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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

NASH

All await the second part of Vale’s initiation when she accepts her second king.

Arousal fills the room, its musk distinct. The anticipation is thick and tense because I’m the only brother who’s ever resisted this.

Axel was eager to initiate our first queen. Too eager, we’ve since learned. Grant charged like a bull with Delphine. Nick was proud of his love for Zar. And Sire? Sire turned Wren’s initiation into a dark, holy ceremony.

Fuck, I think I meant that pun.

But me?

I wrap Vale in my arms, protecting her. Our breath and bodies recover as we lie intertwined on the platform while the others take another round of shots.

Dresses have been discarded. Pants and suits, too. All are nude, their bodies either erect or aroused, except for Jace, Axel, and his mystery woman. How she’s knelt silently for this long, I don’t know.

But still, it’s Jace, dressed in his suit and sitting uncharacteristically quiet, who traps my attention until the coded knock raps at the door.

Shit. No.

Sire smirks, rising to unlock it. When it swings open, a large, masculine figure enters, shrouded in all black and a black balaclava. Even Seven’s dark sunglasses disguise his distinct eyes.

Axel was right; you can’t tell who he is.

Axel was a dumbass; his sudden appearance shocks Vale.

I feel her tense in my arms, almost wincing as Seven’s heavy steps aim first for the altar. He lights a candle. Even his hands are covered by black leather gloves.

“Is that…?” Vale whispers.

“Seven.” I want to spit bullets.

“Why is he…?” she presses.

“He’s like Nick. He’s too public to be seen, even coming here.”

I try to keep our voices down while the others share greetings. Like it’s not awkward as fuck greeting their youngest brother, who’s dressed like a street-styled ninja.

“But Nick shows his face to me. He can trust me. Why can’t Seven?”

Of course, Vale asks the obvious questions.

Of course, I want to throat-punch Axel for thinking this was a good idea. But that man and his rituals…

Though Sire was destined for the Russian Orthodox clergy at one time, it’s Axel who might as well be the Patriarch of Moscow. He’s so committed to traditions, he ignores logic.

All kings are supposed to be present for a queen’s initiation. It’s an honor to watch. The intimacy binds us.

Alena is the only exception Axel has allowed. Not like the brothers wouldn’t rebel if he insisted otherwise, but we agreed. Her throne will always be empty. Her feet will never enter this room.

Alena will never be initiated, though deep down, rage plucks at my nerves, knowing Axel has such a compulsion for it. And deep down, way past six feet, is where I’ll bury him if he ever does it.

Silently, Seven approaches us.

From where Vale and I lie like naked lovers, he looms large, reaching into his front pocket. Vale grabs my chest, watching Seven pull out a purple velvet drawstring bag, silently signaling Vale to approach him.

Cautiously, she leaves my arms, crawling closer to the platform’s edge as Seven kneels before her. From the bag, he presents her with a gold bracelet: seven gold lions, each with tiny jeweled eyes.

Every queen receives a jeweled gift with gold lions. Each gift is different, but the meaning is the same: honor, loyalty, bravery, and dignity. Lions are sacred icons and the only symbols from the Kholodov crest that The Queen and her sons kept.

With suspicious eyes, Vale watches Seven carefully clasp the bracelet around her slender wrist. “Thank you,” she murmurs, admiring it. “It’s beautiful.”

He bows slightly before rising to back away.

Vale doesn’t take her eyes off him as he takes his seat on his seventh throne. Even Wren leans forward, studying Seven with equal awe and scrutiny.

“Ahem.” Sire clears his throat. “Now that all are present, let us continue.”

Vale slides her stare back to me, worried I’ll resist, but suddenly, I’m too concerned about Seven being here to protest what’s next.

I feel adrift at sea in this initiation, and the only way to shore, the only way to have Vale forever, is to finish this.

“Kneel, our king and queen,” Sire commands, so Vale mimics me, kneeling by the platform’s edge. I reach for Vale’s right hand while he continues, “Which brother here will vouchsafe as a second king, declaring this union honorable and protected? Who here is pleased to join their bed, mercifully granting that they may live long and bountiful lives but pledging, should her first king perish, he shall guard our queen and their children in his stead?”

