Page 62 of Axel (Belles & Bratva Beasts #2)

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

AXEL

There’s the first time I saw Ruby, sitting proud in the purple dress she couldn’t afford, and ignoring her bleeding knee while she told me I’d be a fool not to hire her.

And there’s now.

Because I’m no fool.

I knew then she was a queen.

And I can feel it now as she becomes mine.

The other queens and kings sit on their thrones while I stand before Ruby, just as I will during our wedding.

Sire performs the sacred ceremony when I usually would have.

But not tonight.

I’m speechless, anchored to Ruby’s gaze, and she’s committed to mine.

We’ve heard these words before, but their meaning isn’t lost. I glance down at my hands, holding hers, her engagement ring sparkling with promise, our promise.

We keep smiling at each other.

And yes, dammit, I’m fighting tears.

But like fuck if I’ll ever let my brothers see it .

Finally, Sire gets to the last part. “Do you, Axel King, with a free and unconstrained will, claim Ruby Jones as your queen?”

I nod and lift Ruby’s ring to my lips, kissing it. “My true queen, and I do.”

“Will you guard her, above all, with your life? Will you love her, above all, with your heart? Will you die for her, with no hesitation, leaving her your soul?”

“Forever,” I vow.

“Will you, Ruby Jones…” Sire smiles. Yeah, he approves. “With free and unconstrained will, accept our brother, Axel King, as your king?”

She smirks, and I brace for what my Wildfire will say.

This is why I love her.

But her smirk rolls into her chewing her lip, her eyelashes fluttering, and fighting back tears.

“Proudly,” she vows, and I swallow the lump in my throat.

“Will you love him, above all, with your heart? Will you give him, more than any other, a life worth fighting for? Will you honor him, even in death, as his queen?”

A tear spills down her cheek. “I was born Axel’s queen, and I will die as Axel’s true queen.”

“Fuck, Wildfire.”

I need to kiss her now.

Hurry up.

But Sire must continue.

“Deliver them, safe from wrath and danger. Preserve their bed and fill their home. Let them see their children’s children. Ahem.” Sire gets choked up, too. “Unite them into one flesh, and please, dear Lord, we pray, as one family, all of us together.”

That’s not the vow.

I glance at Sire.

But it seems the spirit has taken him .

“Crown them as king and queen together,” he finishes as I cup Ruby’s cheeks, pressing my lips to hers, “together, tonight, and in the stars forever.”

I kiss Ruby, and it’s like every time I do, I’m kissing a wish, a prayer, a feeling so strong that it leaves me tender.

“Only you can touch me, my queen,” I whisper over our lips.

“Only you can own me, my king.” She gazes into my eyes.

“Damn,” Jace sniffles. “Fuck, y’all are beautiful together.”

“Someone hand him a tampon,” Grant mutters.

“Shut up,” Delphine whispers. “That is a word? No?”

“It’s two.” Zar chuckles. “And yeah, congratulations, you two.”

We laugh. We hug. We celebrate.

Everyone mingles as Ruby tries to hide her gag at the caviar we serve, but I laugh, handing her a napkin so she can spit it out.

But she devours the Korovai, the traditional, hand-braided Russian wedding bread that my mother always prepares for the occasion.

“Can we serve this at our wedding?” she asks.

I grab her by the waist, pulling her near. “I’m going to spoil you at our wedding. Jesus fuck. Between our families, imagine all the bridesmaids and groomsmen.”

“We can just elope.”

“We can just get our asses handed to us by The Queen if we do.”

That makes her stare turn, sharply aiming it across the room. “So is that my queen’s throne beside yours?”

I glance at it, and want her to know. “Yes, and it’s new.”

“Really? When did you buy it?”

“The day after I hired you.”

Her sapphire eyes gleam. “Liar.”

“No, baby. Never again. I value you, our love, and my dick head way too much to not tell you the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God and every queen who will kick my ass if I don’t.”

“So, that’s my very own throne?”

“Yeah. It becomes yours tonight.”

A wicked thought takes me. My darkest fantasies with her are about to come true. They’re swelling my cock.

Pressing my thumb to her lips, she obeys, sucking it while I ask, “Do you want everyone to watch how you’re mine?”

She nods.

“Do you want my brothers to be a part of your initiation?”

She moans, and I lean down, steaming my lips over her ear, “Do you want me to let them touch you while you earn your throne?”

“Please, my king,” she pants over my thumb.

Yes, jealousy prowls through my veins. But this possession? This taboo? This claim and pure control I have over her, and who touches her? Yes, Ruby’s complete trust in me is far more intoxicating.

“Go put your collar on and get ready.”

“Yes, my king.” She kisses me, then aims for the door.

“I’m coming with you.” Vale jumps up.

“Me, too!” Wren joins them.

“Finally.” Delphine follows, clapping.

