Page 22 of Honor and Claim (A New Reign #2)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Z

C osima sleeps lightly with her head resting on my chest. I run my fingers up and down her bare back. I’m not sure how long I’d slept, but a dream or nightmare, I suppose, jerked me awake.

It’s been years since I dreamed of my parents. They have faded with time, or so I thought. My nightmares have turned to dreams of Cosima over the years.

Now they’re back but different. It’s always been hard for me to recall if the dreams were memories or simply nightmares crafted on their own.

Each time the details changed, but this time they’d been more clear.

My mind has been racing since I woke, trying to decipher if any of the moments from this most recent one are based from reality.

Or if Sal’s words from yesterday had struck their desired chord and that’s why.

Cosima lets out a small, sweet sigh. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.

I fucking lost it last night. I knew Sal went searching for Cosima, his intention to get her alone.

I’m not sure if I’m madder at myself for allowing that to happen or how I’d completely lost control of my emotions and my actions.

I snapped, and in the moment, I wanted to kill him.

I still want that. I’m not sure what to make of it all, but I know I’m not done with Salvatore Amato, far from it.

He intended to get between Cosima and me.

He may not know we’re married, but by his comments he is aware of there being more to our relationship.

Still, he tried to make his move, which is really what sent me over the edge.

I won’t let that stand. Anything that tries to come between us, I’ll see as a threat that needs to be eliminated. I don’t give a shit if it goes against an old code. None of it matters to me. I have been waiting my whole life to have Cosima, and I’m never letting her go.

Gently, I shift, slipping out from under my wife, making sure her head comes down on one of the pillows as I sit up.

When I move, it tugs the sheet down that had been covering us, revealing Cosima's curvy little body to me.

I tug it down more when I see the small marks on her breast that lead up to her throat. I was rougher with her this time.

I don't stop until I get a view of her thighs. I place my hand on one, lifting and pulling them apart to see the insides. I remember licking and sucking on her inner thighs.

“Fuck,” I mutter, my eyes raking her up and down.

I marked her all over. I should feel ashamed, but I don’t.

My cock is hard again seeing her this way.

There is no mistaking that she belongs to me now.

I place my hand on her stomach, leaning down to kiss her there.

It won’t be long until she has a bump showing.

Then there will be no question whether or not she’s taken. I can’t wait until that day.

“Love you,” I say to her and our child before I pull the comforter back over her.

She’s either going to chew my ass over the marks or love them. I bet both. I’d taken her too hard, but Cosima had been with me the whole way, letting me take and take and take. She was getting off on it and giving me what she knew I needed at the moment.

Forcing myself to get out of bed, I head to the bathroom, picking up my discarded clothes on the way. I could stay in that damn bed all day, but I know I need to get answers and give some for my behavior last night.

Dario may have let it slide, but that will only last for so long. He will want to know what went down and why.

Once showered, I put back on the slacks I wore last night before pressing a kiss to Cosima. She needs her rest. I slip from the room, heading toward mine to quickly change so I’m not in the same clothes.

I go straight to War’s office, and as I thought, he’s there along with Dario and Ronan. They all turn to look my way when I enter.

“Morning,” I say. What the fuck else is there to say, honestly? Not real sure where to start either.

“Morning?” Dario shakes his head, pissed. That makes two of us.

“What happened to not forcing Cosima to marry?” I might as well get to the fucking point. There's no use pussyfooting around it. We all know why we’re here.

“I don’t know; you tell me, Zenzo.” It’s been a long time since I heard anyone speak my given name. I stare at Dario, reminding myself he’s Cosima’s father and in part has been one to me as well. “I might be getting old, but I’m not senile. You think I didn’t notice that ring on her necklace?”

“I don’t give a shit if you did or didn’t,” I tell him bluntly. He might have helped raise me, but none of that matters when it comes to anything to do with Cosima and me.

“All right.” War stands up from his desk, putting his fist down on it. “Are you and Cosima married?”

“Yes.” I’m not going to outwardly lie. I was willing to go along with Cosima and hide us being together because she thought it would be best, but I was never a fan of the idea. It feels good to admit it out loud.

“Told you,” Ronan mutters, putting his feet up on the table. How the fuck does Ronan know? He might have assumed. He’s good at the shit. It’s creepy at times. “Where is my sister?”

“Sleeping.”

“So you can force her to marry.” Dario stands too so he can fully face me.

“No one forced Cosima to do shit.” Ronan speaks again. When did he get all chatty? I have to say it fills me with emotion that he is taking up for me with Dario.

No, I didn’t force her; I more maneuvered her.

I’m not going to lie and say that I wouldn’t have because Cosima was destined to be mine, one way or another.

Even if I had to draft the docs myself and hack into the city's department of deeds to file them away. I would’ve stopped at nothing to have her.

“Cosima was always going to be mine,” I say matter-of-factly because it’s the truth.

