My injured shoulder howls in protest but I don’t care. Her nails dig into my back and I welcome the pain as it’s proof that this is real, that we’re alive.
“I love you,” I say again and again, like if I say it enough, it will keep her safe. “I love you, Vera. My wife. Mine.”
“Yours,” she gasps, trembling. “Yours. Forever yours.”
The pleasure coils inside me and I go faster, feeling her meet my every thrust with a snap of her hips. Vera lets out a keening whimper, tightening her thighs around me as my fingers bite into the soft flesh of her hip.
“I love you,” she cries out. “Oh God, Dimitri!”
“Come for me,” I gasp, my cock pounding into her tight, wet heat, each word punctuated with a thrust. “Fucking come for me, Vera.”
Her breaths come heavy, little moans at the end of each one, until she throws her head back and lets out a long, high pitched gasp as her whole body tenses and she rides out her pleasure. Seeing her come makes me explode into her and I unravel, deep, broken groans devolving into a low shout of her name.
I bury my face in her neck as I finish riding out my orgasm. We’re both shaking and tangled together, breathing each other in.
“I love you,” she says again, like she can’t stop now that she’s started.
“I know.” I stroke her hair with trembling fingers. “I know. And I love you. You and that baby…” My hand covers her stomach. “You’re everything.”
It’s the most honest and vulnerable thing I’ve ever said, and I don’t regret a single word.
Eventually, we manage to make ourselves presentable and clean up the evidence of what just happened (though I’m sure anyone with eyes will know exactly what we did).
I don’t fucking care.
“Come on,” I tell her, taking her hand. “We need sleep.”
She follows me through the quiet house—stepping over broken glass, past bullet holes, and around blood stains that will need to be professionally cleaned. I lead her up the stairs to the family wing, to my bedroom.
She’s never been in here before and I watch her take it in—the massive bed, the wall of windows overlooking the grounds, the understated luxury that’s so different from the ostentatious rest of the estate.
“This is nice,” she says softly, looking around the room.
“It’s yours now too,” I offer her, feeling surprisingly vulnerable. She was never supposed to see this room, forever to be banished to her own rooms on the other side of the estate. But then again, I was never supposed to fall in love with her
“Yeah?” She turns to look at me, surprise clear on her beautiful face. “We’re sharing a room now?”
I shrug, trying to appear nonchalant. “If you’ll have me.”
She smiles and it leaves me breathless. “I’ll have you.”
We collapse into bed fully clothed, too exhausted to do anything else. My shoulder is throbbing but Vera is mindful of my injury as she snuggles into me, her head on my chest, one hand over my heart.
“What happens now?” she asks quietly.
“Now,” I say, stroking her hair, “we end this. We’re going to destroy Konstantin and Alexei.”
She stiffens. “How?”
“I’m still working on that part.” I pull her closer, breathing her in and feeling myself finally relax. “But we will.”
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I believe we actually can.
Because I’m not alone anymore. I have Vera, fierce, brave, terrible-at-shooting Vera who fought beside me when she could have run. Who loves me despite every reason not to.
And Konstantin and Alexei have no idea what’s coming for them.
25
