Page 12 of King's Claim
The door to the clubhouse swung open and the atmosphere hit her like a wall.Thundering music, the sharp scent of beer and smoke, the low roar of men’s voices layered with feminine giggles.
Lena faltered at the threshold, her eyes sweeping over the chaos.A long bar dominated one wall, stacked with bottles.
A pool table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by men shouting over a game.More bikers lounged on couches, half-drunk, half-dressed women draped over them like decorations.
The noise, the smell, the sheer heat of it was overwhelming.Then she saw him.King sat in a battered leather chair near the back, a beer in hand, the weight of command in every line of his body.Even here, surrounded by chaos, he was the center of gravity.The room bent around him.
His gaze found hers almost instantly.Lena froze.
Something passed between them in that moment.Heat, recognition, the echo of the fear and fire from the bar.Suddenly, the rest of the room blurred, like the only two people who mattered were the ones locked in that stare.
Viper cleared his throat beside her.“Brought her like you asked,” Viper said.
King stood slowly, setting his beer aside.The motion alone silenced the room bit by bit, until eyes turned toward him, then toward Lena.She felt the weight of their stares, sharp with curiosity, some with open disdain.
King didn’t seem to notice or maybe he just didn’t care.He crossed the room with a steady, deliberate stride, stopping close enough that she could smell the leather and smoke on him.
“You came.”His voice was low, unreadable.
Lena lifted her chin.“I said I would, didn’t I?”
A slow smile tugged at his mouth, the kind that didn’t reach his eyes but still made her stomach flip.“Yeah.You did,” he admitted.
He turned then, his voice rising so everyone could hear.“Listen up.”
The room quieted.All eyes on him.
“This one’s under my protection.Devil’s Crown protection.That means nobody touches her.Nobody so much as breathes wrong around her.She’s off-limits.You got me?”King demanded.
A chorus of assent rumbled back.
“Got it, King.”
“Understood.”
“Yeah, boss.”
Lena’s face burned.The words “off-limits” seared into her, equal parts relief and humiliation.She hated being paraded like that, hated the way it sounded like she belonged to him.
But she also saw the way some of the men looked at her before and after King spoke and she knew, deep down, that without his words she would’ve been easy prey.
Still, pride pricked sharp.She crossed her arms, glaring at him once the room’s noise rose again.“You didn’t have to do that,” she told King.
“Yes, I did,” King answered.
“You make it sound like I’m some ...possession.”
His gaze locked on hers, dark and unflinching.“Better possession than target,” King explained.
The simple truth of it stole her retort.
Viper excused himself, muttering about giving them space.Lena stayed where she was, trapped between the heat of King’s presence and the chaos of the clubhouse pressing in around her.
“This isn’t my world,” she muttered finally.
King’s mouth curved, wolfish.“Doesn’t have to be.Just means it’s mine.And right now, mine’s safer than yours,” he told her.
She hated how those words slipped past her defenses.How standing this close to him, she could feel her pulse race not just from nerves but from something hotter, heavier.
