Page 21 of Captive Vows (The Dubinin Bratva #1)

GAbrIELLA

I t’s okay.

I’m okay.

Luka didn’t let go of me once. Not as we ran toward his sleek black car. Not as the Dubinin men flanked us. The sight of the guns in their hands should’ve scared me. Feeling the cool metal of Luka’s firearm against me as we bolted out of the theater should’ve terrified me.

They’re gone.

Those thugs are not coming after you.

They’re not chasing us.

I jerked to look past Luka before we got in the backseat, having to see with my own eyes that those armed men weren’t chasing us out here.

They’re not coming.

You got away.

We got away.

As I slid into the backseat, I had to cling to that fact the most.

I wasn’t alone.

This was not like when Tony tried to rape me in the apartment I shared with my dad. This was not another episode of random street violence.

I was not alone. The smoky, masculine scent of Luka reminded me of his presence when all my other senses were skewed. Frantic, panicked, and scared, I couldn’t think straight at all as the door was closed on us.

Darkness followed.

Silence was our soundtrack.

The rumble of the engine felt as throaty as ever, but it was a comforting purr because it meant this expensive vehicle was speeding us further away from the danger.

Danger.

Life-or-death danger.

Trying to catch my breath and not wheeze from the adrenaline rush, I curled my fingers in the front of Luka’s jacket.

Life.

I’m alive.

It’s okay.

It was only okay that a group of thugs burst into my private audition with guns blaring because of this strong, powerful man keeping me in his embrace.

Luka. My God, Luka. Thank you.

I struggled to swallow, wishing my heightened senses could fade and I could relax long enough to think.

To be coherent for more than a second. Too jumbled up and racing along this ride of a trauma reaction, I couldn’t slow my thoughts.

I couldn’t force my heart to take it down a notch.

Air just couldn’t fill my lungs fast enough.

“Gabriella.” Luka shifted only to put his gun away. He kept me in his arms, practically draped over his lap as we sped away.

I had no reply. I could only snuggle in closer, tucking my face against his shirt so I could inhale deep pulls of his scent.

Authority and testosterone. They didn’t make sense together, but it was just him .

I was familiar with how he smelled. I was getting more used to his hot, callused hands on me.

And I was tuned in to the sound of his husky timbre, always full of command.

“Gabriella.” He repeated it as he reached to get his buzzing phone out of his jacket pocket. As he moved, he tipped my chin up. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head, too off-kilter to speak yet. Besides, he was directed to his phone.

Seeming content with the gesture that I wasn’t harmed—all thanks to him and his brave men—he urged me to lean against him for the rest of the ride while he spoke to his men.

Ivan. Allen. Others I forgot the names of.

Emil, too. I wasn’t listening in. He didn’t say much, either, more like he was being reported in to.

All I focused on was him holding me close.

Anchoring me. Grounding me. Securing me until we reached his fortress of a residence.

The tall walls didn’t seem foreboding and looming too tall.

The guards at the entrance didn’t look threatening.

The thick material of this massive mansion in the city only gave me the impression of safety, of security, and my heart beat steadier with the fact that I was here again.

That I would be sheltered and safe within these walls once more.

But nothing calmed me as much as Luka’s touch did.

Without my having to say anything, he seemed to understand. The door was opened for us in the garage, and he got out first, only to extend his hand to me and help me out. Then as we entered the building, he clutched my hand in his big one, not releasing me one bit.

Inside, he nodded at Allen who rambled a summary of whatever must have been pertinent for Luka to know now. Towing me with him and keeping me at his side, Luka seemed on the go, not ready to slow or stop for anyone.

Sticking with me, he led me straight up to his private wing.

I was still in my dance apparel, my tights, shoes, and leotard. My hair was still up in a tight, unforgiving bun. Makeup still coated my skin. Sweat, not from the dance but from the fear, slicked my flesh.

Throughout it all, this escape from the theater didn’t truly register with me. I was there. And now I was here.

My audition was done—prematurely. Yet, I couldn’t summon the stubbornness to care right now.

All I could feel and experience was the soulful gratitude that Luka saved me.

He’d killed to save me.

Questions would haunt me. I didn’t know why that had happened if it was guarded and secure. I wasn’t sure why I’d be targeted, what those men wanted to accomplish, who they were and who they worked for.

Nothing made sense.

Only being here with Luka did.

“Are you all right?” he asked, checking again as he loosened his tie with one hand. With his other, he steered me into my room, almost as if he counted on my getting in the shower.

“I’m all right,” I replied, hating how shaky my voice sounded.

“I won’t coddle you, Gabriella.” He shook his head as he caught me watching him. “I can’t.”

I shook my head, uninterested in what he said. I wasn’t in the mood to be babied and coddled. “I know.”

“This world isn’t for you. I know that. The death and violence aren’t something just anyone can get used to, but I can’t coddle and sweettalk you into accepting this way of life.”

I furrowed my brow, letting the spark of annoyance keep me rooted in this moment. “I don’t want to be coddled.”

Of course, I was an outsider looking in.

I wasn’t born in this lifestyle of gun-toting, lawless men who ruled through a conduct system of their own making.

I hadn’t handled the hints and experiences of danger smoothly so far.

Right now, in the aftermath of seeing Luka confidently gun down five men to reach me and protect me, all I needed to keep my wits was him .

“I don’t want to be coddled.” I blinked, trying to reconcile the image of this strong brute wielding his gun without pause, taking lives like it was his business, with the idea of him holding me and smoothing my hair from my face as he whispered sweet platitudes.

