"Then I'll hunt him down myself. But it won't change what you are to me."
Ava
I wake to the smell of coffee and the feel of expensive sheets against my naked skin.
For one blissful moment, I forget where I am. Forget everything that's happened. Then I shift, and my body reminds me with a thousand small aches and tingles exactly what I did last night.
What we did.
Heat floods my face as memories crash over me. Renat's hands on my body. His mouth between my thighs. His voice in my ear, telling me dark, possessive things that should have terrified me but instead made me burn.
His hand on my stomach, talking about breeding me like it was inevitable. Like I belonged to him so completely that even my body wasn't my own anymore.
I press my thighs together and feel the evidence of him still inside me, and my body responds with a fresh wave of need.
God, what's wrong with me?
"You're awake."
I turn my head to find Renat standing in the doorway, fully dressed in dark slacks and a crisp black shirt. He looks like he stepped out of a magazine in that polished, powerful, and completely in control way.
Nothing like the man who fell apart inside me last night.
"What time is it?" My voice comes out rough from sleep…and screaming.
"Nine." He crosses to the bed and sets a coffee cup on the nightstand. "I let you sleep as long as possible, but we need to leave in an hour."
Right. The meeting. The plan. The whole reason why I’m here.
The reminder of reality crashes down on me, smothering the lingering heat. I pull the sheet up to cover myself, suddenly aware of how exposed I am.
Renat's eyes track the movement, something dark flickering across his face.
"Don't," he says quietly. "Don't hide from me. Not after last night."
"Last night was..." I don't know how to finish that sentence. Insane? Perfect? The biggest mistake of my life?
"Inevitable." He sits on the edge of the bed, his hand finding my hip through the sheet. "And it changes nothing about today."
"What happens today?"
"We meet with my brother, Adrik. He'll want to know why I've kept you, why I'm not following protocol." His thumb strokes lazy circles on my hip. "He'll try to convince me you're a liability. That I should turn you over to the family for safekeeping. That the original plan still stands."
Fear spikes through me. "Does it?"
"Yes. And No." The words are flat, absolute. "You're mine. But we still need to get to your father."
There's that word again.Mine. I wait for it to make me feel trapped. Instead, it makes me feel safe in a twisted way I don't want to examine too closely.
"What do I need to do?" I ask.
"Stay close to me. Don't speak unless spoken to. Let me handle my brother." He stands, pulling the sheet away from my body before I can protest. "But first, shower. You smell like sex and me, and while I love it, Adrik doesn't need to know how thoroughly I fucked you last night."
I grab for the sheet, but he's already walking toward the bathroom, taking it with him.
"Renat!"
He glances back, and the heat in his eyes makes my breath catch. "Come,milaya. I'll help you wash."
