Page 43 of Bride of Vengeance

The words settle in my chest like warm honey, spreading heat through places that have been cold for longer than I want toadmit. This isn't just attraction or circumstantial partnership. This is something deeper.

Admiration.

The word echoes in my head as he leans closer, close enough that I can feel his breath against my lips. Close enough that if I moved an inch, we'd be kissing again.

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe we're more alike than either of us wants to admit."

More alike.Different methods, same goal. Different worlds, same values.

"That would imply that this is more than just about our survival."

His thumb traces across my lower lip, and the simple touch sends fire shooting through my nervous system. "Now you get it."

The words hang between us like an invitation to cross a line I can never uncross.

"This is insane," I breathe.

"Completely."

"You're a criminal."

"Yeah. And you’re a federal agent."

"We're supposed to be enemies."

"That's right" He's so close now that his words brush against my lips. "But I've never wished for that, little wolf."

Little wolf.The nickname that should annoy me but instead makes heat unfurl in my chest like silk ribbons.

"What does it feel like?"

"It feels… right."

The words shatter what's left of my resistance. Because he's right. Since I learned the truth, none of it feels wrong. It feels almost natural. Inevitable.

Meant to be.

"Mikhail—"

His hand finds my wrist first—nothing rough, only deliberate. For a heartbeat I can feel the tremor he never let anyone see. My pulse matches it.

"Tell me to stop," he says quietly. "Tell me this is a mistake, and I'll go back to the living room. We'll pretend this conversation never happened, and tomorrow we'll work together as professionals until we clear both our names. And that would be it."

For a moment there’s only silence — the kind that pressed against my skin until I could feel every beat of my own heart.

Tell him to stop.The smart choice. The safe choice. The choice that keeps my career and my principles intact, that will allow me to return to my normal life, to how everything was before.

The choice that leaves me alone again.

When I finally understand it, the distance between us changes. It isn’t safety anymore; it is gravity, and I realize I am not afraid of him — I’m afraid of what I feel when he is near.

One step. Another. Until there’s nowhere left to go.

I close the distance between us.

The space between us vanishes then. His mouth is heat and danger, the same fire I had been running from. Every instinct tells me to fight it, but the fight has already burned itself out. I reach for him.