Page 28 of Bride of the Bratva King (Blood & Bride #1)

"Got him," Dmitri's voice finally crackles through the radio as his team hauls Alexei back from the window. "Alexei's alive but unconscious. Extracting now."

"And Elena?"

I can see her body on the concrete below, twisted at impossible angles, blood pooling beneath her head.

"Dead. Looks like she took a fall during the fight. Broke her neck."

Relief floods through me so intensely I nearly collapse. Alexei is alive. Elena is dead. The threat to our family is over.

"Get him to the medical team," I order. "Full workup, oxygen therapy, whatever he needs."

"Already en route to the emergency treatment area."

By the time the command vehicle reaches the rendezvous point, Alexei is conscious and arguing with the paramedics about whether he needs oxygen therapy.

"Of course I need oxygen therapy," I can hear him saying as I approach. "My wife is pregnant and stressed and probably furious with me for taking unnecessary risks."

"Damn right I'm furious," I say, climbing into the ambulance where they're treating him. "What the hell were you thinking, staying in a building filled with carbon dioxide?"

"I was thinking Elena needed to die, and I wasn't leaving until she was dead."

"And if you'd died in the process?"

"Then our baby would have grown up safe from the Volkov family."

"Our baby needs their father, you stubborn ass."

"Our baby has their father," he says, reaching for my hand. "Alive, well, and completely devoted to their pregnant mother."

I want to stay angry. Want to lecture him about unnecessary risks and protective instincts that border on suicidal. Instead, I throw my arms around him and hold on like I'm never letting go.

"I thought I lost you," I whisper against his neck.

"Never. You're stuck with me forever."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The ride back to the estate passes in a blur of medical checks and debriefing conversations. Elena is dead, her organization is scattered, and the threat to our family is eliminated permanently.

By the time we reach our bedroom, the adrenaline is wearing off and the reality of how close we came to disaster is hitting both of us.

"She knew where I was," I say as Alexei helps me out of my tactical gear. "Elena was monitoring our communications, tracking our positions. She could have killed me any time she wanted."

"But she didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because she wanted me to suffer first. Wanted me to watch her destroy everything I cared about before she killed me."

"Typical villain mistake."

"Very typical. Elena was smart, but she was too much like her brother. She let emotion override strategy."

"Unlike us."

"Unlike us."

When we're both naked and clean and finally alone together, the full weight of what almost happened hits me like a physical blow.

"I could have lost you tonight," I say, my voice shaking with delayed terror. "Our baby could have grown up without their father because you decided to play hero in a death trap."

"But you didn't lose me. And our baby will grow up safe because Elena Volkov is dead."

"Alexei—"

"I know you're angry. I know you're scared. I know tonight was exactly the kind of risk you were afraid I'd take."

"Then why did you take it?"

"Because the alternative was living with the constant threat hanging over our family. Because our baby deserves to grow up without enemies they didn't choose."

"Our baby deserves to grow up with both parents."

"And they will. Because we're both alive, both safe, both here together."

He pulls me into his arms, and I can feel the tremor in his hands that tells me he was just as scared as I was, just as aware of how close we came to losing everything.

"I need you," I whisper against his chest.

"I need you too."

"I need to feel you alive and safe and mine."

"I'm yours. Completely, irrevocably yours."

When he kisses me, it's with the desperate intensity of a man who just stared death in the face and won. I respond with equal hunger, pouring all of my fear and relief and overwhelming love into the connection between us.

"I was so scared," I gasp as his mouth moves to my throat.

"I know."

"I kept thinking about raising our baby alone, about explaining to them why their father died in a warehouse because he was too stubborn to retreat."

"I'm here. I'm alive. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

He lays me down on our bed with reverent care, and when he covers my body with his, it's like coming home after a long, dangerous journey.

"I love you," he murmurs as he enters me slowly, carefully, like he's memorizing every sensation. "I love you more than my own life."

"Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"Because your life is precious to me. Because our baby needs you. Because I can't do this without you."

"You won't have to."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

The lovemaking is slow and intense and filled with all the emotion we can't put into words. Relief that we survived. Gratitude that we're together. Hope for the future that almost slipped away from us.

When we reach the peak together, it's with tears streaming down both our faces and promises on our lips about the life we're going to build with our child.

Afterward, we lie tangled together in the safety of our bedroom, and I can feel his hand resting protectively on my stomach where our baby grows.

"It's over," he says quietly.

"Really over?"

"Elena is dead. Her organization is scattered. The Volkov name is finished."

"And our baby is safe."

"Our baby is safe."

"And we're together."

"And we're together."

I drift off to sleep in his arms, finally able to relax for the first time in weeks. The threat is over, the war is won, and our family is safe.

When I wake up in the morning, Alexei is already awake, watching me sleep with an expression of such love and wonder that it takes my breath away.

"Good morning, beautiful," he says softly.

"Good morning. How do you feel?"

"Like the luckiest man alive."

"Why?"

"Because I have everything I ever wanted right here in my arms."

"Even though I'm pregnant and hormonal and probably going to spend the next six months being overprotective and crazy?"

"Especially because of that."

"And you're sure Elena is really dead?"

"I'm sure. Dmitri confirmed it this morning."

"And her people?"

"Scattered to the wind. Without Elena's leadership and resources, they're just individual criminals with no organization."

"So we won."

"We won."

"And now what?"

"Now we focus on what really matters. Our baby, our future, the life we're building together."

"No more wars?"

"No more wars."

"No more late-night operations that could get you killed?"

"No more unnecessary risks. I promise."

"Good. Because our baby is going to need both of us."

"Our baby is going to have both of us. Forever."

The promise settles over us like a blessing, and for the first time since we got married, I can see a future that isn't shadowed by threats and violence and the constant fear of losing what matters most.

We survived. We won. We're together.

And in seven months, our family is going to grow in the most perfect way possible.