by Bree Porter
He glanced at Kon before shaking his head. "No, Mama."
"No, thank you," I corrected before adding, "Konstantin probably has lots of work to do, baby. Let's leave him alone."
"I'm fine, Elena." Konstantin interrupted. His eyes were trained on me. "Nikolai can stay. He's good company."
Niko blossomed beneath the praise.
I nearly rolled my eyes. "If you're certain." Some deep horrible part of myself was envious that Niko wanted to hang out with someone else. I had been Niko's best friend and first playmate his entire life. Him suddenly being obsessed with Konstantin did make me a little jealous, even if that jealously was juvenile.
That's probably how Konstantin feels, chirped a voice in my mind.
I looked to Kon. He was moving Niko's juice box away from his elbow, warning him not to knock it over. He didn't sound angry or cruel, just a father warning his son before a disaster happened.
"I'll leave you two alone then." I had to practically haul the words up my throat. "I want to go and see Danika anyway."
Kon's lips twisted in displeasure at the mention of her name. I could see the worry brewing beneath his charismatic exterior. Kon adored Danika and considered her a little sister–and daughter. If anything was to happen to her...
It was too dreadful to even contemplate.
Not only what Kon would do…but what I would do.
“Bye Mama!” Nikolai didn’t seem too sorry to see me go.
As I went to leave, a pile of papers caught my eye. The document was resting on the bookcase, but it had no spine. I knew what it was before I saw the title. My journal article, my first attempt at trying to enter a world my family didn’t want to go anywhere near.
I brushed my fingers over it, surprised by how thick it was. I had never dared to print it out.
“If you promise to return it, you can take it.” Konstantin said.
I looked over my shoulder at him. Our eyes met in a collision of intensity.
“That’s okay.” I replied. “It’s yours.”
His nostrils flared as the double-meaning to my words became clear. For a second, I thought he was going to say something, but Niko spilled his juice. It spilled over the mahogany desk, staining documents purple.
Konstantin grabbed the juice box, then scooped Niko from his chair. Already a dark stain had grown over his tshirt and pants, making him look like he had a bladder accident.
“Oopsie!” Niko laughed. “I did a pee!”
“You peed cranberry juice?” Konstantin set him down on the floor and tried to savour some documents.
I winked at Niko, neither of us helping Kon. “I’m going to go and see Auntie Danika. Help Kon clean up.”
Konstantin sent me a loaded look as I left, my laughter rising up to the house’s ceiling.
My amusement died the second I saw Danika. She had been transported to the estate after surgery, as had her doctors and the equipment. She was stable, alive, but sleeping fitfully and in a severe amount of pain.
Roman was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, beside her bed. It was the best position to see everyone who came in and out, as well as keep an eye on Danika. Anton was also here, laying on the ground and reading a book.
“Hi boys,” I murmured softly. “How is she?”
“She’s sleeping. Finally.” Roman said.
I smoothed down her hair. Roksana must have braided it to stop knots from forming–it felt like something Roksana would do.
“Are you keeping your aunt and uncle company?” I asked Anton.
He nodded. “I don’t want Auntie Danika to be lonely.”
“She loves your company, so she’ll be overjoyed.” My eyes went to Roman. Grief was holding his expression in place, but his features remained warped into a scowl. “Do you want me to sit with her while you shower and eat?”
He shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
I pressed a kiss to Danika’s forehead, murmured my love for her, before leaving. I stopped by the doorway, assessing these three people I loved.
Seeing Danika hurt had been pure agony. When her life had hung in the balance, I had been suffocating on pain and terror. She had survived this one time–but what about all the other threats Tatiana would bring to our doorstep?
What if Tatiana hurt Roman or Anton? What if she hurt Danika again–and the second time was worse than the first?
I loved these people too much to leave…I had chosen to stay, the step back into my family’s waiting embrace.
Now I had to make another choice.
Tatiana had broken their hearts. My heart. Though, my love for her had switched to hatred after her betrayal–my ability to hate easier than love serving me well for once–the other members in my family were not like that. It wasn’t so easy for them to resent her.
None of them should have to go through the pain of killing someone they love–or loved. I could save them from that pain, make sure they didn’t spend the rest of their lives having nightmares about what they had to do. I could keep them safe–just like they had always kept me safe.
I made my decision.
Tatiana would die.
She would die by my hand. Not my family’s, not the enemy organizations or government.
Mine.
But first there was something else I had do.
Konstantin was joined by Artyom and Evva in the study. Niko and Evva were chatting to each other excitedly, their child-like blubber hard to understand, while Kon and Artyom spoke at a lower volume.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I entered.
Niko and Evva came bouncing towards me immediately. “Can we go see loshadi?” My son asked. “Please, Mama. Pleaseeee.”
“Please, Auntie Lena,” Evva added, voice much sweeter than Niko’s.
I held up a hand and they both fell silent. “Who’s taking you?”
“Uncle Artyom.” “Daddy.” Was the reply.
I met Artyom’s eyes across the room. “This is okay?”
