Page 28 of Queen of Diamonds

We finally came to a stop at a huge warehouse, which, it turned out, was their home, though only after Kyan had demanded they stop on the way for ‘cat stuff’. Knight had been the one to go into the store, since he was the only one mostly blood free.

Reality was slowly sinking in, though, and the relief of getting Lucy back wasn’t near enough to fix the mess I was in.

Zed, it seemed, was completely serious about not letting me go, and clearly dragging me here had nothing to do with affection. He’d grabbed a shirt from the seat beside me, shredded it with my own knife, and tied it around my mouth as a gag when I hadn’t stopped demanding Kyan give me Lucy.

It was still tight around my mouth when the truck stopped, and he showed no sign of removing it. I’d forgotten what a fucking cunt he was.

Where they lived was apparently an old warehouse which suited them entirely. It was messy, with a huge main space, and a faded wall of graffiti on the far end.

Cuffs and gag still firmly in place, Zed led me past a huge open space with a scattered gym and graffiti wall, into a more insulated living room that still spanned at least five of my High Roller rooms. There was a makeshift kitchen on one wall, a cove of couches and TV on another, an old wooden dining table, and other rather randomly scattered items of furniture. There was also what looked like a woodworking bench in a far corner, and doors that I assumed led to bedrooms. But they were like… box rooms, how offices sometimes were in warehouses, where the flat roof only reached halfway up the roof of the outer space.

This was where my mates made their home?

How many times had I wondered what living with them would look like? What my life would have looked like?

And the answer wasn’t at all what I’d thought. Nor was it… bad, somehow.

“You going to deal with Kyan?” Zed asked, gracelessly tossing me onto the couch. I let out a snarl of derision, struggling upright with the cuffs, but neither Alpha was paying me attention.

Knight was looking at Zed with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll deal with Kyan if I don’t have to go near her.”

Kyan, who’d already placed a box of litter and was running water into a dish, glanced back at us all. He set it down, then folded his arms. “I don’t need dealing with.”

“You scent marked her fucking cat,” Zed snorted. “If I tell you not to go near her, will you listen?”

“Don’t go—what?” Kyan spluttered a laugh like Zed was joking.

Zed gave Knight a ‘told you so’ look, but Knight was already crossing the room toward Kyan. Kyan’s reaction surprised me. He backed up a pace then turned, leaping onto the kitchen counter, reaching for a metal grate attached to the wall.

“Oh no you don’t,” Knight growled, pouncing after him in a second. Kyan managed to get his second hand on the grate before Knight had his fist in his hair and began dragging him back down rather ruthlessly.

I straightened, eyes wide as the grate groaned. With a growl of fury, Kyan released it, tumbling back into Knight’s grip. Knight barely stumbled. Kyan was tall and ripped as fuck—feeling pretty big next to me, but he wasn’t in Knight’s weight class, and all it took was a hand clamped around Kyan’s neck and nothing Kyan did seemed to matter.

“Tell me you’ll listen to Zed?” Knight growled. “Or we’ll do it right fucking here.”

Kyan spluttered another laugh.

“You won’t touch her.” Zed’s voice echoed around the bones of this strange home that we’d just entered. “You won’t go near her. Is that fucking clear?”

Kyan raised his eyebrows with a smile, eyes sliding to me. He pressed his tongue into his canine, grin widening, but didn’t answer.

“Kyan!” Knight growled. “Say it.”

He wrinkled his nose, cocking his head as he stared at Knight. “Nope.” He popped the ‘p’ arrogantly, just like I remember him doing when we were younger.

There was a struggle as Knight dragged Kyan toward the scratched up table that was bright with spray paint. Knight pinned him over the table in moments.

Holy. Shit.

Things had definitely changed since I’d last been around them.

Kyan struggled, muscles taut, a snarl on his lips, but Knight’s fist curled in his hair and he slammed Kyan down hard enough to make me jump.

What the fuck were they doing?

“Zed gets to touch her, why don’t I?” Kyan snarled.

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