The women close the door behind them, and Nash laughs. “You know what they’re up to, right?”

Sire reclines on his throne. “Butt plugs, I hope.”

“Listen,” I order. “I want this to be perfect for her. Ruby deserves a real initiation.”

“Do you mean...?” Jace raises an eyebrow.

“Ask,” I bark. “Ask her before you do anything. I want her ecstatic consent.”

“While you ecstatically kill us?” Loch laughs. “Not like I’m going to touch her anyway, but I’d prefer not to bury my brothers for touching your queen.”

When Loch fell in love with Alena, we all agreed it would be different for them.

One, because Loch has already fulfilled his duty.

He’s Delphine’s second king. And two, because Nash won’t tolerate Loch being with any woman but Alena.

Not that Loch wants to be. And three, it feels like Loch and Alena are the next generation. They’ll start a new custom.

But not us.

We crave this one.

“Yeah,” Jace agrees with Loch. “When it comes to Ruby, you’re like Nash and Nick. You won’t share.”

“And yet, we did share,” Nash reminds Jace. “And we liked it.”

What the fuck?

Did Jace, the biggest beast of all, just blush?

Nick clocks it, too. Sipping his vodka, he challenges Jace because we’re all curious. “Will you share your mystery woman one day?”

“Fuck,” Jace shakes his head, “if I ever get to claim her, I’ll give her every goddamn fantasy she wants.”

“I’m going to hold you to it,” Grant goads him, “… and her.”

Of all the brothers, they’re the closest in age, in looks. They’re like twins giving each other merciless shit … and love—most of the time.

“I won’t kill anyone,” I growl, fighting the instinct. “Only tonight and only for Ruby’s initiation. Make it mean something to her. Earn her trust. I want her to feel our bond.”

Respectfully, Nash nods. After Vale’s initiation, he gets it, and the others copy him with knowing grins.

In perfect timing, Vale swings the door open, proclaiming, “All rise for the queen!”

But the moment I see Ruby, stripped out of her elegant Chanel suit and standing before us in hot-as-fuck, lacey, lilac lingerie and nude heels, I whip my glare to my brothers. “I changed my mind.”

Sire rolls his eyes. “No, you didn’t.”

“My king.” Ruby stalks toward me, something primitive rousing my cock when she offers me the black leather handle to her gold chain leash.

I could make this about me. About my sociopathic jealousy and raging possession over her. How I want to reach for knives and salt at the thought of anyone touching Ruby. Ever.

I’m still tempted to kill everyone before me.

But, as the queens sit on their thrones, Ruby kneels before me on the velvet purple pillow I bought earlier and left for her before my throne.

Obediently, she bows her head, giving me everything.

Her body.

Her trust.

Her love.

So I make this about Ruby.

What she wants. What she’s proven and earned. My God, she is truly our first-chair queen.

I tug on her leash. I make her proudly lift her chin as I step and glance down her luscious backside…

Oh, my Wildfire.

I spy her fluffy purple bunny tail anal plug.

“Good girl,” I praise as my cock thickens. “Are you preparing your tight little ass for me to fuck?”

“Yes, my king.”

“Do you want me to fuck every hole that belongs to me? In front of the kings and queens tonight?”

I want everyone to hear her. We never claim without consent. We will not repeat the evil that brought us into this world.

No, we’re the opposite .

Under her purple lace, Ruby’s nipples are hard. Her lungs are heaving. Her eyes are an ocean of lust. Her beg is a command.

“Please, my king.”

Something I’ll never allow again will happen tonight. Once. And for her.

I don’t have to worry about Ruby’s innocence. She’s mature. She’s as experienced as I am.

I don’t have to fear she’ll betray me. Or leave me. I’ll always trust her.

Yes, we’ve earned this together.

I tug her collar. “Stand.”

She obeys, and I reach for her elbow to help her.

“So fucking beautiful.” I drink her in. Fire and ice. Curves and lace. Freckles and goosebumps. Alabaster and blushed skin.

“Let me show them,” I command, “how beautiful my queen is.”

She stands in the center of the semicircle of thrones as I take my place behind her. Unclasping her bra, I sweep it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor.

With my glance, I catch Jace licking his lips at the sight of Ruby’s exposed breasts. Loch is riveted, too. He adjusts his pants.

Reaching into my jacket pocket, I take out the nipple chain with clamps that Vale suggested earlier today.

Tracing my hand over Ruby’s collar, I open the clasp in the center of the gold chain and secure it to the ring on her collar before I tease the thin clamps over her pearled nipples.

“Can I show you off? Can I show them what a good girl you are for me?”

“Please, my king.”

“Tickle your clit while I do it. Make the pain pleasurable. ”

In her lilac ouvert panties, she doesn’t have to take them off. Her beautiful ginger pussy is already exposed.