My hips lifted, and as they did, Valentin groaned, slipping his hands below to grip my behind, and he smashed his mouth against my core. I screamed, my back arching off the mattress as his hot tongue circled my entrance.
My fingers searched to find purchase, but his hair was too short. Instead my nails scraped across his scalp, the action causing Valentin’s hands to grip my behind even harder, pushing me farther into his mouth.
I moaned and moaned at the new sensation wrapping me in its hold, but nothing prepared me for the feel of Valentin’s tongue flicking over me. As his tongue brushed past the bundle of nerves, I jerked and my back lifted off the mattress.
My hands fought to push Valentin away, the feel of him licking me there too much to stand. But the killer within him rose from the ashes. The assassin, the dominant monster, took control and with a strong hand pressed on my chest. The strength of his hand pushed me back to the mattress, the action keeping me pinned to the bed as the flat of his tongue slowly and teasingly lapped against me.
My arms spread out, my hands gripping the edges of the bed just for something to hold on to. My body was alight. He was setting me on fire.
Then his tongue moved faster, his hand on my chest gaining in strength, pinning me down. Moan after long moan issued from my lips as his mouth devoured my core. Valentin shifted his body, his wide shoulders keeping my legs spread apart. His tongue never paused as he moved his position. He withdrew his hands from my behind, and I screamed when I felt his finger circle my entrance, before slowly pushing inside.
“Valentin!” I screamed, and fought for breath at the dual sensation of his tongue and finger working in tandem, lifting me higher and higher.
Lights flashed behind my closed eyes. Like lightning, I felt a burst of heat shoot through my veins, bringing with it the most intense heat. And I burst apart; I screamed as pleasure filled my every part, my chest pushing against Valentin’s rigid hold. My body bucked and strained until I couldn’t take any more. But Valentin never stopped. He groaned as he lapped at my flesh, but I was too sensitive, my body needing a break.
“Valentin,” I whispered, my thighs shaking against his shoulder as my body struggled to calm down. “Valentin,” I pushed again, and laid my hand over his on my chest. I squeezed at his hand and felt his tongue slow. He lapped at and circled my clit, then slowly pulled his finger from my channel. I gasped for breath as the sensations heating me from within began to cool. But Valentin’s thorough tongue lazily licked at my wetness, his soft lips kissing at my core, filling my heart with light.
Minutes and minutes passed by as he caressed my center. My back flattened against the mattress as my hand held on to his, still on my chest. My legs fell to the side, too weak to move. My eyes were closed, and I was sure I could stay like this forever. This, the aftermath of the pleasure, the man I craved most bringing me down and worshiping me. Making me feel alive.
I had survived the massacre that took my family, but lying here, I realized that the years spent away in hiding I was simply existing.
And it took a monster to revive my heart. It took a killer to touch my soul.
Peppering kisses along my folds, Valentin then turned his face to my thighs before finally lifting his head. As his eyes met mine, my heart lurched and my face flushed. Valentin sat back on his ankles, and my attention dropped to his hard long length jutting against his stomach. The tip glistened.
Valentin wiped across his mouth with his arm, then moved forward, planting his hands at my sides. Valentin crawled forward, looking every inch the dark, dangerous predator he was. His muscled inked body, spattered with scars and marks, engulfed mine. I tried to control my breathing. As he stalked me, I tried to cool my blood. But this man hovered over me in silence, hunting his prey. My heart raced and my chest seized with anticipation.
His expression had changed. I could see that taking me in his mouth had triggered something carnal and dark within him. Yet I wasn’t afraid. I wanted him like this.
I liked him needing me like this.
Valentin’s hands stopped beside my head. Still he remained silent. The air in the room was still and heavy as he stared down at me. His cut and ripped muscles tensed and rippled as he held his large frame over me. I shivered and shook under his scrutiny, yet my skin burned with need.
My lips parted and I released a pent-up breath, Valentin’s jaw clenching as I did so. The static pulsed and crackled between us; then as he lowered his torso, his heavily muscled thighs pushed mine open until I could not spread them anymore.
Valentin’s chest met mine, and his arms caged my head on the mattress.
I was trapped.
I was held captive.
I was alive.
