Page 35 of Stalked & Bred by the BRATVA
His laugh is quiet, almost dangerous. “I’ll never let you go. Even if you asked me to.”
Instead of fear, the words settle into me like a promise I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear. Maybe it’s madness. Maybe I’m losing myself. But if this is what madness feels like, warm and certain and protected, I don’t want to be cured.
He tips my chin up until I’m looking at him again. “I don’t just want you safe, Sarah. I want you happy. And I will break anyone who tries to take either from you.”
Something deep in me loosens, and I realise that for the first time, Thom’s shadow doesn’t feel like it’s hanging over me. It’s gone. Mikhail took it and crushed it without me having to lift a finger.
I slide my hands up his chest, feeling the solid heat of him through his T-shirt. “Then prove it.”
His eyes darken. “Prove it how?”
“Stay,” I say, my voice steadier now. “Don’t go anywhere today. Just… stay with me.”
He exhales slowly, like he’s been holding his breath since the moment I spoke. “Done.”
When he kisses me, it’s different from before. Less about possession, more about sealing something between us. His mouth is warm and slow, coaxing instead of taking, and it makes me melt against him in a way I can’t fight.
By the time we break apart, my lips are tingling and my pulse is a drum in my ears.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” he says, brushing his thumb over my lower lip. “But you will.”
I smile—small, but real. “Maybe I do.”
The corner of his mouth lifts, the closest thing to a smile I’ve seen from him. “Then you should also know you’re not leaving this room today.”
And for once, the idea of being trapped doesn’t feel like a threat. It feels like the best place I could be.
He guides me to the bed, but it isn’t rushed. We sit, and he pulls me into his lap, my knees bracketing his hips. His hands settle at my waist like they’re meant to be there, thumbs drawing slow circles over my skin.
“You’re beautiful,” he says simply. “Not because I say so, but because it’s the truth.”
I feel heat rise in my cheeks, but I don’t look away. “Even when I don’t believe it?”
His grip tightens just enough to make me feel it. “Especially then.”
Something inside me clicks into place. I’ve spent so long shrinking myself, making myself small so I wouldn’t take up space in the wrong person’s world. But Mikhail doesn’t want me smaller. He wants all of me. Every inch, every flaw, every piece I’ve been told to hide.
And I think I’m ready to give it to him.
I lean in and kiss him, slow and sure, my fingers curling into his hair. His low growl vibrates against my mouth, and I realise I’ve just shifted something between us. This isn’t me being claimed, it’s me claiming him back.
When we part, he rests his forehead against mine. “There’s no going back now.”
“I don’t want to,” I say. And I mean it.
The future doesn’t feel like something I have to survive. It feels like something I can want. And Mikhail is the reason why.
Mikhail
Sarah is curled up on the bed, the sheet wrapped around her, the coffee I brought earlier still half-full on the nightstand, the lunch I brought later half eaten on the top of the drawers. She’s soft in sleep, but I know she won’t rest long. She never does unless I’m here.
I shut the door quietly and head down the hall to where I know my brothers are. Maksim is in his study, Aleksei leaning against the wall, Roman in one of the chairs by the window. It’s rare to find them all in one place without some crisis dragging them together.
Roman glances up first. “You look like you haven’t slept in days.”
“I’ve been busy.”
Maksim doesn’t look up from the papers he’s signing. “With the girl.”
