Page 64 of The Bratva King's Auctioned Bride

Injury? What injury? I barely felt a twinge in my shoulder as I tugged her hair back, whipping my other arm around her back to yank her body closer. I plundered her lush mouth with my tongue as I pounded her pussy with my cock. She held on tight, moaning, scratching, pulling me even closer to her needy body.

“Mila,” I growled, just because I had to. Saying her name was like a prayer.

She shivered, running her fingernails up my back. “Hurry, Arkadi, I—” her plea was cut off by the next shockwaves that made her spasm, swallowing me up in the tide.

She was mine, but I was also hers, and I followed her, shouting as I spilled my seed deep inside her. Her body went limp, her arms sliding from my back to the bed. Her head lolled to the side, her legs still wrapped around me as I slowed my thrusts.

“Again,” she murmured, a slight smile curling her lips.

I collapsed against her with a laugh. “Give me a few minutes.”

“We have plenty of time,” she said, turning to nestle against my chest.

As I waited for our heartbeats to return to normal and our breathing to be less ragged, I hoped that was true. Or if the time we were currently enjoying was only borrowed, and her brothers were going to come to collect.

Chapter 44 - Mila

I was happy, truly happy. I really was. Whenever Arkadi and I were together, it felt like I’d overflow, but there were cracks when I was alone, and my joy would slowly seep away. The meeting he wanted to have with my brothers to work things out never happened.

They were still too angry and stubborn, refusing to accept that my husband was no longer the person they thought he was. They couldn’t believe he had changed because of his feelings for me, and that hurt. I had always thought my family adored me and expected them to come around, but it was nothing but silence on their end.

Arkadi did whatever he could, still trying, and even insisting he was going to stake out all their places of business until at least one of them agreed to talk. I reined him in, telling him that would only make them angrier, viewing it as taunting them or something equally stupid.

Arkadi was stubborn too, getting pissed off all over again at them for making me sad. As much as I tried to hide it, he knew me too well, and the hurt was so deep it couldn’t help but show.

It was an overcast afternoon, and Arkadi had canceled a meeting, telling me I had an important one scheduled and he was going to stay in case I needed his help with anything. I had no idea what it was, since I was all caught up with quarry business, and due to the time difference, it would have been an awkward hour to be calling overseas.

When he told me to just get on the computer and log into the video chat, I’d see what it was about, I just shrugged and went along with it. I had never seen him acting so bizarre, a mix of nerves and excitement. As soon as he saw me slide into thedesk chair and click on the screen, he ducked out of the room and shut the door.

“Oh my God,” I said, bursting into tears.

On the screen, in the much too small squares, were my sisters-in-law. Katie, Jenna, Brooke, Olivia, Daria, and Emerson all smiled and sniffled back at me. Even Nat was there, waving at me. She was the only one who’d remained in contact with me over the last two weeks since the showdown with Ivan, and while she was upset, she was still on my side, assuring me the others would come around. I didn’t believe it was possible, but there they all were. Was it just to tell me off?

“I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, not sure what I was apologizing for. I had so much guilt I could hardly assign a reason for it anymore.

“You should be,” Daria said, but without much rancor.

“Oh, come on, we promised we weren’t going to be hard on her,” Katie admonished her.

“She married the enemy,” Daria reminded them, as if they needed a reminder.

“Uh, you’re one to speak,” Olivia said. “I seem to recall you thinking Ivan was your enemy for a little while there.”

“Never,” she yelped, but Katie cut in.

“Mila, honey, there’s no reason to cry. We all get it. We’re not mad at you.”

“Not much, anymore,” Jenna said, smiling warmly at me from the screen. I wished I could have hugged all of them, but they didn’t dare cross my brothers when they were being so stormy.

“I don’t want you to get in any trouble because of me,” I said, looking at all of them in turn.

They all scoffed, laughed, or rolled their eyes. “We can handle your brothers,” they assured me.

“It’s going to take some time, but we’ve got this,” Katie promised.

They all agreed, and we set up a text chat on the new phone Arkadi had bought me, fearing the one Ivan gave me might have a tracker or something else insidious on it.

“Now, what about a wedding?” Brooke asked shyly.

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