Page 1 of Wicked Knight

Prologue

Dmitri

Look at her…

Even when she’s not on stage for the world to see, Mackenzie walks like she’s dancing.

I’ve always liked that about her. But when we were kids, she was the spider, and I was the scorpion.

She could climb anything. The same way I could crawl through any hole.

I was just deadlier. Like the scorpion’s sting.

Mackenzie walks across the quad, her golden-blonde hair lifting in the gentle breeze and those bronze legs on show.

She’s heading toward Kyle. And my, what a surprise she’ll get.

Today is the day he agreed to release her from their contract. She won’t be his Valkyrie anymore. But what she doesn’t know is she’ll be mine.

I bought the deeds to the girl. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with those deeds because our families have literally been at war for years.

But I needed to have her.Whatever that means.

She walks up to Kyle smiling away, and I watch as he breaks the news to her.

When he looks over at me, she looks, too, with a ghostly pale expression filling her beautiful face.

Then we stare at each other like we always do.

Sorry, spider. I don’t know what I’m doing. All I know right now is that I want you.

And we both know that I always, always get what I want.

Especially when it comes to you.

Chapter One

Mackenzie

I gaze back at Dmitri watching me from across the quad. Under the weight of his icy blue stare, my breath snags in my lungs, suddenly feeling harsh and rough, like jagged rocks are piling up inside me, fighting to break free.

Those eyes hold mine captive, making sure I see him, and his menacing presence sends wildfire rushing over my skin, stopping my heart.

Spiky blonde hair with the same honey hue as mine blows in the wind, striking against the black clothing covering his body and the inky black scorpion tattooed on his neck.

His colossal Viking-god stature that makes me look like a gnat exudes raw power that blurs everything around me into a dull, static hum, but Kyle’s words repeat through my mind, keeping me rooted to the spot.

Dmitri Valneko owns you now.

Dmitri, my ex best friend, bought the Valkyrie contract from Kyle with the deeds tome.

How crazy is it that the one guy I’ve always wanted and was told I couldn’t have nowownsme. He literallyownsme. I belong to him, and I…

Idon’t know what the hell to think.

In all our nineteen years on this earth, this is the craziest thing he’s ever done.

We’ve been dancing this dance of uncertainty for years. Lately, it’s been worse, because all we do is stare at each other from across a room, across a crowd, across a space like this.