Home > Ruthless King (Ruthless Warlords #1)(5)

Ruthless King (Ruthless Warlords #1)(5)
Author: Alison Aimes

Nikolai didn’t miss the way Prendel’s usually expressionless face hardened. No one in the Brotherhood liked Olan Lundin, but they disliked the idea of one of their own being accused of such a betrayal even more. Especially when the accusation came from the Skolov clan: an upstart, unpredictable, recent addition to the Brotherhood.

Surveying the hard faces of the other Alphas, Nikolai tried to determine who else might give him a hard time. The Verish and Lunara crime bosses weren’t happy with him since he’d moved into arms dealings, rising above them to become the top supplier in the galaxy. The Sartin family head also wasn’t a fan. The growing preference among Anarcheim’s elites to spend their money at Skolov gambling and pleasure clubs meant the other warlord’s traveling shuttles of sin were no longer as sought-after or profitable.

Nikolai’s relationship with the Stormhart family was fine, but one wrong move could send that fragile tolerance crumbling. The same went for his other allies: the Toor, Avitus, Kuril, and Gron families. Alliances were always changing within the Brotherhood, and a friend today could stab you in the back without hesitation tomorrow.

Of course, his family wasn’t the only one with more enemies than friends. No one liked the Lundins. The Gron and Namiko families hated each other, as did the Grons and the Prendels, the Grons and the Sartins, and the Grons and the Kurils. The Stormharts had only recently formed a tenuous treaty with the Avitus family after years of underhanded fighting, though no one besides them knew the initial reason for the conflict. The Toors were squabbling with the Prendels and the Lunaras over territory. The Sartin and L’kashlg crime families had just joined their syndicates through a prime omega Alpha contract, but it was rumored it wasn’t going well and ties between the two families were already fraying.

It was precisely to keep these tensions from bubbling over into all-out galactic, bloody war that the Brotherhood had formed in the first place. Survival at the top was hard enough. There were ambitious up-and-comers—like the Skolovs had recently been—looking to make a mark by striking at a Brotherhood business. The Federation, the law of the galaxy, was also always nosing its self-righteous way into syndicate business and disrupting shipping routes and confiscating valuable contraband.

Nikolai just had to hope that the proof he provided would be enough to outweigh all the exterior bullshit and petty internal disputes and bring the Brotherhood together for once.

It would definitely be an uphill battle. Especially because while the evidence he’d manage to acquire was good, none of it was the smoking gun that would convince a bunch of Alphas with a long line of sins of their own that Olan had been the one to fire the shots that led to the murder of a fellow crime boss.

That critical piece would be up to his new property to provide.

Nikolai couldn’t wait to begin his own interrogation.

“I agree to the terms.” Impatient to acquire her, he slammed his fist to his chest in the Brotherhood salute. “The Brotherhood is all.”

“The Brotherhood is all.” The other crime heads stood as well, echoing the salute.

“One moment.” Olan interrupted the closing ritual.

The hairs on the back of Nikolai’s nape rose.

Olan was never calm and cool and the fact that he was now, did not bode well.

Nikolai forced his expression to remain blank and reveal nothing of the fact that his claws had sprung out, violence surging through every pore.

She was fucking his. There was no way Olan could take her back now.

“What is it, Alpha Lundin?” Prendel sounded pleasantly annoyed. “The requirements of the trial have been laid out clearly and the debt proceedings have been taken care of. There seems little more to address. Our traditions are very clear.”

“Of course, you are right, Inner Council Alpha.” The obsequiousness in Olan’s tone was patently false. The male did not know how to be effacing or subtle. “But I would be remiss if I did not insist our traditions be adhered to in every way.”

“Explain yourself.” Even Predel sounded suspicious.

“I don’t want it said I don’t pay my debts in full.” Olan sounded far too smug. “To ensure the value of the property is as stipulated, I invoke the right to call for assessment.”

“No.” The low growl rumbled from Nikolai before he could stop it.

Then, he silently throat punched himself for the pleased smirk that spread across his enemy’s face as Nikolai’s protest echoed into each Alpha’s private chamber.

“I want no accusations later that the property was damaged,” continued Olan. “It’s as much a protection for the Brotherhood as me.”

The conniving bastard.

Olan wanted him riled. He fucking knew the assessment and its close-quarters exposure of the omega to the other Alphas would piss Nikolai off. No Alpha liked to share what was his alone to view.

“It is not always done.” Prendel was trying to keep the peace.

“But it is my right,” insisted Olan.

“Let it be done.” Nikolai wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction of thinking anything he did bothered him. This fucker would never glimpse any hint of weakness in Nikolai ever again. “If Olan doesn’t feel his word is enough for the Brotherhood, let him do what it takes to prove himself.”

Olan’s snarl was satisfying.

Until Prendel spoke. “Fine. Let the assessment take place. Bring the property forward.”

 

 

3

 

 

Horror wound through Dahlia.

This could not be happening. This was not happening.

But it was.

Two betas wearing long, gray robes and hoods that obscured their faces dragged her by her forearms down another dark corridor, her bare feet once more slapping the cold tiles. Even the release from her cell was not enough to calm her breathing.

Let the assessment take place. Bring the property forward.

Her father had asked for it, and her new Alpha had casually agreed. A pissing match between two adversaries out for blood. No thought was given to the wounds such humiliation would leave behind on her soul.

Gods, how she hated being an omega. Totally at the mercy of those who had none.

The booming voices of the two Alphas echoed down the corridor.

“You will not get away with this.” Olan’s voice shook with rage. “You have no damn proof of any treachery—and you tricked me into giving you the omega and making me look bad with the Verish family.”

“I’m just getting started.”

“Fuck you, Skolov. You can stick your cock in her as much as you like. Knot her until she tears, but it won’t change a thing. She’ll bleed Lundin blood. Which means she’ll always be loyal to me. She’ll never truly belong to you.”

“I’m confident she’ll register the change in ownership as soon as she’s properly fucked, bred, and used as I see fit.”

Shame pulsed beneath Dahlia’s chest. Their crudity only enhanced her sense of powerlessness.

“Enjoy her while you can,” snapped Olan. “Once I disprove your accusations, you’ll be dead, and she’ll be returned to me.”

“I never took you for a doting man. You certainly never treated my mother with such care.” Dahlia cringed at the reference, the reminder of what his mother had suffered at her father’s hands making her sick all over again. “Makes me wonder,” continued her new Alpha, “why you want your first daughter back so bad. Is it so you can keep all your ugly secrets locked up tight?”

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