The Syndicater: A Dangerous Dark Romance (Dark Verse Book 6)

‘Hector is dead,’ Victor, his second-in-command, stated without an iota of remorse in his voice.

Alpha examined him from his chair in his office, looking for any cracks. His trust had been broken too deeply for him not to be wary anymore. Hector, a man he’d once thought of as a best friend and right hand, had betrayed him in the worst ways a man could be betrayed. And all for power. He knew better than most that power made monsters of men, but he’d never expected his friend to be one. Not only had he blinded and tortured him, making him lose his memory and his sense of self, but he had taken advantage of his vulnerable state and injected himself by his side for so many years. Alpha truly was partially blind because how the fuck had he never seen his true colors? Hector had not only assaulted and murdered women, the same women Alpha had dedicated his life to protect, the same kind as his mother had been, but he had also become a pawn for The Syndicate. The one fucking organization Alpha had heard of in passing but never wanted anything to do with, which he now had to deal with because of his little rainbow.

His little rainbow, who had lost her colors when her sister had died in her arms.

Zenith, though Zephyr’s sister, had been a runaway from The Syndicate, hiding and getting adopted by the De La Vega’s when she’d been younger. Having met her a few times even before finding Zephyr, thanks to her dedicated work in one of his non-profit organizations, Alpha knew she’d been an extraordinary, bright, and beautiful woman. The world was a worse place without her, and the injustice of it all chafed over him every day.

Fucking Hector.

‘How?’ he asked Victor, Hector’s brother and possibly the only one feeling more betrayed by him than Alpha was. Both brothers had been with him for so long, and Alpha didn’t want to believe Victor could be a traitor either, especially not after the way he’d seen the other man go on a hunt to find his brother. Moreover, Alpha couldn’t afford to lose him too, not after culling Hector’s supporters and allies within his people, down now just to a handful. He needed Victor to be true so they could rebuild and restructure the Los Fortis empire into an impenetrable fortress. He didn’t have the luxury of a generational legacy like his half-brother Dante did with the Tenebrae Outfit. He had built everything that he had from the ground up, right from the soil to the sky, rising from a pauper in poverty to a potentate in power.

‘Burned. Arson,’ Victor supplied, standing with his hands behind his back, his demeanor somber. The muted daylight coming through the glass windows showed his rigid form. Nothing, aside from the clenching of his jaw, belayed his displeasure.

‘When?’ Alpha leaned back on the chair, folding his arms across his chest.

‘Hard to say,’ Victor replied. ‘I’m waiting for the coroner’s report. But they estimate it to be sometime in the last twenty-four hours.’

‘Are we sure it’s him?’ Alpha knew how crafty Hector could be. Now, with the connections that he had acquired in The Syndicate, faking a death would be child’s play for him. Hell, Dante had faked death twice, and Hector was a lot more cunning.

Victor hesitated. ‘The body was completely burned. So was the warehouse he was found in. But the dental records are a match. I verified it myself.’

Alpha considered him, pondering over it for a moment. ‘You okay with that?’

Just a clench of the jaw.

Alpha sighed. ‘Sit,’ he indicated the chair opposite him. ‘Talk to me.’

Victor relaxed his arms, letting them come to his sides, before taking a seat. The table between them felt big, bigger than before, and Alpha truly hoped they could breach the distance one day again. The other man had always been quieter next to his brother, but now, Alpha needed to hear him and trust his mettle, not wonder about what the hell was happening in his head.

Victor was on the same page apparently, because he began to talk. ‘I’m pissed, to be honest. I wanted to find him myself. I wanted to question him and then kill him myself. I’m pissed someone else got to him faster. The only good thing is he was tortured for some time.’ He paused, letting Alpha take it all in. ‘Someone had kept him captive in the warehouse in Gladestone for a while, can’t say exactly how long. He was tortured and was alive when the fire started. That tells me someone else wanted him more than we did. Could it be someone from The Syndicate?’

‘Maybe,’ Alpha mused, keeping his hunch to himself for the moment. If his gut was right, he knew it had to be the Shadow Man. He had told Alpha clearly that he’d been following and hunting Hector for a while, and though the mysterious man didn’t have any particular modus operandi, he had executed arson successfully before. In fact, from the little Alpha had been able to find about him, his only known point in the past was a massive fire he had started in some kind of an orphanage. There wasn’t any information about the details, the information non-existent anywhere, but he had a source coming to meet him soon. Though he was indebted to the man for saving his wife, he was going to find his agenda if it was the last thing he did.

Victor stood up again, resting his arms on the desk, his dark eyes intent. ‘I know what my brother did will always be a scar between us. It is my burden to bear. But I promise you, Alpha,’ the conviction in his voice was deep, ‘I will die before I betray your trust. I have his debt to clear now, his name to taint my own. I will spend my life clearing it with you.’