He nodded. “You’re all invited. We’re just going to walk around the estate.” The quiet stress beneath Artyom’s expression was obvious if you were looking for it. He was worried about Danika like the rest of us, but he was putting his worry to good use: entertaining the kids while their aunt recovered upstairs.
“You three go ahead,” I said. “I want to speak to Konstantin quickly.”
Artyom’s eyes glinted, a rare sign of love from the serious man. As he went to leave, he clapped my shoulder, before sweeping the children out of the room. Both left with a series of goodbyes and see you laters, but neither of them were paying any attention to the adults. I overheard Nikolai saying something about finding the wizard who lived in the forest–also known, to us adults, as Rifat Denisyuk.
Konstantin was leaning against his desk (now clean of juice) and watching me in his usual amused but intense way. His hands slid into his pockets, the perfect picture of ease.
“What did you want to talk about?”
It was now or never. No more hesitation and secrets and lies. No more running, no more hiding.
What I was about to do would define my future. My son’s future, my family’s future.
I couldn’t wait.
Konstantin opened his mouth to repeat his question, but I darted forward. His eyes grew wide as I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled his lips down to mine.
Love and desire unfurled inside of me like a vine as our lips met. Its spindly stem wrapped around my heart and upper thighs, blooming like the first day of spring.
Konstantin was gentle, warm, loving. His palms came up to my cheeks, thumbs lightly scraping over my face. Where his skin met mine, pleasure rose to the surface until I was flushed all over.
It was a kiss for the history books and for the future. Every second of my life had led up to this moment and every second afterwards would never be the same.
“My Elena,” he breathed when our lips
separated. “Lyubimaya.”
All I could say was, “Kon.”
Our eyes met, green against brown. Stories and love poured into the air between us.
I laced my hands behind his neck, bringing him closer but stopping just before our lips met for a second time.
“I have been waiting for my entire life.” I whispered, letting the words I had tried so hard to run from finally come forth. “Every second, every moment, even if I didn’t know it, I have been yearning for your love. Since I was a gangly teenage misfit and then a hated strange wife, I have looking in the horizon, trying to see you. I waited for my partner, my opponent, I waited for someone to love me and accept me just as I am. And then I saw you for the first time. Standing in my garden, beautiful and deadly. The creature of nightmares…and dreams.
I tried to stay away at first, tried to hate you. Even when you gave me a lab and took me to the ballet, even when you shared your family and life with me. But then…” Tears were spilling down both our cheeks. “You spoke to me in a tree. You didn’t ask me to come down or put shoes on. You didn’t demand me to change or act civilised. Instead, you spoke to me from the ground with such casualness, like you were intent to look up at me for the rest of your life.”
I pressed my nose to his, breathing him in. “I love you, Konstantin. You are my equal and my soul, my opponent and my heart. There has never been another and there never will be.” I met his eyes, revealing every horrible and beautiful part of myself. “I love you.”
Konstantin pressed his lips to mine in act of devotion. “My Elena, lyubimaya. It will be the greatest pleasure of my life…being the one you have chosen to love.”
Our next kiss was harder, hotter. Desire and lust met like gasoline and flame, starting a wildfire beneath my skin. His teeth grazed over my jaw and down to my neck, taking the soft flesh between his lips. A moan escaped by lips as he sucked, marking the unblemished skin.
My fingers twisted in his hair, my head tipping back as his assault on my neck grew more and more overwhelming. I began to slip away but Konstantin flushed me against him, arm banded around my back like steel.
“Bedroom.” I gasped in a moment of clarity.
Konstantin didn’t need to be told twice. We stumbled across the room, the closed door an obstacle. He shoved me up against it, caging me with his body. I felt the hard iron of his erection press against my belly, a threat and a promise. Konstantin was going to have me, claim me, and once he was done with me, my entire body would belong to him.
And he would belong entirely to me.
My sweater disappeared over my head as our craving for each other grew more intense. Kon cupped my breasts, running his thumbs over the hardened nipples.
“You deserve to have statues of yourself made,” he breathed as he flicked them. “This body, these breasts. You are art.”
I groaned as he took the left areola between his lips, sucking and licking until my breasts were heavy with desire.
“Kon!” His name left my mouth as a cry when I felt his teeth scrap over the sensitive tip.
“Yes, my Elena?” He peered up at me, expression stretching into a smile. “Do you feel that, lyubimaya? Those shivers, those flinches?”
I nodded, speechless.
Kon moved onto my right breast, offering it the same addictive treatment as the other.
“These breasts, these hips and thighs and pussy, all belong to me. They’re mine to torture and please, mine to worship and torment.” He bit down lightly on my nipple, causing a deep groan to erupt from my lips. “And those shivers and flinches?” He slipped a hand down my pants, pressing his fingers straight to my clit. My hips bucked at the assault of pleasure. “They’re mine.”
I was lost for words, incapable of speech.
Every part of me had surrendered to Konstantin Tarkhanov, the Gentleman of Russia and Pakhan of the Tarkhanov Bratva. There was nothing left for him to conquer, no treasure left to loot or lands to pillage. All had been won.
I was wholly his.
Kon tugged at my pants. “Now take these off.”
