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There was a beat of silence, as if the rest of the family couldn’t believe we’d won either, and then they all erupted into loud, boisterous cheering—so loud it almost hurt my ears.

Next thing I knew, I was swept off my feet from behind, Lukyan spinning me around and around. I squealed, gripping onto him tightly.

“Yeah! Woohooo! We won! We won!” He cheered.

Across the field, Aleksandr was still on the ground, staring at us in disbelief. Lukyan finally stopped spinning me to face his brother, smiling wide and free.

“Told you your face would be in the dirt.” Lukyan taunted his brother. He did some vulgar movement with his hips, me still slung over his shoulder as he held me there with just one arm. He pointed to Mikhail with his free hand. “Gimme my three points.”

Mikhail chuckled, shaking his head. “You still have to win the second round.”

“Oh. Right. Forgot that.”

“Will you put me down?” I laughed.

Lukyan smacked my ass. “Never. You, my beautiful Huntress, are my lucky charm. I’m never letting you go.”

Well…that was completely fine by me.

Lukyan thrust his fist into the air and marched forward. “Onto round two!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lukyan Volkov

Iwas riding on a high.

It was my first victory against my brother in these games, and you could bet your ass I was going to rub it in his face for the rest of my life. Even on his death bed, when he’s lying there, all old and wrinkly and frail, I’ll be saying, “Hey, remember that time when I outsmarted you in the Volkov Family Games and absolutely kicked your ass?”

Oh. He was never getting any reprieve from this. No. Way.

It would forever be my second greatest achievement in my life.

My first would always be marrying my wife, even if she had tricked me into it.

I soaked up the praise from my family as I marched over to the porch steps overlooking the field, Lyla still slung over my shoulder. I wanted a front-row seat for the next round of tug-of-war between Illayana and Arturo and Nikolai and Tatiana.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.” I nodded at their applause. Arturo went to retrieve something from his back pocket, and I held up my free hand. “No autographs at this time. Thank you.”

Arturo glared, pulled out his hand, and held up a finger.

“Oh, ho, ho, Arty! Didn’t know you had a sense of humor in that grumpy body of yours. I like it.”

“Lukyan?”

“Yes, baby?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.

“Wanna put me down now?”

I sighed overdramatically, as if the thought of doing what she asked pained me. It actually did, but my obsession with my wife was not up for discussion right now. “If I must.”

I maneuvered her so her body was flush against my front as I lowered her to her feet. The feel of her curves excited me more than any win ever could.

“That was a good job you guys did,” Illayana said, stretching her arms over her head. “Aleksandr had no idea what hit him.”

“Thank ya. I got the idea from Squid Game.”

“Oh, yeah. Love that show. You do know that idea probably won’t work again?”