Before he could respond, a little hiccup made him look to the door blocked behind Victor’s frame.

His beautiful wife stood there, dressed in dark jeans and a beige top that were not her, her hair the same sad blue that she never got the chance to recolor, her eyes misted, locked on Victor. Zephyr had always been a crier, tearing up at the drop of a hat, but somehow, in the last few weeks, it had gotten worse because she didn’t cry much anymore. It was like something inside her had frozen the tears, making them more infrequent, and as much as he’d hated her crying, he hated her not crying even more. At least when she tore up, he knew that all was alright in the world. Nothing seemed to be okay in their world right now.

Seeing her eyes misted after so long made something in his chest lighter, his heart thumping and that was the only reason he didn’t interrupt her.

‘Oh, Victor,’ she whispered, walking into his office and going straight to the other man. As much as Alpha hated the bond she had with him, he couldn’t deny a part of him was glad she was coming out of her shell. Victor had always been the closest to Zephyr out of all his men, directly responsible for her security, and the fact that she had been harmed and hurt under his watch, weighed heavily on him. He had been knocked out cold because he had let his guard down around his own brother.

Alpha watched Zephyr stop beside Victor, putting a hand on his arm and squeezing it. ‘You’re not responsible for what happened, Victor. Don’t take someone else’s blame on your shoulders. You have enough to carry.’

Alpha saw Victor’s throat bob as he swallowed, possibly emotional at her forgiveness. Alpha could relate. She had forgiven him too, so easily, like lingering on mistakes wasn’t something possible for her. This tiny, curvy ball of life had so much forgiveness and love in her heart that he was amazed that she didn’t burst from it. Even in her grief, she knew grace. Alpha didn’t think he could fall more in love with her, but she proved him wrong every day, pulling him deeper into the depths without even knowing she did.

She gave his friend another squeeze on his arm, and Alpha watched the large, lethal man soften to a degree he had not seen before.

Fuck, she was magical.

And his.

‘Come here, rainbow,’ he spoke, his voice coming out huskier than intended.

Zephyr turned to him, walking around the table to plop down on his lap as had become normal for them. None of his men even bat an eyelash at it anymore. In fact, after the funeral, they had closed ranks around her even more protectively, somehow adopting her into their odd family. Zephyr had quit her job and stayed home, locked in with the dogs, for a few days. Her mother had wanted her to divorce him, and she had refused, causing a rift that took more toll on her. Everyone had seen her sink slowly into a depression. Alpha had tried to get her out of it, but it hadn’t worked. And somehow, to his surprise, his men had stepped up. They had visited her just to check up on her and sneakily dropped the info about struggling with paperwork at the office. Hector and his allies being out had left the company in a lurch, that was true, but they could hire whatever help they needed. However, just to get her out and about, they had pretended to be helpless.

Knowing his struggle with reading, Zephyr hadn’t even hesitated and began coming into the office daily.

And it had helped.

Working, getting out, interacting with others, it all had helped a little. She had taken over his entire paperwork, working with a few of his men to ensure everything ran smoothly, contacting clients and women alike, writing emails, and becoming the one all came to for trouble. He knew she was trying to distract herself with the new work, leaving her old life behind, and he didn’t blame her for it. His men had moved a separate smaller desk and chair for her in the office, facing the windows and the endless vista outside. They brought her lunch from her favorite place down the street. They made sure her tumbler was always full of whatever beverage she wanted. If she wanted something, she just had to say the word, and she had it. His men, all the ones remaining out of loyalty to him, adored her. They had all suffered and seen the worst in life, and somehow, they’d collectively made it their mission to get her bright and happy again.

Alpha loved and hated it in equal measure. He loved that she was so loved and adored as she should be, but he hated all the male attention on her, even though they all treated her like a little sister more than anything. So, her sitting on his lap made his breathing easier.

He put a hand on her hip, caressing her softly in a way he knew she liked, feeling her relax into his body as he gentled her.

‘Hector is dead,’ Alpha told her, feeling her stiffen. The man she had once considered a friend too had scarred her so deeply. He had made her lose the man she loved for ten years and then made her lose the sister she loved forever.

Her hazel eyes turned to him, a hardness in them he hadn’t seen before. ‘Did he suffer?’

Alpha nodded, and she exhaled against him. ‘Good. Thank god for whoever killed him painfully.’

The fact that she had wished a brutal death for him spoke volumes. He let her be and looked at Victor again. ‘Keep me updated with any new findings. I want to know everything.’

Victor gave a crisp nod before spinning around and leaving the office.

Alpha relaxed slightly, focusing on the woman in his arms. ‘How you doing, rainbow?’

Zephyr shrugged.

‘Talk to me, baby,’ he urged her softly, wanting her, needing her to communicate with him, to tell him what was happening because fuck, he wasn’t a mind-reader, and he couldn’t help her if he didn’t know what was going on in her brain.