“I do.”

Jace stands, speaking for the first time tonight.

With hands clasped before him, he approaches the platform. He keeps his eyes on me, avoiding Vale’s nude beauty, and I know it’s to keep me from losing it.

I feel the beast threatening, clawing to emerge. I still don’t know if I can do this, but there are enough brothers here to hold me back should rage overwhelm me.

“Will you, Nash, allow Jace to honor your queen?”

I squeeze her hand. Painfully, the words choke my throat. “I will.”

It’s not rage. It’s raw emotion.

“Will you, Jace, honor Nash’s queen?”

“I will,” his voice strains with it, too.

It’s this next part that grabs my soul every time.

“Will you, her kings, be subject to her as she is subject to you?” Sire evokes the sacred orthodox text and the scars on our mother’s back. “Will you love your queen as you love your own bodies?”

This is the vow her first husband defiled.

This is the vow her second husband honored.

“For he who loves his queen loves himself.” Sire exalts. “For no noble man ever hated his own flesh. He nourishes and cherishes it, as every king shall nourish and cherish his queen. Every king shall protect his queen, all queens, for they fill our lives with children, prosperity, and all good things. This is the love you will give her. State your vow if you agree.”

This is the reason for our bond. For all that we risk and fight.

I’m trapped by Vale’s gaze, holding her hand while I promise, “I vow to my queen.”

“I vow to my queen,” Jace echoes me.

Vale blinks back tears, the magnitude of our tradition settling in her eyes.

“May those present declare this union sacred,” Sire concludes. “Have mercy on us and save us. Protect and preserve us for many years to come.”

“Here, here.” Nick knocks on the wooden arm of his chair. The brothers join him.

“Each queen decides how to receive a second king.” Axel takes over the ceremony. “A queen may receive more than two kings if that is her or his desire, for we are here to honor our queen’s flesh. Be it tonight or any other, we always serve our queens.”

Deference and desire crawl through Axel’s deep voice. Slowly, our ceremony shifts from the exalted to the erotic, too.

No brother here would ever harm a queen, but most desire to please more than one. Even Nick has allowed Sire to please Zar. Even Seven has honored Delphine’s flesh as her second king.

I’m Wren’s second king, a fact I’m confident Vale has figured out, or I’ll tell her tonight. There are so many secrets I need to tell her.

But me sharing Vale with Jace?

Us doing this right now?

The red veil starts to bleed over my stare, my nostrils flaring, my pulse climbing.

“Tell me how you want to do this.” Jace kneels before Vale. “I don’t want to hurt you. I want to respect you. I want to respect my brother, too; just tell me how.”

My fury ebbs with Jace’s humility.

Fuck, he’s trying hard.

Fuck, I’m a dickhead if I don’t try, too.

Vale smiles tenderly, brushing Jace’s dark hair from his face. “Wear a condom,” she insists. “If you go slow, you won’t hurt me. And no offense, but don’t kiss me. You’re hot, and I trust and adore you … but only Nash can kiss me without triggering me.”

The strangle over my throat is sudden, just as I lethally strangled Chad. I watch Jace swallow hard, understanding what she just shared.

“Okay.” Emotions fill his voice. “I’ll never hurt you, I promise. But I’ll stand in line, right behind Nash, and kill anyone who fucking does. You have my vow.”

“I know.” Playfully, she punches his arm, and Jace rubs it, grinning like it hurt.

It didn’t.

“Fuck, this is awkward.” Grant chuckles. “Are we in middle school?”

“And who beat your ass in middle school?” Jace suddenly barks at him. “Yeah. Me. That’s right, so shut the fuck up.”

Aw, brotherly love.

“Do not kill the mood,” Delphine chides. “This is about your queen. You need to get her ready again. This can be an amazing night for her, but only if you beasts behave.”

“I like it when they’re beasts,” Wren sighs.

“Hmm.”

We all turn, shocked by the first sound from the woman kneeling for Axel. He’s still caressing her lace-covered hair. She’s still stroking his covered cock.

“Will you lift that sweet woman off of her goddamn knees?” But I can’t take it anymore. “Let her sit on your lap,” I demand. “She’s at least passed this test.”

