Page 122 of Untamed

“I love you,” I whisper. The world and everyone in it has ceased to exist. All that matters isus.

Pleasure explodes in my veins, hot and relentless, as he comes inside me. I gasp for air, gripping him, everything around narrowed to just the two of us.

“I love you,” I repeat as his hot seed spills into me, and I pant through the aftershocks of bliss. “I love you.”

Rodion growls against my skin, his lips tracing down my neck as if committing me to memory. I hold onto him, the heat of his body against mine a shield. The cool night air barely touches us.

His thumb brushes along my cheek, tender in a way only I ever see.

“Say it again,” he whispers, his voice raw.

I cup his face, stubble scraping my hand. “I love you.”

Rodion closes his eyes for a brief second, exhaling like the words loosen something inside him.

“You’re mine now, Ember. No running.”

I smile at him. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

His lips quirk in the boyish smirk I’ve come to crave before he looks behind him.

He tightens his arms around me, shielding me from the sight. But I can’t turn away.

This is me. This isus.

“You know what I have to do.”

I swallow hard and whisper, “Yeah, I do. Bury his body and sleep like a fucking baby.”

He kisses me, hard and passionate, a silent declaration of solidarity.

Rodion presses a kiss to my forehead before slipping his jacket over my shoulders. “Shh, baby. This is almost over.”

He steps back toward Shawn, who groans to himself.

“I told you once,” Rodion says in a low growl. Deadly. “You’d regret laying hands on her, didn’t I? I told you to leave her alone. I told you I never wanted to see you near her again. Didn’t I?”

Shawn begs, his eyes wide with terror, but Rodion doesn’t care.

Neither do I.

Rodion’s gun presses to Shawn’s temple before he looks my way. I meet his gaze, steady and sure. This isn’t just vengeance. It’s cleansing. It’s retribution. It’s ensuring no one—not me, not another innocent girl—ever gets hurt by this monster again.

Rodion pulls the trigger.

The shot echoes through the night.

I don’t scream. I don’t look away. I need to see that he won’t hurt me or anyone else ever again. I watch Shawn’s body fall to the ground with a thud, his blood saturating the earth around him.

When Rodion finally stands, it’s with the slow deliberation of a man who’s made peace with his choices.

I love him for that.

I pull his jacket tighter around myself. It’s warm, and it smells like him. It feels like a symbol of Rodion as my shield.

He makes phone calls before he returns to me and gathers me in his arms.

“Are you ready to go back to the gala?”

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