The Favorite: A Dark Enemies To Lovers Mafia Romance (The Syndicate's Revenge Book 2)

by Mara McQueen

  He pushed her belly-down into the mattress. The smile she sent him in the mirror was anything but innocent.

  He trailed his hands and lips all over her back and legs, until she squirmed underneath him, wanting more.

  He'd tried gentle last night, forcing himself to go maddeningly slow. He hadn't wanted to scare her away. But Ava must have felt that same all-consuming need that ravaged through him whenever they touched. Like they wanted to melt together until there was no more her and him, just them.

  "Are you still watching yourself?" he asked.

  "Yes," she hissed and arched.

  "Good." He gave her ass a playful smack.

  Her eyes darkened as a moan passed her red lips.

  That small sound undid him. He slipped the condom on and thrust inside her. Their moans mixed together as their bodies moved at a maddening pace.

  They fit right. They wanted the same things. They'd been made for each other.

  Ava propped herself up on her arms, her crown swaying with the rhythm as she met him thrust for thrust.

  Raiden gritted his teeth. She felt so good. So damn good.

  Before he could lose himself, he circled her chest and pulled her up, his chest to her back.

  "Look at us," he whispered fiercely in her ear, watching her watching them in the mirror. Her eyes traveled lower, to where they were joined. The groan that passed her lips was inhuman. "Look at you."

  She did. She took all of herself in with hungry eyes, moving faster against him.

  "We are going to be great together," he groaned out, tightening his grip on her.

  Ava's arms flailed, trying to find some point of balance. She gripped the canopy drapes, coiling them around her arms.

  Raiden sucked in a breath. She looked like a bird in flight. They looked marvelous.

  The Dragon and The Phoenix, finally together.

  His left hand snaked down her chest, touching her center. Ava watched, mesmerized, before throwing her head back and grinding against him so hard and fast, Raiden lost all sense of logic. She tumbled over the edge in his arms, pulling him with her.

  They would be great together. Forever.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  AVA

  Ava fell onto her back, sweaty and satisfied. She gulped down air, willing her tired lungs to cooperate.

  Good Lord, this man was going to undo her.

  Thank you, universe.

  He settled by her side, sounding as out of breath as her.

  That had been fun. That had been really fun, and Ava wanted to try it again and again and again.

  But the outside world hissed at them, trying to break into their little bubble of happiness each time one of the guards marched through the courtyard.

  The clock was ticking.

  "So…" She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to come down from the high. "Toni is a genius?"

  "Yes, she is. I'm kind of upset we didn't recruit her into the Brotherhood before this." He leaned to the side, ruffling through his clothes until he took out the assassin's phone—then he glowered at it with all his might. "She cracked the code as soon as she got it. She still doesn't know what it's for, though, so don't share too much yet."

  Ava rolled on the bed and nestled into the crook of his shoulder, sighing contently. "Once again, my cousins had nothing to do with those people trying to murder me."

  "Things don't work that way in our world. You need to look past emotions and see motives. Trick them before they trick you. Let's say your cousins had nothing to do with what happened last night," he said slowly, sounding like he didn't believe a word of it. "What about the wedding massacre?"

  "What about it?"

  "My Clan wasn't responsible, no matter what that Ella cousin of yours thinks. Why would Banu and Dima want to kill the Syndicate leader? If anybody could have stopped our wedding, it was Victor."

  Ava licked her lips. Her uncle wouldn't have let her go without a fight. She'd had to put on a show for him to even consider letting her marry Darius.

  "I almost got shot, too," he said matter-of-factly, like he was talking about the daily commute from work. "I'm starting to think that wasn't an errant bullet."

  "We were too far away from the crowd," Ava said, mind starting to spin that Underworld weave. "If the advisors wanted their daughter to become Queen and their grandchild to be heir, they would've wanted you alive and kicking and thrusting."

