Page 43 of Lethal Alliance

I tug him toward me, one hand slipping underneath him to cup his balls. “Fuck that,” I whisper in his ear.

Whatever thin line of control was holding him snaps. He pulls me up, his hands under my ass, my legs wrapped around him. He spins out of the shower and carries us into the bedroom, our mouths hot against each other’s skin, devouring every inch like souls lost in the desert discovering water once more. His cock is a searing rod against my clit, and I’m bucking against him, grinding my body into his as his mouth marks my neck and breasts, his tongue teasing my nipples as his palm rests under my opening. He groans aloud as he feels the slick wetness seeping from me. His fingers dip inside and I clench around them, the first tremors of orgasm already twitching inside me.

“Fuck, Darya.” His hands spread my opening wider, and his clever fingers drive inside me, but it isn’t enough. It isn’t even close to being enough.

I thrust down against his cock. “I need this. I need you.”

He throws me down on the bed, and I spread my legs wide, arching my hips toward him. He enters me with a savage thrust. I revel in the hoarse cry he can’t bite back, feeling an almost primal triumph as he fills me. My body feels unbearably full, as if every nerve is heightened. Each thrust opens me further, my body swelling and pulsing as he goes deeper and deeper. The orgasm that has been threatening since the moment he touched me is hovering on the edge, growing to such intense pressure that I angle my hips up, desperate for release.

He groans and his hands go under my ass, lifting me to the right angle as he drives right into me, hitting the places deep inside me that take me into orbit.

I scream and he surges home, roaring as he feels me exploding around him. His orgasm bursts into a hot, urgent stream inside me, and his mouth owns mine, our bodies rippling together as the mind-shattering release takes us both.

I wake barelyan hour later to find him fresh from the shower. He’s dressing in the corner, his back to me. A pale dawn threads across the horizon, but the day is still distant.

“You need sleep.” I prop myself up in the bed, rubbing my eyes. My body is heavy with lethargy, the nausea that is fast becoming a daily trial churning uneasily in my gut.

“I need to get the girls back.” He turns and crosses the room to the bed, one hand cupping my chin, his thumb stroking my cheekbone. The grim lines of his face soften momentarily, but not the dark shadows in his eyes. “I can’t sleep, Darya. I can barely breathe.”

He cuts off abruptly, pulling his hand back and inhaling sharply as he fights for control. “I have a friend.” His voice is rough with exhaustion. “Makari Tereschenko. He’s a... colleague, on the project I told you about. He owes me a favor. He has an army, Darya.”

I sit up, tucking the sheet around me, trying to make my befuddled mind work properly. “An army?” Something about the slight emphasis on the word makes me think he isn’t just talking about any normal security detail.

“I don’t meanvor.” He reaches for his cuff links. “Mak runs the biggest private mercenary force in the world. He commands missiles, tanks, weaponry—enough to overturn multiple countries. I contacted his people several days ago. I just received a message that he’s available for a meeting. I’m heading to the lab so we can talk on a secure line.”

My nausea flees, replaced by a cold, stark wash of terror.

“Didn’t you hear me yesterday? You can’t go in there with guns blazing, Roman.”

He clips a cuff link into place and frowns at me. “Actually, I fucking can. More guns than Vilnus Orlov has any hope of fighting back against.”

“No.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed, swaying as I try to gather myself. “You don’t know him like I do, Roman. He’ll be expecting this.” I rub my eyes.

“Darya, please.” He sits down on the bed, his hands gentle on my shoulders. “I need you to rest, and I want you to trust me. I heard you yesterday. Now you need to listen to me. I’d never do anything to endanger the girls, and that includes launching a war before I have all the facts. But I have to get the pieces in place, get ready for the moment when weareready.”

“What about the vault?” I press my cheek against his hand. “Vilnus will contact you about that, and soon. What are you going to tell him? We need to speak to my father, to find out what he knows—”

Roman’s face tightens. “I think it’s better that we leave your father out of this.”

The hard, measured tone and suddenly glacial expression tell me more than his words need to.

I cover the hand holding mine with my other one. “Please, Roman, listen to me. I know you have every reason to hate my father. I’m not happy with him myself right now.”

His brow creases at that, a flash of surprise in his dark eyes.

“Do you think my father has told me all his secrets?” I shake my head wearily. “Sergei Petrovsky isn’t one for confidences, Roman. And he’s traditional. I’m his daughter, not his son. It might have been me running with him all these years, but even now, it seems Alexei knows more than I do.” It’s hard to keep the bitterness from my tone. “Alexei booked a ticket for me using the name on my new passport. That name, and the passport, was a secret known only to Papa, me, and a contact of Papa’s whose name not even I know. Alexei has clearly been talking to Papa.”

The fact that my father and brother have been making plans behind my back doesn’t just hurt.

It fucking pisses me off.

I’ve grown up in a world where men are the protectors. In the normal course of events, Roman wouldn’t even be having this conversation with me. He’d be acting, while I sat here and wrung my hands.

But I’ve had six years of being forced into decisions, of facing danger.

I’m not about to be put back on the sidelines again.

“It isn’t a question of trusting you.” I hold his hand, meeting his eyes directly. “It’s a question of you trustingme. I know you’re more than a match for Vilnus Orlov, Roman. But you need to stop seeing me as someone you have to protect and start seeing me as a resource, someone who has knowledge that can help you.”

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