Sanctum: A Dark Bratva Arranged Marriage Romance (Wicked Vows)

EKATERINA STANDS, a faint smile in her eyes as she gives me a wink. She’s the very picture of grace, her clothes unwrinkled, not a hair out of place. I’m still wearing the clothes I wore for practice earlier, and I’m in desperate need of a shower. I feel awkward, disheveled, and woefully unprepared.

Polina turns to Ivy and takes her hand. “Come with Auntie, Ivy. We’ll have some fun. Mama will be back soon.” She reaches out to squeeze my hand. “Show them what you’ve got.”

That didn’t put any pressure on me at all.

I realize my hands are shaking and remind myself of what Aleks said earlier. A woman who holds a gun like it was carved into her hand…

I steady the trembling and turn to Nikko, who tells me, “This way.”

I follow him down a hallway, Aleks close behind us. “Take her to the holding,” he says in a low voice, presumably so only we hear.

Nikko nods wordlessly, takes a sharp turn down another hallway, and stops in front of a door. I definitely need to spend more time figuring out the layout of this place. It feels like a labyrinth.

I watch as he punches in a passcode, slides a finger along an identification strip, and opens the door. When we enter, my jaw drops. Meticulously organized in a way that is all Aleks, I’m immediately struck by the harmonious arsenal of weapons.

I take a look around. The walls are gunmetal gray, soft lighting showcasing a glass stand outfitted with handguns and pistols, knives, and other things I can’t quite identify but which look lethal at first glance. Items for close combat.

To the right lies a long, sturdy tabletop, disassembled weapons’ parts and items for cleaning neatly arranged — a workplace, it seems. I open one of the heavy drawers, my eyes widening at the sight of row upon row of neatly organized ammunition.

At the far end of the room there’s a secure door that looks like it’s made of solid steel. “What’s back there?”

“The big guns.”

My eyebrows rise.

“Literally,” Nikko says with a chuckle.

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper reverently. I feel as if I’ve just stepped into an art gallery. Aleks and Nikko share a look.

“You should see Nikko’s place.”

I hold back a gasp. I can only imagine.

“Should be called the armory,” I murmur. “Why the holding?”

Frowning, Aleksandr looks back to Nikko. They share a silent understanding. They’re wondering how much they can tell me.

Do they trust me?

I haven’t known them long enough to really trust them, though marriage and bringing a child into the home, not to mention the tutelage we had outside on the lawn, seem to lend themselves to an almost immediate intimacy.

“Take another look at the table and weapons, Harper,” Aleks says quietly.

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Beside the workplace table there’s a sturdy metal chair bolted to the ground. At second glance, I note the black restraints that hang nearly to the floor. A large black box sits next to the chair.

The secure room doesn’t house just weapons, but also various items meant to torture and interrogate.

I remember Aleks’s gentle way with Ivy even while I remind myself that I can’t ever forget who he truly is. He’s been kind to me, but if I ever turned on him. If I ever betrayed his family…

I wouldn’t. I’d die before I did that.

They’re my family now.

I look up at the two of them, my heart pounding, and point to the box. “May I?”

“Yes, but we don’t have a lot of time.” Aleks nods toward it. “Go on.”

I know what I’m going to find before I open it. I unfasten the latch and stare at the neatly coiled rope, blindfold, pliers, and remote control. Items meant for interrogation.

“If I looked around this room, I’d find more than weapons, wouldn’t I?”

Aleks nods. “You would.”

“Do I need to?”

He shakes his head. “Not now, no. Let’s get you out there and shoot down that fucking drone.”

Five minutes later, I exit the room feeling ten feet tall and invincible. The fact that he’s made me wear a bulletproof vest probably has something to do with that.

We head to the entrance that takes us to the roof, my gun by my side. Nikko’s packing a weapon, too.

“Hey. I thought I was doing this.”

“Harper, asking Nikko to go anywhere without a weapon’s like asking him to cut his eyes out. Not gonna happen.”

“Fine, but this is my turn.”

