Page 100 of Untamed

I shatter into another climax, this one more intense than the last. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. Stars blind my vision as I gasp for enough breath to scream. I’m still coming, still wrapped in ecstasy and all loss of control when he’s on me again, and he’s filling me again.

My legs wrap around his torso. He holds me beneath him, his gaze searing as he thrusts. I’m pliant and softened beneath him as he wraps his hand around my throat.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he whispers.

It feels like surrender and victory when I whisper, “I’m yours.” His hands on me tighten, and I dig my fingers into his back hard enough to leave marks, pulling him closer as his forehead touches mine, and he grinds out a stream of Russian. His head drops to my neck, and he growls, softer than before, “Mine.”

I come again, softer this time, sweeter, meeting his thrusts and ecstasy with mine.

He nuzzles my neck. It tickles, and I squirm and smile. “I’m proud of you, baby,” he whispers. “Shhh.”

I can’t move. I’m immobile. I can’t think. I’m half-asleep, blissed out, as he arranges me on the bed. A warm cloth comes between my legs a moment later, followed by a soft towel and silky sheets.

A pillow under my cheek.

The weight of a blanket over my shoulders.

Rodion curled up beside me.

Sleep.

Chapter 22

RODION

It’s dark out.The lights outside our estate have flickered on, armed guards at the gates as always, as I wait in Rafail’s office. I can’t remember what I did this time or how I got here, but I know the routine by now—lecture. Disappointment.

Punishment.

When the door to his office opens, I feel the weight of his disappointment before I see him. “Rodion, are you ever going to fucking learn?”

This time, Rafail isn’t alone. He’s brought… everyone. My grandfather leaning on his cane, his wizened face lined with disapproval. Semyon, frowning and not meeting my eyes. My cousin Matvei. They pour into the office and don’t meet my eyes.

I open my mouth to protest but find I can’t talk. My lips are sealed together. Mounting frustration builds in me, and I’m onmy feet before Rafail snatches me back down with a growl and promise of a worse punishment if I don’t sit.

I try to tell them she needed me. I try to tell them I didn’t mean to. I try to tell them I won’t let them down. But I can’t open my mouth, the words won’t come…

I wake from my dream with a start, blinking in the early morning quiet. I pat the bed next to me and find it empty.

The dream fades, but the sting of it remains.

“Ember?” I call out her name but don’t hear a response. I sit up in bed, my heart slamming against my rib cage, and tell myself to calm. Just because she’s?—

Water runs in the bathroom. The door’s slightly ajar. I turn my head to see—Ember’s standing at the bathroom sink, her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, brushing her teeth with vigor.

I let out a breath.

She’s wearing my tee.

It reminds me of a video she did, one of her viral ones, where she sighed and said she lost her mind over a scene where the heroine wears her boyfriend’s too-big tee. Mine iswaytoo big on her. I stare at her. When she lifts her arms to put the toothbrush back, the hem of the tee rises to show the curve of her bare ass.

I know this might not be what she ever imagined for herself, but I’m going to make every damn day feel like a scene only her favorite writer could ever dream up.

I swallow hard.

It was just a dream. Just a fucking dream.

I watch in silence as she splashes water on her face. She’s humming to herself. The sound is haunting and makes my heart ache.

---