Claimed for His Duty. Tara Pammi

you, Dmitri.”

      Grabbing her arm, he turned her. “You’re playing a dangerous game with Giannis’s life, Leah. This is not like one of those antics you used to take up just to make Stavros furious.”

      That he had always seen through her ploys unnerved Leah. “All I want is my freedom, Dmitri, a chance to live my life. You get that, don’t you?” she threw back at him, remembering bits and pieces of what Calista had told her about Dmitri’s life before Giannis had plucked him off the streets of London.

      “Try a different way then. For once, try to change the dynamic between you two, Leah.”

      “How?” she whispered, her voice breaking. “He’s left me no choice. In that moment—” she pointed to the ominously quiet lower deck, her heart pounding in her chest “—it started as a bluff. But I... I don’t know what I’m capable of anymore.”

      “Stavros and you are intent on destroying each other.”

      “Me destroy Stavros? All the power, all the cards are in his hands, Dmitri. As always.” And the worst part was that she had given it all to him with her irresponsible behavior.

      All she had today was the wretched power to hurt Giannis. And Leah was terrified that she would use that power. Desperation turned her words into a pitiful entreaty.

      “If you count Stavros as your friend, if you really care about Giannis’s well-being, then convince Stavros that I don’t need his brand of protection anymore. Please, Dmitri.”

      * * *

      Two days later, Stavros and Dmitri were sparring in the ring in the ultra-sophisticated, custom-built gym attached to Dmitri’s Athens apartment.

      It had started when Stavros had suggested Dmitri could work his way out of a temper instead of losing it when Giannis had brought him to Athens years ago, morphed into a way for them to resolve arguments when they struggled to keep up with the rigorous, grueling schedule that Giannis set for them.

      A habit they had carried into adulthood.

      But today, Stavros was the one who felt bloodthirsty, like he was coming apart at the seams.

      After two days in which he had been supremely unproductive, he still hadn’t been able to master his reaction to seeing Leah.

       You already know that I don’t care about anyone but myself, don’t you?

      Her words rang through him, her glittering gaze and her vibrating body etched into his brain.

      The brazen curve of her mouth, the reckless shrug with one hand on a bony hip, her dark brown hair drying in curls around that angelic face... Cristo, he still couldn’t believe that...boldly stunning creature had been Leah.

      Leah, who had jumped like a live wire when he had touched her without meaning to...

      Leah, who, even at a naive sixteen, had somehow always pushed all the wrong buttons in him...

      Leah, who was, even now, insidiously unfurling the iron fist with which he ruled his...

       No!

      Moving his right foot forward, Stavros swung his left hook with a vicious fury. The thwack of his knuckle against Dmitri’s jaw, and the hiss of his exhale, followed by the filthiest curse words reverberated in the quiet.

      Shock flashed in Dmitri’s eyes.

      That Stavros had gone on the offense when it had always been about letting Dmitri work through one of his tempers, who learned to use his fists on the streets of London amidst gangs, spoke to his ragged control.

      “Ding, ding,” Dmitri mocked, dark amusement in his gaze. “Point for Leah Huntington Sporades.”

      Gritting his jaw, Stavros shot him a filthy look.

      Massaging his jaw with one hand, Dmitri reached for a bottle of water with the other. “In all the years that we have known each other, you have never gone on the offensive. Today’s win has to go to her.”

      Knowing how cunningly perceptive Dmitri was, Stavros decided to leave. It had been a miracle in itself that Dmitri had—showing what Giannis would have called uncharacteristic wisdom—left Stavros alone after Leah’s latest stunt.

      He didn’t want to discuss Leah, with him of all people.

      Dmitri’s jaw was already black and blue, and for once, Stavros enjoyed the result of his loss of control. “Put some ice on it.”

      Dmitri stopped him with a hand on his arm. “You’re pushing it too far, Stavros.”

      “Leave it alone, Dmitri.” He knew exactly what his friend was talking about.

      Moving around him, Dmitri blocked his path. “You went above and beyond what Giannis asked of you. Wash your hands off.”

      Giannis, to whom he and Dmitri owed their entire world, had asked for only one thing in return after becoming their salvation when they had been nothing but uneducated thugs.

      And Stavros had failed spectacularly at it. “Have you forgiven yourself for everything you have ever done? Or failed to do?”

      All emotion seeped out of Dmitri’s face, leaving an uncaring mask in its place. “Do I look like I have been punishing myself for the last decade?”

      Stavros made a doubtful sound of assent in his throat. “See you next week.”

      “Giannis asked you to protect her, Stavros, ne?” His breath hung in his throat as Stavros waited. “But what I saw two days ago... He should have entrusted me with Leah. I would have seduced her within the day, made her fall in love with me and then cast her aside after a week. She would have learned her lesson.

      “But you—”

      Stavros curled his hand around his friend’s throat, fury filling every vein. The thought of Dmitri seducing and throwing away Leah made him crazy like a rabid dog he had once put down as a teenager. “She is not one of your party bunnies, Dmitri. She’s...she’s Leah.”

      His breathing loud to his own ears, Stavros stilled. Dmitri watched him with hooded eyes, not even trying to shake off his grip. They both knew what he had been about to say.

       She is my wife.

       When had he become so possessive of Leah? When had she gone from a chain around his neck to something that could incite him like this?

      “To see Stavros Sporades’s ironclad control unravel like this... But even a man made of stone would have noticed that gorgeous body. Leah could always get under your skin so easily,” Dmitri continued, frowning, “but now, she has another weapon to wield against you.”

      “Enough, Dmitri! I don’t interfere in your life nor pass judgment on it.”

      “But Leah is not just any woman. If you’re doing this just because you suddenly have the hots for your little wife—”

      “Some days, I don’t know whether to call you friend or foe.”

      Dmitri didn’t even blink. “You are the most honorable man I know, Stavros. Until I met you, I didn’t know what it was. There are days when I still don’t. But Leah’s threat concerns Giannis. You need to make a decision soon.”

      “I already made one. Five years ago.”

      “Then why have you left her under someone else’s care, kept her at a distance? Either she’s truly your wife or you’re through with her.

      “You can’t hang both your lives in limbo as if it was some sort of penance.”

      A chill seeped into his skin despite the fact that he was sweating. Stavros let Dmitri go. “What if she hasn’t changed? What if she...”

      “Give her a chance at least, Stavros. To prove you right or wrong.”

      It