Eva groaned and fluttered her eyes open. Her eyes met the happy and worried face of Alison who was looking down at her. "Mum!" she squealed happily and grabbed Eva's hand. "Thank God you are awake. I was getting worried slowly."

"What happened?" frowned Eva. The recent events were like a haze in her mind. She tried to move but hissed as her shoulder exploded with pain.

"Easy there." said Alison and tidy the pillows under Eva's head and brought the head of the bed up a bit. "You were shot. You had a long surgery last night."

Eva's eyes grew wide as she remembered everything. "The twins!" she said and looked worriedly at Alison.

Alison smiled and caressed her forehead. "Don't be worried." she said. "They are fine. Only Jordan has caught a little cold because he had taken off his shirt to press it on your wound. The two little munchkins have shown the true sprite of Kings."

"Damien, what about him?" asked Eva still worried sick.

"He is fine too," answered Alison. "He had a hard surgery as well. Rich says he will be up by nightfall. And before you ask, every other is fine."

Eva nodded and closed her eyes. Tears gathered in her eyes from relief. Alison kissed her forehead. "Let me call Bella, then I will tell you everything that has happened." she said.

Bella rushed into the room in less than 5 minutes. "Mum!" she cried and she ran to Eva's bed and showered her face with kisses. "God I'm too happy you are fine. You gave me a heart attack last night."

"I'm fine, Bella." chuckled Eva as Bella checked her vitals. "Where is Albert? I thought he would come to see me by now." she said a little bit disappointed.

"Okay, now don't be mad at him." giggled Bella. "He doesn't know you are awake. They are in a meeting with their trusted circle, talking about canceling some sort of mafia gathering that they were going to hold two weeks later."

"What???" yelled Eva and startled both Alison and Bella who looked at her shocked. She then began to toss the blanket away.

"Mum!" said Bella hurriedly and grabbed Eva's shoulder and helped her to sit up. "What are you doing?"

"Help me to go to them." winced Eva as she swung her legs off the bed. "They should not cancel the gathering."

"Why?" asked Alison confused about her mother's reaction to the news.

"If they cancel it, every other mafia family under their control will doubt the King's power." explained Eva. "Albert is doing it only for us. He doesn't want to put us in more danger."

"Okay! Okay!" said Bella stopping Eva from coming down of the bed. "We will take you there, but let me bring a wheelchair for you. You have not recovered yet. Alison put a blanket on her shoulders."

A few minutes later, Alison and Bella were wheeling Eva toward Don's office where the meeting was held. When they reached there, Alison knocked and opened the door after hearing Albert's deep voice giving her permission.

Albert gasped and his eyes widened when he saw Eva wide awake. He was on his feet and rushed to her side in a second. Everyone stood as well.

"Eva!" said Albert happily and knelt in front of her and took her hands in his, kissing them. "Goodness, you are awake."

Xander, Mason, Ben, and Rich came to Eva too. Xander put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her head. "It's good to see you awake." he said and Eva grabbed his hand and smiled warmly at him.

Albert's eyes then turned serious. "What are you doing here?" he asked sternly. "You should be resting. You are still pale."

Eva shook her head and looked into his eyes. "I heard some bad news." she said. "Are you really canceling mafia gatherings? You told me once how much it's important for you to show your power."

Albert sighed and stood up. "We have no other choice." he said. "We should find Volkov and deal with him first."

"And give him the satisfaction of seeing you come down from your spot?" asked Eva. "You can't do this. You can't show weakness. I don't know so much about this stuff, but only our home has been ruined and sadly we must have lost most of our guards back there, but I think we still have enough people and we have Gray wolves by our side. For the sake of our men whose blood was spilled last night, we should stand strong."

Everyone was speechless. The trusted men of the King mafia looked at the queen with admiration. "We can't risk your life again," said Mason. He had gone through too much stress last night, mostly because of his fear for Bella. He simply couldn't risk them in more danger. "You should come because you are family. Volkov has no moral. Although every family around the world has sworn to not use guns at the gathering, yet Volkov is unpredictable. We can put you in more danger."

Bella looked at his grim face. He was avoiding direct contact with her and never had met her eyes from last night. Yet that morning when she had taken a nap on one of the sofa's, she had woken up with a suit coat on her which smelt like him. She stared at him while he was speaking. He looked so firm and determined. His sharp facial features screamed power, yet she could see pain, exhaustion, and frustration in his eyes and it strangely ached her heart. Suddenly she felt this urge to support him anyhow. "And what if we want to?" she asked and this time, Mason locked eyes with her and she felt butterflies in her stomach. "What if we want you to hold that gala? We accept the risk. We are family now. We do everything for the family."

Mason stared at her blue eyes. His sharp gaze never wavering and she returned it with the determined gaze of hers. Only God knows how much he wanted to kiss her to the point that leave her breathless right then and there. Who knew she was that strong? She could certainly become a great mafia queen one day.

"Let us show them how strong we Kings are." said Eva firmly, leaving no room for argument.

*******************************

It was late at night. They had returned to the house, except for Eva and Damien who had to stay for more days at base's hospital. Albert was at the base too, insisting for everyone else to go and rest. There was construction going on at the house, mainly on the first floor. The second floor had remained almost untouched.

