by Ella Miles
I wait for the tears, sobs, and screams that usually accompany grief, but Beckett does none of those things. That’s not true of the rest of the room. Caius had been holding it together up to this point. Now, hot tears stream down his cheek as he cries out at the loss of his sister.
Lennox slides down the wall, his head falling into his hands.
Hayes grips Gage’s shoulder tightly, like it’s the only thing keeping him upright. Gage closes his eyes, turning it all inside until his fist slams down on the bed in rage.
All of the men in this room are some of the hottest I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t mind spending a night in bed with any one of them. But of course, my stupid heart has to want the man who’s currently in my arms mourning the love of his life. Even if I got him into bed, I’d be nothing but a rebound.
Slowly, Beckett comes to his senses and rebalances himself as he moves out of my arms. He gives me a stern look but doesn’t thank me for catching him, holding him, trying to comfort him.
His eyes look dead. Not angry, sad, or emotional—just blank.
He’s in denial. The only way to protect himself is to focus on the tiny chance that Odette somehow survived. That she’s not dead.
He can’t accept her fate yet. And if I was Odette, I wouldn’t want him to. That’s how I know he loves her. She’s his entire world. It only makes me want Beckett more. My heart aches to be loved as much as Beckett loves Odette. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, but I won’t act on my feelings. I won’t ruin a love like that if there’s a chance that Odette’s alive.
I hear sniffling behind us. I don’t know if it’s coming from Caius or Lennox.
“I refuse to accept that Odette’s dead until I see it with my own eyes. She’s a fighter. She won’t go easily,” Beckett says.
Silence. It’s clear the guys don’t agree, but they aren’t going to argue with Beckett now.
“So if I’m your king, then you have to do what I say?” Beckett tests them.
I don’t know much about them, but I doubt even if they want Beckett to be their leader that it will be that easy.
The guys all look to Caius. My guess is he is used to being the leader of the group.
He lifts the hem of his shirt up to wipe his eyes, revealing row after row of hard abs. I feel myself drooling at the sight and try to reign myself in, but these guys are intoxicatingly sexy. If I ran into any one of them on the street, I’d be flirting like crazy with them. It’s hard being surrounded by so many gods at once.
Beckett clears his throat next to me.
My eyes cut to him as he glares at me.
I don’t know why he has a problem with me staring at Caius. It’s not like Caius is in a place to fuck me either, having just lost his sister. Although, people grieve in different ways.
I really need to get my head out of the gutter.
“Not exactly. Technically, Dad is still the leader. He’s been sick for a while, which is why Odette, um…” Caius stutters when Beckett shoots daggers at him with his eyes for talking about why Odette chose Beckett. He doesn’t realize that he wouldn’t have such strong feelings for Odette if it wasn’t real love. She had to have loved him too.
“You have to complete initiation before you can have the full power of being leader,” Lennox finishes for Caius.
Caius gives him a small nod for saving him from Beckett’s murderous stare.
“You aren’t the rest of the Retribution Kings. You all arranged for Odette to marry me because you wanted me to be your leader.” Beckett spits out his words like he’s disgusted by them. “Can I count on the four of you to accept me as your leader?”
“Yes,” all four of them say at once.
Beckett turns to Hayes and Gage. “I want to know everything on the Phantom Brotherhood. I want eyes and ears on them. I want to know if they have Odette.”
Surprisingly, Hayes and Gage nod and head out of the hotel room.
Beckett turns to Lennox next. “Same goes for the Corsi family. Take Caius and find out if they took her.”
And then it’s just me and Beckett left. We are standing no more than a foot away. I expect the interrogation to begin. He thinks I have information about where his wife is, even though I can’t tell him any more than I already have. He’ll kill to get Odette back. He’ll kill me to save her.
“Your father is who you’re running from, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know if my father took Odette or not.”
“That’s not what I asked. Are you running from your father?”
“He’s a cruel man who wants to marry me off and has less than ideal beliefs about a woman’s position in this world. Why wouldn’t I run from him?”
“Who are you supposed to marry?”
I tilt my head, unsure why we are talking about the man my father arranged for me and how this fits into finding Odette.
“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t choose him.”
He frowns as he sinks back onto the edge of the bed. That’s when I realize why he’s asking. He’s trying to figure out how Odette felt being told that she needed to marry him.
“I’m sure it was different for Odette. She had time to grow into her love for you. And I’m sure Caius and the rest would have found someone else for her to marry if she didn’t fall for you. She loved you.” I sink next to him.
“You don’t know that.”
“How could she not, Hero? You saved her and fought for her. You’re what every girl dreams of—a knight in shining armor.”
He huffs. “Some hero I am. I couldn’t even protect her after only being married a couple of hours.”
We sit in uncomfortable silence. I’m not sure why he isn’t questioning me or going with one of the guys to search for Odette. Suddenly, a knock raps at the door.
“Come in,” Beckett says.
The door opens, and people start piling in. I don’t know how everyone seems to know how to pick a hotel room lock so easily.
