Page 82 of The Fire Beneath the Frost

Because he was right.

“Dimitri,” I whispered, turning my face toward him, “I love you.”I didn’t know if it was a confession or a plea.Maybe both.My voice cracked.“I’m so sorry, but…”

“Shut up!”he screamed, louder than I’d ever heard him.“Stop lying to me!”

He surged forward and grabbed my shirt.The fabric tore with a sharp, sickening rip.

Tears streamed down his face.His whole body was shaking, mouth twisted with rage and something worse, something like heartbreak.

I couldn’t stop the tears that spilled from my eyes.I didn’t even try.

He grabbed me again—rough, unthinking—and rolled me onto my stomach like I weighed nothing.

The mattress springs groaned beneath us.

He yanked my pants down to my knees, and cold air hit my skin.

I turned my face to the side and gripped the edge of the blanket, fingers white-knuckled.My heart slammed against my ribs.

He was behind me.Breathing hard.Breaking apart.

And so was I.

I’d never seen this side of Dimitri before.Not in the factory when his patience snapped.Not in the alleys or the corners of Sanctuary.

This wasn’t just anger.It was grief, with its skin torn off.

He was shaking as he grabbed my hips, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise.I felt him pull me apart, the sudden raw exposure of it, and then…

Spit.

A slick, shocking insult that landed with a jolt, both physical and emotional.

I gasped, burying my face in the blanket.

And then he was inside me.Rough.Ruthless.Nothing tender left.

A cry broke from my throat.My body clenched, but I didn’t resist.

How could I?

I deserved this.

He drove into me with a wild, brutal force, chasing something neither of us could name.

The mattress rocked under us, every thrust tearing another piece out of me.

My hands clutched the blanket so hard it ripped beneath my fingers.

“Give me your pain, Dimitri,” I sobbed, the words tumbling from my mouth in a flood of anguish.“I love you—I’ll take all of it, all of your pain, if it makes you feel better.Please, Dimi—I’ll do anything—just give it to me.”

“Shut up!”he roared, voice hoarse, breaking.

But I felt it in the way his body faltered.The cracks forming.

A few more brutal thrusts, and then he groaned, deep and guttural, as he released inside me.

His weight collapsed over my back.

---