Reaching down, Valentin’s warm breath ghosting over my skin, I suddenly felt him at my entrance. My heart kicked into a sprint as he ran his broad wet tip up and down my folds. I swallowed at the sheer size of him. I wasn’t sure I could take him.
The silence of the room, and the lack of words coming from Valentin, only added to the nerves, topping up the tension. My chest was coiled as I waited for him to push forward. Just as I feared I could not do this, Valentin suddenly lowered his mouth to mine, and he pressed a soft and gentle kiss to my lips.
I whimpered. Just like that, I was calmed. Valentin reared back, but only by an inch. His eyes still bored into mine and no words were spoken, but he moved forward, the head of his hardness pushing into me.
I sucked in a sharp breath at this new feeling. My hands slapped against the heavily defined biceps on Valentin’s arms. His jaw was tense, and he scarcely breathed as he slowly pushed forward again.
Air whooshed from my lungs as he pushed farther inside. Pain began to build, and as he continued to move I was sure he could not fit. I wasn’t sure I could take him … the pain.
I squeezed my eyes shut as he filled me, and filled me, my nails digging into the skin on his arms. Then they snapped back open when, on a long thrust, he filled me to the hilt. I cried out. Valentin’s strong arms shook as he held up his torso.
A fast burst of breath rushed from his mouth, an echo of a growl in his throat. My forehead was damp as I tried to bear the pain. Then Valentin moved, his hips pulling back slightly until only the tip of his length remained within me. I froze as he began pushing forward once again, only this time, as Valentin pushed himself within me, the pain dulled and, in its place, a shiver of pleasure ran through my veins.
A surprised moan left my lips. My eyes that were fixed like glue on Valentin’s then dropped down between us, and I could feel myself get wet at the sight that greeted me. Valentin’s stomach rolled with the movement of his hips, and every time it did I caught sight of him pushing within my core, my skin flushing at this erotic sight.
Valentin’s breathing suddenly changed. His long controlled breaths quickened in pace. His fair skin flushed under the dark stubble coating his face. His eyes became leaden as his hips began to thrust faster and faster.
“Valentin,” I whispered almost inaudibly. Valentin hissed at his name on my lips. His large arms caging my head closed in, until he was all I could see, all I could feel—within me, around me. The warmth from his skin scalded my flesh, and the low raspy groans beginning to claw from his throat ignited a fire in my blood.
Valentin thrust harder. At the heady feel of his length dragging against something within my channel, something that I knew on instinct I craved, my hips moved, too, rolling in conjunction with his.
A loud moan poured from Valentin and his body jerked. “Fuck,” he bit, and lowered his mouth until his lips brushed against mine. He never kissed me, just left his soft mouth teasing me. But at the same time my heart stuttered at his closeness.
That now-familiar pressure of pleasure began to build inside me, traveling down to my thighs. My eyes widened at the feel, and I realized it was nothing like the pleasure Valentin had given me before. This was different; this felt very different.
Valentin’s thrusts were fast and strong, t
he pace of him pushing inside of me bringing me to the brink of an unknown precipice. Moving my hands, I wrapped them around Valentin’s neck and felt every second of our joining, of our hips fighting for the pleasure that was now within sight. Hot shivers accosted my skin and my heart beat too fast. Crying out as a spark of intense heat spiked within me, I pressed my forehead against Valentin’s forehead and whispered his name.
A choked groan was my response and Valentin held me closer, his hips now frantic and out of control as he slammed within me. “Valentin,” I whispered again, and again, and again, until a wave crested within me, suspending me in the moment, before crashing through my body holding me captive to the pleasure possessing me. I distantly heard myself screaming out, clutching on to Valentin as if my body feared I would fall were I not to hold him close.
Valentin stiffened. With a thunderous cry, he came within me, the feeling of his seed filling my channel, causing yet another moan to escape my mouth. Glancing up, I watched Valentin’s face. His eyes were squeezed shut, his lips were pulled tight, and his jaw was clenched shut. His fair skin was flushed with the force of his release. As if feeling my stare, he snapped his eyes open and set free his held breath.
