Page 199 of Claimed By a King

Stretch grins. “What’s the matter, Tio? Scared she’ll hurt you? Look at her, man.”

Now that Stretch has turned it into an ego thing, no one else complains. Albeit grudgingly, the Kings all stand.

“Let’s get it over with,” Tex chuckles.

Alana stands slowly, swinging her arms to the side like she’s warming up. Then she rubs her hands together with a wicked grin on her lips.

She walks over to Tio first. Raising her hand, she swings it toward his cheek, but when it’s almost touching his skin, she slows her movement and barely taps him. Then she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him.

“Thanks for protecting us,” she says.

Tio looks at Slasher, probably wondering if he’s allowed to hug her back. But when Slasher nods, he doesn’t hesitate. “Sorry for the votes,” Tio mumbles, barely loud enough for me to hear.

Alana doesn’t even pretend she’s going to slap the other Kings, instead, she goes straight in for the hug and thanks them. When she reaches Gray, she looks at me, not moving until I give her a nod.

I don’t hear what she whispers to him, but whatever it is has him smiling like the damn Cheshire cat. Fuckers. They’re not meant to have secrets from me. Alana and me from Gray, sure. But not the other way around. Nuh-uh.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I say when I feel like their embrace has gone on for longer than what’s needed.

Gray just grins wider, and Alana has the audacity to wink at me. I swear, the next time I’m making her a drink, I’ll make it a virgin. Serves her right.

“I love seeing you jealous, Mrs. Black,” Gray rasps when he moves behind me, resting his head on my shoulder.

Letting out a puff of air, I crane my neck so I can look at him. “You still haven’t asked.”

“You’ve already said you’re mine.”

I feign a sigh. “Then I guess you’ll never hear my answer.”

Gray spins me around so quickly I almost trip over my feet. “You know what your answer would be?” he asks, excitement making his eyes shine brighter than usual.

“Of course,” I say with a shrug.

“Do I get a hint?”

I shoot him a devilish smirk. “Sure… my answer is three letters—”

His face lights up, and I almost feel bad.Almost.

“The real question is whether it’s yay or nay,” I sing-song as I move out of his hold.

Before he can recover from that, I dance out of the room.

“You’re going to fucking pay for that,” he growls, and I don’t need to look to know he’s hot on my heels.

I laugh as I bounce up the stairs, only making it halfway up before he wraps his arms around me.

“Gotcha, Mrs. Black,” he rasps. “You’re going to pay for that.”

One year later.

I groan as I wake up to a shadow looming over me, shielding me from the delicious rays of the unrelenting July sun.

“It’s time,” Gray rasps, smirking down at me.

Narrowing my eyes, I look at him from behind my sunglasses. “What? Already? But the Fourth of July isn’t until tomorrow,” I huff. Or is it today? Ugh, after falling asleep in the sun, I’m not sure if it’s even the same day.

With a chuckle, he sits down next to me on the blanket I’ve splayed across the ground. “Turn around,” he commands, and I do as he says, turning to my stomach while still trying to make sense of the dates.

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