Claimed (Imprisoned Book 3)

by Victoria Vallo

  Grim walked over to the bedroom door and opened it, peering down the hall before walking across it. He softly tapped on the door and waited. Footsteps rushed over to the door, and it flew open, Duncan standing there looking startled.

  “Everything all right?” Duncan asked as he looked Grim up and down.

  Grim rolled his eyes and entered the room. Once he’d pulled Duncan into his arms, he brought their lips together. “I’m fine,” he said after the brief kiss. “Stop acting like you’re scared to breathe around me.”

  “I thought you’d need time. I thought…” Duncan drew him close but didn’t go on.

  “What?”

  “Thought you might not want to stay after seeing me kill someone.”

  “Why would I have come here with you if it bothered me? Why would I have kept sleeping with you once I knew the line of work you’re in if that stuff was a problem?” He rocked their bodies back and forth a bit. “You saved me from someone who was about to rape me.”

  “I know, but that made me worry more.”

  “What, you thought I’d suddenly change my mind about whether or not I wanted to be with you? That I’d see you as a monster, someone like him?”

  “Yes. I did. Is it so crazy?”

  He searched Duncan’s face. “No, but it’s not what happened. I’m not saying I’m going to hold up our reunion as an ideal of romance, but I’m not going anywhere.” He closed the door behind them and pushed Duncan across the room. “And I’m not sleeping alone again.”

  Duncan looked a bit astonished when Grim pushed him down onto the bed, but then he drew Grim down onto the bed with him. “I have missed you. Your scent, holding you, all of it.”

  Grim smiled and rolled to his back before removing his cotton pants, the only thing he wore, and stroking his cock. “Then show me how much.”

  Duncan stripped out of his clothes and tossed them aside before straddling Grim and hovering above him. “I love you, Grim. I’ll never let anything else like that happen to you.”

  “Let’s forget it. I’m never leaving your side again.” Grim looked up to see the other man’s reaction, knowing one way to get Duncan’s mind off the bad memories. “I love you, too.”

  Duncan stared down at him a long moment, and Grim smiled to reassure him before pulling the larger man into a kiss. They kissed and caressed each other, neither of them in a hurry. Duncan moved down and spent several tortuous minutes sucking Grim’s cock and teasing his hole before he backed off the bed and found some lube after lots of loud fumbling in a drawer. He prepared Grim quickly and got back on the bed, sliding into him in one smooth glide.

  They both moaned as they became one, and Duncan fucked him slowly as they kissed. Their climaxes broke close together. As they stilled, Grim realized it as the first sexual encounter they’d had where they hadn’t spoken or teased each other while they were having sex. Grim rolled them to lie on their sides, not caring about the cum drying between their bodies.

  “I knew it when I felt the stab of pain as I thought about never seeing you again. But I didn’t want to say it right after you saved me. I worried you wouldn’t believe me.”

  “Hmmm, I can understand that.” Duncan toyed with Grim’s right nipple. “So you believe me, despite everything?”

  “You mean despite confusing a naïve young boy and then running away after years of silence and disapproving glares before returning to practically kidnap him and force your seduction?” He grinned at Duncan’s shocked expression. “Yes, I believe you. Love does seem to make people do crazy things.”

  Duncan laughed, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I think I was stuck so far in my own thoughts that I … I don’t know.”

  “Well, think of it like this. If I can love you after all of that, it must be meant to be.”

  Duncan drew him close. “Must be,” he said softly before kissing Grim’s shoulder and then letting his lips work down Grim’s stomach.

  “Need more?” Grim asked, his body already stirring.

  Duncan licked around Grim’s navel. “Oh yes. Been denying myself for days.”

  Grim wiggled away and grabbed the discarded lube. “Then roll over.”

  “Make me,” Duncan whispered seductively.

  And Grim did exactly that.

  Epilogue

  Six Months Later

  Duncan accepted the flute of champagne and made his way across the crowded room. He spied Grim standing with one of the reporters they’d singled out. Today, Grim’s parents were being honored for a donation they’d made to a local medical research facility—one they actually owned and profited handsomely from. This fact wasn’t common knowledge, and neither was the fact their son was alive.

  Duncan had made damn sure Jalecu’s ship would never be found, and then he’d had Grim’s family home bugged extensively so they’d know exactly what his parents were up to at all times. They’d had their son declared dead about two months earlier. Duncan had wanted to act much sooner, but Grim had insisted on moving slowly. And whatever his lover wanted, he got.

  Duncan continued people watching. The reporters here today were only local, but he knew word would spread quickly. He watched a few minutes later as Grim passed something over to the reporter. When the time came for the speeches, Grim slowly worked through the crowd to get back to Duncan.

  “Ready to go, love?” Grim asked.

  Duncan finished his champagne. “So soon?”

  “Yes. I have all I need. I don’t intend to gloat,” Grim said as he took Duncan’s hand.

  “You gave her everything, didn’t you?” Duncan asked as he cast one final look over his shoulder. Grim’s father was walking up to the podium now.

  “Yep. The affairs on both sides. What they did to me. The ‘donations’ to places they’re meant to be funding anyway. And the dummy accounts all over the planet.”

  Duncan squeezed Grim’s hand. “Hmmm, suppose it might get a bit messy.”

  “It certainly will,” Grim said, his father’s voice echoing behind them.

  Once down in the lobby, they paused by one of the large screens next to the reception desk. Multiple reporters were firing off questions, and Grim’s father stood sputtering in a panic while his wife conducted a wide-eyed search of the crowd, wringing her hands.

  Grim watched them a few moments longer before turning his back and tugging on Duncan’s hand. Duncan couldn’t help asking, “But now your inheritance will be forfeit. The court advocates will see to that. Restitution and all.”

  “I know.”

  “You could’ve simply shamed them by proving you were alive and telling your story.”

  “But that wouldn’t have been the same. They loved their money and their things more than they loved me. I’ve hit them where it will really hurt.”

  As they boarded their ship, Duncan asked, “Think they’ll go to prison for it all?”

  Grim didn’t reply right away. Once they were in the cockpit and readying to take off, he said, “If they do, I pray to every god that they call on me.”

  “So you can refuse to help them?”

  “No. So I can tell them I don’t have the money or power to do so. Remind them of all the ways they could’ve helped me when I needed them.” He smiled, just the faintest tilt to his lips. “But I’ll offer to come visit them. They’ll reject that, I’m sure.”

  Duncan leaned over. “But you do have the money. Remember your rich soon-to-be husband?”

  Grim pulled Duncan into a kiss. “Yeah, but I love him. No way would I ever ask him to help people like them.”

  “Maybe they’ll learn a valuable lesson.”

  Grim shrugged. “Big maybe.” He sat back in his chair. “Where to now?”

  “Wherever you want. So long as we’re together.”

  “Then take us home.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

  Duncan rose and kissed him deeply until Grim struggled for breath.

  “What was that for?” Grim asked as he looked up, br
eathless and with parted lips that tempted Duncan to kiss him again.

  Duncan pressed their foreheads together. “You said you wanted to go home. I say we’re already there.”

  Grim looked up into his face and drew him in for another kiss, one that Duncan returned with fervor.

  The End

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Victoria Vallo has written under many names and ventured into almost every genre. When darker and more erotic tales beckoned, she decided to follow.