Nikko grins and holds his hands up. “Have at it. Let’s see what you’ve got. Do you see it?”

I look up at the night sky and narrow my eyes. “Yep.”

It’s hovering at a distance, ducking into the shadows, but even from here I can see the camera lens pointed at our property.

“Not today, boys,” I say under my breath. I lift the sniper rifle Nikko chose. Take a minute to aim. Control my breathing. My focus snaps into place like a camera lens framing a focal point.

“Where are you aiming?” Nikko asks in a low voice.

“If I hit the propulsion system, it’ll be inoperable.”

“Perfect,” Aleks says beside me.

There’s not a shadow of a doubt in my mind I’ll hit it with the first shot.

With a single, well-placed shot, I destroy the propulsion system. The drone stops, spirals downward, and hits the ground in a little puff of broken pieces.

“Excellent,” Aleksandr says. Warmth spreads through my chest because I know I just did something huge.

“I want to shoot something else,” I say with a pout. “That was too easy.”

“Go ahead,” Aleks says, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking a text. “But Polina says Ivy wants her mama, so be quick about it.”

Ping.

Ping.

Ping.

The drone’s smithereens.

“Cars have gone,” Nikko says. “Lev’s looking at footage.”

I sigh and put my gun away. I’m nowhere near satisfied but my girl wants me.

“That was fun.”

“Not so fun when you’re hitting moving targets trying to kill you, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Nikko replies.

Aleks’s eyes flash at him. “It better not fucking come to that.”

He holds his hands up. “Relax, brother.”

“Not on your fucking life. You vowed to keep her safe.”

“And I will.”

Humph. Maybe I don’t need a man to keep me safe.

“Now that I obviously know how to use this, I want a weapon of my own.” I side-eye Aleks. “Please,” I tack on, to be polite. “I don’t want to borrow other people’s things. It’s yucky, like using someone else’s lip gloss.”

“No jewelry or flowers for you, then?”

I shrug. “I didn’t say I only wanted weapons…”

We make it downstairs, and I put the gun away with a sigh.

“Soon, Harper. You’ll have another chance soon, I promise. Now go, be with Ivy. I have to head out.”

We meet Ivy in her bedroom. She shows Aleks and me her princess pajamas and toys and yawns widely.

“Stay in bed with her tonight,” Aleks says when we step back into our bedroom.

“Why?”

“Because I told you to,” he snaps.

I look up at him. What the hell was that?

Remember who he is.

“Yes, sir,” I say mockingly as I strip for the shower. I test the water and gasp when I turn to find him right beside me.

“Do you think I’m kidding around, Harper?” His blue eyes have grown stormy, his lips pursed in a straight line.

“No, I think you’re fucking uptight,” I snap.

“Careful, woman,” he says, shaking his head. “If you think —”

“That I’m going to have a mind of my own? Yeah, Aleks, I’ll have that whether you like it or not. I just shot a drone that was targeting your family — our family — out of the sky. I took a vow to protect you and yours and you showed me the inner workings of your arsenal and holding. I know for a fact you’ve held prisoners in there and also know you hold them in another place now. So stop pretending I’m some delicate flower that doesn’t have half a brain enough to figure shit out and maybe then I’ll show you some respect.”

His eyes flare with something like arousal and the next thing I know, he’s pinning me against the doorway. The bathroom fills with steam from the shower as he cages me in, as if reminding me how much bigger he is than I am.

“You’ll show me respect now before I whip your pretty little ass,” he grates in my ear. “You’ll show me respect because you’re my wife and because I demand it.”

“That’s not how it works,” I retort, but his fingers tangle in my hair and tug, rendering me momentarily dazed. Fuck, I love it when he does that, and he knows it. “You’re a pompous asshole.”

His gaze ignites.

Unluckily for me, I’m naked. With a firm grip on my arm, he spins me around. “What was that? You want to say that again?”

His fingers are suddenly in my pussy, and he spreads my juices to my ass. My pulse spikes. I can’t speak, can’t open my mouth.

“Maybe you need a fucking reminder of who I am.”

