Page 93 of Unforgiving Queen

“Jesus, River! You scared the shit out of me.”

He grinned. “I was watching Darius make an ass out of himself.”

I took a swig of water, eyeing him. Tall and stocky, he had a powerful build, but somehow I thought deep down, he was a teddy bear. Protective. Sweet. And sexy as fuck. I could tolerate an arranged marriage to him.

Dante, on the other hand, I could not.

“How are you, River?”

“Good, Reina.” His eyes traveled the length of me. “You’re getting stronger.”

I grinned. “Practicing killing my future husband,” I said half-jokingly.

“You will more than likely succeed,” Darius observed, which earned him a smile. “So when is the wedding?”

Fucking never.

I shrugged. “Soon. Do either of you want to come to my rehearsal dinner?”

“When is it?” River asked, surprising me by even entertaining the idea.

“In two days.”

River offered an apologetic smile. “I’m flying out tomorrow morning.”

“I’m available,” Darius answered. “I thought you would’ve hit the road before then though.”

He wasn’t far off, but rather than confirm his suspicion, I smiled tightly. “I’ll text you the name of the place. Better be there, Darius—”

My words were cut off when a wheezing sound screeched through the air. Suddenly, my body was slammed against the ground, the mannequin falling on top of me.

A shot was fired and I watched in horror as a bullet lodged itself in River’s arm. My mouth opened to scream but a hand muffled me.

“Don’t make a sound.” It was Darius’s voice. “We’re under attack.”

Bullets started to fly all around us. Darius and River produced guns out of somewhere and faced the men who were shooting at us. They took aim and pulled the trigger, almost moving as one. I had never seen anything like it.

I stared at the scene before me in shock. We were outnumbered—by a long shot—but neither of them seemed fazed. They sandwiched me between them, yanking me off the floor to run for cover. We were sitting ducks in the middle of the gym.

The situation was dire.

We took cover in the back office, its dividing wall already shattered, glass shards covering the ground. With a battle cry, River whirled around and started shooting. Darius joined him, but all I could do was stare dumbly.

It took me three heartbeats to finally get my shit together.

“I can help,” I finally said.

Neither one of them questioned my offer as Darius threw me a gun. The palpable emotion—fear, anxiety, and anger—rang in my head, but I ignored it all. Instead, I shifted and started shooting.

Drowning out Darius’s and River’s voices, I zeroed in on the two men in the far right corner. I aimed, then pulled the trigger, hitting one. Then I repeated the motion, but only injured the other.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

Darius’s eyes found mine. “You good?”

I nodded. “I hit him in the shoulder.”

“That’s good. We’ll be able to question him.”