Panting, his hot skin glistening with sweat, he fell forward, tucking his face into the crook of my neck. Tipping my head back, to allow myself to breathe, my hands ran down to Valentin’s broad back, my palm and fingers sliding on his slick skin.
At my touch, his length jerked within me, his skin twitching as it did.
I felt full. I felt so full and complete. So complete that tears burned in my eyes. This man above me. This man, inhaling my scent and possessing my body, was also possessing my heart.
I relaxed into the mattress, just holding Valentin close. Eventually, when he lifted his head, his dark features appeared sinful against his flushed skin. But his crystal blue eyes stood out like stars in a night sky.
And he watched me.
He never took his intense gaze off me.
I blushed under his attention, until he lowered his hand to run his fingers down my cheek. I waited for him to speak, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, with his finger under my chin, he tipped my head up and fused his lips to mine.
This kiss was slow and unhurried. This kiss was soft and consuming. And this kiss told me without words how this beautiful monster was feeling inside—content.
His tongue invaded my mouth, and as it gently slipped against mine I tasted myself. My body simmered in the aftermath, at the effect of this sweet kiss. We kissed and kissed for I don’t know how long. When Valentin finally broke away, I knew something between us had switched.
He was no longer the torturer.
I was no longer his victim.
Valentin’s forehead rested against mine, and inhaling a shaky breath he confessed, “I feel alive.” I stilled at these heartbreaking words; then he added, “I feel like yours.”
My eyes pricked with water and I encased him in my embrace. “Valentin,” I said in a hushed voice. “Not only have you claimed my first kiss; you have claimed my innocence.” I took a deep breath knowing I needed to say the words waiting on the tip of my tongue and whispered directly into his ear, “And you have claimed my soul.”
“Zoya,” Valentin groaned in response, and reared back to look at my face. There was a momentary expression of happiness; then it faded to be defeated by an expression of pain. “I’m not worthy of this. I’m a killer.”
As I tilted my head, my heart sank at these expressions of self-deprecation. “No, Valentin, you’re simply … you,” I countered.
Valentin pushed his lips against mine in a searing kiss, then slid to the side, his length falling from within me. I gasped at the sudden loss of fullness but felt replete when Valentin scooped me into his strong arms and pulled me to his chest.
A happy silence passed between us, until my finger traced the tattooed “194” emblazoned on his chest. I stared at the tattoo, and our reality came crashing back. Feeling a stab of dread piercing through my heart, I said, “As much as I hate this chamber of hell, right now I think I would trade my soul if we could stay in here forever.”
Valentin stiffened beside me and, holding me closer to his side, confided, “For the first time in my life, I have no idea what to do next. I’ve wished to never be commanded again. Now I have freedom, I have no idea what to do with it.”
Sadness filled me when I knew he was thinking about the safety of his sister. About what would be her fate if he didn’t capture my brother. Throat tightening, I said, “I cannot let you hurt Zaal. But by the same token, I cannot bear for you to lose your Inessa.”
A pained sound came from Valentin, and holding me close, he replied, “I do not know what to do, kotyonok. My entire existence has been to save my sister, but now…,” he trailed off.
“But now there is me,” I finished for him. I felt him nod and said, “My entire life, I have waited to see my brothers again…” This time I trailed off my sentence.
“And now there is me,” Valentin finished for me.
“Yes.”
Shifting on the bed, I lifted to lie over Valentin’s huge body and glanced at the floor, lost in thought. But then my eyes found the collar, still abandoned on the black tiled floor. I saw Zaal in my mind. I saw him smiling with the Tolstaia girl and hope sprang in my chest.
“Valentin,” I said, the names Tolstaia and Volkov circling my head. When I looked back to Valentin, he was waiting for me to speak. Pushing my hair back from my face, I said, “My brother, Zaal.” I paused, staring into Valentin’s blue eyes, searching for the reassurance that I could tell him this in his face. All I saw was sincerity and his heart staring back. Edging closer, I said, “My brother, Zaal Kostava, is marrying a Tolstaia. My brother, the Lideri of the Kostava Clan, is marrying into the Volkov Bratva.”
Valentin’s eyes flared; then his eyebrows pulled down in confusion. His lips pulled tight, and when he looked at me again he said, “I think I know this name, Volkov. They are Russian? The crime family?”
