Page 107 of Untamed

Rodion’s stiffened posture beside me feels like a quiet warning, but before the tension can thicken, a booming voice breaks through.

“Ah, so this is the woman that think she knows all about us!” Matvei strides over, his grin wide and devilish. “Rodion, you didn’t warn her about the initiation, did you?”

“What initiation?” I ask, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.

Matvei’s grin widens. “The one where you have to prove you can survive in a room full of men who think your mafia book heroes are a joke.”

“Matvei,” Rodion says in warning, but his eyes are dancing.

“Oh, don’t forget the part where they’re all billionaires,” someone else chimes in. “Damn it, I missed the sign up.”

“Tell me,” Matvei says, “in these books do the men walk around in suits all day? Even when fighting off entire armies with their bare hands?”

“Bare hands and six packs,” Zoya chimes in, giggling.

I can’t help but laugh even as my cheeks flame. “I don’twritethem, I just read them, okay?”

“But you’re the expert!” Matvei says, sitting down across from me with an exaggerated lean forward. He unfastens the top button of his shirt and gives me a wink. “So tell me how accurate they are. Iamsingle…”

“Better start working on that six-pack. I mean, more accurately…ninepack, right?” Yana asks with a snort.

I glance around at them, realizing that for all their dangerous edges and reputations, there’s one thing the books get right: the sense of family loyalty you can’t ignore.

I look over to see Rafail standing next to a man the rest seem to be deferring to. He looks about Rafail’s age, with a tall, muscular build and tanned, golden skin. I watch him chatting with Rafail, their voices rising and falling, even when they maintain decorum.

“Mikhail Romanov,” Rodion whispers in my ear. “This is his home. His sister Polina is married to my brother.”

Oooh, right. I forgot about that. This is why they had to come and prove themselves, something about making a good show of things.

It doesn’t feel like a ceremony. I don’t feel…married.

But Rodion? His hand closes over mine, solid and sure, as he talks to the Romanov family.

I don’t know any of them and won’t be able to remember their names. I’m lucky I remembermineat this point. But there’s a tall, dark, and classically handsome one talking about biometric tracking and drones with Mikhail’s wife, a spitfire of a woman with glasses and a mane of curly hair, alongside a few lethal, menacing-looking Bratva types, as well as one who’s so big he has to turn sideways to walk in the room.

The estate glows with candles, the atmosphere softened with streams of classical music. It’s nearing lunchtime when Ekaterina says it’s time to begin preparations for the gala. In the meantime, Rafail wants us to get pictures taken.

It feels so surreal. I long to escape into one of the expansive rooms in this mansion, just me and a book, preferably with a pair of noise-canceling headphones. The sound, sights, and intense atmosphere are almost oppressive. I don’t want to be on anymore. I don’t want to pretend to fit in with people I have nothing in common with.

“Smile,” Rodion murmurs, his voice a low vibration in my ear. “You’re mine now, Mrs. Kopolova. It’s time to play the part.”

I feel the weight of those words. The expectation.

But I smile until my face feels sore. I savor the weight of his hand on my lower back and the way he saysmy wife.

And when it all feels like too much, I remind myself that it’s only temporary, that this won’t be my life forever… even as the thought of separation from Rodion makes my heart ache.

I can’t have him and pass on Bratva life though. The two are irrevocably entwined.

“Ember? I just wanted to wish you congratulations.”

I turn to see a tall, willowy blonde with pale blue eyes and a ready smile extending her hand out to me.

“I’m Polina Kopolova, formerly Romanova. My mother’s arranged for you and Rodion to have a room on the third floor so you can regroup and get a little rest before tonight.” She snorts. “It’s the room marked with white balloons. She’s so cute.”

I shake her hand. “Ah, thank you. Wait, soyou’rethe one who joined these two families together?”

“Oh, well…” she begins hesitantly. “I… am still in the process oftrying.”

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