Ruthless Knights (The Dark Elite, #2)

by Eva Ashwood

I pretend I don’t notice how the four men who escorted me into the room fall into position around me. Zaid and Lucas stand at either side while Ciro stays behind me, Hale’s body creating a temporary barrier of safety between myself and Damian.

“May we leave now?” She directs the question to Hale, not his father. Hale’s lips twitch, and I see a flash of pride in his eyes too. Grace hasn’t been in our world for over six years, but she’s a fucking natural at the politics of power. In a subtle way, she just showed Damian that she’s looking to his son for guidance through all of this, that she’ll defer to Hale’s judgement, not Damian’s. “Yeah. We’re good.”

Because as much as I want this beautiful, fierce woman in our lives, I want her there by choice. I want her to choose us.

Lies are still lies, no matter how prettily they’re wrapped in promises.

Goddammit. I hate how much he hurts, even if he tries to hide it. I hate that he tore open a wound inside himself just to try to make me feel better, to let me know I’m not alone. But I love him for it a little bit too.

If she were causing me pain, I might not even notice the proximity. It’s the gentleness that fucking kills me. I don’t know how to handle

“Well, you are. You’re one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen. Your tattoos. Your gorgeous jawline. Your lips. But more than that, it’s your eyes. It’s what I see inside them. It’s you.”

He’s put his mouth on much more intimate parts of me, but something about this small gesture hits me right in the chest. His blue eyes meet mine as his lips leave my skin, and I can see something in them that tells me this is no longer just about Ciro. It’s about me and Hale too. Maybe even about all three of us.

we kiss like this might be the last fucking time we get to.

“The most terrible thing about trust, Grace,” Damian says, looking at me closely, “is that the more deeply it’s earned, the worse it is when it is broken.”

“I owe Hale my life,” I find myself saying, my voice steady despite my racing pulse. “But how I feel about him… goes beyond that. He’s learned to trust me, and I’ve learned to trust him too. I would never betray him—not because of a debt owed, but because I care about him. Even if he hadn’t saved my life, I would never do anything to hurt your son.”

“You wanted to know what would’ve happened, kitten,” he murmurs quietly. Lucas’s lips brush the shell of my ear, his body hot and hard behind mine. “So we’ll show you.”

“Come for him. Let him lap you up. He’s so fucking hungry for you.” Jesus. They definitely didn’t dirty talk like this when we were teenagers.

“Put me inside you, Grace.”