Page 81 of Axel

“And this is your brain cell appreciating that my brother-in-law, Luca Mercier, is a billionaire Dom as possessive and protective as you are. You carry a gun. He carries a whip.” I wink again. “Maybe he can show you a few things and…”

I drop another berry on the table.

“This is Zar, a badass queen you trust, who’s coming with us. He can spy for you and report back that all I’m doing is staying drunk as Cooter Brown with my sisters.”

“You’re not supposed to drink with your condition.”

I love how he’s educated himself on my epilepsy.

“I don’t. I watch my sisters get drunk and laugh my ass off at them.”

He cocks a brow, and I’m starting to know Axel. Likereallyknow him, too.

When he smirks like that? He’s a beast, a lion who can’t decide if he should pounce or purr at my pride.

I stand up.

“And this is me, going upstairs to pack while you seethe, slam shit, then get over it, and maybe call me a few times while I’m gone because I’ll really miss your dickhead.”

I walk around the table and give him a kiss to scramble the rest of his brain cells before rubbing my nose against the ring on his.

“And if you play nice with me, my king, your queen will always come home to you.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

AXEL

“Why in thehell are we at The Mercier Hotel?” Sire glares at me before turning on his heavenly smile, holding the door open for a gaggle of women.

“Why, good morning, ladies,” he drawls. “Welcome to Charleston. Y’all have a blessed day.”

They gasp and giggle, tittering their thanks for his Southern manners, and if it were the Victorian era, they’d be fanning their hoop skirts, too.

Sire knows he looks like God and the Devil spawned a tatted cover model. He ruins panties, and it runs in the family.

“We’re here to meet with my future brother-in-law.”

“What?” He freezes in the hotel’s opulent, white marble lobby. “When did this happen?”

“While you were breeding Wren.”

“I’m fucking serious.”

“So am I.” I lower my voice. “But it’s complicated. We’re going slow, but it’ll happen. She’ll be my wife one day, and I need your backup to get there.”

“Complicatedhow?”

“Because she already knows about us. She spied on Wren’s initiation and figured it out. And?—”

His top lip curls. “If we can’t trust her, you know what needs to be done becausenobodyputs Wren at risk. I’ll ki?—”

“We can trust her.” I palm his shoulder. We’re both wearing suits. We have a kings’ meeting at Delta’s next. We need to discuss our plan to trap the trafficker we’re hunting, but I made a call this morning after my tiff with Ruby yesterday. We didn’t go to bed mad about it, but I held her, worried. “She’s close with Nick and Zar. She’s earned their trust, and she has mine.Mostly.”

His nostrils flare. “Mostly?”

“She can be a bit stubborn. A bit of a sexy, fucking wildfire and…”

Sire throws his chin up, filling the lobby with his almighty laughter. “Oh, so she’s yourqueen. Has Mom met her yet?”

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