“Tell me you found something. You saw her on the security cameras in the hotel or on the street. You have some clue where she is.” Beckett’s voice is dripping with fear. Before, he was hiding his emotions from the guys, trying to appear stronger than he is, but with these people, he shatters.
A woman walks over to him and wraps him in her arms.
He wraps his arm around her and hugs her back.
The blonde man looks down at them with sadness. “I’m sorry. Whoever took her knew what they were doing. I’ve looked through all the security footage within a three-block radius, and there’s nothing. I’ll keep looking beyond that, but I don’t have a good feeling.” He looks at me, like he wants to say more but won’t with me in the room.
The taller man next to him with broad shoulders and long hair looks at me as well.
Then the woman does.
My eyes shoot to all of them. It’s clear they know who I am even though I don’t know who they are.
“Do you have any other leads?” the larger man asks.
“I sent half of the guys after the Phantom Brotherhood and the other half after the Corsi Family. Hopefully, they will turn up some sort of clue as to which group took her. I’m just not sure how skilled the boys are.”
“Have you gotten anything from her yet?” the first man asks.
“No,” Beckett answers.
“Wait. You mentioned others helping you? I thought everyone here were civilians?” the woman asks.
Beckett gently pushes her off his lap, and she takes her place next to the blonde man. He hangs his hand on his knee. “Apparently, Odette was heir to the Retribution Kings. Our marriage was arranged so I would become their leader.”
“I’ve heard of the Retribution Kings. They’re ruthless and damn good at what they do. I don’t know how they make money, but they wield their power by inflicting the most pain possible and setting examples of people who cross them in the worst ways possible. You don’t cross them and live to tell the tale,” the blonde man says.
“What do I do? They w
ant me to be their leader—”
“So you be their leader. You use them to find your wife, learn everything about them, then decide what you want to do. You wanted out, but instead, you found yourself deeper in the darkness,” the woman says.
“But we can’t stay if you work with them. I agree with Liesel; they are your best chance at finding your wife. They’re skilled; they know this area; they know the players involved. And they won’t take kindly to us being here. They will see us as their enemy and will think your loyalties are split between us and them. Make them believe you’re loyal to them, and we’ll do what we can from the shadows. After you find Odette, then you decide whose crew you want to be part of.”
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this without you guys by my side.”
Liesel smiles. “Yes, you do. There’s a reason you didn’t want us at that wedding or in your life. You wanted a fresh start. We love you and will always be here for you, but now is your chance to find yourself.”
Beckett nods and then stands. He takes a turn hugging each of them. “I’m glad you’re here, even if we don’t get to see each other much after tonight. Even if it means you will be helping me from afar, I appreciate knowing that I always have you guys no matter what.”
“Of course we’ll always be here for you, man,” the larger man says.
Their gazes start shifting back toward me.
“We can make her talk,” the larger man says.
“I don’t need your help to get her to talk. Unfortunately, I can’t torture her until I know who has Odette. If the Phantom Brotherhood does, then I can do whatever to Princess to get her to speak. But if her father has Odette, then I need to be more careful how I extract the information.”
I have limited time before he tortures me. He doesn’t realize that nothing he could do to me would be half as bad as the simplest option—sending me back to the man who hurt me.
We search night and day for three days straight. Beckett keeps me by his side, asking me questions and getting more and more frustrated when I don’t answer.
We storm into Caius’s apartment early in the morning on the third day. It’s a large penthouse in the middle of the city overlooking the river. We walk into the dining room, where a long table sits. It’s become the headquarters of operation find and save Odette. We’ve walked in countless times, and it’s always the same.
Caius is sitting at the end with a large pot of coffee next to a computer screen. His eyes are bloodshot, his hair a mussed mess, his clothes are wrinkled, and I’m sure if we got close, he’d smell of sweat and body odor from not showering for three days. It’s pretty much how we all look at this point.
Hayes and Lennox sit on either side, looking like death as they text or scroll on their phones.
Gage is on the phone on the other end. He’s the only one of us that doesn’t look like he’s knocking on death’s door.
I know how this goes, so I walk to the pot of coffee and pour more into the cup next to Caius before I take his cup. The only sleep I’ve gotten is a few minutes in the car with my head bobbing against the headrest while we drive to the next location for Beckett to search.
But I’m thankful to always be on the move; it means he won’t find me. Not that I think he’ll come with the company I’m currently keeping, but I can never be too careful.
The room is full of apprehensive energy as I walk to the window to look out as I sip my coffee. Everyone is on edge from lack of sleep and concern that even if we find who took Odette, we’re going to find her dead. As long as we don’t find her, we can still have hope that she somehow survived her fate.
“Anything?” Beckett barks at the room.
“Corsi is looking for his daughter, but he’s made no indication that he has your wife. If he had Odette, wouldn’t he be trying to make a trade for his daughter back?” Lennox says.
It doesn’t make sense that my father took Odette and then didn’t make contact to offer a trade or threat of some sort.
“So you think the Phantom Brotherhood has her?” Beckett asks the room.