She looked down at the ring on her finger, a ring he had gotten her without much thought but had somehow been perfect for her. He looked at it as well, wondering if there were days she regretted marrying him. Though she had told him that her sister’s death wasn’t his fault, he knew her parents, her mother in particular, blamed him and his involvement in their lives. Zephyr had made it clear that she knew her past would have caught up to her sister regardless of whether Alpha was in their lives or not. And she had made it clear that she would’ve become involved in this dark world regardless because of her sister.

Alpha knew all that, but a part of him wondered if there was a part of her that had regrets. His presence in her life had brought her nothing but pain, not now, not ten years ago. She had mourned him first, though through no fault of his, and now she mourned a sister she had loved with all her heart. Alpha couldn’t even imagine how that felt, never having had a sibling of his own. His relationship with Dante was good now, albeit a little complicated, and had happened too late for him to understand the depth of that bond growing up. But beyond that, his wife now mourned the loss of her old life and, possibly, her relationship with her parents because of her choice to be with him.

‘I’ll be okay,’ she spoke to their hands, holding his tightly, hers round, soft and small, his muscular, rough and large. Yet, she held his, squeezed it, reassuring him in a way the doubts cleared from his mind.

He watched her spin the ring idly, the different jewels casting colorful reflections on the wall with the sunlight hitting them.

She’d told him one night about how he’d promised it to her as a young man, and somehow, even without his memories, he had delivered it. Some days, he wished he could remember the large gap of nothingness. He had bits and pieces up until he was twenty-ish, but things were so fuzzy after that. What he wouldn’t give to remember her, just her, if nothing else. He wanted to remember who he had been, what his dreams, his goals, his desires had been. He wanted to remember who he had been to her, how he had felt for her, if it had been pure with the innocence of youth or dark with the turbulence of circumstances. He wanted to remember her, how she had been, pages of their story together wiped from existence for him but not for her, a burden she bore alone without being able to share, and it made him feel helpless. He wanted to share with her, to remember, reminisce, recreate.

He wondered some days. Were memories something he had or something he lost?

He touched her ring, bringing her hand up and pressing a kiss to it.

Zephyr needed physical validation. He didn’t know why, but touch grounded her for some reason. He didn’t question it; he just gave her free use of his body. Though, understandably, she’d not used it for weeks. While he had given her kisses and cuddles, and she had accepted them, she hadn’t initiated any touching on her side for a while, let alone sex. Sex had always been incredible between them; it had helped them connect before anything, and they had been insatiable together. He knew if he initiated it, she would accept. But he didn’t want her to accept; he wanted her to participate.

But he understood her hesitance, her reluctance, and he gave her the space she needed.

But his dick didn’t understand. After being sated for months, it had become addicted to her. For his dick, her curves pressing against him meant a good time. Alpha would be as patient as needed, but he wished his dick could get with the program.

Fuck his dick.

Not literally.

Shit, he needed to stop thinking about it.

‘Hubby?’ Zephyr called softly, and he focused on her voice, trying to keep the blood from going south. Fuck, he loved it when she called him the silly names. He had missed that inherent playfulness she had.

‘Yes, wifey?’ He played along, hoping to cheer her up.

‘I can feel your little monster poking my ass.’

‘Little?’ The disbelief in his voice triggered the most beautiful sound, one that was a rarity these days—her giggle. A soft, feminine giggle that made his chest feel ten times lighter.

She looked up at him, locking their gazes together, the dimples that had been hiding for days making an appearance as she smiled at him. ‘Gigantic, ginormous, gargantuan?’ she rolled her eyes. ‘That better?’

He gripped her tighter, wanting to lock this moment and keep her happy like this forever. ‘I think you might be the one with amnesia if you’re calling it little.’

A laugh burst out of her, shaking her body and not helping his situation at all, but he wouldn’t have traded it for the whole world. He growled softly, and another fit overcame her, the sound loud and open, so contagious he felt his own leave his chest. They both sat there, her laughing and him grinning—about what, for what, because of what, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. She laughed and laughed and laughed, like a dam had burst, and suddenly, tears escaped her eyes. With the same vigor, she started to sob.

‘I don’t know—’ she hiccuped into his neck ‘—what’s happening to me.’

Alpha held her tightly, wishing he had answers for her, trying to understand what had happened and why her switch had flipped so suddenly, but drawing a complete blank. Not to sound like a typical man, but the behavior was completely bizarre to him. He stayed silent, though, and let her bawl her eyes out, letting her get out whatever had been bubbling inside her for weeks, and just held her through it all.

She would be okay again.

She would laugh without crying again.

Alpha had to believe it. There was no other option for them.

She would be okay.

They would be okay.

There would a rainbow beyond this or the world would become too dark.