I lean over the sink, my cheeks flaming hot because I know exactly what he’s going to do.

“Maybe I do.” I lower my breath to a whisper. “Asshole.”

He pushes on the ring of muscle, his mouth on my neck. “I’ll train you yet, Harper Romanov. You’ll learn to respect me.”

“Make me.”

My pulse spikes when he fingers my asshole. Pushes me against the sink. Opens the cabinet and retrieves a bottle of lube he just so happens to keep right there. Lubricant slides down my ass crack and over me. His clothes join mine.

“Call me that again and I’ll spank your ass before I fuck it,” he bites out, his eyes daring me, begging me, challenging me to defy him.

I stare at him in the mirror in front of me, his eyes meeting mine, and whisper in a singsong voice, “Have at it.”

His hand crashes against my ass and I suck in a breath. “Stop fighting me. Stop taunting me,” he orders with another hard slap. He peppers my ass with firm smacks of his palm until my skin’s on fire and I’m dripping wet. He picks me up and carries me into the shower, facing me away from him when he sets me back on my feet.

“You’ll respect me,” he says with another hard spank.

I press my hands against the shower wall.

“This virgin ass is fucking mine,” he growls in my ear. “I’ll train you to take me, all of me, little by little.”

The first push inside me makes me feel so full I lose the ability to speak or think or breathe. My whole body is consumed with Aleks, every cell vibrating with his energy and presence. My mind goes completely, blissfully blank, as if I’ve lost the ability to argue just by being filled by him.

The second thrust has arousal tingling in every corner of me.

I whimper with the third thrust and by the fourth, I’m unable to move or think and am completely incapable of anything even remotely resembling logical thought.

“You’re fucking perfect.”

“You are definitely not,” I say, even as I’m grinning through the first flush of ecstasy.

But I still love you.

I don’t say those last words out loud. I can’t. He’s so tortured and wrong and wants to do things to me no man should ever do. And yet… and yet…

“But are definitely hot as fuck,” I concede with a teasing grin.

He spills in me as my body goes up in flames. I relish the feel of his warm breath on my back. The hot rivulets of water cascading between us. Our mutual bliss and ecstasy. The flaming heat of his marks on me, claiming me as his.

I’m boneless and tingling with arousal as he rinses me off and holds me to his chest.

“Don’t ever get compliant,” he says, bending down to kiss my cheek. I love the feel of his stubble on my sensitive skin. “I need a reason to fuck the brat out of you.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin, so we’re good.”

I stumble going back into the bedroom. “Good, it worked,” he says, as he scoops me up and places me on the bed.

“Keep telling yourself that,” I respond, even as I roll over to stare at the state-of-the-art monitor he’s had installed that’s a hundred times better than the one we used before. Ivy’s peacefully sleeping.

He slides on a pair of boxers, then a pair of black sweats. I just got my brains fucked out of me, but I can still feel a rumble of awareness skate through me at the sight of his hardened abs, the dark hair that dips dangerously into the waistband of his sweats.

“Where are you going?”

Wordlessly, he pulls on a black tee and a black zippered hoodie. I suspect the bundle in his fist is a mask as well.

He doesn’t answer me.

“You look like a ninja.”

“Good. And you look like an angel.” He kisses my cheek. “Go to Ivy and don’t wait up for me.”

Still, he follows me into Ivy’s room. “I can handle this myself,” I remind him, and he squeezes the back of my neck in that move that I love.

“I know, baby,” he says gently. “But I want to see Ivy before I go.”

Something in me melts just a little bit more when I see him bend and tuck the blanket around her carefully, so she’s nice and secure.

Because that’s what Aleks does — he makes sure the people he cares for are safe and secure. It’s why he’s going out tonight.

“Good night,” he whispers. “Sleep.”

I curl up next to Ivy and close my eyes. In my dream I hear screams and see nothing but darkness. I wake, my heart pounding, somehow both secure in the knowledge that it was just a dream yet still craving reassurance.

“Aleks?” I whisper. There’s no answer. I lie back on the pillow and remind myself that Aleks is gone.