Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
MIRA
Cade comes to my door at nine that night.
He doesn’t announce himself. He knocks once, and when I open the door, he’s standing in the hallway in his cut with his hands loose at his sides and something in his face that I haven’t seen there before.
“Can’t leave you alone tonight,” he says.
I step back and let him in.
He moves through the apartment like a man marking territory.
He tests the lock on the window above the kitchen alcove with two fingers.
He crosses to the south window and stares down at the compound yard, then at the fence line, then at the road beyond it.
His hand rests on the frame for a long moment.
“He almost got me today,” I say.
“He didn’t.”
“You can’t promise it won’t happen again.” I watch the tension in his shoulders. “He reaches through systems. Legal systems. Medical ones. Institutional frameworks intended to protect people. How do you fight something that looks like care from the outside?”
He turns from the window and looks at me.
“By never letting you be vulnerable to systems again,” he says.
“You stay on this ground. No external contact without clearance. No system touches you that Reeve hasn’t verified from the inside out.
You don’t interact with any institution that Viktor can reach, which means any institution at all, without this club between you and it. ” He holds my eyes. “Period.”
“That’s a prison, Cade.”
He crosses the room in three strides and stops right in front of me. I have to tilt my head up to meet his gaze. The look in his eyes is dark and territorial.
“It’s survival,” he says.
He kisses me hard.
There’s no testing softness. His mouth claims mine instantly, tongue pushing deep while one hand grips the back of my neck and the other fists in my shirt.
He walks me backward until my legs hit the bed.
I taste the coffee and feel the control on his tongue and feel the weight of every decision he made today in the way he holds me.
He pulls back just long enough to strip my shirt over my head. My swollen breasts spill free into the cool air of the room. They feel heavier tonight, fuller, nipples already tight and aching from the slightest brush of fabric. Cade stares at them with raw hunger.
“Fuck,” he growls. “These tits have gotten bigger since you got here.”
He doesn’t move to my belly first. He cups both breasts in his large hands and lifts their weight, thumbs stroking over my sensitive nipples until I gasp. Then he lowers his head and sucks one swollen nipple straight into his hot mouth.
The pull is strong and demanding. I moan loudly as sharp pleasure shoots straight down between my legs.
He sucks harder, tongue flicking fast then slow, drawing the sensitive peak deep while his hand kneads the other breast roughly.
My nipples have become so much more sensitive with the pregnancy, and he knows it. He uses it.
He switches to the other nipple and sucks even harder, teeth grazing the edge just enough to make me whimper. He alternates between them for a long time, sucking one while he pinches and rolls the other, then switching again. Wet sounds fill the room as he nurses at my tits like he owns them.
“These are mine now,” he mutters against my wet skin. “Heavy and full because you’re carrying what belongs to this club. I’m going to suck these tits every night until they leak for me. Until you understand that every part of you is under my control.”
He keeps going, obsessive and unrelenting.
He licks broad stripes across the swollen curves, then latches on again and sucks deep, groaning low in his throat every time I arch and moan louder.
My breasts feel claimed and used and worshiped at the same time.
He bites down gently on one nipple and tugs until I cry out, then soothes it with his tongue before starting the cycle all over again on the other side.
Only after my tits are red and glistening and I’m shaking does he kiss his way down the slope of my breast, across my ribs, and press his mouth to the firm, round curve of my belly.
“This belly is my ground,” he says against my skin. His hands spread wide over the tight swell, thumbs stroking possessively. “You swore yourself to the club. This baby is Ruthless now. Your body is Ruthless territory. No one else gets to touch it. No one else gets to move you.”
He kisses every inch of my belly, tongue tracing the stretched skin while his fingers dig in just enough to remind me who’s in charge. Then he strips the rest of my clothes off with quick, efficient movements and spreads my thighs wide.
He drops between my legs and licks my pussy in one long, slow stroke, then groans and buries his face deeper, sucking my clit hard while two thick fingers push inside me.
“This cunt is dripping for the man who just locked you down tighter,” he growls against my flesh. “You stay on this compound now. No external systems. No outside contact. Every inch of you stays under club control.”
He eats me thoroughly, tongue and fingers working together until my thighs shake and I come hard against his mouth, crying out into the dark room.
He stands up and strips fast. His cock is thick and hard, already leaking. He climbs onto the bed behind me and pulls me against him so my back is flush to his chest. One strong arm bands under my breasts, holding them tight, while his other hand spreads wide and possessively over my belly.
“Gonna fuck you just like this,” he says low against my ear. “Deep and hard so you feel exactly who owns this ground.”
He lines up and pushes in with one slow, thick thrust. I moan loudly as he stretches me completely. The angle is perfect and deep. He starts to move, hips rolling with powerful, controlled strokes while his hand stays glued to my belly and his arm keeps my swollen breasts trapped against him.
“Say it,” he demands, voice rough. “Who controls you now?”
“You,” I gasp. “The club.”
“Damn right.” He thrusts deeper, still careful of my belly but relentless.
“This pussy belongs to me. This body belongs to me. No more outside systems. No more institutions Viktor can buy. You’re caged here for safety, and I’m the one who decides when that cage opens.
This cunt is club property, and I’m marking it tonight. ”
His words push me over again. I come hard around his cock, clenching tight while pleasure crashes through me. Cade curses low and keeps fucking me through it, deep, possessive strokes that claim every inch.
He buries himself to the hilt one final time and comes with a guttural groan, pulsing hot and deep inside me. His arm tightens under my breasts, and his hand presses firmer over my belly as he fills me.
We stay locked together, breathing hard. His cock still twitches inside me. His hand never leaves my belly.
My voice comes out quiet in the dark. “This is real, isn’t it?”
“Always was,” he says, direct and brief. “Didn’t want to drag you into this world five years ago, but you’re in it now. Not letting you go.”
Morning light eventually creeps through the window. Cade is still there, his body wrapped around mine, one hand still resting possessively over the swell of my belly. He hasn’t moved. He hasn’t softened.
I stare at the ceiling and accept the weight of it. I’m contained now. No external access. No system contact unless the club vets every single person involved. Every institution is off limits unless Reeve clears it first. This is the cage they built to keep the ambulance away.
The alternative was Monday morning in the back of that transport, heading somewhere I would never return from.
I lie there in Cade’s arms and feel the permanence settle in. He stays because this body is his jurisdiction now. Not because of tenderness. Because he claimed the ground, and he’s not letting anyone else touch it.
It’s done.