Page 119 of Queen of Diamonds

“Take a chance on me, my Sweet Oasis. I will never let you fall.”

40

GLADE

By the time my tears cleared, Knight had appeared in the room with a tray of snacks and a thermos of what smelled like tea. He didn’t say anything as he poured me a cup, but his eyes were more wary than I’d seen before.

“How long have I been out?” I asked, hugging the mug close to my chest.

“Three days,” Kyan said.

I nodded, processing that. Three days since I’d been poisoned—since I’d almost died, and Zed had bonded me to save my life.

That, somehow, made everything better. As if, even three days away from Ace made it somehow possible I was… safe from him.

They knew everything, I realised.

Had they seen my scars? Of course they had. I’d been in that dress when Zed had come. The panic of knowing that might have consumed me, if I hadn’t run headfirst into another question. “How did we get out?”

Ace had set it up. I couldn’t imagine how Zed would have found a way to safety. But Kyan had said he was, and I felt him in the bond. Alive, even if I didn’t know where he was.

I glanced up at Kyan’s silence. “What happened?”

“Ace let you go,” he said quietly.

He glanced at my arm where his palm brushed as goosebumps rippled along my skin, enough that he noticed.

He’d… let Zed go? With me?

I shook my head. “There’s a trick, Kyan, it can’t be?—”

“He said he was coming for us, but it’s not going to happen.” He was so firm as he brushed my cheek. “You’re safe. We won’t underestimate him again. Not ever.”

I swallowed, trying to find a way to trust that as I took another sip of the tea, the taste of it settling me. English breakfast tea was one of Knight’s comfort drinks. I’d forgotten that.

“Where are we now?” I asked, looking around.

It was impossible to miss how luxurious the room was—the complete opposite of the warehouse. The pack-sized four-poster bed had intricate carvings along the wood. The thick, velvet curtains hanging floor to ceiling were a royal red, and peeking past them was what looked like a grand window with gold gilding.

Despite all of that, I felt an ache in my chest that we were here, instead of back in the huge warehouse. Would we ever go back there? I was shocked, as the despair rose at the thought that the answer might be no.

“Your High Roller friends showed up,” Knight said.

I looked at him sharply, completely taken aback by that.

“Annika. One of her Alphas set us up. Completely off the radar from anyone, Brotherhood or otherwise.”

“Annika?” I asked. I wasn’t the only Omega at the High Roller who kept to myself, but there was a sisterhood there, even if it was beneath the surface. She was fun and full of fire when she came out of her shell. We occasionally did a night on the town, and she had an Alpha bodyguard who I was pretty sure thought we never noticed when he stalked from the shadows.

Drunk Omegas always noticed.

And anyway, when had she got herself Alphas?

“Wait…” Panic gripped me all of a sudden. “Lucy?—?”

“She’s okay,” Kyan cut me off. “Annika is out of town, but I managed to find someone to get her out. Guy I’ve crossed a few times—could rely on him to get her out safely—oh! I have pictures. Way too many.”

He spent the next ten minutes showing me endless pictures and videos of Lucy, all of which made my breathing easier, until I realised what she was playing with. “Wait—is that a gun?”

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