Chapter 1 #2
“Since we’re about to meet with a pack from a casino,” I drag Mars to sit next to me on the mattress, “I learned a trick with cards. I’ve called it The Rogue Switch.”
Mars laughs. “Clever, Ro. I love your magic.”
I shuffle the cards. I’ve always been fast at sleight of hand, distraction, and illusion.
Deceit, Mom calls it.
Survival, in my opinion.
I hold up the cards. “Choose one and then write whatever you want on it, before turning it face down. Then I can’t cheat. I’ll turn around.”
Mars tilts his head, and his hair tumbles over his eyes. “Anything…?”
I nod.
“I’ll write my wish…dream.” Mars gives a small, tender smile.
I turn around. “Done?”
“Yeah.”
I turn back.
I shuffle the cards again, before raising my brow. “Turn over the card. That’s yours, right?”
Mars flips over the card, revealing an ace of hearts…with nothing written on it.
His mouth falls open, before he whistles. “That’s not my card.”
“How did that happen? Hmm, where could your card be? Why don’t you check your inside pocket? The one with your poem in it?”
Mars stares at me in disbelief. “But you never touched me.”
He still checks, however, pulling out the poem.
Then he chuckles. “You’re a fucking wonder, Ro.”
Mars’ card is now attached to the bottom of the poem with the word written in his handwriting over the diamond in the center: ROSA.
My stomach curls with dread.
The alliance with Rosa Billionaire contains my sweet brother’s hopes and dreams.
Yet I have researched Rosa. Rumor has it that she’s a pampered elite who is flashy and cruel.
She will eat him alive.
I grab Mars’ hand, pulling him to his feet. “We can’t be late for our flight. Our baggage has been sent ahead.”
“How did you do that?” Mars is still staring at the card in amazement.
“A magician never reveals their tricks.” I shove my brother ahead of me up the stairs.
Then I take up the proper stance behind him as his bodyguard, checking my gun at my waist.
Mars hurriedly shoves the poem into his suit inner pocket, before pushing open the door into the corridor of the main Adonis Hall.
The light hits me first as it always does.
I blink.
Adonis Hall is a startling mansion of gleaming marble, elegant antiques, and crystal.
The wide corridor’s walls are wood paneled with the repeating emblem of a wild boar.
Sharp sunlight shines through high arched windows, which look out over the vast winter rose gardens. Stone borders run as scars between skeletal rose bushes and frost laced trees. A marble fountain stands in the middle with the water frozen mid-motion.
Fiorella is blocking the end of the corridor.
“Shit,” I hiss under my breath.
My pheromones become stronger in response to my Chief Alpha’s powerful scent of black coffee.
I struggle not to growl, baring my teeth.
In response, Fiorella’s own pheromones become stronger, and her black scent becomes thicker and more bitter like it always does when she sees me.
If I were to Switch into an Omega, I would be driven to my knees.
I’m sure that is why Fiorella does it. The dickhead has to be the most powerful Alpha in any room.
She is dressed in an elegant, Italian designed red suit. Her black hair is pulled back. Her neat diamond earrings and makeup are flawless.
Fiorella looks like she has just stepped out of a CEO meeting.
She runs the pack with the veneer of respectability.
Except, beneath that she is kidnapping poor Omegas to auction to the rich.
She is greasing the palms of corrupt senators and councilors, living in the countryside while building up the city.
Damio, the Chief Alpha of the Billionaires, once sneered in a meeting that the Adonis pack are living in the past, while the Billionaires are building the future.
I feel the rivalry is over what the two packs are battling to make the future look like.
Mars and I have a third option. And it means burning down both packs.
I stand motionless. My face is a mask.
Fiorella’s shark gaze flicks over me, assessing for flaws or disrespect, before ignoring me like usual and returning to Mars.
She swaggers closer.
I stiffen further, when I realize that she is being trailed by Gianna, my older, favored sister.
Gianna is hugging her tiny male Omega to her chest, while he nuzzles at her neck.
I hate that Gianna looks similar to me, apart from the color of our hair.
How could anyone miss that we’re sisters? Or have they simply been scared into silence?
Gianna is a tall, lithe Alpha with olive skin, cool blue eyes, and an alluring beauty. Her wavy, brunette hair, however, is pulled back with diamond clips. She is dressed in an elegant scarlet dress.
Gianna’s male Omega, Elio, looks like a doll. Gianna dresses him each day like one in a matching outfit to her. Today, it is a scarlet tank top and shorts.
Elio is pretty with soft pink hair and large eyes. I have never been able to work out if his shyness is actually slyness.
Yet he is a trophy.
Elio’s bonding to my sister was negotiated in a deal from another rival pack just like Mars’ will be with Rosa.
“There you are, Mars.” Fiorella strolls to Mars. She is a head taller than him. “I thought that you were lost. The car is here for you. Only you could be late on a day like this.”
I’m working today as Mars’ bodyguard. But I can’t protect him from our Chief Alpha.
Yet.
I wish that I could.
My hand itches to drop to the grip of my sidearm.
When Fiorella lays her hand on Mars’ cheek, he flinches.
Fiorella tuts. “Your buttonhole is wilted. Is this how you intend to represent the Adonis pack?”
Fiorella plucks the flower out, tossing it to the floor. When she clicks her fingers, the bodyguard who is standing in the shadows behind her, removes his own pristine rose from his suit pocket and passes it to Fiorella.
Fiorella threads the buttonhole into place for Mars.
“Thank you,” Mars mumbles.
Gianna sighs. “And have you seen the state of his hands, Mom?”
I narrow my eyes at Gianna, as she gently strokes Elio’s hair, and he purrs.