All eyes fall, finding interest in anything—the table, coffee mugs, or phones—anything but looking at Beckett’s face. The truth is they haven’t found any evidence that the Phantom Brotherhood took Odette either. They’ve been going about their business as usual.
They gave Beckett a week to marry and arrange an alliance with my father. We are almost halfway to that point. I’m not sure anyone is worried about how they will retaliate, but Ares did say he’d take whatever Beckett loved. It would make sense that they have Odette, but it’s hard to attack when we don’t know Odette’s location.
I know Beckett’s friends haven’t been able to find any clues about who took Odette either. It’s like she vanished off the face of the earth. Beckett’s been keeping his grief locked away, but it won’t be long until it bursts out of him. I’ve seen grief like that. If he continues to bottle it up, when it does finally break free, it will destroy everything in its path.
I turn, and my heart pounds in my chest as all the men gaze at me. Lennox with an angry scowl like he doesn’t think I belong here. Gage with curious intrigue. Hayes with a wicked longing, like he already knows he’ll get into my pants someday. Caius with an almost apologetic sadness. But it’s Beckett’s eyes that have me captured. His eyes are blazing with grief masquerading as danger. It’s fear at what he lost and might never get back.
He’s the leader of the group, whether he wants to be or not. It’s the reason no one has talked to me except him. He may be new to the role, and he may not have completed initiation yet, but they already follow him.
I sense what they are about to do before they do it. I know my options: freeze, fawn, fight, or flee. I get one step before the first arm grabs me, one punch in before my other arm is restrained. My only option left is to freeze—a lot of good that will do me.
10
Ri
“Wakey, wakey, Princess,” Lennox’s voice rings in my ear.
I groan as I lift my head off a muscular shoulder and inhale a sharp whiff of aftershave. I blink slowly, my eyes struggling to open. They must have drugged me with how groggy I feel. My head starts drooping back toward the shoulder, but a hand lifts my neck up, turning me to face the other direction.
“That stuff hit you hard. You’re a lightweight, Princess,” Hayes says from his seat beside me. His fingers linger from my neck down the side of my breast.
“Or maybe you shouldn’t drug someone who hasn’t slept and has barely eaten in three days, creep.”
I move to swat his hand away when I realize my hands are tied together behind my back.
“Really? Was it really necessary to tie my hands together and drug me?”
“Can never be too cautious, Princess,” Hayes grins, wiggling his eyebrows behind his thick frames that make his eyes somehow even more dreamy. I bet the women flock to him, and I bet he breaks every one of their hearts.
“Stop calling me that.” I look to Beckett, who is in the front seat of the SUV next to Caius, who’s driving. I have no doubt that Beckett told them to call me Princess, knowing how much it annoys me.
“Where are we going?”
No one answers me.
“What, you didn’t want to get Caius’s apartment a little bloody when you torture me?”
“You’re not just a pretty face. You have brains, too,” Lennox snickers.
“Shut her up until we get there,” Beckett orders, not even glancing back at me.
“My pleasure.” Hayes plants his lips on mine. It’s a violation, but I prefer it to being gagged. And as much as I hate the creep, he’s a fucking good kisser. He doesn’t have to force me to part my lips for his tongue, I do it automatically as his hot lips promise a good time.
There’s a throat clearing, and finally, Hayes stops his kiss after swirling his tongue around my mouth one last time. He leans back in his seat with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Poor Princess, was that your first
kiss? I know your daddy doesn’t let you out of your gilded cage very often.”
I roll my eyes. “Considering I’ve already kissed two other men in this very car, no, that wasn’t my first kiss.”
Hayes grins wider and glances at the two in the front seat, correctly guessing which two guys I’ve already kissed. Caius glares at him in the rearview mirror.
I realize exactly how to play these guys. They are all hot-blooded males who think they are the shit. They all think they are the one who can get the girl. I need to play them against each other, ruin their friendships, make them all so desperate for me that they become loyal to me instead of Beckett.
I can see I already made Caius jealous by giving in to Hayes’s kiss instead of resisting it. This is going to be fun. I admit it won’t be hard work flirting and kissing these incredibly good-looking men.
My eyes drift to Beckett—I just wish I was able to make him jealous, make him mine. There’s something about him that’s different than the others. The others are younger, still focused on having fun, not settling down. Beckett is ready to devote his life to one person. He already knows how to love, and I’ve never seen a man love as hard as him.
The car stops, and everyone starts getting out. Lennox grabs me before Hayes has a chance to pull me out of his side of the car.
I smirk when I see his tense jaw and slits for eyes. He wasn’t any more impressed with Hayes than Caius was.
Gage jumps over the middle row where we were sitting and climbs out of the car.
I raise an eyebrow when he grabs hold of my other arm. “So you’re the strong, silent type. I didn’t even realize you were back there.”
He holds up his laptop. “Always working.”
We march forward, and I look where they brought me.
“You guys must think I’m a screamer if you brought me to the middle of nowhere.”
“Oh, I bet you are a screamer, Princess,” Hayes trots up beside us. Caius and Beckett both walk with serious focus in front of us, not acknowledging our conversation.