As they came away, revealing my near-naked body, I muttered, “Why are you fully clothed and I’m almost naked?”
His smile reminded me that he was a Pakhan, a man of power and crime. Kon would never be some guy from work or the cute boy next door. He was a king and when he curled his lips into a dark grin, I was abruptly reminded of this fact.
“You need to be quicker, lyubimaya,” he purred as he hands slid down my body. His fingers dragged over the inside my thighs, getting tauntingly close to the growing wetness between them. “Shall I wait for you to catch up?”
I hissed at his tone. “Don’t do me any favours.”
Kon cupped my mound. My head hit the door as I threw it back and let out a reluctant moan.
His laughter circled us. “Doing you favours is what I’m good at, my Elena.”
Desire was a living animal inside of me. Wild and insatiable, untameable and fierce. It wanted to devour Konstantin, it wanted to be devoured.
The next kiss was so hot it triggered my mind into recalling my earlier demand. “Bed,” I gasped.
Konstantin opened the door and we stumbled into the hallway. My legs wrapped around his waist, my hands buried in his hair. Every part of us that could connect, did. Every part that could be kissed or sucked or bitten, was.
He shoved me up against the wall, groan low in his throat. The press of his erection against me sent my brain into a moment of animalistic madness.
“You’re going to destroy me, Elena.” The words were low and guttered, almost impossible to make out.
I tightened my grip on him. “You can bare it.”
His grin stretched over his face, smug and dark. “Indeed, I can.”
We wanted each other to much to make it down the hall to the bedrooms. Instead, Konstantin took me down to the hallway’s floor. He flushed me up against the window as he pushed my thighs apart, every inch of me surrendering to his commands.
I dragged his lips to mine, feeling his body stretch over me, hips between my legs.
Only one word was on my mind. Konstantin, Konstantin, Konstantin.
Strength coiled beneath his skin; power shuddered through his muscles. All this strength, all this physical prowess, and yet his fingers danced over my skin and his teeth cut lightly into my skin.
Goosebumps followed behind Konstantin’s fingertips–and not only because of the cold.
I gnashed my teeth together as his finger dipped to the apex of my thighs. The wetness waiting for him made it clear just how much I wanted him.
“Look how ready you are for me,” he crooned. “How well I play this body of yours–like my own personal fiddle.”
The room, the temperature, disappeared as he shoved down his pants, his impressive length springing free.
I spread my legs further on my own accord, tightening my grip on him. “Enough talking,” I snapped.
There was nothing human about the smile he gave me. “Agreed.”
Konstantin entered me in one smooth movement.
Time and all her disciples froze as our bodies met.
“Konstantin!” Was all I could say, the only word in my mouth.
The world around me was a collection of atoms and minerals. Konstantin was the only solid form, my tether in the abstract. I clung to him against the onslaught of rapture and passion.
Faraway in the distance, I could hear my moans and cries. They sounded like they were coming from another room.
Konstantin fucked me hard, channelling every thrum of his power into each stroke. Each thrust of hips sent me closer and closer to the edge. If the walls weren’t so thick, I would’ve fallen through them.
My nails dug into his shirt, tearing at the fabric as the primal part inside of me answered the call.
“My Elena,” Konstantin growled in my ear. “Your pussy should be synonyms with poison. You’re inside every inch of me, con
taminating and growing. I am addicted to you.”
I felt a laugh escape my chest. “There’s no antidote.”
“I wouldn’t be cured even if I could.”
Konstantin’s rhythm quickened, the slap of skin growing louder and louder. My knee flinched, signalising how close I was to the edge–
Pleasure shattered my world. My muscles quivered, my screams pierced. Fog and blood and the sound of rushing waves filled my mind. There was no beginning or end to the climax, I was suspended in between the stars as the orgasm rocked through me.
Konstantin growled my name. I felt him contracting inside of me–
He went to pull out but I caught his neck, bringing him back to me. Our eyes met, a thousand questions in his caramel irises.
“I choose you.” I said, answering them all. “I’m always going to choose you.”
Konstantin’s expression grew feral. His neck tipped back as he found his climax, a deep growl erupting from him like a lion’s roar as the pleasure became unbearable. I quivered beneath him as he spilled into me, saying his name over and over again until the syllables blended together in one long poem.
Our foreheads pressed together in the aftermath, breaths mingling.
I could feel the strength of my orgasm, from the clenching my thighs to the throbbing of my core. There wasn’t a part of me that had been safe from Konstantin–and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
He pressed his lips to my temple. “You’re quiet.”
“I’ve never been chatty after a hard orgasm.”
Possessiveness sparked in his expression. “I’m the only one who knows that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Ah, don’t be cheeky, my Elena.” His thumb pressed on my cleft, still aching and sore. The moan I let out was nothing short of begging. “I’m not as forgiving as I look.”
Another laugh escaped me, awkward and bottled. “Here I was...thinking I was laying beneath a nice man.”
“You’re mistaken, lyubimaya.” His teeth raked down my neck, sucking on the unblemished skin. “I am not a nice man.”
24
Konstantin Tarkhanov