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Adrian grins. “This is the part where you make Loni my wife.”

A squeak escapes me as I turn my head sharply, looking him dead in the face.

He winks at me.

My mouth falls open, but I still don’t scream.

He didn’t?—

He can’t?—

Heis.

I jerk my arm. Without any other reaction, he releases me.

I shake my head, too stunned to find the words just yet.

Adrian shrugs. “You know what Jack said.” Jack. The King is Adrian’s uncle, but for as far back as I can remember, he’s never referred to the man by either title. Not the King, not Uncle Jack, but simply Jack as if he has nothing but contempt for the relative who controls the Order of the Owed. “You need to be a married woman. Your other groom is sadly indisposed at the moment. Luckily, I’m more than happy to take his place.”

I work my jaw, struggling to understand. Finally, I whisper, “You want me to marry you.”

A ghost of his old familiar smirk. “I insist on it.”

Can he do that? I admit, I forgot a lot of the Order’s ridiculous laws, bylaws, and loopholes. As an Offering, I only needed to know about the ones that affected me. The others were left to the men in the Order, and I foolishly believed that my husband could deal with all of that. Then I was stripped of being an Offering and forgetting it all… that was my own tiny act of rebellion.

I was Claimed. Both Dallas and Desmond made that clear. Desmond Claimed me, and Jack Collins granted his Claim. He’s supposed to be the one marrying me, but he’s dead, and Adriankilledhim.

Is this why? To get to me?

It can’t be.

Can it?

No. It’s not possible. This is just a decade’s worth of his animosity building up. Instead of simply being my bully, he’s here to fucking ruin my life in the most public way he could. Marrying Desmond wasn’t my first plan, but my family would be set for life as inducted, protected members of the Order if I did. But what does Adrian do? Takes away the one benefit to me giving up my new life in favor of returning to my old one.

Murdering Desmond might be taking it a step too far, granted. Too bad there’s never been a line he wouldn’t cross when it came to getting a rise out of me. For so many years, I was his favorite target. Not even falling for him and giving him my heart, body, and soul saved me from the dark side of Adrian Heller.

And now he’s here, showing it off. Shooting a man in cold blood, executing him in the middle of the church… that hint of danger I was always drawn to has me unsure if I want to see if he’ll really go through with it… reallymarryme… or if I should take my chances on whether he’ll shoot me next or not.

Would he? The boy I knew wouldn’t, but the man he’s become in my absence?

I… I don’t know.

He’s obviously capable of murder. That doesn’t shock me. To ascend the ranks of the Order, an Owed needs to be. To prove your loyalty to the society, plenty of its members have to kill in its name. Then there are enforcers who are charged with eliminating threats to the Order, from within it or outside of it. Dallas is one of them. Maybe Adrian is, too.

What do I know about him? Nothing… except that, ten years later, one possessive look from this man has my entire body suddenly on fire.

What does that say about me that, instead of freaking the fuck out, I want to get closer to him?

No.

He knows it. I can tell from his expression. He’s daring me to step into him, and when I don’t, he hikes up his pants, squatting down so that he can grab the bloody bouquet from the floor.

Adrian gives the bouquet a casual flick, knocking loose a few stray droplets of blood still clinging to the flowers. Then, satisfied, he offers it out to me. “Come here, my bride.”

Here comes the bride… all dressed in white…

I glance down.