Page 12 of The Claiming

I fix her with a steadfast look before dragging my eyes away to my defeated cousin.

“I was given advice before we came here.”

“Let me guess, my folks, perhaps?”

Siri sighs and leans back heavy against the seat as I nod.

“Your mother told me to back off. To allow you breathing space and only interfere if you are in danger.”

Her smile brightens. “Good for mom.”

I shrug. “And your father instructed me to watch out for you and if so much as one fucker lays a finger on you, I’m to break it before dismantling his manhood permanently.”

Siri once again places her head in her hands as I whisper, “Guess who I’m most afraid of?”

Cassie chuckles and I direct my hooded gaze to her.

“Something you find amusing, Cassie?”

I love the fire burning brightly in her eyes as she regards me with a smirk. “Yes. You speak as if Siri has no choices but the ones you are giving her. She is her own person and would probably consider them, but will ultimately make up her own mind.”

It amuses me to picture Siri with any choices other than the ones presented to her by family and I fix Cassie with a dark sneer.

“So, you would prefer her to fuck her way through campus and then return to her family as a common whore?”

“I never said that.”

For the first time, she leans forward and holds my attention with her sparkling eyes as she says with a hard dose of determination in her voice.

“I like a challenge. I rise to them in fact, so as a counter offer on her behalf, allow me to put out another option.”

She bats those long lashes and whispers, “If Siri makes it through the tunnel into the river, then she is free and you back off and allow her to make her own decisions like the free woman she is.”

Siri nods emphatically beside her but I don’t break eye contact for a second with her friend as I say huskily, “On one condition.”

“Name it.”

Her voice is like the soft whisper of an angel trapped in the devil’s web and I say with dark resonance etched on my words, “You take the challenge with her.”

SEVEN

CASSIE

It takes several hours before I get my breath back. When Frankie delivered his final words on the matter, he left us and didn’t look back.

Siri was in shock and it took another coffee to calm her breathing and as we settle in for the night and the light is turned off, I am finally alone to make sense of the situation.

The deep breathing of my friend tells me she’s sleeping and yet there is no way I can with so many thoughts and images racing through my mind.

The Claiming. What the actual fuck?

As Frankie spoke, I held on to every word. It sounds right up my alley and I would love to give it a shot to prove I am the best – always the best. He spoke my language and waved a giant challenge in my face, and I love a challenge. I am weak to deny them and it’s as if he knew that.

There is something about Frankie Majerio that intrigues me. Outside of his devilish good looks and wicked grin, he is so deep I’m drowning. Tied up with secrets and brimming with intrigue, he is everything I search for in a guy. Unlike Jack, he is cold, calculating and wicked. I sense it and it burns in his obsidian eyes.

Frankie himself is a challenge to me and from somewhere deep inside I already know I’ll be waiting at the entrance to that dungeon, locked in a battle of wills, hoping for only one man to give chase. Do I want him to claim me? Hell no. I want to prove I am better than him and stand victorious on the other side of the river. No man will ever control Cassandra King and if he tries, he’ll regret it.

But what if you lose?

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