Axel sneers at me, so I raise a brow. Really, motherfucker? Want to get into this now?

So, he fights the urge to brawl, gently tugging at her arm and patting his thigh for her to sit.

There. She’s comfortable.

Now, it’s Vale’s turn.

“Poison, come here.” I guide her to lie back. One last time, I have to ask, “Are you sure?”

Whoops. That yanked the cat’s tail. The feral look Vale gives me is one second away from clawing my eyes out.

“Okay, okay.” I chuckle. “Let me get you ready.”

“I’m very ready.”

“Not enough,” I fear, speaking for myself, not her.

I need to worship her more. I need her to want me, not Jace. I start with our kiss. If she flinches, this is off. No one touches my queen.

But she responds to my lips, her body rising for my mouth, our tongues teasing, before I claim her neck, kissing, biting, and marking her even more until her moans beg for more.

Kneading her breasts, I lower my mouth and suck her pinched nipple. It’s so raw and ready, she bows her back, crying out, “Oh god!”

“Do you want these off?” I ask about the magnets. Maybe she’s done with this kink, but “No,” she rasps. “Leave them on. They feel good. You feel good.”

I devote my attention to her nipples, licking and sucking them, the metal orbs clicking against my teeth until my woman is a writhing mess. Then I kiss her belly, sighing over her flesh, at how I can make her quiver with my kiss. How I can smell her lust and mine as I tease my way to her sweet pussy.

Spreading her thighs apart, I lick my lips at what I see. My creamy cum drips from Vale’s pink entrance, so I scoop the drop up with my fingertip and plunge it back inside her.

“Oh god,” she cries again.

Proudly, I drool over her clasped clit before I warn, “You’re going to drip with every drop of me before he’s allowed inside you.” I crouch between her legs, lowering my tongue. “Watch me, Vale,” I order. “Watch me eat what’s mine.”

She props on her elbows, her stare heavy, her breath, too. I lock my eyes on hers, fluttering my tongue over her clit. “Oh fuck!” she jumps. “Oh fuck, Nash. I’m going to come.”

I don’t stop with this singular pleasure until she does. Until she’s panting, shaking, and pulsing, her entrance leaking with my cum again, so I shove it back in.

“Now,” I command, crawling over her before I roll her on top of me, “straddle my cock, and rub your clit on it while you look me in the eye.”

She obeys, surrendering her body to me and presenting herself to Jace, waiting at the platform’s edge.

“Do it,” I tell him, “and don’t hurt her. Make it feel good, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

The sound of his zipper lowering makes me snarl. The rip of the condom foil before he rolls one on coils my muscles. The heat of his body, brushing his concrete legs against mine and taking his position behind Vale, makes my pulse skyrocket.

Fuck, I’m losing it.

I’m going to lose it.

I’m going to kill him.

I hold Vale so tight, fisting her hair and grabbing her hip. I’ll never let her go. I feel myself slipping into a rage. It’s a familiar descent. It’s served me well until now. Until the man in me wants this woman so much, I’ll sacrifice all for her. Just once.

Her clit and its hard, teasing magnets rub over my swollen shaft. Her lust glosses my length. She’s braced over me, straddling me and staring into my eyes, obeying me on this rarest occasion…

Until she gasps. Until I feel a hard cock rub over mine. Until I feel Jace slowly urging into her pussy, hovering and rubbing over my cock, too, making her leak over my tip. Until I feel Jace’s massive hand hold her ass, his fingers brushing mine on her hip.

“Fuck!” I roar.

My vision blurs, my brain tunnels, my ears ring. The beast inside me wants blood. Kill for her— a million souls I’ll take for this one in my arms.

I tense to flip her over, to punch him off of her, to gnash my teeth into his neck and rip his goddamn jugular out, his blood dripping from my chin, but … Vale kisses me.

As if it was never stolen from her before, she gives me every breath she has, so I’ll survive this, so I’ll allow this. Her tongue takes mine, her hands caressing my jaw. She rubs her little, hard clit over my angry, swollen tip, smoothing my razor edges and calming my fury. She suddenly floods my veins with my favorite poison: I love her .

She holds me bound to our kiss while she accepts another man.

