Page 134 of Untamed

I never go back to sleep, though. I can’t. Vigilance was burned into me by my brother, and that won’t change, especially now that I have someone to be vigilantfor.

Sometimes, I wish I could dig up Shawn’s fucking corpse just to kill him all over again. But I can’t go to the past to rectify the present. Instead, I’ll focus on the here and now. I promise to slay whatever demons threaten to rob her peace.

Happily.

I give my everything to my wife, and that won’t ever change.

“You’re thinking too loud,” Ember whispers, her eyes still closed, echoing my own teasing line to her.

She stirs, her gorgeous emerald eyes blinking up at me. For a moment, she looks dazed, and so vulnerable she’s almost childlike. When she sees me, her lips curve into a soft smile that brings an ache to my chest.

“Morning,” she whispers, her voice thick with sleep.

“Morning,Zveda Maya.” He brushes his lips over mine. “You alright? Bad dream?”

She shakes her head. “Not anymore.”

Her fingers lace through mine.

She lays against me as her phone buzzes on the bedside table.

“Did you forget to silence those notifications again?”

“Mhm.Someonedistracted the hell out of me.”

I shake my head. “I’ll have to have a talk with Zoya. You don’t have to be her personal book assistant.”

Laughing, Ember pushes my chest. “As if.”

“Seriously, baby. You’ve become a star in your own right.” Her account has absolutely exploded, earning more than she ever imagined. Her follower count has skyrocketed. Here in my home outside of Moscow, she doesn’t just have a little nook enchanted with fairy lights to hide the cracked ceilings and fading wallpaper. Oh hell no. My little queen has her own library.

Built it myself and I’m damn proud of it. The grin on her face was worth it.

“Oh, please,” Ember says on a yawn. “My account is doing well because ofyou,not me.”

I stifle a snort. “Yeah, no. My occasional cameo has nothing to do with it. It’syou,babe. They want to see you. You let your authenticity shine, and that’s what they’re here for. You tell them to keep dreaming and all that.”

Her eyes narrow playfully. “You mean all those reviews about dark, brooding alpha males? Who could I possibly be drawing inspiration from?” She snorts. “Not my husband, who hardly shows his face on my feed.”

“Right. You just let the books keep doing their talking, babe.” I shove the covers off and give her ass an affectionate slap. “Let’s go. Gym time. You said your New Year’s Resolution was to get back to the gym so you could wrestle me. No more slacking.”

She throws her pillow at my head. “It’s not my fault you keep railing me every time I get dressed in my gym clothes.”

I shrug. “No regrets.”

As she tugs her leggings on, she sighs.

“What?”

“I miss the attention I used to get at the gym.”

She is baiting me, and she’s going to fucking regret that.

“Behave yourself, woman.”

Smirking, she ties her shoe laces. “It’s harder to get attention at a home gym.”

“You really need more attention?” I push myself off the dresser and stalk over to her, but she squeals and runs toward the kitchen, likely to grab the protein shakes she prepped in the fridge last night.

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