Faraway in the distance, I could hear my moans and cries. They sounded like they were coming from another room.
Konstantin fucked me hard, channeling every thrum of his power into each stroke. Each thrust of hips sent me closer and closer to the edge. If the walls weren’t so thick, I would’ve fallen through them.
My nails dug into his shirt, tearing at the fabric as the primal part inside of me answered the call.
“My Elena,” Konstantin growled in my ear. “Your pussy should be synonyms with poison. You’re inside every inch of me, contaminating and growing. I am addicted to you.”
I felt a laugh escape my chest. “There’s no antidote.”
“I wouldn’t be cured even if I could.”
Konstantin’s rhythm quickened, the slap of skin growing louder and louder. My knee twitched, signaling how close I was to the edge–
Pleasure shattered my world. My muscles quivered, my screams pierced the air. Fog and blood and the sound of rushing waves filled my mind. There was no beginning or end to the climax, I was suspended in between the stars as the orgasm rocked through me.
Konstantin growled my name. I felt him contracting inside of me–
He went to pull out but I caught his neck, bringing him back to me. Our eyes met, a thousand questions in his caramel irises.
“I choose you.” I said, answering them all. “I’m always going to choose you.”
Konstantin’s expression grew feral. His neck tipped back as he found his climax, a deep growl erupting from him like a lion’s roar as the pleasure became unbearable. I quivered beneath him as he spilled into me, saying his name over and over again until the syllables blended together in one long poem.
Our foreheads pressed together in the aftermath, breaths mingling.
I could feel the strength of my orgasm, from the clenching my thighs to the throbbing of my core. There wasn’t a part of me that had been safe from Konstantin–and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
He pressed his lips to my temple. “You’re quiet.”
“I’ve never been chatty after a hard orgasm.”
Possessiveness sparked in his expression. “I’m the only one who knows that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“Ah, don’t be cheeky, my Elena.” His thumb pressed on my cleft, still aching and sore. The moan I let out was nothing short of begging. “I’m not as forgiving as I look.”
Another laugh escaped me, awkward and bottled. “Here I was...thinking I was lying beneath a nice man.”
“You’re mistaken, lyubimaya.” His teeth raked down my neck, sucking on the unblemished skin. “I am not a nice man.”
24
Konstantin Tarkhanov
I gently shook Elena awake. “Lyubimaya, wake up.”
She blinked sleepily, her features twisting into aggravation. “Fuck off,” she grumbled, burying herself deeper into the pillow.
“Lyubimaya,” I murmured. “The foal is here.”
Nikolai lifted his head. His blond hair was in disarray and the crease of the pillow marked his chubby cheeks. “Foal?”
“Odessa’s baby horse. Do you want to go and see her?”
He clambered over his mother, almost falling into the blanket. I caught him and helped him off the bed, letting him yawn and wake himself up.
“Elena.” I stroked her hair. She peered up at me. “Let’s go. Come on.”
Elena slowly uncurled herself, stretching like an old cat. She wasn’t pleased as she wobbled out of bed, slipping on a sweater and slippers. I led the pair of them out of the room, catching them when they fell asleep on their feet. Niko gave such a great big yawn that he almost walked into the wall.
Both of them seemed to wake up a little more as we slid into the car.
“Did she have a girl or boy?” Elena asked in between yawns. “Niko, come here. You’ve got sleep in your eyes.”
“No, Mama.” He was too sleepy to fight back as she cleaned out the creases of his eyes with her fingernail. When she released him, he peered out the window and into the inky night. “Where’s Dessa’s baby?”
“Put your seatbelt on,” I told him.
Niko didn’t resist as Elena locked him in, but he did make a show of wiggling halfway out of the restraints and peering out the window. He wasn’t looking for anything this time, just trying to irritate his mother.
Elena thinned her lips.
We reached the stable in a matter of minutes. Niko practically flung himself out of the car as I opened his door, bolting inside. I grabbed him quickly.
“Let’s go together,” I told him. “We don’t want to frighten the foal.”
Niko scowled at me and looked to his mother. She wrapped her arms around herself and sent him a warning look. “Listen to…him.”
The awkwardness of my title and what I was to Nikolai hung in the air. There had been no discussion about my relationship with Nikolai, no talks about referring to me as his father or waiting for Niko to make up his own mind on what to call me. It was a prickly subject that neither of us wanted to touch–not yet.
Night hugged the land, the golden glow of the stables the only light. I could spot the figures of Hilarion and Basil in the paddocks, where they had been placed once Odessa had gone into labor. The last thing she and the foal needed was two nosey horses interrupting their peace.
Both knew something was going on and looped their heads over the fence as we passed, whickering in irritation. Hilarion even kicked the fence, nostrils flaring.
Elena beelined to them, giving them both a scratch. “All the smells and noises,” she said. “They know something’s happened.”
The vet had left a few minutes before us but would be back in a few days to check on the foal. A few of my men loitered around the space but disappeared into the shadows once they noticed me. Not out of fear anymore but understanding. I was with my family, and distance by them was required.
Soft nickering came from Odessa’s stall. Niko ran towards them but stopped when he realized, he couldn’t see into the stall. He looked at the hay bales, then to the empty feed buckets, before deciding his best chance was to turn to his mother and I and lift his arms up.
“Up, please.”
Elena didn’t step forward. She snapped her eyes to me. “You’re taller.”
I inclined my head to the hide the strange worry that burst up inside of me. I had held plenty of children before, in fact, when Evva was an infant, I used to spend the mornings with her so Roksana and Artyom could sleep. But Niko was different. He was my son, who had spent almost three years of his life without me.
He didn’t argue as I bent down and scooped him up, hoisting his little body on my hip. He was at an age when he preferred to walk instead of being carried, but he didn’t wiggle in my arms, instead using my shoulder as leverage to peer into the stall.
The three of us lined up, peering at the newest member of our family.
Odessa was dozing, but standing by her dappled side, on wobbly legs, was her filly. The foal was a brown bay, with very faint dappling over her rump. She was more interested in her mother than the onlookers but did eye us a few times.
Niko’s lips parted in wonderment and excitement. He clapped his hands together, turning and looking at me to make sure I was looking, before turning his head back to the foal. “She’s so tiny.”