I nodded and sat up further, excitement taking hold. “My brother, my sykhaara, he could help us. With the collar no longer causing you to black out if we left this place, he could help us. They could help us rescue your Inessa.”
Valentin’s expression didn’t change, until he exhaled a breath and asked dubiously, “You think he would help us?”
Taking hold of Valentin’s hand, I said, “I know he will. He is a good man, and he is living among the most powerful family on the East Coast.”
I paused and asked, “Is your Mistress here in New York? Is Inessa here, too?”
Valentin nodded. “Mistress brings her everywhere with us but keeps her separate from me. The only time Inessa was away was this past year when Mistress gave her to the man that she was a slave to for years. They had a strange relationship. Mistress would fuck me and he wouldn’t care. He would fuck my sister; she wouldn’t care. Mistress would tie me to a chair and make me watch. That is why we are here in New York. He was recently killed. Mistress ordered a hit on Zaal Kostava in revenge for her losing her true love.”
I frowned. “Why would she want revenge on my brother?”
“I don’t know. I just get ordered to kill.”
Squeezing Valentin’s hand, I said, “We must go.”
Valentin didn’t move, and I worried that he would refuse. But he sat up from the mattress and pulled me from the bed. “We must cleanse; then I have your clothes. We can be at the house I took you from in less than an hour.”
My heart raced in excitement as we showered. When we were both clean, Valentin led me to a back room and handed me my clothes. We dressed quickly, Valentin all in black. His hood pulled over his head made him look every inch the thief I knew him to be.
Reaching down, Valentin took my hand and paused to say, “You believe this can work?” His voice cracked when he added, “I cannot have Inessa suffer for my weakness.”
Stepping closer, I rose t
o my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “It will work, Valentin. My brother was an honorable boy, I have no doubt he is an honorable man.”
Valentin nodded his head. He guided us to a large steel door. I nervously rocked on my feet as I waited for the damn thing to open. When the last lock unlatched, Valentin swung open the door and pulled us forward, only to be halted in his tracks when someone stood in his path.
Jarred by the sudden stop, I felt Valentin stiffen, all his muscles tense. I peeked around his shoulder, and all the blood ran from my body when I noticed an older woman dressed all in black, her face stern and cold. Behind her were several large men, all dressed in black. In an instant I knew it was the Wraiths, Valentin’s Georgian captors. They were as frightening as their name suggested.
My eyes fell to the woman once more. She was glaring at me. My skin chilled, and pushing me behind him Valentin gritted his teeth and hissed out …
“Mistress.”
15
LUKA
“You look so handsome, lyubov moya.”
I smiled at my wife as she stood before me tying my tie, then straightening out my suit. She had gone to move from the view of the mirror when I stopped her with my hand. Kisa dropped her head, and my head tipped to the side. “You are worried?” I asked. No question was really needed; I knew my solnyshko more than I knew myself.
Kisa gazed off across the room. “They hate us.” Her light blue eyes met mine. “They will especially hate you. You’re a Tolstoi. Your name alone brings instant disrespect and possibly violence to tonight.”
Cupping Kisa’s face, I said, “I understand why you’re worried, solnyshko, but I won’t be hurt tonight. Besides, if one of the fuckers tried, I’d kill them where they stood.”
Kisa sighed and gripped my wrists. “I know; it’s just…,” she trailed off.
Moving her head forward, I made her meet my eyes. “It’s just what?”
Kisa’s hand dropped to her growing stomach, and she said, “I understand you’re the knyaz. Believe me, as daughter of the Pakhan, I know this. And I know you’re Raze also. This is our life, and I have been bred for it. But when I got you back, I did not expect all of this.” Kisa sighed, then continued, “I love Zaal. I would even if it was for no other reason than to make Talia happy. But now Zaal’s sister has been taken. It’s just that I have this awful feeling there is more still to come. Nothing about this entire situation feels right. And, well.” Kisa’s face paled, but she said, “I feel like I’ve just gotten you back, and now we’re having a baby.” She took a deep breath. “I cannot imagine my life without you, lyubov moya. I have lived through losing you once; there is no way I could survive it twice.”