  Raiden hummed in agreement. "Then a Syndicate maggot ends up dead in our house. That's not a coincidence. We've also found something interesting on this phone. I've studied the assassin's typing style and pretended to be him. Told his overlords he couldn't attack last night because you moved rooms. They weren't too happy about that."

  Honestly. What in the world made Ava so threatening that Banu and Dima couldn't bear her surviving one more day?

  He typed in a code, too fast for Ava to catch—damn his princeling reflexes—and brought up a chat. He turned the phone toward her. "See something suspicious?"

  Ava squinted at the screen, scrolling through the secret conversation. She felt Raiden watching her closely.

  There was a right answer to give, but Ava wasn't seeing it. All she saw were endless, stuttered instructions and—

  The differences were small and she probably wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't looking so closely, but the messages weren't the same. The instructions had different cadences. Too many adverbs in one message, not a single one in the other. Changes in capitalizations, too many commas, then not enough.

  It could have been a code. Or—

  "The assassin was getting instructions from four different people?"

  Raiden kissed her shoulder. "We know Banu and Dima are two of them, Kimbra knows how her parents write and confirmed it. Question is...who are the other two?"

  "And why do they want me dead?" She asked, dumbfounded. Banu and Dima’s messages kept on insisting Ava be “taken care of” as long as it looked like an accident—which explained why they hadn’t poisoned her until now and messed around with horses and bridges. The other two didn’t care how Ava was disposed of, as long as it happened. "And you, while they're at it?"

  It didn't make any sense.

  Fine, she could turn dangerous if she became Queen. But that could only happen if Raiden was still alive. He was the heir. If he'd been killed, she wouldn't have even seen the Brotherhood throne, let alone got to sit in it. Plus, what did Victor's death have to do with all of this?

  "What the hell's going on?" She asked much too loudly, scowling at the phone even harder than Raiden.

  "Someone's trying to destabilize two of the most powerful Clans in the world. We're either dealing with a lunatic or a genius."

  "Two of them," she said, locking eyes with him. "At least."

  "I don't care if they're dozens, we're going to get each and every single one of them. Starting with the ones we know, Banu and Dima."

  May they rot in hell for all eternity.

  "You're getting attacked tonight, by the way, so don't make any plans," he said.

  Ava snorted a laugh. "I'll try."

  "But we have to plan for tomorrow." Raiden squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I have the recording, which can damn Banu and Dima, but I need them happy and pliable first so they won't smell danger when I ask for the crown."

  Ava's thoughts whirled, jumping from one scenario to the next. Couldn't they just poison the advisors and be done with it? It would save so much time and effort. But they'd have to agree to make Raiden King first to not raise suspicion, and they'd only do that if—

  Ava inhaled sharply. Make the best out of what you’re given and think outside the box. Good advice for the mountains, even better for the Underworld.

  Raiden laughed. "You have an idea."

  "A sinister one."

  It might be a stupid nothing of an idea. Or it might be a great plan. But her gut was telling her this was the kind of scheme that fit right in with the Underworld.

  She propped herself on
her elbows with a devious smile. "What if I do get killed tonight?"

  Chapter Fifty

  RAIDEN

  The choir sang a heartbreaking melody that ghosted through the entire throne room, filled to the brim with Brotherhood members staring in horror at the casket draped in dark velvet lying in the center.

  As soon as Raiden had ridden back solemnly, the casket trailing behind him, pulled on a cart by Azor, the entire city had gasped and buzzed. Who, what, where.

  What had happened?

  They followed the procession up to the throne room, elbowing each other in the courtyard to get a better look. The only ones who hadn't joined in were the children still laughing in the streets. They didn't yet know what the black velvet represented.

  A funeral silence had descended over the city as everyone waited impatiently. Raiden couldn't have asked for more attention.

  Banu and Dima sighed too many times in the corner.

  "This is a sad day indeed," Banu said. "But, as a mother, thank you for protecting my daughter. She is our jewel. Without her, we would crumble."

