Page 5 of Bribed & Bred By The BRATVA (Bred By The BRATVA #9)

The mattress dips as he climbs over me, heavy and unrelenting, and every nerve in my body lights up like it’s been waiting for this moment without me even knowing it. My heart pounds too fast. My skin feels too tight.

I tell myself this is wrong. That I should fight. That I should think about anything except the heat of his body caging mine in.

But then his hand slides up my thigh, rough fingers dragging the nightdress higher, and my breath catches. I can’t think at all.

“Look at me,” he commands.

I do, even though it feels like drowning. His eyes are dark, blazing, full of something I can’t name, and when he speaks it sends a shiver through me.

“The second I saw you, I knew. Those lips, those curves. You were mine. No one else was ever going to touch you. No one else was ever going to know what you sound like when you come apart.”

Heat floods my cheeks. My body betrays me, arching, thighs trembling. He notices, of course he does, and the corner of his mouth curves in triumph.

“You feel it,” he growls. “Don’t lie to yourself. You were made for me. For this.”

My whole life has been a weight to carry.

Mateo’s sickness, bills, late shifts, hunger, exhaustion.

Every step forward has been another burden strapped to my back.

But right now, under him, pinned and helpless, the weight slips away piece by piece.

I don’t have to hold the world together.

I don’t have to think. I don’t even have to breathe unless he tells me.

When his mouth crashes down on mine, it’s all-consuming. I taste the possession in it, the hunger. His tongue sweeps inside and I can’t stop the sound that breaks from me, raw and needy.

My hands clutch his shoulders, scarred skin hot under my palms. He’s saying things against my mouth, words that sink into my bones.

“My wife. My beauty. My perfect bride. You belong in my bed, around my cock, full of my child. And tonight, I’ll give you everything I’ve dreamed about since I first saw you.”

The words should horrify me. They should send me running. But instead, they coil low in my belly, liquid and hot, making me ache in a way I‘ve never known.

And when he pushes inside me, slow but unstoppable, the sharp sting makes my breath catch, but then his thumb strokes my cheek, his voice rasping low, coaxing.

“That’s it. Take me, sweet Isa. Every inch. You’re mine now. Forever.”

I let go. For the first time in years, I let go. The fear, the strain, the endless fight to keep Mateo alive, it all falls away. All that’s left is heat, and his weight over me, and the shocking truth that for once, surrender feels like freedom.