Hunted By The Bratva Beast: A Bratva Stalker/Captive Romance by Jagger Cole (books to read in your 20s .txt) 📕

Present:

Light filters in softly through the windows of the office. The whole place is windows, actually—less about aesthetics and more about the foreman being able to see all of the workers on the machines down below. But this place has been abandoned for decades.

The room within the warehouse feels strange at times. In darkness, it’s almost like being back in prison. Only substantially more comfortable. And a whole lot less cold than Siberia. During daylight hours, the transparent clock-face at the far end of the warehouse filters light right into the office that functions as my apartment. And in the morning, the whole place is bathed in a soft haze of light.

I turn, and I smile. It still feels odd to do it. I was never much of a smile type in my life before. But doing so in prison could get you killed. Even if everyone else calls you The Beast.

But suddenly, it hits me: I’m alone in the bed. I bolt up, panic and fury rising. But I hear the creak of a metal door. My eyes snap up to the far wall, and the light suddenly pouring in from the maintenance hatch in the ceiling that leads to the roof.

A long, lithe bare leg eases down from the open hatch. Bare toes find the first rung of the wall-mounted ladder. I let my breath out as Nina gently climbs back down into the office apartment.

“You cannot go out there,” I growl.

She gasps, turning on the ladder to see me. But then she grins. “You’re awake.”

She hops the rest of the way down and turns to smile at me. She’s just wearing my huge, oversized t-shirt again. It may be like a dress on her, but it’s still high enough that I can almost catch a peak of her tight little ass. I can still see her nipples poking through the front of it.

“You can’t go out there, Nina,” I grunt.

She arches a brow, stopping in front of me. “Yes, I can.”

I glare at her, and she grins. “I’m not your prisoner, Kostya.”

“I could tie you to the bed and change that.”

She blushes. Her teeth drag across her lips. I step towards her and slide my hands over her hips.

“It’s dangerous out there.”

“It’s beautiful, actually.” She glances back up at the open hatch. “Come on.”

I frown, hesitating. Nina grins.

“Have you ever even been up there?”

“Not really.”

She sighs. “Well, let’s change that. Come on.”

Before I can argue or threaten to tie her up again, she spins and skips over the ladder. She starts to climb. Any further arguments I have about why we shouldn’t be going up there in broad daylight vanish when her shirt rides up, though. I growl as my eyes soak in the sight of her bare ass and tantalizing pussy.

But then she’s out the hatch, gone from sight. I yank on a pair of jeans and quickly climb after her. Outside, I blink as I step into…

“It’s heaven, isn’t it?”

She’s not wrong. I stare, my jaw open, as I drink in the sea of color surrounding us. The warehouse is in the middle of nowhere, in an abandoned section of an industrial zone. But the entire roof is filled with bright, gorgeous wildflowers.

“What the fuck…”

“Birds,” she grins as I step out of the hatch.

I turn slowly, taking in the wonder around us.

“I think we can thank bird shit for this—carrying the seeds from elsewhere and dropping them here on their way through Chicago.”

I don’t have any words. I just stare in wonder. I’ve never really seen so much color in one place before, and it’s almost overwhelming.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I nod.

“I can’t believe you’ve never been up here!”

I just stare in wonder at the sea of color. Nina turns and slides into me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I look down into her eyes, and I smile. I lean down, and I kiss her slowly and softly.

All of this feels surreal—the colors, the freedom, the girl. Part of me even wonders if maybe I’m dead—that I died in that pit of Siberian Hell, and all of this is just my purgatory. But she’s so real under my fingers and against my lips.

She pulls back, and I turn to gaze out at the flowers again.

“Like butterflies,” I murmur.

Nina blushes and sinks into my arms again. But suddenly, I hear a gurgle from her. She giggles.

“I’m actually starving.”

I chuckle. “I have food in the refrigerator downstairs. Come.”

I let Nina go down the hatch first, then I follow. I leave the door open though, letting the air and sunshine in. At the far end of the office, I have a small fridge, a toaster, and an electric stovetop. Nina stares at them with a wrinkled brow.

“How do you power all of this?”

“There’s a generator downstairs.” I open the fridge and peer in. “Do you want toast or something?”

I feel her slide behind me, peering over my shoulder. “Well, how hungry are you?”

I shrug. “I can go a while without—”

“Kostya.”

“Yes?”

“This isn’t prison. You don’t have to tough it out between meals.”

I grin.

“What do you want?” She pulls back from the fridge and glances at the small shelf on the wall laden with bags of flour, rice, and other dried goods.

“I…” I shrug. “I don’t know.”

“Then sit. I’ll cook.”

“You cook?”

She grins. “How is it you’ve been stalking me this long and don’t know that?”

“Because I have literally never seen you cook.”

She giggles. “Okay, I don’t cook often. But I do know how. Sit, relax.”

I chuckle as I take a seat at the small table. Nina spins and starts plucking things out of the refrigerator and down from shelves. I just sit back and watch, letting my eyes soak her in—especially when that shirt rides up and gives me a peek of her ass or her little pussy.

By the time I realize she’s putting a mug of coffee in front of me, I’m rock-hard. I reach for her to pull her into my lap. But she grins teasingly