Bella slipped out of the little twins' room and closed the door silently behind her. They were both sleeping soundly after she had read two stories for them. She turned and looked at Mason's room closed door. Her conversation with Ben earlier when they were watching Mason walking upstairs, repeated in her mind."He is acting all tough and all but he will get sick soon if he doesn't sleep. He had not slept properly for weeks now."

She walked to the door slowly. She raised her hand and knocked so softly so if he was asleep, she wouldn't disturb him. She then slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. She gulped and entered. His room was simple and neat. White walls, white bed covers, and mahogany desk and library in a corner. As she had guessed, he was awake, standing in front of the window. His back was to her and she blushed when she found out that he was shirtless, only in sweatpants. Even in the darkness of the room, she could see his strong back muscles.

"Mason!" she called softly, roughly above a whisper as she closed the door behind her.

"I don't think anyone in this house can knock at soft as you do, Bella." he said in his deep voice, still not turning to her. He raised his hands and Bella knew he was rubbing his face. He didn't try to hide his frustration from her. She was an exception. "I'm sorry, Bella. For everything that happened last night."

Bella walked up to him. Once behind him, she raised a hesitate hand and gently put it on his bareback, and stood close to him, only a few inches away. The action sent shivers down both of their spines. She rubbed her hand on his back soothingly and Mason sighed in content. "It was not your fault. You did everything in your power to keep all of us safe." she said softly.

"I should have tried harder." gritted Mason through his clenched teeth and clenched and unclenched his fists.

"Mason!" whispered Bella and grabbed his hand with her other hand, opening his tight fist and lacing their fingers to prevent him from clenching them. "You just expecting too much of yourself."

Mason turned to her. The desperation she saw in his beautiful always confident eyes made her heart clench. "Do you know what my father wants to do at the mafia gathering?" he asked and ran a hand on his slightly wet and messy hair. "He wants to announce me as the next Don. Do you know what it means? It means now I have more responsibility, now I have more people to take care of. Am I ready, Bella? Am I trustworthy enough to be given this title?"

Bella stepped closer to him. His arms unconsciously snaked around her waist while she cupped his face with her hands and caressed his cheeks with her thumbs. She stared at his eyes. A warm smile graced her lips. "Of course you are." she said reassuringly. "Have you forgotten? You were the one who was running the business over the past few months and as much as I have gathered, everyone, even your father believed that you are doing it better than him. You are strong and smart and you know well how to manage everything. I'm sure soon you will overcome this problem that we are facing now. And more importantly, you have your family by your side."

Mason pulled her closer and buried his face in her neck, smelling in her divine scent while she rubbed his back. The feeling of her soft hand on his bare skin was setting him on fire and at the same time, relaxing his tense muscles.

He tightened his hold on her. "Do I have you too, Bella?" he whispered next to her ear and felt her shiver.

"Yes." she answered after a moment and he quickly raised his head and stared hopefully at her eyes. "Yes, you have." she smiled warmly.

He smiled as well and felt his heart warm up. He bent and planted a lingering kiss on her forehead.

"You need to sleep, Mason." said Bella.

"Sleep with me." said Mason and buried his face in her neck again, not wanting to let go of his source of peace. "I can't sleep."

"Do I make you calm enough to sleep?" she asked softly.

"More than you can imagine." He murmured in her neck.

"Okay, then," said Bella and took a step back and took his hands. She dragged him to his bed and climbed into bed under the covers. Mason followed her quickly and eagerly. They slept facing each other. Mason put one of his arms around her waist and the other under her neck and pulled her flushed to his body. He could see her cheeks turn a shade darker even in darkness. She was beautiful. She was in a t-shirt and short shorts. His eyes fell on her pink lips as she wetted them with her tongue and felt desire surge through his veins.

"Bella!" he whispered huskily as he caressed her hair. "Can I kiss you?"

Bella looked up into his eyes. She was flushed red, but everything felt so right at the same time. It felt so right and good to be in Mason's arms, to be close to him, to kiss him. She inhaled in his manly scent, letting his scent fill her nostrils.

Mason didn't waste any time connecting their lips together the moment she nodded slowly. fireworks erupted in both of them as their lips pressed together and began to move in sync. There was no rush, no roughness. The kiss was gentle and full of warmth. It was odd how a simple kiss could bring two souls together and bond their hearts forever and made them stronger because right then it was how they were feeling like they had become one and the imagination of the world without the other was impossible in their minds. Nothing was odd or out of place. Their hearts fluttered and everything other than themselves vanished from their minds. It was only themselves in each other's arms, the warm and blissful taste of their lips and the peace that surrounded them.

They pulled away finally after what felt like an eternity and they pressed their foreheads together. Bella caressed Mason's cheek lovingly while he draw small circles with his thumb on her back. "Sleep, Mason." whispered Bella. "I'm here."

Mason smiled. His mind was finally at peace after so many days. "Thank you, my angel." he whispered sleepily as he drifted into the world of dreams with Bella's soft murmur in his ear.