Page 72 of King of the Cage

“So did I,” Declan said behind me.

“As did I, wee one,” Bran said, pulling me close despite my hard shoves at his chest. “Everyone here will attest to that, so that makes you — my wife.”

20

BRAN

Giada was quiet in the car on the way to my place. Silently fuming. Planning my demise. She’d already attempted to jump out of the moving car, so she was clearly a flight risk. Right now, she glared at me like she was trying to figure out where she could hide my body when she killed me for this.

I had no doubt my lovely bride was planning out her escape route. I couldn’t let that happen, but I already knew she wouldn’t take my word for it. She’d need to be shown. She wouldn’t go easily…

She’d rage against the robbery of her freedom. My selkie… caught on shore by a selfish man. I was that man, after all. I’d stolen her skin, and I wasn’t giving it back.

Declan had been right… I had to thank my da. He’d given me the excuse I’d needed to take this woman and keep her. I’d marry her, or no one.

The woman of my dreams, by my side, bound with strings she couldn’t ignore.

We went upstairs, Giada still dangerously silent. My men stayed at the bottom of the stairs. I unlocked the door, while Giada eyed my position relative to the top of the stairs, no doubt calculating how hard she’d have to shove me before I fell down.

I tutted lightly. “You’ll have to be more inventive than that.”

I unlocked the door and pushed it open. I suddenly wondered if I should live somewhere else. The studio apartment wasn’t really fit for someone like Giada. She was a woman who deserved the best.

“Shall I carry you over the threshold?” I prompted when she failed to move.

With a dark glance at me, she walked in. I followed, locking the door soundly behind me and threading the key through the long chain around my neck.

Giada folded her arms and gave me scathing look. “You think I couldn’t pick this lock if I wanted?”

I leaned against the door and watched her, shrugging. “You won’t get the chance. I plan on tiring you out so well, you can’t walk tomorrow.”

“Wow, I guess delusion runs in the family. All of you O’Connors are batshit crazy.” She glanced around the place. “This is where you live?”

“This is wherewelive, for the time being.” I pushed off the door and went to the kitchen, grabbing a clean dish towel. I held it under warm water, watching her take in my living space.

She rolled her eyes. “I hate it.”

“Noted.”

She wandered over to the small table I had in the corner and picked up a box of cigarettes. She wrinkled her nose.

“You smoke?” she asked in a scathing tone.

“Not anymore, I guess. What’s that saying? Happy wife, happy life, right?”

“In that case… you’re destined for sadness, O’Connor, then death.” She shot me a lethal look.

Fuck, she was magnificent. She reached out a finger and slowly nudged a picture frame on the table until it fell off and crashed onto the floor.

“Oops,” Giada said, utterly unrepentant.

“What’s mine is yours, wee one, remember? Now, you want something to drink or eat before…?”

“Before what?”

I tilted my head to the side and let my gaze wander down her body. “Before.”

She snorted disdainfully. “Keep on living in never-never land, Lost Boy. My brother will sort you out tomorrow, I’m sure.”

---