Chapter 1

Luna

I quickly blow Mateo a kiss as I climb out of the passenger seat of his Escalade. He's still upset with Aurora and I for the shenanigans we pulled yesterday. When Rae came to visit, we started asking her questions that we're not supposed to have the answers to. Last week, we overheard Mateo talking to her on the phone, asking questions about the Wicklow brothers. So, when we were alone with her, we asked who they were and why Teo was curious about them.

According to Rae, there are four of them, and you don't want to get on their bad side. They aren't actually brothers, but adopted by the same family. I asked how I could get a meeting with them and Rae stormed out of the room to rat us out to Mateo and Lorenzo.

After Teo lost his shit on me, I left and asked a random guy on the street if he knew where I could find the Wicklow boys. He told me about the restaurant they eat at every night and warned me not to go there unless I'm absolutely sure I know what I'm doing.

Imagine my shock when I stop outside the restaurant and see my fiance, sitting at a table with four of the biggest men I have ever seen. Lorenzo is six feet tall and built like a brick shit house, but these guys make him look like a teenager. One of them stands from the table and walks toward the door. I turn to walk away, but my arm is grabbed and I'm spun into a brick wall. Or at least that's what it feels like. I don't think there's an ounce of fat on this guy.

"Are you here for a fuck or a favor?" He says as he releases my arm.

"Neither," I swallow the lump in my throat, craning my neck to look at him. "You're really fucking tall!"

"Very funny. So I assume Karrion sent you to piss me off?"

"No, no, no," I shake my head and take a few steps back, "I don't know who that is. I'm just here for my fiance."

"Fiance?" He quirks a brow at me, "Who might that be?"

"His name is Enzo. You were just sitting with him."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Mateo's voice booms from behind me. "You have two fucking seconds to step away from my woman, or you'll be dead before you hit the ground."

I spin to face Mateo, but the brick wall grabs me again. Leaning down so we're eye level, he snarls at me, "I don't fucking like liars!"

I put my left arm out behind me to stop Mateo and attempt to push the wall back with my right arm. He doesn't budge.

"I didn't fucking lie to you!" I shout at him. "There's four of us, and we're all together." Mateo pushes my hand away and presses his chest against my back.

"Interesting." The guy straightens before taking a step back. "Rune Wicklow." He says, extending his hand to Mateo.

"Mateo Rossi. Don't ever get in her face like that again." Teo responds as he shakes Rune's hand.

"It's best if you get the threats out of the way now. My brother doesn't take kindly to shit like that." He turns to look inside the restaurant, pointing at his brothers. "Since it looks like we're going to be well acquainted, you should know their names. The one on the left is Silas, he's our hacker. In the middle is Alaric, he's practically a ghost. He could kill you with his bare hands before you even realize he's there." He smiles down at me before returning his attention to his last brother. "The last one is Karrion. Avoid him. Don't make eye contact, don't smile, try not to even breathe toward him."

"Why?" I ask, looking back up at him.

"He's… Different," He shrugs. "Women do one of two things to him; either piss him all the way off, or turn him all the way on." He chuckles but quickly hardens his features again. "Trust me, you don't want either of those things."

"Good to know." I mutter as I walk past him into the restaurant.

Mateo grabs my hand just as I reach the table and pulls me to the opposite side of Karrion. He forces me into the chair beside Enzo like I'm a damn toddler. "Sit here and don't speak. We don't need this to go south." I turn in my chair to glare at him, but pause when I catch Karrion out of the corner of my eye, staring directly at me.

"Maybe it's best if I go back to the house and wait." I whisper to Teo as I stand and scoot past him, ducking my head to quickly leave the restaurant.

I'm about a block away from our home when I get the feeling that someone is watching me. I quickly pull my phone from my pocket and call Aurora. She answers right away. "Please tell me you're at home and there's men there. I think someone is following me." I blurt out as soon as she says hello.

"I'm sending guys out right now. Hang on babe." She quickly replies, not bothering to hide the panic in her voice. "Remember, just act like you have no clue anyone is there. If you react, you're going to escalate the situation. Where are Teo and Enzo?"

"They're at the restaurant with the scary brothers. I see the guys. I'll be there in a minute." I end the call and slide the phone into my pocket.

"If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it six blocks ago." A voice calls out from behind me.

I jump and spin around, but I don't see anyone there. I turn back and bolt toward the house. "Hey, calm down Luna, there's nobody out here." One of the guys shouts as I run past them. I keep running up the tree lined driveway and don't stop until I'm inside.

I'm doubled over by the door, trying to catch my breath, when Aurora comes to my side, rubbing my back.

"Are you alright?" She asks, continuing to try and comfort me.

"There was somebody out there." I pant. "They said if they wanted to hurt me, they would have done it six blocks ago." I stand up and look into her eyes. "He was following me the whole time, Rory."

"I'm calling Enzo." She grabs her phone and taps the screen a few times before placing it to her ear. "Enzo, someone followed Luna home."

"WHAT?" I hear him shout.

"She's fine, she's inside with me. I sent some of the guys outside as soon as she called and told me someone was out there." Her voice is filled with fear.

I can't hear what he says next, but by the look on Rory's face, it's not good. She gives me a sad smile and ends the call.

A loud knock on the door startles us both and we jump back. Screaming can be heard on the other side of the door when Rory busts out laughing.

"It's not just your ass that's going to be in trouble tonight," she chuckles. "Did you know she was coming by?" She asks over her shoulder as the door swings open.

Our best friend, Nyx, stands there with one of our security guards doubled over beside her.

"Nyx, if you keep beating up the security, eventually Mateo is going to tell them to hurt you. Luna and I can only do so much to stop them from swinging back."

Now it's Nyx's turn to double over from laughter. "Oh please," she scoffs, "I wish one of these pussies would get froggy." We all laugh as she releases her hold on Greg's shirt and comes inside. "Sorry about the balls, Greggy boy." She says sarcastically as she closes the door behind her. "Speaking of the big bad wolf, I take it he's not home?"

"Him and Enzo are meeting some people right now, but they'll be home shortly." I say as we walk through the entryway. I don't think I'll ever get over how beautiful it is. Aurora and I fell in love with this house last year after we passed by it almost daily. It has a giant screened porch off the back and a really pretty gazebo. The black shutters were the selling point for the guys.

Mateo surprised us after Rae's fake funeral last year; we thought we were going back to Italy, but the guys decided we should move to Pennsylvania and start fresh. We've made a couple new friends, but Rae and Nyx are the only ones that know the type of lifestyle we live.

You can't tell many people that your fiance and boyfriend are killers. It would usually be a deal breaker, but not with these two. Rae is a contract killer, so she didn't bat an eye at the guys' occupation. Nyx found out one night when Enzo came home covered in blood. She walked right up to him, ran her finger down his arm, and licked the blood off it. I thought for a second that she was going to try and fuck him, but she never has. Not that we'd complain if she did. She's a little strange sometimes, and extremely violent, but she's really funny and extremely loyal.