Page 84 of Bratva Bride

Damn. That was sexy.

My eyes were glued to the fight, toher.She was unlike any woman I’d ever met in my life. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her even if I wanted to.

Illayana didn’t give him a chance to retaliate. She ran at him, jumping into the air. She brought her fighting sticks together and struck hard, using her momentum and gravity to deliver a harder blow.

Lukyan brought his staff up quickly to defend, but the power of Illayana’s attack broke his staff in two, forcing him to stumble back.

Lukyan looked down at his hands, each filled with a piece of his broken staff, and then looked back at Illayana. They stared at each other for a few seconds before they both chucked their weapons to the side.

They ran at one another, meeting in the centre of the ring. Lukyan swung a brawny arm, Illayana ducked and delivered a solid punch to his abdomen. Quick as a cat, she followed with an uppercut to his chin and then spun on the balls of her feet, planting a kick to his chest and sending him flying back.

She pounced on him, wrapping her long legs around his arm and locking him into an arm bar. Lukyan struggled, his grunts of frustration loud enough for all to hear, but Illayana’s hold was airtight. He wasn’t getting out of it. She increased the pressure and he shouted out in pain.

Everyone was on their feet, clapping and cheering at the fight taking place.

“Don’t be a fucking idiot, Lukyan,” Illayana grunted. “Tap. I’ve got you.”

Even from where I stood, I could see the smirk on Lukyan’s face. “Never,” he growled. Just one word, yet it was laced in pain.

Illayana hissed, increasing the pressure yet again and I knew she was only seconds away from breaking his arm.

“Illayana,” Dimitri called out.“Ne lomay yemu ruku.”Do not break his arm.

Illayana growled in frustration but relented, loosening her hold on her brother. She brought her leg down hard and fast, using the heel of her foot to strike him in the chest and rolled backwards, crouching on her haunches.

Lukyan gripped his chest, face contorted in pain as he slowly got to his feet. He rubbed his sternum, eyes narrowed in anger at his younger sister.

In the blink of an eye, he moved. One second, he was a few feet from her, the next he was directly in front of her, hand wrapped around her throat. He lifted her a few feet off the ground, snarled in her face and then hurled her to the floor.

I didn’t even realise I was moving towards the ring until a set of hands gripped my arms, holding me in place.

“Wait,” Dimitri said, eyes still on his children.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, fighting everything inside me not to run over there and kick that little shit’s head in. Lukyan was crouched over Illayana, his hand still on her throat and all I wanted to do was march over there and kick him in the face.

Moving like some sort of professional acrobat, Illayana flung her legs back towards her chest and then wrapped them around his torso like a spider monkey. With more force than I think even Lukyan was prepared for, she used her legs to fling him off her.

Illayana quickly scrambled to her feet and started blocking the tirade of blows Lukyan unleashed. Her lip was split and there was a nasty bruise starting to surface under her left eye, but at least Lukyan looked just as bad.

They were locked in a grapple, each trying to rise to the dominant position and then Illayana hooked her foot behind Lukyan’s leg and pushed.

He went down hard, his big body crashing to the ground with a solidthudlike a stack of dominos. Illayana let him rise halfway off the floor before she pounced on his back, wrapping her legs around his torso and arms around his neck, locking him into a chokehold. The crowd went wild. Everybody screamed over one another, cheering them both on. The whole atmosphere was insane. Electric. Addictive.

Illayana squeezed, trying hard to make Lukyan either tap or pass out. He rammed his elbow into her side a few times, but Illayana wasn’t giving up. From the looks of it, neither of them would.

Through sheer force of will and determination, Lukyan slowly got to his feet with Illayana clinging to his back.

Dread coursed through me when I realised what he planned to do.“Scendi dalla sua schiena! Ora!”Get off his back! Now!I yelled in Italian.

Illayana must have heard me because mere seconds before Lukyan hurled himself backwards, she jumped off, rolled a few feet and landed on one knee. She pivoted, facing Lukyan as he got to his feet.

Just as they started running at each other to start all over again, Dimitri spoke in Russian.“Dostatochno.”Enough.

Despite the adrenaline coursing through them, they both froze instantly, fists raised in the air, eyes locked on one another, blood and sweat dripping from their bodies. You could tell they wanted to keep going, that they weren’t even close to being done, but it seemed they were both willing to let it go and listen to their father. At least, so I thought.

Illayana straightened, a lethal smile on her face as she approached her brother. She stuck her hand out for him to shake. He eyed it suspiciously for a few seconds before extending his own and giving a firm shake.

With a smile still plastered on her face, she punched him in the stomach and kicked his legs out from under him. Before he could retaliate, she quickly ran out of the ring.

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