I slanted a glance in his direction. “Well, Edison, it isn’t like you gave me much of a choice. You did have Rhodes carry me like a sack of potatoes out of my last wedding.”
The words were meant to be a joke—he’d let me negotiate far more than I ever would have been able to with the Italians, after all—but I watched as his expression fell a bit. Once we stepped through the archway and away from the crowd, Edison turned to face me completely. “I am sorry for that, Perrie, but I needed you to make all of this work.”
His use of my first name instead of the silly nickname he’d given me made me straighten and look at him more closely. He seemed almost remorseful now that the ring was on my finger.
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what value a previously sickly omega with a traitorous rat for a father could hold for him. The Keane family was powerful, even when it came to the other four families that ruled the dark underbelly of the city. But he’d chosen me for a reason. Whether it be for political power, or a way to control the older members of the Keane clan, I didn’t know, but somehow I was suddenly feeling grateful for it.
Absentmindedly reaching up, I straightened his bow tie the same way I’d done for Rhodes’ earlier.
“I’ve made my peace with it, Edison, I figured you knew that by now. If I hadn’t I would have tied a bunch of bedsheets together and climbed out of my ivory tower already.” This time my words brought a half-smile to Edison’s face, and much to my surprise, his lips dropped down to mine and we were kissing again.
This one wasn’t as over the top as the one we shared before, but it still filled me with warmth, like all of the butterflies from earlier were catching on fire and filling my veins with heat.
Edison’s tongue also made an appearance for the first time, slipping along my lower lip in a silent ask for entry.
If the kiss earlier had been the triumphant finale of a romantic drama—this was a scene cut out because it was too risqué for general audiences.
My back bowed as I tried to catch a breath of air, but Edison’s mouth chased mine, his fingers almost bruisingly tight on my waists as a muffled growl leaked from in between our joined lips.
Dazedly, it reminded me of all of the spicy romance novels that I’d had to put down whenever a nurse walked into the room and it especially reminded me of my guilty pleasure of reading mafia romance.
I’d always written them off as unrealistic. That there was no way that romance or attraction could flourish in a system that had ruled my home city for as long as anyone could remember.
But now I was the wife of a mobster, and despite my best efforts, I actually liked my new husband.
And I’d probably end up liking him even more if he kept kissing me the way he was. It was like he wanted to consume me entirely and I was practically melting under his touch, our scents intermingling like the most mouthwatering of desserts.
“One of these days,” I whispered when he finally set me free, “You’ll have to tell me about all of those mastermind plans that are rattling around inside of your head.”
The golden irises of Edison’s eyes were slowly returning as he pulled back and the carefully crafted mask that he usually wore returned again. “Maybe one day I will.”
It wasn’t quite a promise, but I would take what I could get.
Someone cleared their throat and we both turned to find Rhodes approaching us. I wasn’t sure where he was during the wedding itself, but his clothing was now all askew like he’d been in a fight.
Edison noticed it quickly too because he pulled me in Rhodes’ direction, with a worried frown. “What the hell happened to you?”
Rhodes’ dark eyes moved from our swollen lips to our joined hands and there was a shift in his expression so fast that I almost missed it.
“The Italians tried to kick up a fuss. Those Ricci assholes are downstairs in holding right now because they tried to pull an us and crash the wedding. Dumbasses thought that just because the Amantes fucked up security that we would too.”
I blinked, surprised that Elio and his pack would go that far. I figured they would be happy that I was no longer going to be forced to be their omega.
Edison’s grip on my hand tightened as he heaved a sigh. “Apparently, pet, when it comes to your wedding luck you’re now two-for-two.”
Leaning down he pressed a quick kiss to my forehead that, despite the two kisses we’d already shared, seemed far more intimate. “Go with Oona and change into your reception dress. Rhodes, you’re with me.”
Edison’s hand slid out of mine and I found myself reluctant to let him go, but then Oona seemed to materialize out of thin air and gently linked her arm through mine. “Come now, love, let the men handle this while I make you pretty enough to put all these other hussies to shame.”
With one last look over my shoulder at Edison and Rhodes’ retreating forms, I let Oona pull me back towards the house, all of my curiosity about the appearance of Pack Ricci unanswered as I tried to focus on the rest of my wedding day.
Thirteen
Edison was not happy about his wedding day being interrupted. I could see it in the rigid frame of his shoulders as he sat across the stainless steel table from the four men that made up Pack Ricci.
There used to be five, once upon a time when Alessandro Amante Jr. was still alive. But after the heir to the Amante family caught a stray bullet that none of the five families would claim, it was just Elio, Dante, Ranieri, and Nicolo left.
They were all around ten years younger than us. So we’d essentially watched them grow up. I knew that Edison had a soft spot for them despite their belonging to the ever-irritating Italians. Young men didn’t survive long in our world if they didn’t toughen up and to see the four of them coming back together after the loss of their lead alpha was the ultimate test of their ability to live and eventually take over the Amante family—that was what the elder Alessandro was grooming them for after all.
All that sentiment seemed to have vanished now, though, as Edison eyed them critically, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he seemed to be trying to formulate his thoughts.
Elio had a black eye from struggling with me when my security guys brought them over to me while the wedding was taking place and the other three looked equally disheveled as they looked anywhere but at me and Edison.
“In what world,” Edison began, finally breaking the tense silence that had hung in the air since we’d come in, “Do you think you would ever be able to sneak into my property and steal away my bride?”
“You did it to us,” Elio muttered, sounding more like a petulant child than the future head of the Amante family.
“I walked into a public venue and reclaimed the property that was promised to me. Don’t get it twisted. You are very lucky that you failed today as wars have been started for less.”
The four younger men stiffened like they hadn’t considered war to be a possibility. They probably thought that because Edison had lost so much in the last war that he’d be hesitant to threaten it again.
I was still stuck on Edison referring to Perrie as property. My mind was already conjuring the redhead’s snarky response about that and I had to fight to keep a smirk off of my face at the image. No, it had become very clear that Perrie was her own person—contract or not.
“You don’t even like Perrie, why are you fighting so hard to get her back?” Edison crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat.
“Isn’t it the same for you? What use do you have for a skinny omega when you have your pick of the litter?” Dante, who had never been known for his tact, cut in despite his pack leader shooting him a look that was clearly meant to shut him up.
