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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

NASH

“What do we do with him?” Grant asks, standing over the man he just choked in the courtyard behind Delta’s.

Grant still has wicked bruising from the shot he took in the vest. I catch him wincing from his effort, but like a raging bull, you can’t keep him down.

He busted one of Turner’s men, crawling over the back brick wall of Delta’s, and now the man is passed out, but he’ll awaken soon.

“Take him to the bunker,” I fume. “They’ll swarm like flies to this place, so let’s use it. We’ll collect dozens before this is over.”

We’ve never used our warehouse in the Naval yard with an old underground bomb shelter.

That changes today.

We have two scouts on Delta’s roof. A sniper, too. There’s a man on each porch, along with our usual surveillance and guard by the front door.

It took less than forty-eight hours for Turner to send another butcher after me and Vale. This guy is armed with multiple hunting knives, and he looks jacked. It’s as if he’s been trained to fight his entire life. Something odd strikes me about him. I can’t place it, but at least he was no match against Grant.

Like a beacon, Vale and I will draw Turner’s men to Delta’s or any place where we let ourselves be spotted, and our team will scoop them up.

“Pull a few fingernails,” I order Grant. “Get him to confess where Turner’s base is. If we collect more of Turner’s men, one will turn with our torture.”

Grant nods, motioning for the guard on the second-floor porch to help him while I turn to go inside.

I search for Vale and her twin, Blair, back at work, their loyal customers oblivious to the dark world outside. In the second-floor showroom, I find Blair helping two wives select a new strap-on while Vale adjusts a display on the shelf.

Her little black dress lifts, exposing her alabaster ass cheeks. So cute. So tempting. Vale’s back to her gothic tease, and it warms my heart, firming my cock, too.

She isn’t afraid of my life.

She’s eagerly joining it.

Her signature black thigh-highs with white bows draw me near, but I keep my safe distance, knowing I’ll lose control if I touch her.

She’s adjusting two silver balls the size of peas on a realistic-looking silicone vaginal display.

“What are those?” I’m beyond intrigued.

“They’re magnetic orbs. Their pinch is so painful, it’s pleasurable to some,” she explains, positioning them over the clitoris on the model. “You can use them like this, on nipples, on the frenulum of a penis, or the crus of one. You know … where your shaft meets your balls.”

“I didn’t know,” I grin, feeling my crus suddenly swell, “but thanks for the lesson, Dr. Sex.”

She whips around, winking. “You’re my best student.”

I lower my glare. “I’m your only student.”

Seeing Vale’s stunning smile makes me even more obsessed with protecting her. I nod to the glass display shelves. They wrap the large room. “What do you have in here that will persuade a penis to divulge the truth?”

I don’t need to explain. Vale knows we just captured one of Turner’s men. Jace is working downstairs to erase the surveillance footage so all Stacey, the owner, will see is a safe and empty courtyard.

“Persuade?” she asks. “Or thrill because careful—one man’s interrogation is another man’s kink.”

“Either way, we’ll have him begging for it to stop or for someone to finish him.”

Her eyes gloss with desire. “Will that someone be you?”

It rouses my cock even more that Vale will embrace any dark kink I may have, but no, not this one. “That’s Sire’s domain.”

“Sire?” Her eyes get wide.

Sire and Wren have been warm hosts. In two days, Wren and Vale have gotten close.

Not like sisters. Not like friends.

Like our queens.

It’s beautiful, arousing even to watch. It’s eroding my resistance to this. Since I’ve secretly loved Vale for so many years, my brothers always knew. Vale has always felt like mine. Like ours.

I don’t answer her question about Sire’s proclivities. I raise a brow. She’ll find out soon enough.

“Oh!” She bounces her brows. “Male on male BDSM? Big fan.”

“Who said anything about only male-on-male?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“You’ll be my queen,” I taunt. “It’s a very firm possibility.”

What in the hell am I doing? My cock swells under my nerdy trousers. To the rest of the store and staff, I’m still the quiet accountant, hiding behind my usual glasses.

But now, I’m the king, imagining all the kinky ways I’ll love my queen, all the bestial things I’ll do with her, and all the brutal ways I’ll protect her, too. It makes me rock hard.

“Show me,” I demand. “Show me the ultimate submission for a male.”

With a swish of her luscious hips, Vale aims for two cabinets down, pointing at the curved black bar on the top shelf. Two padded cuffs with chains are attached to each end.

“This is an extreme humbler with ankle restraints,” she explains. “That wooden bar is actually two, screwed together. See the small opening at the center? You put a man on his hands and knees and pull his balls behind him, locking them between the two bars. Then, you screw the bars together, behind his thighs, before you attach the ankle restraints chained to the ends of the bar. It puts his ass in the air, and if he tries to fight, it pulls, torturing his scrotum.”

My face twists with a “fuck no.” It’s not my kink, but it is our new tool.

Told you, I get creative with torture. Psychological is the best. You don’t need extreme violence if you fuck with a man’s mind. The bonus? It leaves no evidence.

“Give me four,” I order.

Vale chews her lip, half aroused, half impressed.

“Every man who comes for us,” I tell her, “gets put in one of those.”

“But where are they?—”

“Details,” I growl. “Don’t ask.”

While she gathers four Humbler boxes, I search the store for more inspiration, making plans for Vale’s test, too. I mean … her ritual . Almost everyone will be here tonight.

I’m not worried about our security. It’s tight.

It’s me I worry about. I’m a cyclone of love, lust, rage, and primal possession. A different emotion storms my veins every hour.

When I watch Vale laughing with Wren in Sire’s kitchen, I feel love. Vale looks happy and free.

When I hear Sire fucking Wren in their shower, his taboo taunts make lust scorch through my veins. Sire makes sure we hear them. It makes me fuck Vale for the second or third time in a night.

Then rage seizes me, watching Sire or Jace smile at Vale. How each brother silently adores my new queen.

Yes, they said this would happen a long time ago—the day I killed Chad. But they didn’t have to wrestle with my guilt over my daughter finding out. It took time for me to confront it.

Hell, I still feel it. Not guilty for loving Vale. It’s guilt for how she needs my protection now. I’ve made her the ultimate bait for Turner, as my daughter always has been. I’ll do anything to keep them safe.

I climb to the third floor of Delta’s, with the demonstration room on my right and our new meeting room on my left.

The juxtaposition of the open ivory door, where select customers are invited to watch how the sex furniture and toys can be enjoyed, is set against the closed door at the opposite end of the dark hall.

It only makes our locked, black door with its gold doorknob and keyhole more tempting, more forbidden.

Will Vale pass the test tonight?

Better question. Will I?

Past that gilded, black door, I can see my future with Vale. I just can’t see the next week or the next month. With all the secrets I hide, I’m not sure we’ll get there.