“I don’t want—” I shook my head, rushing toward him. “I don’t want to be coddled. Just make me forget. Make it stop.” I cringed, hating the flashbacks circling through my mind.

I could breathe easier here. The panic attack after the trauma couldn’t be as acute now that we’d distanced ourselves from the dead bodies.

But I needed him.

“Fuck.” He gripped the back of my neck as I lifted my hands to set them on his shoulders.

“Make me forget,” I begged before reaching up on my toes to kiss him.

The first touch of his hot lips on mine scalded me, but the fire of his desire for me made the burn worth it.

He growled, squeezing his fingers around the back of my neck. He parted my lips to taste me, to devour me. He lowered one hand to lift my thigh, prompting me to lean up and into him.

I gasped, parting for air as he lifted me fully. Like this, torn from trauma and the reaction to such violence at a pivotal time of my dancing career, I shifted into something else entirely.

Letting him carry me to my bed, I surrendered all thoughts of my steps and choreo. Sucking in a desperate breath, I gave in to the free-fall sensation of him dropping me onto the mattress.

“Luka.” I reached up to frame his face as he slanted down, already so busy with his hands.

Fingers grabbed at my clothes. His nails scraped on my skin in his rush.

His palms smoothed over every inch of my flesh that he bared.

Kissing me as he stripped me on the bed, he gave me no pause.

He showed me that even in this, he’d take what he wanted.

He demonstrated with needy growls and urgent thrusts against me that he wasn’t about to disappoint me.

“Luka, please.” I uttered it once the cool air kissed my skin.

Nude and willing on the bed, I was his for the taking.

But as he straightened to shed his clothes, I couldn’t stand that gap between us.

His body heat was a necessity. His lips were a demand to fulfill.

While he frantically tore his clothes off, I assisted.

First, I got onto my knees to return my mouth to his.

Then, I wrenched at his garments to help.

His tie, that jacket. Then his shirt and pants.

Only once he was naked, baring all the dips and ridges of his muscles, did he claim me again.

“Oh, fuck,” I whispered as his erection rubbed between my legs. Long, thick, and rigid, it probed at where I dripped for him already. Hard like velvet-covered steel, it pointed at my pussy.

“Gabriella,” he growled as he lowered me back down on the bed. Taking hold of my chin, he forced me to stare right back at him.

Was he going to walk away and retreat?

Was he having second thoughts?

Was he rethinking this because it looked like I was intimidated at taking all of him inside me?

“Please,” I begged. I’d whine. I’d cry it out so loudly until the rest of the whole house heard. He could not lead me on like this. I needed him too much. I was that desperate for a distraction from the violence that stunned me, the shock of my audition being ended too soon.

Crushing his lips to mine, he lined himself up and pushed. The stretch of his wide cockhead taunted me. Then the next inch inside startled me. More and more, he steadily thrust into me. Not stopping once, he rammed and rammed, stuffing that big dick into my cunt.

Just like that, he took me.

He took my virginity. As he seated himself, pausing his kiss to stare into my eyes, I knew it couldn’t have happened in any other way that would feel this good.

This magical.

This wickedly hot and sinful, yet… right .

“Oh, fuck. Fuck.” I couldn’t catch my breath, feeling split in two by the most thrilling sensation ever.

He withdrew, watching my face before he slammed all the way back in.

“Oh, fuck!” I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. Only those brief shouts. Watching me all the while, he withdrew and pushed right back in, setting up a dizzying rhythm that had me hurtling too quickly to an intense orgasm.

Relief waited just right there. Bliss was within reach. Ecstasy would be mine.

“Come.” He gritted his teeth, seeming ready to shoot his load in me. “Come for me, Gabriella.”

I nodded, accepting his wet kisses up along my throat as he ravaged me with his hard dick. Like a sword plunged in and out without a break, he coaxed me closer and closer to letting go.

“Gabriella. Come for me!” He tightened his fingers on my hands that he’d thrust up over my head.

I wanted to. I was right there. Under him and full of his hardness, I couldn’t even think of anything else.

When he lowered his lips to mine again, sucking on my tongue as he whipped his hips faster, I was done for. I was gone.

Soaring then drowning, all in the same intense moment, I came. Unlike when he’d gone down on me, there was no recovering from this. I screamed, only to be muffled by his lips. I bucked, arching up to meet him, just to feel every sinful second of him making me climax.

I came—just for him.

My hero. But also my captor.

My savior. But also my enemy.

Luka. He’d taken my virginity because I’d asked him to distract me and make me forget how he’d ruthlessly murdered men who wanted me dead.

Sinking under the weight of such utter bliss, I braced for him as he followed after me.

With two more deep, hard, pounding thrusts that would no doubt leave me bruised, he came.

His dick twitched deep inside me as he flooded my womb.

His thighs tightened as he lay over me with all of his weight.

His arms shook as he kept my hands high up above my head.

Plastered over me, he gave me a chance to experience the all-body sensation of his orgasm as he groaned then rolled.

Holding me close so I’d drape over him, he exhaled a long, hard breath that fluffed my hair off my face. I couldn’t care. I couldn’t move. So spent and sated, I could only lie there, limp and numb from bliss and a kind of gratitude I’d never felt before.

Because I wasn’t alone.

I couldn’t be ever again after knowing what it was like to be with him like this. He’d taken my virginity and stamped himself on my soul, to always be connected and remind me that at least physically, I belonged to him now.