Jace isn’t a beast about it. He tries to go fast without hurting her. He tries not to grunt and make a show of it. He tries not to rub his cock against mine, but we can’t avoid it.

She’s our queen.

She deserves pleasure.

I would never make Vale suffer, but I can make her come.

“Come on, poison.” I grab her neck. I keep taking her kiss, my tongue lashing hers. “Rub that clit on me and move those hips.”

“Nash, I…”

She’s afraid. If she moves her hips like she does for me, she’d be taking Jace even more.

She doesn’t want to hurt me. She doesn’t want to make me mad. She doesn’t know how much this makes me love her even more.

Die for her? No.

Even in death, I’ll be devoted to her.

“Do it.” I grip her neck harder. “Grind those sweet hips and smear that wet pussy all over my cock.”

She obeys, rubbing her clit over my tip, and circling her hips with her maddening moves, making Jace grunt, “Shit. Holy fucking shit, she’s good.”

Jealousy, pride, rage, raunch: it all ignites my blood. With my free hand, I slap Vale’s peaked nipple. “You’re going to be a good girl and come for me like you always do.”

I do it again and again until she shudders, moaning, “Yes, Daddy.”

Her pleasure makes Jace drive harder. His sheathed shaft, wet with Vale’s desire and slick with my cum, rubs my bare cock, gliding over my length while Vale’s pinched clit thrills my sensitive slit.

I’ve never felt this before, and I don’t know how to feel about it now … because it feels so fucking good.

“Goddamn,” I groan.

Yes, I’ve doubled inside a woman before. Dutifully, I fucked Wren’s pussy while Sire claimed her ass. I did the same with Axel and his first queen.

But it was never this close, this intimate. It was never with my love, my queen, and with a brother who cares for her, too. It’s suddenly warm and right. It’s carnal and taboo, as well, and it takes my eyes; Vale sees it. She feels it, too.

“Yes, Nash,” she sighs at our pleasure. “Feel it. Love it. You like it.”

I do. I moan my confession.

“Shit,” Jace huffs, letting his balls brush over mine, making me feel his hard dick glossed with Vale’s lust, grind against my cock. He’s pleasing me so I won’t kill him; I won’t hate him. “Shit,” he grunts, “I need her to come so I can.”

The initiation isn’t complete without it, and that’s my secret with Wren. I couldn’t come inside her, even though I wore a condom. She could see it in my eyes, so we faked it for the others. I know Wren realized then that I belonged to someone else.

I belong to Vale.

I glance around, and all eyes are on our union. Axel’s icy stare burns for this. Like he knows my ruse with Wren, he won’t let me get away with it again, and I don’t want to. Vale deserves everything real with me, and I know how to give it to her.

“That’s it,” I coax her ride, my hand gently strangling her neck, her stare locked to mine. “Be a good girl and rub that wet pussy and little clit all over my hard dick. Be my horny little queen while he fucks you, too.” Her eyelids hood. Her lips tremble. Her alabaster body blushes with sudden heat. “Say it, Vale. Say what you’ve always wanted with me.”

“Yes, Mr. Allen. Yes, my king.” Her thighs shake. “Make me yours.”

“You are, Vale.” I suck two of my fingers, drenching them in my spit. “Oh, my pretty little poison, you fucking are.”

I reach around, brushing Jace’s hand aside before I slowly plunge my fingers in her ass, and that does it. Vale shatters in my grasp, her stare breaking over mine as her body bucks, her shoulders convulsing, her groans my goddamn symphony.

“Mine.” I grab her, pulling her gasping mouth to my lips. I kiss her, my heart soaring at how she doesn’t flinch with me, only me . She gives me her kiss while Jace grunts, his legs shaking. I can feel his cock pulsing against mine while Vale’s orgasm makes him come.

“Fuck.” He groans, marveling, “Fuck, her pussy is strong.”

“Goddammit.” I can’t take any more. I wrap around Vale, barely kicking Jace off of her, before I flip her over and bury myself so deep inside her. I fuck her so hard, she cries elated tears while they bite at my eyes, too.

I don’t care who sees, who protests, who I offend, or who I have to kill.

I will never share her again.