broken things I had to piece back together.
But none of her pieces fit perfectly, not after the shit she had endured in her short life.
Not after her bitch mother had hurt her beyond repair.
The day we met, I knew all of her secrets. Even though she tried to cover them with lies, I always knew. She could never hide from me. Everything I had done was to protect her from the monsters.
And I was one of those monsters.
Marcello stood beside me at the altar as I slid the loose curls off Alex’s forehead.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
I lifted an eyebrow. “You think I’m mad?”
He nodded. “Don’t act like you’re not pissed at me.”
“It’s done.” I waved my hand at him. “Over.”
“She has to choose,” he pointed out.
“Alex knows who she wants, Marcello. Even you know she will marry me. She’s the only one who doesn’t know that.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “So what do you want to do with her?”
“Let Alex think she has a choice.”
He turned to look at me. “Meaning?”
“Follow through with the sailing trip with Sonny. She wants to see what it’s like to date someone other than me.”
My brother blew out a deep breath. “Are you sure?”
I bobbed my head in confirmation. “She’s starting to remember the past. And when she knows what happened the last few months before Aiden disappeared, she will return to me.”
“We need to complete Legare before the Albanians come for her again.”
I swallowed hard as I thought about the ritual that would bind us and make Alex the Queen of the Devil’s Knights.
The last time, she acted like a true queen.
I’d never seen Alex so liberated. Finding her sexuality with other men seemed to pull her out of her shell.
She had found her place among the Knights, and I made a horrible mistake.
Not telling her the truth about Aiden fucked all of us in the end.
“It’s only a matter of time,” I assured my brother. “Our queen is in there somewhere.”
He stared at me, painfully still, and sucked in a deep breath.
We had the same blue eyes and the same dark hair.
Except I kept mine short and spiked in the front, whereas Marcello’s was usually messy on purpose.
Some people thought we were twins, the spitting image of our father with our mother’s eyes.
I was muscular but lean, while Marcello had a bulky frame from years of training soldiers.
My brother never cared much about keeping women around long-term.
None of us did. Alex was the exception to my rule.
To all of our rules. I’d never even let women kiss me before I fucked them.
And I sure as hell didn’t let them touch my scars as Alex did.
She’d worked her voodoo magic on my mind and heart. And she had gotten to my brother, too.
I brushed Alex’s cheek with my fingers. She curled into a ball on her side, facing us. What looked like a smile stretched the corners of her mouth. Beautiful .
“You want me to wake her?” I waggled my eyebrows with a teasing smirk. “See if she wants you to finish what you two started outside Damian’s room?”
He bit his bottom lip, then glanced at Alex, lying on the altar like an offering from the gods.
Yeah, he fucking wanted her.
All of my brothers did.
The Devil’s Knights had been drooling over Alex for years. Knowing she would one day be ours, I tried to keep her from other men. I did my best to ensure I saved our sick brand of torture for her.
“Is she fair game now?” Sonny asked, still wearing his ceremonial robe.
“Fuck off, Cormac,” I shot back, my usual response to any question Sonny asked me.
He held up his hands and shrugged, nonchalant as if we were discussing the stock price instead of Alex’s pretty pussy. “Just wondering since she’s going to be our queen.”
“ Legare is one night,” I reminded him, spinning around so my back was to Alex, guarding her against the hungry wolves ready to pounce. “Let me make something clear. Alex is mine. Now and forever. Mine.”
“Why does Marcello get to touch her before Legare ?”
I narrowed my eyes at Sonny. “You jealous?”
“Fuck, yeah,” he countered as he approached the altar. “After last year, I want another taste of her.”
“Until she remembers, no one is touching her.”
“She does,” Sonny insisted. “Alex had a flashback to the day we met with Carl. She knows what she did with Marcello and me.”
“No,” Marcello added. “Only what she did with you.”
Sonny rolled his shoulders. “Either way, she knows something. It’s a start.”
“I have an idea,” I announced. “We give her until my birthday. And then we play Capture the Queen.”
All of their eyes glazed over as sly grins pulled at their mouths. I knew they would like the idea. Alex would, too, if she got her memories back before my birthday party.
“Are we good?” I asked Sonny.
“Yeah.” He stared down at Alex. “We’re good.”
I glanced over at Bastian, Damian, Cole, and Drake. They nodded in agreement.
I waved my hand toward the door. “You can all leave. I’ll deal with Alex when she wakes up.”
“See ya at home,” Bastian muttered as he walked past me. He looked tired, his dark hair sticking up from tugging at the ends.
Damian just nodded. He rarely spoke, not unless it was necessary. My adoptive brothers were even more fucked up than me. Losing your parents at an early age will do that to you.
Drake tipped his hand to his forehead and gave me a mock salute. Marcello turned to leave, and I grabbed his shoulder.
“Stay.”
Sonny stopped midway across the room. I hated how much he wanted to fuck Alex. My younger brother waved him off, and we silently watched them leave. Alex stirred, making a sweet sound that forced me to turn around. Her plump lips parted.
Curled up on her side, she moved around to get comfortable.
Pretty hard to do on a stone fucking slab.
I had considered taking her home, but she looked peaceful in my arms. So I laid her on the altar and just fucking stared at her.
Watched her sleep. With her blonde curls framing her delicate face, she looked angelic.
Even the Devil was once an angel.
I could have been good for her.
But I never wanted to be good.
It was too much fun playing the villain.
“No,” Alex whined, out of breath. “Stop it. Let me out!”
Her fist slapped against the stone table. I grabbed her wrist, uncurled her fingers, and held her hand until she stopped moving.
My gaze flicked between Alex and Marcello. “Is this what you were talking about?”
He nodded. “The nightmares.”
“It’s because of her brother.”
Marcello folded his arms over his chest. “We did this to her.”
“No, he did this to her.”
Aiden fucking Wellington.
All of this started and ended with him.