Page 101 of Axel

“Who is it? What did he do?” Axel doesn’t answer, so I perk up, topless and determined. “Remember, my king. Ignorance isn’t bliss in ex-Bratvaland. Give me intel if you need me to stay safe. You know I have good instincts.”

He sighs, “Tell Nick he has my permission to tell you.” I glance up, and Nick nods. He can hear him. “And this is more trust, Ruby,” Axel adds. “More trust and more risk. It’s getting deeper every day, and I have a bad feeling about it, so keep your head on a swivel. Think like my queen and stay safe.”

“I promise.”

Like the golden sand before me, I’m shifting. My world is changing, and I want it to. I want the storm of Axel’s life to shape me into who I was meant to be.

“We’ll stay together,” I assure him about me, Nick, andZar. About my sisters, too. They’re in this, though they don’t know it. “We’ll stay safe. Just…”

Why does my throat tighten? Why do I suddenly worry about Axel’s safety when I never have before? He’s always such a force. He’s always so menacing and immortal, but he’s not.

He can bleed. He can care. He’s shown me.

“Just… stay safe, Axel. Please,” I beg him. “Just stay smug and smart and safe like you always are. I trust you to.”

“Youtrustme?” His tone softens from tired into something else. I can’t describe it. “You finally trust me, Wildfire?”

I stare at the afternoon sun, dancing like diamonds over the cobalt ocean. Then, I glance at Zar and Nick, nestled together on their lounger, comforting each other in a time of need.

Nick holds Zar just as Axel held me, and my hand shakes. I’m worried, but my heart calms with my exhale. With my truth…

“Yes, my king. I completely trust you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AXEL

“Lie down, you stubborn, fucking, mule.”

I jolt from my chair, ready to shove Grant back on his hospital bed, but with one red lacquered fingernail, Delphine pokes Grant’s pec, and he falls for her. Every time, and on his bed.

To ensure his compliance, she rewards him with an unblushing kiss, their lust obvious and not caring that we’re in a hospital.

“All this passion,” my mother sighs, “and still no grandchild.”

I wince, feeling like I failed her, while Grant jokes, “Mom, we’re not ready to lose sleep over a baby yet. Let Sire and Wren do it.”

Iwas supposed to do it.

The heir is supposed to be the first to provide the next. But Katya never gave me that chance, and secretly, I’m relieved. I couldn’t see her being the loving mother I had.

Even bruised and battered, my mother fiercely loved us. Like a lioness, she licked her wounds, held us close, and roared at anyone threateningus…

Except our father.

No one, not even her, could stop him.

Ruslan Kholodov would ruthlessly hold my youngest brother. First Jace, then Nick, then Loch. He’d grab the most vulnerable, making my mother plead through tears until she relented, and Sire or I would go with him.

He wanted us to learn, to watch him do his bloody bidding, until Sire started praying for him. Morality didn’t sit well with my father, so he put his focus on me … in every brutal way.

At least I learned how to torture, how to kill, and every time I do it, I see my father. I see my revenge and redemption. I only kill evil men like him.

“Or,” Grant teases, pulling Delphine down to lie with him, “ask Axel. He’s found his next queen. They can give you atrueheir.”

Even though he’s shirtless, with hospital sheets tucked around his waist, and sickening bruises swell, dark and painful under the ink over his ribs, Grant’s fucking with me.

I snarl, “You’re supposed to keep your mouth shut.”

---