Claimed By the King’s Gamma novel Chapter 24

I am up early before the sun has even risen fully. I am anxious and want to sneak down and see Ivy, so I can bring her something to eat. I wonder how her first shift went. Getting dressed quickly in my maid’s uniform, I open the door to find Liam standing next to my door, playing a game on his phone. His fingers jab hard at the screen while he curses at it. He must be losing, I think, rolling my eyes.

Shaking my head, I step past him, and he follows with his head down, focused on his game.

“Stupid game,” he growls as he follows me downstairs to the kitchens.

“What are you playing?” I ask, not really caring, but if I have to listen to him curse his phone out, it would be nice to know what he is cursing about. I wait for him to answer as he starts stabbing his phone viciously with his finger.

“A cake-building game,” he tells me, and I pull a face. With the crazy finger poking and cursing, I assumed he was playing some killing or shooting game.

“A cake-building game, cake like you eat?” I ask, wondering if it is code for something else.

“Yep, making this stupid pink unicorn thing, but the sprinkles are going too fast, and the placement is wrong. It deducted more bloody points,” he snaps before looking at me, and he grabs my arm, making me stop. He looks me over from head to toe, and I step back from him, not liking how he is eyeing me.

“Have you got a phone?” he asks, and I roll my eyes as I continue walking into the kitchens. “Of course you don’t,” he mutters as I shake my head and step into the kitchen. “Ah, she has one,” he states as he turns to Clarice.

“Momsy, oh dear, Momsy?” he calls in a sugary sweet voice as he moves toward Clarice’s station with a practiced, boyish energy. She lifts her gaze and raises an eyebrow at him as he skips over to her.

“Yes, Liam?” Clarice yawns tiredly, looking like she had no sleep at all.

He stops next to her bench, drops an elbow onto it, and places his chin on his hand, batting his lashes at her.

“Can I borrow your phone?” he asks, and she sighs, giving him a pointed look.

“What’s wrong with yours?” she asks, pointing to it in his hand.

“Nothing, but I need to download a game on yours so that you can send me your coins.”

“You want my phone for a game?” she repeats, pulling it from her apron pocket. She eyes him suspiciously while he giggles like a schoolgirl. She hands it to him, and he lights up as if all his Christmases have come at once.

“You better not be using it for porn like last time. Damn near gave me a heart attack when I opened my browser to see what you’re into,” she scolds.

“I promise.” He offers her his pinky. She smiles and chuckles before grabbing his face and squeezing his cheeks, making him have fish lips.

“I’m serious, I want my phone back.”

“Find out what happened for me; I swear if the king…” she doesn’t finish. “He did, and I will whip him myself,” she growls, striding past him. Liam watches her go before gripping my shoulder when I go to pass him.

“Chin up, love. I know the king. He is being a dickhead, but he isn’t unfaithful. It is nearly impossible for one to cheat on their mate. At least for us Lycans, anyway,” he tells me before strolling off toward the guards at the end of the hall.

Stepping into the kitchen, I find the staff are all murmuring about the king. I listen, trying to calm my racing heart.

“She is always all over him, though I thought he learned after the last time,” a cook named Sheri tells Amanda, who sighs heavily.

“Enough, ladies, we will find out. You know the king is on edge after the news he received last night,” Clarice says, cutting the ladies off.

“What news?” I ask Clarice curiously, but it is Sheri who answers.

“Another family was found, and more children by the river,” she explains with a grim expression on her face.

“How old were they?” I ask, horrified that more rogues were killed.

“A few around our queen’s age, and some young ones, about five or six years old, and an elderly woman,” Clarice answers before she sniffles.