Chapter 24 – Konstantin #2
Only truth.
I speak first, my voice low, unwavering—dark in its devotion, fierce in its promise.
“To guard your life with mine,” I say. “In light and in shadow. In peace and in war. Until there is no breath left in me to stand between you and harm.”
She doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t look away.
Her voice, softer but no less unbreakable, cuts straight to me.
“To stand beside you,” she vows, “not behind you. Not beneath you. No matter the war. No matter the cost. I choose you. Always.”
I feel a shift in the room. Even my brothers feel it—this is not romance born of fantasy, but of survival. Of choosing each other after the fire.
When I kiss her, it isn’t hurried. It’s deep. Certain. A seal rather than a celebration.
And then—the room erupts.
Cheers. Laughter. Applause.
This time, we don’t rush out of the venue. We linger, moving among the guests. I watch her laugh, watch her chat effortlessly with the other wives, and something in my chest melts—a slow, steady warmth I’ve always wanted for her.
Sasha hugs her tight, beaming. Elara steps up to compliment her dress, eyes sparkling.
Vivian moans dramatically over the food, clearly impressed.
Sienna smirks, shaking her head. “You’re the first Rusnak wife to have two weddings in less than six months,” she says, and Raelyn laughs, bright and unrestrained.
I can’t take my eyes off her. Alive, radiant, surrounded by people who adore her. And finally, finally, I get to just watch, just be, and know that she’s safe. That she’s mine.
Always mine.
As soon as we walk into our room that night, I grab her arm and turn her to me.
“I’ve wanted to bury myself in you since the moment you walked into the garden in this gown, Raelyn,” I say. “Get on the bed.”
Giggling, she kicks off her shoes and climbs into bed.
I watch her as she crawls across the silk sheets, the heavy fabric of the wedding gown rustling around her like a shifting cloud.
The sight of her—decked out in diamonds and lace, looking like a queen and a captured prize all at once—sends a surge of possessive heat through me that makes my vision go dark at the edges.
I don’t even take off my jacket. I just move, my boots heavy on the floor until I’m at the edge of the bed, looming over her.
She’s still giggling, her cheeks flushed from the champagne and the dancing, but when she looks up and sees the look in my eyes, her breath hitches.
The playfulness shifts into something deeper, something far more dangerous.
“You have no idea,” I rasp, my voice sounding like a low, jagged growl. “Watching you…knowing that under all this silk and lace, you’re already marked by me. It nearly drove me through the wall.”
I reach out, my hands trembling with the effort of holding back, and grab the hem of that massive, white skirt. I bunch the fabric up in my fists, dragging it upward until I see the pale, smooth skin of her thighs and the delicate lace of her garter.
“You’re my wife,” I mutter, the word feeling like a brand on my tongue. “My wife. And tonight, I’m going to remind you of that until you can’t scream anything but my name.”
She reaches out, her small hands catching the lapels of my tuxedo, pulling me down toward her. “Then stop talking, Konstantin,” she whispers, her eyes flashing with that same bold fire from before. “I’ve been waiting for you to claim me since the moment I walked down that aisle.”
I dive in, my mouth crashing against hers as I tangle my hands in the tulle and silk, desperate to find the woman hidden beneath the finery.
“Take it off,” I command, my voice thick with a hunger that feels like it’s clawing at my throat. “I want to see you out of this dress and underneath me. Now, Raelyn.”
She rises to her knees, her eyes locked on mine as her fingers reach for the intricate row of silk buttons trailing down her spine.
She moves slowly, intentionally, the fabric slipping an inch at a time to reveal the creaminess of her shoulders and the dip of her back.
The diamonds at her throat catch the light, shimmering with every shallow breath she takes.
The sight is exquisite. It’s torture.
Watching her struggle with the heavy lace, her movements graceful and agonizingly slow, snaps the last thread of my control. The growl that rips from my chest is animalistic, vibrating through the room as I lunge toward her.
“To hell with the dress,” I rasp, my hands catching her waist and hauling her toward the edge of the mattress.
I don’t wait for her to step out of the silk.
I don’t wait for her to unfasten the jewels.
