Page 83 of Beastly Armory

Arianna gets quite close to Vlad. “I will marry you, but you have to let them go first. And-and I’d like to plan a wedding. I-I want a wedding, please. It will be my only one.”

Vlad seems taken aback, but schools his expression quickly. “Yes, my darling. We shall have a wedding. As big as you want. We’ll invite the entire town.”

“But my brother and sister, you need to let them leave.”

Strauss clasps her hands in his and sniffs them for a long time. Peering into her eyes, he says, “I swear to you, I will let them go.” As he places his lips on the back of one of her hands, none of us move. My nerves are on edge. Of course, he’ll try something crafty, and I won’t rest until we’re all safely back at our manor. Jakob helps Max torise from the floor, holding him up under a shoulder, and I stand beneath the other.

The cold, gray eyes of Vlad scan the room before landing back on Arianna’s. “But, my darling. You must stay here as payment.”

“No!” Max and I shout at the same time.

Arianna’s thick lips curve into a sly smile. “Sir, I understand. I’m offering myself, and I know the consequences of disobeying your orders. But I am…” She glances around the room, then drops her voice lower. “I’m a virgin. And it wouldn’t berightfor me to be here during our engagement. I would feel safer with my own people until then.” Lowering her eyelids, she peers up at him through her long, black lashes. “Please, let me go home with my family, and I’ll return for our wedding.”

“Or I’ll just kill everyone in Freidenberg Manor to get you if you don’t come. You understand that, my darling? I will slaughter everyone you love to bring you here to be with me.”

Arianna inhales quickly, and my pulse races. She nods. “Yes, sir. I understand. I will return for our wedding.”

“Give me one kiss, and I’ll allow you to leave.”

Keeping calm, Arianna’s brown hair falls over one shoulder as she peers up into Strauss’s cold, gray eyes. “And my brother and sister?”

The corners of his lips lift into a small grin. “And your brother and sister, yes.”

Max cringes and buries his face into my neck. I run my fingers through his hair, letting my nails scratchhis scalp, trying to soothe his discomfort. For him, I know this will be just as painful as the lashes on his back to watch. He grips my shoulder tighter with his large hand.

Arianna snakes her arms around Vlad and presses her lips to his. As if he had been using all his restraint, he releases his hold on his discipline and envelopes her, kissing her back desperately, his head dipping to capture as much of the youngest Freidenberg as he can. Ari eventually peels back to take a breath, then steps back. Vlad’s eyelids are half closed as he stares at her with hunger. He wants more of her, and she just left him wanting… taking control.

“May we leave, please?” she asks, barely above a whisper.

Vlad nods, and my fingers reach out, waving for Arianna to move closer to me. I want to make sure she gets through the door first. The hem of her white dress swishes as she hurries out as Jakob and I try to lug Max with us. My lion stumbles, but is able to shuffle his feet.

Before we turn as a unit toward the door, Vlad strolls to his guard and grabs the gun from his hip holster, then shoots Jakob directly in the head, blood spraying across my face like a warm spritz of salt water from the ocean. My ears ring from hearing myself scream “No!” even after it happens.

He lied! Max trips as the body crashes to the cold stones in front of us.

Arianna’s shrill shriek echoes around the room as she covers her face with both hands, her brown eyes filled withterror.

“I said you three could leave. Not him.” Vlad tosses the gun back to his guard and wipes his hands together before straightening his sleeves. It is just another day for him. Another day and another dead body. “You’re excused.”

Max’s muscles tense under my shoulder like he’s ready for retaliation. “No, lion,” I growl at him. “Move.” We’re in grave danger. He can’t try to get vengeance now. Arianna sobs as she takes up Jakob’s position underneath her brother’s shoulder. The three of us step over the tank’s body before reaching the hall, stunned silence running between me and my husband.

“Oh, wait.” We freeze at Vlad’s instruction. He lopes to the body and digs in his pockets for a key fob, tossing it to me. “Here. You’ll need this to leave.”

We make it outside and dump Max into the back of the SUV Jakob drove to bring Ari here. None of us speak as I punch the gas and almost barrel down the gates blocking the entrance of Strauss’s estate. They open at the last moment, enough for me to squeeze the vehicle through.

Once we reach town, I pick up two cars following us, but by the time we arrive at the manor, one splits off, and the other continues inside the gates with us. The lanterns from the fenceposts illuminate the same car Aries had earlier. As soon as we pull in front of the house, Markus stands, ready to help us, his arms at his sides, tugging lightly on his shirt. When I park, I leave Max for him to gather up and jump out, on a mission to get answers from our wayward spy.

“What the fuck? Are you a fucking mole? Wherewereyou? Your master was almost killed, and I saved him.” Pummeling my fists into his chest one after the other as rapidly as I can, Aries takes it without moving, his sternum feeling like granite beneath my hands. He’s still wearing a black mask, but breaks my fight by using his hand to take it off. The skin on his right cheek has several deep slashed scars running through it, almost as if claws have shredded his skin. Other than those, he has no descriptive features. He could be anyone with light brown hair and eyes.

“I made the deal with Ace personally. If he agreed to marry Arianna, we could get Max back. She came up with the plan herself, and I came back here for her, to make sure Ace didn’t touch her.” As if I weren’t seething with fury, he answers me with a calm, still voice.

“Why did he agree?”

Finally, a small movement of his eyes to the side shows a bit of vulnerability in his answer. “We promised we would tell him who killed his sister.”

And he probably wants to abuse poor Ari if he thinks the Freidenbergs did it. “But it wasn’t us.”

“No… but your brother knows who it was.” His lips flatten into a grimace.

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