Page 13 of Queen of Diamonds

“Is that right?” Zed asked. “The people downstairs must be important. Almost like family?”

I stared at him, knowing what he meant by that.

His family was what he’d given up—what he’d had ripped from him—because of me.

“They’re innocent.”

Knight let out a breath, expression twisted. “And what were we?”

Is that what this was? They’d found me and now they wanted to ask questions I couldn’t give them answers to.

“Who are you running from?” Zed watched me with narrowed eyes.

“Just…” I couldn’t tell him. If he knew I was fleeing his brother, what might he do? “Ended up on the bad side of a drug dealer.”

Knight frowned, and I didn’t get the impression he believed a word I was saying. “This about product, or a pissed-off ex?”

“Not your business.”

There was a long silence, and I saw Zed exchange a look with Knight. “They’re looking for a bartender, not a pack,” Zed said finally.

I stared at him, every insecurity colliding like nuclear fission in my brain all at once.

They were offering to help?

“I left you.”

I’d rejected them. Temptress. Siren. Betrayer. Those were titles etched into my soul, on display for the world to see.

Zed was the oldest son of the Maverick family; he had been first in line to run the entire Brotherhood—a powerful gang with reach across the east coast. But when his father died, there was a power struggle. Ace, his younger brother, had staked a claim for what should have been Zed’s.

But, Zed not only had a stronger claim, he had something else that secured him that position beyond a shadow of a doubt. The daughter of one of the heads of the Romano Mafia had scent matched his pack. I was the perfect catalyst to an alliance the Brotherhood needed.

I’d always known my role. Always known I was destined to be traded by my father for politics, but I’d never imagined it would be with a pack I fell in love with.

Only when Zed had dropped to his knees before the Brotherhood and offered a bond, I’d done something no one had seen coming. I stepped past him—past Knight and Kyan—leaving them in the dust, and I had chosen Ace Maverick instead.

The younger brother.

My choice empowered his claim, and Zed’s pack had been exiled.

That was the story the way they knew it, and it was the only way they, and any of the world, could ever know it.

But the fissure through my heart from that moment had never closed. I remembered every second. The look of shock on Zed’s face as I stepped back. His silver hair messy across blue eyes exactly like it was right now. Eyes that were wide with shock as he heard the words that sealed his fate.

“I reject you, Zed Maverick.”

“Time’s ticking, Little Devil.” His words and the old nickname—that now carried a heavier meaning than it ever had—ripped me from my thoughts. “If you don’t ask, we can’t help.”

“I need to get out of the building.” That was all. I couldn’t accept more. And if we were masked, no one would know.

How long did I have before they burst into the break room to find me there? How many would get hurt?

I had to assume they’d know I wouldn’t want to see the club devastated. That meant I was in a cage full of hostages, ones I would cave to protect, and Zed was right: I was running out of time.

“Fine.” I seized my hair, fists balling wildly for a moment. “Fine.”

“Disappointing.”

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