Page 76 of Bratva Menace

Legs shaking, Sawyer got to his feet, his whole body trembling.

I approached, excitement thrumming through my bones. The idea of watching Lukyan in his element…Jesus, fuck…It made me feel things in places I probably shouldn’t be feeling them.

Oh, well.

“Want one of my knives, my love?” I asked, gazing up at him. I felt like a lovestruck teenager. All I could think about was the years to come…Us, killing people who wronged us, side by side…It would be perfection.

Lukyan’s eyes flared. “You’ll give me one?”

“Of course, silly! Here, I’ll give you my favorite one.” I pulled out another karambit knife. This one was bloodred, with an intricate pattern of lines and swirls engraved into the silver blade.

He held it up, admiring it. “What makes this one your favorite?”

I masked my excitement. He was asking questions. Wanting to know more about me. His interest in me was growing. I could tell. Why else would he ask such an intimate and personal question?

“This one holds great sentimental value. It’s the one I used to claim my first kill.”

His eyes lit up as if in understanding. “Ah. I have one of those too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He put his index through the ring on the handle and flipped it this way and that, testing the balance. “You stole it.”

The memory flashed through my head like a scene in a movie. Me, creeping into his bedroom in the dead of night, seeing him passed out in bed. There’d been a dagger on his bedside table. In the past, I had tried to restrict myself from taking things he might otherwise need, only taking miscellaneous items, like his towel from the gym. A random T-shirt. His toothbrush. A lock of his hair.

I couldn’t help the compulsion. I just wanted to keep him close to me, even when we were worlds apart, and by taking his possessions, it satiated that part of me. But there was just something about that shiny silver dagger that called to me.

So, I took it, climbed back out of his window, paused on the climb down the side of his house, and flashed it to the security camera.

I ran a finger softly down his lips. “Well, if you behave, I might just give it back.”

Lukyan didn’t move, eyes boring into mine. He cocked his head in intrigue. “How many times did you break into my room?”

“Far too many to count.”

“Why did you do it?”

Keeping my touch featherlight, I brushed a lock of hair out of his face, caressing his skin as I made my way down to the collar around his neck. “I like watching you sleep.”

His brows creased slightly. “Why?”

I didn’t really know why, if I was being honest. It just brought me peace. Quietened my brain, if only for a little while. And that was something I’d come heavily to rely on. It was one of the reasons I installed hidden cameras in his room. On those nights when I couldn’t make it in person, I could still watch him sleep from afar.

“Because I’m obsessed with you.” I winked. “But you know that already.”

“I’m beginning to see the depths of your obsession.”

“Oh, baby, you’ve just barely scratched the surface.” I wasn’t kidding. If Lukyan really, truly knew how deep my obsession for him ran, he’d probably run in the other direction.

Something indecipherable flashed across his face. Interest, maybe? I wasn’t quite sure. But I chose to believe it was a positive emotion, not a negative one.

“I’m curious,” Lukyan began, running his fingertips over the curved blade lightly, “am I your first obsession?”

Why would he ask me that?

“I’m curious,” I said back, parroting him, “how would you feel if you weren’t?” Of course, he was. Like I’d said on numerous occasions, we were soulmates. No one else could or would ever compare to him. But I wondered if perhaps the idea of me stalking someone else would make him jealous.

“I’d feel⁠—”