Page 54 of Brutal Unionn

“But I don’t think you should say that again,” he adds, each word soaked in a quiet warning.

I swallow, my throat dry, but I don’t step back. I hold my ground, spine stiff, chin tilted up to meet him head-on.

“I’m sorry,” I bite out, my voice cold and deliberate. “When exactly did you become myboyfriend?”

He closes the space like a threat with legs, eating up the air between us in two slow, predatory steps. Close enough now that I can feel the rage humming off his skin like a fever.

“I told you, Nadia,” he growls, jaw tight. “I’m a one-woman guy.”

“So?” I snap, eyes narrowing. “What the fuck does that have to do with me?”

His nostrils flare. “It means I expect you to be the same.”

“I didn’tagreeto that.”

His hand shoots out—fast, sudden—but he doesn’t touch me. Not yet. His fingers hover inches from my throat, twitching like he’s deciding between stroking it or squeezing it.

His voice drops even lower, guttural, razor-sharp.

“You don’t have a choice.”

My blood spikes. Anger floods my chest, white-hot and laced with a thrill I hate admitting I feel.

“Excuseme?” I hiss, every syllable dipped in venom.

His gaze is molten. Hungry. Dangerous.

“You heard me, Hime,” he breathes, stepping in so close I have to tilt my head just to keep meeting his eyes. “I am your boyfriend. You aremine.”

“I don’t think I am,” I mock, tilting my head from side to side with each word.

The laugh that leaves his chest is so dangerously low, I feel like I can’t breathe.

It slithers between my ribs like smoke and poison, dark and thick and heavy enough to make my lungs forget how to work. Sho steps closer, every step so sure of itself it feels like a storm that knows it’s inevitable.

“Oh, Hime” he murmurs, and the pet name sounds filthy on his tongue. “You think this is a negotiation?”

My spine straightens, chin lifting even as my heart punches against my ribs.

“I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to.”

His smile twists—beautiful and cruel.

“No,” he says softly. “I remember exactly who you are, Nadia.”

“What do you need to know that you’re mine?” he whispers against my collarbone, each word slicing through my composure.“Who do I need to kill? What do I need to do?”

I suck in a breath through my nose, sharp and shaky, and I hate that he hears it. Hates itandloves it. His lips move to the side of my neck, pressing lightly against the rapid, erratic beat of my pulse

“What if there is nothing for you to do? What if I don’t want you?”

His mouth doesn’t move, but his teeth do—grazing against that pulse point like a threat wrapped in silk. He doesn't bite, not yet. He just lets the tension hum there, unbearable and exquisite.

“I don’t like liars, Hime,” he growls, his voice low and animal. “Be honest with me.”

His hand slides up my side at a crawling pace, until his palm is over the place my heart is pounding like it’s trying to break free. His thumb strokes just under my breast, barely touching skin, but it sends a lightning bolt through every nerve in my body.

He doesn’t kiss me, but his body presses against me until every inch of me is consumed with him, and I stop myself from breathing him in any deeper.