I simply bunch the voluminous skirts of the gown upward, the white tulle and satin rustling frantically as I shove them out of the way.
My hands find the heat of her thighs, my thumbs digging into her skin as I spread her wide right there in the center of all that ruined finery.
I strip myself of what I need to, my movements jagged and frantic. I don’t give her a second to catch her breath. I guide myself to her entrance and drive home in one heavy, punishing thrust, burying myself to the hilt while she’s still draped in the very lace she wore to say I do.
The contrast is intoxicating—the pure, pristine white of the wedding gown crushed beneath my weight, her head thrown back against the silk pillows as she lets out a sharp, shattered cry of surprise and pleasure.
“You’re mine,” I growl into her ear, my teeth grazing the lobe as I begin to move with a relentless, driving pace. “In this dress or out of it, you’re mine to take. Do you hear me? Mine.”
I groan as the friction of the silk against my skin and her heat surrounding me push me to the brink. I lean in, my sweat-slicked chest pressing against the delicate bodice of the gown, my breath hot and ragged against her ear.
“I’m tempted to tear this damn thing to pieces,” I rasp, my voice vibrating with a dangerous edge. “I want to rip it off you with my bare hands…but you looked so beautiful in it today. Like a goddess I didn’t deserve to touch.”
Raelyn gasps, her fingers digging into my shoulders, but then a wicked, defiant spark lights up her eyes. She tilts her head back, a breathless, taunting laugh escaping her lips as she looks at me through heavy lids.
“Maybe the big, bad monster is finally intimidated by a little bit of silk,” she whispers, her voice a sharp, provocative lure.
The growl that erupts from my throat is pure, unadulterated territorialism. “You think I’m afraid?”
I reach up, my fingers hooking into the delicate neckline of the gown.
With one violent, powerful jerk, I rip the bodice down the center.
The sound of tearing silk and popping threads echoes like a gunshot in the room.
The expensive lace hangs in ruined shreds around her waist, exposing her breasts to the cool air and my burning gaze.
“There,” I hiss, my eyes darkening until they’re almost black as I stare at the wreckage I’ve made of the lace.
“I’ll buy another one. Damn, I’ll buy you a hundred.
For this stunning view of your breasts, Raelyn, I’ll open a fucking store full of wedding dresses just to tear them off you every single night. ”
The sight of her—half-clothed in ruined finery, her skin flushed and her eyes wild—is more than I can take.
I lower my head, my mouth finding one of her aching nipples and sucking it deep into the heat of my mouth.
I use my teeth, grazing the peak until she lets out a sharp, high-pitched cry that vibrates through my teeth and straight into my blood.
I don’t just move inside her; I pound into her. Every thrust is a declaration, a heavy, rhythmic claim that rattles the frame of the bed. I want to leave my mark on her soul. I want her to feel the sheer, overwhelming weight of my need in every nerve ending.
Raelyn writhes beneath me, her body a beautiful, chaotic tangle of white silk and golden skin. She arches her back, her fingers clawing at my biceps as she tries to find purchase, her breath coming in short, jagged hitches that sync with the frantic pace I’m setting.
“Konstantin…please,” she gasps, her head tossing from side to side on the pillows.
“Please, what?” I growl against her skin, moving my mouth to the other breast to give it the same punishing attention. I drive into her even harder, the friction building to a white-hot flashpoint. “Tell me exactly what you want, Raelyn. Tell me how you want your husband to finish you.”
I can feel her nearing the edge, her internal muscles tightening around me like a vice, and the knowledge that I’m the one who brought her to this fever pitch makes me feel like a king—and her most devoted slave.
In one fluid, powerful motion, I pull out of her slick heat and haul her upright. I flip her over, pressing her chest down into the pile of ruined silk and pillows, and hook my fingers into her hips to pull her back against me.
The view from behind is staggering—the torn white lace of her gown framing the curve of her ass, the diamonds still sparkling at her neck, and her skin glowing like heated ivory.
I can see us in the floor-to-ceiling mirror across from the bed, and the sight of my hands bruising her pale hips is the final blow to my restraint.
