Chapter 218: Your Father Is Testing You

He didn’t wait for her to adjust. Just started movin....hard, deep, possessive strokes that claimed her completely. The bed creaked beneath them, the headboard hitting the wall with each thrust, but Dimitri didn’t care who heard.

He wanted the world to know that Eve belonged to him.

"Dimitri...." Eve gasped his name like a prayer, her nails digging into his back.

He changed his angle slightly....hitting that spot deep inside her that made her vision blur and suddenly every stroke was pushing her closer to another orgasm despite having just come twice.

"How many do you think you can give me?" Dimitri asked, his voice dark silk against her ear. "How many times can I make you come before you completely lose yourself?"

"I don’t....I can’t...." Eve started.

"Yes, you can," Dimitri said. He pulled almost completely out of her and then drove back in hard, making her gasp. "And you will. Because I need this, cara mia. I need to feel you fall apart beneath me. I need to know that when I’m gone, you’ll remember exactly how much you belong to me."

He increased his pace, each thrust harder, deeper, more possessive than the last. His hand moved between them and found her clit, circling it with expert precision while his cock filled her completely.

"Dimitri..." Eve cried out, her whole body tensing.

"Come," he commanded. "Come for me now Eve."

Eve shattered again, convulsing around him, screaming his name, her entire body shaking with the intensity of the orgasm.

But Dimitri wasn’t done.

He pulled out suddenly, flipping her onto her stomach before she could process what was happening. He positioned her on her knees and entered her from behind pounding deeper from this angle.

"Oh God!" Eve cried out, her hands gripping the sheets.

"Don’t pray to God," Dimitri said, his hand fisting in her dark hair, pulling her head back. "Pray to me. I’m the only one who can save you right now."

He fucked her hard....each thrust driving her forward, the headboard continuing its rhythmic assault on the wall. His other hand gripped her hip, holding her steady while he claimed her with a single-minded intensity that left no question about who she belonged to.

Eve was making sounds she’d never made before...broken cries of pleasure and desperation and need.

"Look at yourself," Dimitri commanded, pointing her attention toward the mirror across the room.

In the reflection, Eve could see them....Dimitri behind her, muscles flexing with each thrust, his face dark with concentration and possession. Her own body, completely undone, completely his.

"See that?" Dimitri said, his voice rough. "That’s what we are. That’s what we do to each other."

He shifted his angle again, hitting somewhere deep and impossible....and suddenly Eve was coming again, harder than before.

Her whole body went rigid, her mouth opening in a silent scream as the pleasure overwhelmed her nervous system. Dimitri held her through it, his own control finally shattering as he felt her fall apart around him.

He came with a harsh groan, spilling inside her, marking her in the most intimate way possible.

For a long moment, they stayed like that.....both breathing hard, both completely undone, both unable to move.

Then Dimitri pulled out carefully and gathered her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Eve was already half-asleep, her body too exhausted to do anything but surrender.

"Sleep," Dimitri whispered, his hand stroking her damp hair. "I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere."

But even as he said the words, they both knew it was a lie. He was going somewhere. In less than seventy-two hours, he was going to walk into a facility that might kill him.

Eve’s breathing evened out as she slipped into sleep, and Dimitri lay there in the dark, holding her tight, trying to memorize the way she felt against him.

Trying to convince himself that he would survive long enough to hold her like this again.

His eyes closed, and for the first time in forty-eight hours, Dimitri let himself rest, Knowing that when he woke up, the real war would begin.

***

POV: DANTE

The car was running, engine idle, parked three blocks from Isabella’s apartment building.

Dante sat in the back seat with the windows tinted dark enough that no one passing by would see him. His second-in-command, Luca, sat across from him with a tablet, updating him on developments that had shifted in the last forty-eight hours.

"Your father wants a face-to-face," Luca said without preamble. "He’s calling an emergency meeting. Tomorrow night."

Dante didn’t respond immediately. Just looked out the window at the street below....at the ordinary people living ordinary lives, completely unaware that the ground beneath them was shifting.

"What’s changed?" Dante asked finally.

"The Covenant timeline accelerated," Luca said. "Field deployment moved from thirty days to fourteen. Which means their operation is moving into active phase faster than anyone anticipated."

"And my father thinks this affects us," Dante said. It wasn’t a question.

"Your father thinks this affects you," Luca corrected carefully. "He wants you to visit the facility. As family representative. To assess The Covenant’s operational status and report back on whether our continued involvement is... strategically sound."

Dante turned from the window and looked at his second-in-command. Luca was solid....had been with him for five years, had proven his loyalty through a dozen operations that required silence and discretion. But even Luca looked uncomfortable delivering this message.

"My father is testing me," Dante said quietly.

"Your father is always testing you," Luca agreed. "But this test is different. This one has real stakes. The Covenant’s accelerated timeline means they’re either confident they can’t be stopped, or they’re desperate because someone is close to stopping them."

"And my father wants to know which," Dante finished.

"And your father wants you positioned on the winning side when the dust settles," Luca said. There was something almost sympathetic in his tone. "Whether that’s The Covenant’s side or someone else’s."