Page 100 of Sire
He shakes his head. “Wren, you have no idea what it’ll be like. An initiation is intense. It’s physical and passionate, but it can get extreme.”
“I know. Delphine and Zar already told me.”
“Did they?” Axel sounds skeptical.
“Yes.” I turn to him. “You and the kings have your code, and the queens have ours. I know exactly what happened when Zar was initiated, and Delphine, too.”
Axel cocks his head. I swear, when he uses his ice-blue eyes like that, as if he’s testing me, I freeze, while other parts of me smolder.
“So,” he challenges, “you know about Delphine and Loch, too?”
“Uh…” I’ve stepped in a cow paddy now. “Delphine’s married to Grant.He’sher king.”
“Yes, Grant’sverymuch her king. He worships her.” Axel crosses his beefy, naked arms. He has more ink than all of the brothers, and right now, it’s distracting. It’s hot, though he lectures, “Grant will do anything for Delphine, like let her train Loch to be her second king. There’s a story there you don’t know. In fact, there’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Then tell me. Problem solved.”
“She’s right. We need to tell her.” Nash looks resolved. “All the queens need to know, because this Turner fuck is no joke. He’s why you have the killer cousins watching her.”
“Turner?” I glance between them. “Who’s that?”
“Fuck,” Sire mutters, stepping back. “Why tell her until we know more ourselves?”
“We’re about to find out more,” Nash says. “And Wren can help. It’ll be a hostile meeting, but with Wren there, being all…” he gestures to me, “all Wren and rainbows and a helluva shot, she’s an asset.”
“No, she’s mywife.” Sire’s lip curls. “She’s more than an asset. Besides, they’re my friends. It won’t be hostile. They come to my service sometimes, and I’ve been on their yacht. I married Silas and Eily, for God’s sake.”
“Yeah,” Axel huffs. “They worshipyou, but I’ve hauntedthem, and they have no idea you’re my brother. They don’t know who we really are, and they hate me.” Axel smirks. “Except Eily, of course, so yeah,” he considers me, “she’ll love Wren. Bring her.”
I seethe, “If y’all don’t quit talking about me like I’m an asset or an accessory, I’ll shoot your asses.”
Sire teases, “Thought you preferred poison.”
“What I prefer are some answers.” My fists land on mywaist. “Whoare Silas and Eily?Whatare you talking about? Haunting and yachts? Is that where we’re going? On a haunted yacht?”
“More like asuperyacht.” Nash munches on my sausage balls. “Silas and Eily Van de May are two of the six poly lovers with the hottest actors in the world.”
“Poly?” My pulse quickens. “Like six people? Fucking? Together?”
Sire chuckles. “While I’ll admit, we get extreme with our initiations, those six…?” He shoots me a devilish smile. “You want to go on a kinky cruise, Angel?”
When my hot husband looks at me like that? “Always.”
“Then get ready.” He snares his arms around my waist, tugging me near. “My innocent wife is about to see a naughty new world.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SIRE
On our driveto Hilton Head Island, I twist my neck, popping out the tension while Wren blurts questions and murders songs.
When Queen’s “We Will Rock You” thunders through the speakers, I don’t have the heart to tell my beautiful wife that Freddie Mercury is not singing, “Kickin’ yourcatall over the place.”
No, Wren’s the dose of levity we need because this is some serious shit.
Axel and Nash have been following the lead I gave them. The clue my father left me. It’s pointing us to this popular vacation island with a dark world most don’t want to know about.
The problem is, we need more intel on the human traffickers we’re hunting, and the former cop who has that intel is Cade Bryant.
