Page 145 of Queen of Diamonds

“A promise is a promise.” The voice echoed across the theatre, and my breath caught, head snapping up in shock as I looked back to the figure standing on the wing of the stage. As I’d expected, I found myself looking into ice-blue eyes.

Only, it was the ice-blue eyes of the wrong Maverick.

50

KYAN

Footsteps sounded ahead.

Ace drew up in the centre of the room as his eyes fell on me.

I wasn’t who he was expecting and I could see the briefest flicker of surprise on his face.

My chest loosened. If he was here, then Zed would be with Glade.

That was the plan. I’d sworn to her she would never face him again, not on his terms. And I would keep that promise.

I would face the man who had been hunting her. A coward who chased only when it was safe, cloaked in paranoia, always hiding out of reach. Until now.

“Kyan?” he asked. “Are you here to take your Omega’s place? Or are you under the delusion that you might save her?”

I watched him step into the grand theatre, shifting my foot as he crossed the threshold, my heel silently catching the switch at my feet.

Ace grinned. “I thought you might have learned from my brother exactly how much she suffers from such…” He grimaced as if the word was distasteful. “Heroism.”

I didn’t move, eyes tracking the guns in their hands. The two thugs behind him had me in their sights even if Ace’s gun remained at his waist.

“You only got this far because of Mirage,” I said.

Ace paused, teeth catching his tongue as he grinned. “You think you’re ahead of me because you know the name of one informant?”

“Mirage is one of your most valued informants,” I replied easily. “The one who refuses electronic communication because the information he traffics is too sensitive to risk interception.”

Ace paused his approach, eyes fixed on me as the two thugs at his back scanned the room. They would see nothing of threat, though.

“He gave you the tip on Novikov movements, Andretti Brother vendettas, the locations of Brotherhood traitors fleeing Nevada, and Glade’s whereabouts when she was at the High Roller.”

Ace cocked his head, eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “You intercepted my source?” he asked. “So what?—?”

“I didn’t intercept him.”

I’d watched Glade since the moment we’d been banished, but it hadn’t been until she’d fled Ace after years with him that everything had changed. Then, I’d been able to track her properly. To watch over her and make sure she was safe. I’d learned that he was after her, despite the lie he let slip to others about her cheating.

That was when this had begun.

Yet still, fleeing him did not mean she wanted us—that was the mistake I would carry forever. But I’d long decided I loved her no matter what. I’d tracked her movements, tripping up Ace’s men when they got too close. I was her protection, no matter if she wanted our pack or not.

She was my soul match, and I’d protected her until I couldn’t anymore.

The Brotherhood, however, weren’t easy targets, and Ace Maverick, even less so. So I’d created a persona to gain a foothold with the gang I knew was hunting her.

There was a long, long pause. “You’re Mirage?” Ace asked, finally catching on. “You gave up your own mate?”

“I gave up her location after I knew your men were about to find her.” One already had, so I made sure the Brotherhood members chasing her got the intel from me first. But that was when I knew Mirage wasn’t enough anymore, because the Brotherhood wouldn’t quit. “I told your men what nights she worked at the High Roller, and when Cassian Forbes was visiting, taking the attention of club security.”

All so that I could monitor everything. I’d known the night they would strike, and I’d baited Zed into taking us there to confront her. To take it into my own hands—something I’d never wanted to force on her.

But even with the protections against the Brotherhood I’d been building for years, I had underestimated Ace’s reach.

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