  Raiden inclined his head. "I'll always protect her."

  "What happened?" The King stared at the casket, disbelieving. "How could this have happened?"

  "Our island was infiltrated," Raiden said ominously, scanning the crowd. "From the moment she came here, Evana became one of us. We will find out who's responsible for this and we will make them pay in blood. Nobody attacks our Brotherhood members. They could have killed all of us. Kimbra. Me."

  He felt the tension rolling through the people. The whispers, the scowls, the need for vengeance.

  Nobody breached the Capital and lived to tell the tale.

  Marcella sobbed harder in the corner, leaning on Seleka, who stared at nothing, forlorn. After all this was done, he needed to give them a raise for this magnificent performance.

  "The Syndicate isn't going to be happy about this." The Queen looked at the King fearfully. "First their leader, now the Princess. They will start a war."

  "The Committee is going to obliterate us," the King said, already looking troubled at the idea. "The other Clans are going to smell trouble. We need to squash this. Fast."

  "There won't be a Clan war. I won't allow anyone or anything to hurt the Brotherhood," Raiden proclaimed and turned to his parents. His poor, out-of-their-depth, too-kind parents. "I formally ask for the title of King. I'll need authority on my side to win this."

  "It's a grave responsibility." Even as he said it, the King sounded relieved. "You're in mourning, maybe we should—"

  "I'm not." Raiden stared dispassionately at the velvet. "I'm furious that my Clan was dragged into this."

  "My son…are you sure?" His mother asked. At least she looked concerned that Raiden would face even worse challenges than she and her husband had had to deal with.

  Banu and Dima watched the exchange closely, eyes glistening. They were already picturing themselves as the King's closest relatives.

  But that concern melted when his father caught her eye. They were doing that thing again—those silent conversations Raiden had never been invited into because his parents had always been too busy and too tired from ruling to bother with him.

  Even after twenty-six years of the same damn pattern, Raiden was still disappointed at experiencing it again. And when his father gave a curt nod, Raiden's heart gave a bitter echo. Hopefully the last one in his life.

  His parents would never understand what it was to love someone other than them. It was what it was, and Raiden was no longer a school-boy dying for a scrap of their attention and affection. He'd live and, if the universe blessed him with children one day, he’d spoil them rotten.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty." He bowed. "I will give my existence and my life for the Clan. With my Queen by my side, we will make our Brotherhood soar."

  He turned to Banu and Dima. "You gave your blessing to me once, when I married Kimbra. Do I have the esteemed advisors' blessing now?"

  They gave a twin bow almost instantly.

  "May you be healthy and wise...Your Majesty," Dima said, his gaze not on Raiden, but at the throne behind.

  Maggot.

  "It will be an honor to serve and advise you." Banu smiled that edged smile of hers. "And one day, do the same for our grandchild, the future heir of the throne."

  Even by their standards, that was gaudy. As far as they knew, Evana's corpse was laying right in front of them.

  Raiden swallowed his fury and turned toward the crowd.

  "Any objections?"

  They all remained silent, as Raiden suspected they would. He'd always been respected in his Clan and had proven himself again and again. Whatever Banu and Dima's machinations had been, they'd never tried to discredit him. Couldn't have that precious grandbaby heir if they had, could they?

  "Then it's official." The King took off his black crown and approached Raiden slowly. He hesitated for a second before placing it on his head.

  "Good luck, my son," he whispered, before proclaiming loudly, "The Clan has a new leader. For the good of the Brotherhood."

  "For the good of the Brotherhood," everyone echoed, kneeling to the floor.

  Raiden straightened his back against the sudden weight on his shoulders. He'd done it. Had finally stepped into the role he'd been born for. He was now officially responsible for hundreds of lives—as he had been for years.

  He might not have worn the crown until now, but he'd led the Clan anyway. This was nothing more than a formality. He didn't feel any different. He wouldn't do anything differently from now on. Why had he been so scared of it?

