Epilogue
Laney
Six Months Later
The kitchen smells like garlic and rosemary as I pull the roast chicken out of the oven.
Cooking has become one of my favorite things to do in our new home.
The kitchen is enormous, with every gadget and appliance I could ever want, and I've been working my way through a cookbook given to me by Dariy’s wife, Charlotte.
"That smells incredible," Yakov says, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply. "Almost as good as you."
"Flatterer." But I lean back into him, loving the solid warmth of his body against mine. "Dinner's almost ready. Did you finish your call?"
"Yeah. Just confirming security details for the fundraiser at the hotel next week." His hands slide down to rest on my hips. "You're still planning to come with me, right?"
"Wouldn't miss it. Laurie's coming too. She's bringing a date."
"The bartender from the Korolyov?"
"The one and only. Raife seems nice. Very respectful." I turn in his arms. "And obviously your security team has already vetted him."
Yakov grins. "Can't be too careful."
I roll my eyes, but I'm smiling. His overprotectiveness used to drive me crazy. Now it's just... endearing. Most of the time.
We settle at the dining table, the one overlooking the city that still takes my breath away even after six months. Yakov pours wine for himself and water for me, and we eat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
"How was your day?" he asks finally.
"It’s been good. I had lunch with Charlotte and Jasmine. Jasmine's pregnant again, did you know?"
"Adrik mentioned it. He's beginning to feel outnumbered." Yakov chuckles.
"He seems happy about it though."
"He is." Yakov's expression softens. "They all are. Watching their families grow."
Something in his tone makes me set down my fork. "Do you ever think about it? Having kids?"
His eyes meet mine, intense and searching. "I think about it all the time. Especially lately. The thought of breeding you drives me crazy with need."
My heart skips. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." He reaches across the table, taking my hand.
"I never thought I’d have kinds, but sometimes now when I look at you, I wonder what our kids would look like.
If they'd have your stubbornness or my temper.
Whether they'd get your eyes or mine." He pauses.
"I think about you pregnant with my child every time we fuck. It's become... an obsession of sorts."
Heat floods through me. We've danced around this conversation before, but never quite said it out loud. He uses language when we have sex, like filling me, and letting it take root, but he has always kept within the realms of dirty talk.
"I've been thinking about it too," I admit quietly.
"And?" he probes, looking at me with that intensity I remember from the very first night we met.
"And I'm scared. We've only been together six months. That's not very long—"
"The first two minutes after I met you was long enough for me to know I want forever with you," Yakov interrupts. "Long enough to know you're it for me. The only woman I'll ever want."
I look at him across the table, reach my hand forward and let him take it in his.
"I know it's fast." He stands, pulling me up with him and cupping my face. "But nothing about us has been normal, Laney. From the moment I saw you, I knew. And every day since has only made me more certain."
I search his face, seeing nothing but absolute certainty. No doubt. No hesitation.
"What happened to Zajmi?" I ask suddenly. "You never told me the details."
His expression goes cold. "He's dead. They all are. Zajmi, Drakos, Anthony "Buck" Prue. We found them, the night after we shut down the safehouse and all the women were relocated to their chosen places. Luka, Kaiden, and I handled it personally."
"And?"
"And they paid for what they did. For the women they tried to traffic, the lives they destroyed." His jaw tightens. "Zajmi begged at the end. I didn't give him mercy."
I should probably be disturbed by the flatness in his voice when he talks about killing people. But I'm not. These men hurt my sister. Hurt dozens of women. They deserved what they got.
"Good," I say simply.
Yakov's eyes widen slightly, then warm. "You're perfect for me, you know that?"
"Because I'm okay with you being a ruthless Bratva Wolf?"
"Because you don't flinch from what I am." He kisses me, soft and sweet. "You see me and accept me, darkness and all. I’m sure you’d never say it out loud, but I think it also thrills you. You're mine in every way."
"I am yours." I reach over and put my hand on his as I take a deep breath. "Which is why I talked to the doctor about stopping my birth control three weeks ago."
He goes completely still. "What?"
"I can stop taking it, whenever you’re ready.
I’m letting you know that I’m ready when you are.
" My heart is pounding. "I didn't tell you before because I wanted to be sure first. Wanted to think it through without you influencing my decision with those intense looks and dirty promises about letting your cum take root. "
"Laney—" He almost growls it.
"But I'm sure now." I meet his eyes. "I want this. I want a future with you. I want to build a family with you. And I know it's fast and crazy, but you're right, nothing about us has been normal. So why change it now?"
For a moment, he just stares at me. Then he's up from the table and kissing me, hard and desperate and full of something that feels like relief and joy and hunger all mixed together.
"Say it again," he demands against my mouth.
"I want you to breed me."
He growls, lifting me onto the dining table and stepping between my legs. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?"
"I'm starting to get a clue." I can feel him, hard and ready against my thigh.
"I'm going to fuck you right here on this table," he says, already working at the buttons of my dress. "And then I'm going to take you to bed and do it again. And again. Until I'm sure you're pregnant with my child."
"That's not really how it works—"
"I don't care." He pulls my dress off, unhooks my bra, and tosses both aside. "I'm going to try anyway."
He's inside me before I can catch my breath, filling me completely as I lean against the table edge, dinner forgotten.
"You're going to look so beautiful pregnant," he pants, thrusting deep. "Round with my baby. Everyone will know you're mine."
"I'm already yours," I gasp, moving my hands to the table to brace myself and lifting my legs to wrap around him.
"Mine to fuck. Mine to fill. Mine to breed." His hand slides between us, finding my clit. "Say you want it. Say you want me to put a baby in you."
"I do want it," I moan.
He comes with a roar, burying himself as deep as he can get, flooding me with his release. The feeling of him pulsing inside me, his hot cum leaking between us and making everything slick, sends me over the edge too.
We ride through the pleasure, both breathing hard, his eyes not leaving my pussy as he pumps me full of his cum.
"I love you," he says quietly when he looks into my eyes, his still dark with want and desire. "I know I don't say it enough, but I do. I love you more than I thought I could love anyone. It might not be the normal way to love a person but it’s still real."
I’m still trying to catch my breath. "I love you too."
"Good." He kisses me softly. "Because you're stuck with me now."