“You lost your shit last night. Sal hadn’t done anything but speak to her, if his story is true. Is it?” Dario asks.

“I know what his intent was, and it won’t be tolerated.

I don’t care what family he’s from. He made comments about my past and where I came from.

Also about mine and Cosima's relationship. He knew exactly what he was doing, no matter what he says.” Dario stuffs his hands into his pockets, glancing at War. “Is that it?”

“No, that’s not it,” Dario grits out.

“There is a whole lot more to all of this I’m learning this morning,” War says, taking a deep breath. “How about everyone take a seat?” He motions with his hand.

“I’ll sit, but I want to make it real clear right now Cosima will be staying with me as my wife.”

“I wouldn’t get between the two of you,” War says with a firm nod.

“I wouldn’t either.” Ronan again chimes in. I throw a glance over to him; he merely shrugs. Dario doesn’t say shit, so I sit down.

“This is what I’ve been worried about.” Dario speaks when I plant my ass in the chair. “You lost your shit last night.” I don’t deny it; I only stare at Dario, waiting for him to go on with whatever he needs to say.

“Tell him,” War orders his father. “I was going to, but now, after last night and the news that Sal knows about Z’s past, he deserves to know.” War turns his gaze toward me. “Unless you already know and have not spoken of it to us.”

I sit up straighter. “Which part of my past?”

“Before you came to live here,” Dario says, running a hand down his face before he speaks again.

“Your father and I were close; he was damn good with money. Had the Midas touch. Actually, the man was good at everything he did. Smart as shit.” Dario shakes his head like he’s remembering the past, drawing from it.

“I always wondered if there was a line between genius and insanity.”

I have also wondered that. “There is no great genius without a touch of madness.” I speak, quoting Aristotle.

“Genius and madness is a good way to describe your father.” Dario stands, walking over to the wet bar and pouring himself a scotch. I don’t think breakfast has even been had. “You never ask about them.” He takes a healthy swig of his drink.

“I don’t.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t think that’s odd?” Dario asks. I close my eyes, rubbing them with the palms of my hands. An ache forming in my chest, the need to have Cosima close right now, is starting to gnaw at me.

“I must not want to know,” I finally say.

“Spit it out; he doesn’t need you drawing it out,” War cuts in.

“Your father loved you and your mother. Anything he focused his attention on consumed him, and he was consumed by your mother.” I close my eyes again, my mind going back to that night, trying to put together the pieces.

“We weren’t leaving for a trip.” I recall the bag by the front door. My mother's face is becoming a bit more clear. “She was leaving us.”

“She was,” Dario confirms. “Your mother was a free spirit. I tried to warn your dad, but I think he believed if he got her pregnant, she’d stay, and she did, for a while.” I rest my forehead in my palms to slightly rub my temples. “If he couldn't have her, no one could.”

“He killed her.” A wave of memories floods over me. I drop my hand, remembering some of the details but not all. There are still these small gaps, but I can piece them all together. “And I killed him.”

They’d been fighting, always fighting. My mother had another lover, there had been a few in fact, if I recall correctly.

I heard the shot. I was young, but I knew what the sound was, and I knew where to get a gun for myself.

When I entered the room to see my mother dead on the floor and my father with the gun in his hand, I knew he killed her, and a fear filled me that I was going to be next.

I took advantage of him being distracted by what he’d done.

“Your father lost all control that night,” Dario says, and I know what he’s getting at.

“And I lost control last night. Is that where you’re going with this?”

“It doesn’t worry you?” Dario questions.

“It doesn’t worry me,” Cosima says from the doorway. I stand when I see her. She’s got a fierce expression on her face, and it is aimed right at her father. “I’m not scared of Z. He’d never hurt me.”

“Are you certain, sweetness?” I ask her.

“I’d bet my life on it.” She smirks. Dario mutters a curse.

“Come here and stop upsetting your father,” I order her.

“Fine,” she huffs, rolling her eyes but coming to me. I pull her into me the second she is close enough for me to grab, sitting in the process so that she’s in my lap.

Cosima has on another dress that doesn’t hide the marks I put on her. “Tell them you won’t hurt me.” Now it’s her ordering me.

“I’d never harm Cosima; if she tried to run from me, I’d just have to lock the house down.” Cosima lets out a small giggle. I’m not sure what is funny, but okay. “And Cosima is too sweet to try and take on a lover knowing it would be certain death for them. One she’d have to watch.”

“You’re a psycho.” She laughs harder. “I suppose if I want someone dead, I’ll pretend to be interested in them.”

“If you want someone dead someday, you only have to tell me, sweetness.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Your jealousy is kind of hot.” Cosima turns her head toward me to press a quick kiss to my lips, solidifying what I have always believed since she entered this world.

She is my perfect match and was always meant to be mine. That is all that matters to me. Cosima is my god, the only person I live my life for, worship, and could take me to my knees.