“Look at us, Raelyn,” I command, my voice a dark, jagged rasp as I lean over her, my chest pressing into her back. I grab her chin, forcing her to look at our reflection. “Look at what you do to me. Look at how I’m taking you.”
I don’t wait for her to answer. I drive back into her from behind, a deep, singular thrust that bottomed out, making her let out a sharp, choked-off scream. I wrap one hand around her throat—not to hurt, but to anchor her, my thumb feeling the frantic, galloping beat of her pulse.
“You’re so fucking beautiful like this,” I growl, watching in the mirror as I set a pace that is nothing short of violent. “All that innocence I thought I had to protect…I’m glad it’s gone. I’m glad I’m the one who destroyed it.”
I watch her eyes glaze over in the reflection, her mouth hanging open as she watches me claim her.
Every hit, every wet slap of skin against skin, echoes through the room.
I’m relentless, driving her face back into the pillows and then pulling her back up to see the way my body is breaking hers apart.
“Say it,” I hiss, my release coiling in my gut like a physical weight. “Tell the man in the mirror who you belong to.”
I tighten my grip on her hips, my fingers digging into her skin as I drive into her with everything I have left.
The mirror doesn’t lie; it shows the raw, unfiltered truth of my obsession.
Her head is thrown back, her throat arched, the diamonds at her neck catching the light in frantic, jagged flashes.
“Tell me!” I roar, the sound echoing off the walls as the pressure in my veins hits the boiling point. “Whose are you, Raelyn?”
She breaks. It’s not just a cry; it’s a total, vocal surrender that rips through the air. Her voice is raw, stripped of every inhibition she ever held.
“Yours!” she screams, the word vibrating through the mattress. “I’m yours, Konstantin! Only yours! Please…fuck, now!”
Her body convulses beneath mine, her internal muscles clenching in a frantic rhythm that feels like she’s trying to pull the very soul out of me. The sound of her screaming my name, her face twisted in that beautiful, agonizing mask of pleasure, is the most powerful thing I’ve ever felt.
“That’s it,” I say, my voice a wrecked, guttural growl. “Take all of it.”
I bury myself in her one last time, my spine going rigid as I finally shatter.
I pour into her, my own shout joining hers as the world disappears into a white-hot haze of lace, sweat, and absolute possession.
I hold her tight, pinning her against the bed as the tremors rack both our bodies, refusing to let go until every last drop of my release is hers.
The silence that follows is heavy, broken only by our jagged, synchronized breathing and the soft rustle of the ruined wedding gown beneath us.
I pull out of her slowly, my body feeling heavy and strangely hollow now that the fire has peaked.
I don’t let her move an inch away. I reach down, gathering her trembling form—shreds of lace, tangled hair, and all—and haul her back against my chest. I wrap my arms around her so tightly there’s no room for air between us, my chin resting on the crown of her head.
The room is silent, save for the frantic thrum of our hearts slowly finding a shared rhythm.
“I love you, Raelyn,” I whisper into her hair, my voice thick with a raw emotion I’ve spent a lifetime hiding. “I meant what I said. You’re my peace. In all the blood and the chaos of my world, you’re the only thing that makes sense. You’re everything I never knew I was allowed to have.”
I shift slightly, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the back of her neck, right where my mark would be if I could brand her soul.
She turns in my arms, her face flushed and her eyes sleepy, but a small, genuine smile tugs at the corners of her lips.
It’s the kind of smile that makes my chest ache—a look of absolute safety and love directed entirely at a man who has done nothing but take.
I trace the curve of her cheek with my thumb, my expression turning solemn and fierce.
“I will give my life to keep that smile on your face,” I vow, the words a blood oath whispered in the dark. “I will burn every bridge and slaughter every enemy before I let anyone take that look away from you. You’re mine, moya dusha. Now and for whatever comes after.”
“I love you so much, too,” she sighs, leaning her forehead against my collarbone, her hand resting over my heart.
I hold her like she’s the most precious thing in existence, watching her until her breathing evens out and she drifts into a deep, protected sleep.
I’ve spent my life as a monster, but in the ruins of our wedding night, I finally feel like a man who has come home.