Chapter 50 – Gabriella #2
Liam rose to his feet, wiping his bloodied hands on his dress pants as he walked to the ropes.
The spell shattered.
I rushed forward and jumped into his arms. He caught me easily, lifting me against his chest.
“I’m bleeding everywhere, cailín,” he grunted.
“Feck it,” I whispered, giving him a teasing grin as I used the word he so often threw around.
He shook his head, smirked, and then his lips crashed into mine. I tasted salt and copper. And somehow, it tasted perfect. A low thrum of heat slithered through my veins, settling in my core.
But there was just one more matter that needed to be tied up first.
Liam won his fight, claimed his throne, and made his mark. It was time I did the same. My hands fisted at my sides. I wanted to make sure these mobsters never questioned my place here again. They would always see me as an outsider and not the wife of their boss.
I couldn’t leave room for doubt.
Chin lifted, refusing to shrink beneath their stares, I tugged out of Liam’s grasp, going to stand in the ring.
“What are you doing?” he murmured.
His gaze flicked over the crowd then back to my face.
“You’re the boss of the underworld,” I said quietly. “And I’m going to make up for something I should have done that night around the fire.”
I smoothed my hands over my jeans and bent my knees.
Somewhere in the mad rush to his side, I’d dropped my pendant.
But we didn’t need it. The evil eye had no place here.
The malocchio couldn’t touch the devil. Before they could warm the ground, Liam’s arms shot out.
He gripped my waist and hauled me against him.
His words cracked through the air like a whip. “What do you think you’re doing, Gabriella?”
“Swearing my loyalty to you,” I insisted.
Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd. A few rough laughs echoed against the high metal ceiling.
Liam’s arm tightened around me as his scarred hand gripped my jaw. His touch was hard against my skin as he tilted my face upward, forcing me to look at him. Our eyes locked.
“They don’t get to see you like that,” he said.
The meaning was clear. They didn’t get to witness my submission. That was for his eyes only.
“Then how can I prove to them I’m not a threat?” I asked quietly. “That I belong here?”
Liam shook his head. “I’ll not make a spectacle of you. If I say you’re my queen, then you are.”
Clasping my hands in his, Liam lifted them in the air.
Of course, mine didn’t stretch as high.
But the silent message resounded through the building. Around us, the room shifted. The verdict was clear. Liam was king, defying anyone to challenge him for the crown, and I was the queen of this kingdom built on blood.
“Sláinte!” Connor boomed the blessing.
It was rapidly echoed by the doctor, the men who guarded me, and others. Gaeilge mixed with English as voices raised in triumph.
“Hail the king,” I breathed before claiming his mouth in a brutal, ravenous kiss. The chaos faded away as Liam dropped his hold and scooped me against his body. I dragged my hands across him, his breath shuddering against mine. Relief poured through him, turning quickly into a low groan.
I felt him growing hard where my thighs pressed against his hips. A soft whimper escaped me. My pulse thundered in my throat.
Liam tightened his grip on me. The kiss burned with everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. There was no barrier between us now. Just a man and a woman.
If we had been alone, we would have given in to the primal heat surging between us. But the crowd still surrounded us, their energy humming through the room like the rush of a river.
I bit Liam’s lower lip before pulling back. A smile spread across my face. A real one.
“You are the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen,” I beamed.
His breath shuddered. “Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph, I’ve waited so long to have you look at me like that.”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
Liam kissed me again, quick and fierce.
“Now that I’ve earned your smile,” he said quietly, “I’m never going to lose it.”
Confusion flickered across my face. “Earned my smile?”
The beast stared at me. Something strange passed through his stormy eyes. I felt it pass between us, a piece of me embedding in him.
“Never mind, cailín. We’ll talk about it later.” He paused and nodded toward the ring behind him. “Right now, I have to deal with this mess.”
I winced, remembering the corpse only a few feet away. “Well, hurry up, so we can go home.”
Liam groaned softly as he lowered me to the floor. As he began handling the aftermath, I stayed close to his side.
The violence didn’t disturb me.
What unsettled me was how right it felt to stand beside him.
How it felt natural to belong here. It was going to take some time to grow used to this.
But thanks to the twists and turns of fate, we had that.
And now that my son was safe at home and the assassination threat was gone, there was no reason left to hide and no reason not to claim my place. I was the queen Liam believed me to be.