Page 11

WES

September—Three Weeks Prior

“ M ara, stay with me?”

She was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen in my life.

And though the world saw her scars as something to sneer about, they only made her more beautiful to me.

Because as I touched each one, I imagined the pain she must have felt, and instantly knew that she was one of the strongest creatures on earth.

She was a survivor, a warrior, a beautiful angel that rose above the darkness of this world.

She wanted to hide this part of her, and it broke my soul because all I wanted to do was love it.

To love her and cherish her and treat her like a queen because she was never more beautiful to me than she was right now.

Because I finally saw all of her…and I loved her even more for it.

I felt as my heart bleated because I never wanted anything more than to hear Mara de la Puente, First Daughter of Telvia, say yes to being my bride. But she didn’t say yes . She said something better. And it sent my heart soaring into the heavens to rest among the stars .

She said, “Always.”

***

October—Present Day

Bing!

I glanced at my mini-tab.

Calvernon Estate Staff: The cabinet meeting has begun, Mr. Calvernon. Anything else you need from us?

I didn’t respond. I didn’t need to. All I needed to know was one thing and one thing only, and now I had that information.

Methodically, I loaded one bullet after another until the magazine was full.

Picked up my Glock and shoved the mag into the magazine well, hearing the familiar ting as metal slammed against metal.

I pulled back the slide.

Let it go.

The gun jumped in my hand as a bullet loaded into the chamber.

I held it up, lined up my vision with the sights of the pistol, testing the weight and feel of the choice I had made in my hands. And then I stood up straight, breathed out, cleared my mind, and prepared for what I was about to do.

My hand drew to my dog tags, finding her ring, and I lifted it up into the air. The honey-colored stone caught the light.

Glitter.

Glimmer.

Glint .

It all boiled down to this. I was the only thing that stood between Mara and her family. And if what they had done to her for years was any indication of her future in their hands, she was going to die.

Just like my brother.

And though my actions might have caused my brother’s death, I refused to allow my inaction to condemn her to the same fate. Because inaction was still an act—an act of cowardice.

And I was no fucking coward.

I drew her ring to my lips, kissed the stone, and tucked it under my black shirt, close to my heart.

Because this was all going to end one way or another.

Either I succeeded, and we both lived, or I failed and we both died.

But either way, it was all going to end tonight.

And all I could hope was that however this story ended, it didn’t conclude as a miserable tragedy.

I tucked my Glock into the waistband of my jeans.

Concealed it under my shirt. Closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to steady my rattled nerves.

I hoped my mother would forgive me. That no matter how it all turned out, she would forgive me for what I was about to do.

Because in the end, he was still my father, still her husband, and I was about to dethrone him and throw our entire family and region into chaos in the middle of a war.

But regardless of whether I lived or died, was forgiven or condemned, none of it changed what I had to do.

If we start down this road, there is no going back. Are you prepared to do what must be done?

Yes. Yes, I was. I was prepared to do whatever that entailed in the end, as long as Mara lived.

I rolled my head over my shoulders, stretching my muscles, cracking my neck, feeling the burn and the pop and the delicious ache. Because the time had come for me to defy my father.

I was ready.

** *

The meeting was being held in the dining room over dinner.

Cabinet meetings like these usually began as working dinners, and my mother usually stayed out of them.

So did I until I assumed the role as the First Son of the North.

The role meant I was automatically a member of the Presidential Cabinet, and I was required to attend all cabinet meetings.

Even as a kid, Chase had to attend them.

The idea was to groom him from the beginning to understand the politics of every decision made, and how every decision had a consequence. Some good, some bad.

He hated attending them at first. But as he grew older, he enjoyed being involved and having a say in how the region was run.

Not me.

Never me.

I didn’t want it.

Glad it wasn’t mine to bear.

Until it was.

The meeting started twenty minutes ago. A meeting I should have been invited to but was conveniently left out of.

No matter.

I didn’t need an invitation.

On any other night, I would have been a thousand times grateful to have been uninvited to a cabinet meeting. But not tonight.

Tonight I was angry.

Tonight I was determined.

Tonight I was taking Mara’s future into my hands, doing something I never thought I would do in a million years.

I was going to this cabinet meeting by choice, and I was going to surprise the fuck out of everybody by doing it.

The door was closed, as it always was during dinner parties or important discussions. And I stood at the door, chin tipped to my chest. I closed my eyes. Breathed in deeply. Calmed the tempest brewing inside me.

And then her voice whispered in my ear.

Stay with me? Please?

She was drunk. Too much wine. But oh my fucking god, did those words cause an earthquake within me. The hope that bloomed inside that night threatened to make my knees buckle at her feet. Because I wanted nothing more than to stay with her. To live and breathe in her existence.

Because Mara was truly the world to me. She was the beginning and the end, my alpha and my omega. And a life without Mara was no life to me at all. At the end of all things, I truly didn’t have a choice. Because the choice always had been and always would be Mara.

With one final deep breath, I placed my hand on the door and pushed it open.