  "We should hold off on the crowning ceremony for after the funeral," Banu said, trying her hand at grief and failing. "Kimbra has a good heart, she wouldn't want to make it seem like she cares more about her happiness than a proper goodbye for Evana."

  "Of course, we wouldn't want to upset Kimbra. And we will be busy for the next few days." Raiden rolled his shoulders back. This was the moment when he would either save his Clan or ruin it. He gripped the sword at his side. "As my first ruling as King—"

  Everyone's eyes focused on him, even more intently than before, clinging to every word.

  Universe help him, because there was no going back now.

  "—I officially charge Banu and Dima with treason against the Brotherhood."

  Chapter Fifty-One

  RAIDEN

  An ugly, shocked silence met his words. All anyone could do was stare at him like he'd gone insane.

  Banu and Dima recovered first.

  "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I don't quite understand." Dima laughed nervously, but Raiden didn't miss the way he gestured behind his back or how the advisors' guards, standing in never-ending lines that spilled out into the courtyard, gripped their weapons tighter.

  "I'm accusing you of plotting against the Brotherhood for a year, taking bribes, putting countless Brothers and Sisters' lives in danger, lying to the Brotherhood Commander and ruling in my place. Among other things."

  These were the only accusations he could prove right now, though trying to kill Ava had sealed their fate. But she was too new to the Clan. Former Syndicate.

  The crowd needed to be convinced of Banu and Dima's treason where it mattered most—their loyalty and reputation.

  "Your Majesty." Banu's smile shook at the edges. "I'm sure there's a misunderstanding—"

  Raiden snapped his fingers. A large image of the advisors' and Axton's conversation projected onto the wall behind the throne.

  "What is this?" Raiden's father asked sharply.

  Raiden raised his arm to silence him. They'd had their chance to deal with Banu and Dima, now it was his turn.

  "Such disrespect." Banu fanned herself over the recording. "You forget your place, Commander. We are this Clan's advisors, second only to the royal family. You do not get to question us."

  Axton fell to his knees on the floor. "I ask you to enforce code red and help me rescue Ella."

  "That's more l
ike it," Banu purred with delight.

  The people gathered in the room recoiled.

  Axton touched his forehead to the floor. "Please."

  Dima sighed. "We've invalidated the code. You are not allowed to go after her. Wait by the phone, I'm sure you'll have your fiancée back soon."

  Raiden felt the crowd blister. Axton had saved more than one person in this room. He was loved and respected in the Clan. He was one of them—and Banu and Dima hadn't cared.

  Their claims of loyalty were beginning to shake.

  "We were only trying to do what's right for the Clan," Dima said haughtily. At least he hadn't cried the recording was fake. Smart man. "Why should we risk lives for the Syndicate she-devil that twisted his mind?"

  "Because the Commander asked you to help him. And Ella is our responsibility now. She was taken by a man you recommended to Axton," Raiden bit out. "Or do you get to pick and choose what Clan members are more important than others? If you didn't help the Commander, should everyone in this city start to worry about what would happen if they came to you for help?"

  Another ripple in the crowd. Some of the advisors' guards let go of their weapons.

  "Forgive us if we didn't act accordingly, but we were only thinking about protecting the Clan," Dima said calmly and bowed even lower, but Raiden heard the way his voice shook at the end. "We serve the Brotherhood. This might have been a mistake, but it's not treason. Forgive us, Your Majesty."

  They thought reminding him of his new title could save them, did they? Maybe if they kept appealing to Raiden's ego, maybe he'd let them live.

  Disgusting creatures.

  "You didn't try to contact me when the code red was called," he went on, prowling toward the advisors. They stiffened. "Did anyone in the city hear of the code before you canceled it?"

  A few people in the crowd shook their heads. For a code like that, the speakers hidden in all the city should have blared before being canceled.