Page 12 of King of the Dawn

He had so seldom lied to me, that this one made my heart squeeze like it was in a vice grip.

The limo came to a halt, announcing our arrival, but I wasn’t finished with him yet. I kissed him, our lips softly connecting.

“Don’t keep secrets from me,” I whispered. “Something is wrong. And I’ll find out.”

“Finding secrets is my job.” His words sent a shiver down my spine.

Was that… a threat? It felt like one, even if his tone suggested otherwise.

His hands wrapped around my waist. “As long as you’re here, and I’m holding you, nothing could be better.” Fingers dug into my hips. “We’re here. Let's go.”

I sighed but nodded anyway. It was clear he wouldn’t give me more. Not right now.

His lips brushed against mine. “You are gorgeous, wife. But this dress is going to look even better on the floor tonight.”

Heat crept up my neck and painted my cheeks. Jericho opened the door and slid out. Then, he extended his hand to guide me out. When he did, the man standing beside me placed that lifeless mask on once more.

Chapter Six

Jericho

The reception was small, intimate. Only the closest of family and friends, and there was absolutely zero press. After the fiasco at the engagement party, I was taking no chances with my wife’s safety.

I doubled the guards on the perimeter of the reception hall, ensuring that every person coming in or out that wasn’t a blood relation was frisked - including random staff.

Yuliya trailed behind Evie at all times. My daughter’s cousins were in the room. The twin assassins hovered in the entrances, their keen eyes flitting back and forth. There were silent security guards hovering around with a single directive - to keep my wife safe.

Their orders were to kill and ask questions later if anyone so much as breathed wrong in Eve’s direction.

Nothing was to mar her radiance on this day.

I looked at her from my seat as she flitted from person to person, smiling and laughing. She and Rose were a striking pair, walking arm in arm as they greeted old friends and family, with Yuliya in her suit, following behind, her icy eyes as sharp as a hawk.

“You’re looking at her like she’s about to disappear,” Corbin said, looking at my smiling bride.

“Something like that,” I said. “You look at my sister like she’s a high value target.”

“Isn’t she?” He turned fully to me, his boyish looks suddenly serious, those hazel eyes piercing. This sobriety on his boyish face was off-putting. “Jericho, I need to talk t—”

A clamor at the door stole our attention. The twins turned their bodies, their hands hovering over the weapons hidden at their hips. The gun at my ankle felt heavy and heated. I strode quickly to my wife’s side, pulling her into my side, as Yuliya stepped forward, ready to catch a bullet for her.

Yuliya went to step between me and the door. When Rose moved to join her, I shouted “Alastair!” and he reached out to put himself in front of his pregnant wife.

My daughter still thought she was a combatant, when she held the most precious lives inside her.

The double doors of the ballroom opened and in walked Eoghan, casual but for the bags under his eyes, his hands up, level with his shoulders in a sign of surrender.

Lea and Leo’s guns came out. Lea aimed a gun at his head. Leo at his heart. I had paid out the nose for Caledonia Security to protect the wedding hall, but the incompetents outside were bratva, not professionals.

“I come in peace!” Eoghan shouted, a smirk teasing at his lips.

I narrowed my eyes. “You weren’t invited.”

“And I will be on my way,” he said, “But I have a gift for the bride.”

My hackles rose, and I wanted to kill him right then and there.

Eoghan snapped his fingers and three of his men, dressed in black fatigues from head to toe, dragged in three wounded men and placed them on their knees in front of their boss.

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