Page 26 of Brutal Reign

He withdraws an inch, then surges forward. Each slow thrust makes my body quake, my nails digging into the muscles of his back. For all my inexperience, I know this doesn’t feel like casual sex. It’s too intense and all-consuming.

“I don’t think anything has ever felt this good,” I husk out.

He grabs the back of my thigh, and throws my leg over his shoulder. The new angle feels impossibly deep, and I cry out, every nerve ending lit up.

“Hold on tight, baby. Because I’m about to ruin you for every other man.”

Fuck. I hate to tell him he already has.

Each of his thrusts is controlled but savage, like he’s trying not to break me apart. My moans dissolve into helpless cries, my hips moving with him. Then his fingers slide between us, rubbing fast and relentless circles on my clit, making sparks fire through my vision.

“Come for me,” Lukas growls, pinning me with his gaze.

He leans down, teeth dragging over one nipple, and I break. My orgasm tears through me with a cry that leaves me raw. My inner-walls clamp down around him, and he curses, spilling into the condom with a feral groan.

“Fuck, Lily.” He says my name like a prayer.

We hold still, clinging to each other, the world narrowed to this single, perfect moment.

Finally, he sinks down, his full weight settling over me, his breath hot against my neck. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”

Me neither. That thought scares me more than it should.

Because this one night is all we have. All we can ever be.

CHAPTER

TEN

PAVEL

The clock glowsred in the dark, alerting me it’s nearly three in the morning.

I’ve been awake for twenty minutes, listening to Hope’s steady breathing, feeling the gentle rise and fall of her chest against my arm. She’s curled into me, her hair spilling across the pillow in dark waves.

The tracker sits in a little black case beneath the bed. It’s a tiny device, no bigger than a grain of rice, designed to slip under the skin unnoticed. All I have to do is inject it while she sleeps, and the Syndicate will know her location for the rest of her life.

I should have done it already, completed the mission the moment she fell asleep, exhausted and sated. Instead, I’m lying here memorizing the way she feels beside me, the soft sounds she makes even in sleep, because this will be the last time I’ll ever be this close to her.

Hope shifts against me, and a small whimper escapes her throat. Her body tenses, fingers clutching at the sheets. Even unconscious, she can’t find peace.

“No,” she whispers, so quietly I almost miss it. “Please don’t?—“

A protective instinct surges. My arms tighten around her, one hand stroking her hair, as I whisper against her ear, “Hey. You’re safe. It’s only a dream.”

She jerks awake with a gasp, her entire body going rigid before she opens her eyes.

“Sorry,” she breathes, relaxing back into my embrace. “Did I wake you?”

“I was already up.” I brush her hair from her face. “Bad dream?”

She’s quiet for a long moment, and I can feel the tension radiating from her petite frame. “Just... things from my past. Messed-up stuff that likes to resurface in the dark of night.”

The guilt in my chest expands, and I do my best to ignore it.

“Do you have them often? The nightmares?”

“More than I’d like.” Her laugh is hollow. “Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. My brain won’t shut off, you know?”