Page 16 of Ruthless Commander

“Mateo…” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

But no other word came from her lips. I realized then that she was gripped by the clutches of sleep, held down by the darkness. My name wasn’t a conscious thought. No. Instead, it was dragged up from the darkness, unearthed from her deepest desires.

Ingrained in her…

My fucking name.

I closed my eyes as panic moved through me, but it didn’t last long. Sleep came and, for the first time since I'd walked from that prison in Albania carrying my brother in my arms, my darkness wasn’t plagued by nightmares. Instead, it was held for ransom by her.

* * *

I fuckedher when she woke, taking far too much pleasure in the slow smile as I kissed her breasts and rolled her onto her back, crawling between her legs.

I fucked her in the shower after, with her legs wrapped around my waist and the hot water cascading from the showerhead to run into my eyes. I fucked her on the floor not more than three steps into the bedroom after tackling her to the floor and rolling in front of the Giio Vanii. And when I fed her strawberries from my fingers, I fucked her as she chewed, and licked the juice from her lips.

Three days I lost myself in her.

Three days of the kind of bliss a man like me didn’t deserve. The kind that wasn’t meant for a monster like me…and on the fourth day, the bubble burst.

I rolled over as my cell phone rang. The caller ID showedUnknown,yet I knew who it was. I pushed up from the bed, watching from the corner of my eye as she reached for me. My body hummed, aching and spent right down to my soul, but fuck me, I wanted more. I needed more. “Yeah?”

“They know.”

I flinched, the happiness melting away in an instant. “How?”

“Does it matter?” The low growl came from the other end of the line, the trace of an accent indistinguishable. “I know, and if I do…”

“Then it’s only a matter of time.”

“Mateo,” Xael called behind me. “You aren’t done here.”

My stomach clenched, and fear slipped in.

“You don’t end this, and it’ll be more than the Commission you need to worry about, brother.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

I winced, hating how the past never left us the fuck alone. There was only one reason the beasts were kept at bay. Only one ring of power…the Commission. I swallowed hard, hating how we’d escaped one tyrannical power only to take refuge in another.

“Mateo?” Xael called behind me.

“It’s not just your ass on the line here,” Edon murmured. “They’ll go after her. They’ll hurt her and they’ll use her to crush you.”

I closed my eyes, hating how every fucking word he said was a stab to the heart. I shook my head.

“What’s wrong?” Concern etched deep in her words.

“You want to put her in danger?” my brother growled. “Because that’s what you’re doing. You haven’t spent longer than a fucking hour with a woman before and never with the same woman twice, yet here you are, holed up in your damn apartment for days with her. Days, Mateo.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

I lowered my gaze and dropped my hand, pressing the button to end the call.