Toxic

SCARLETT
I stayed.
That’s the truth no one would understand.
I could have run. I could have tried to disappear.
Instead I stayed inside his bunker while the city hunted us both.
It’s different now. He doesn’t treat me like something fragile. He trains me. Pushes me. Tests me. His hands are still rough, but they’re teaching instead of restraining.
And when he pulls me against him at night, it isn’t about proving dominance anymore.
It’s about need.
He looks at me like I’m the only thing in the room worth protecting.
That kind of attention is dangerous.
Because I’ve stopped being afraid of him.
Now I’m afraid of how far I’d go for him.
If they try to take him from me, they won’t find the girl who was dragged out of a party.
They’ll find someone ready to stand beside him and pull the trigger.

NIKOLAI
The world is unstable. Alliances are shifting. Enemies are testing boundaries.
She doesn’t flinch.
That’s new.
Scarlett used to glare at me like I was the enemy. Now she stands next to me during briefings and doesn’t look away from the blood on the table.
She’s adapting. Fast.
When I touch her, she doesn’t freeze.
She leans in.
That changes everything.
They think she’s my weakness.
They don’t understand she’s becoming my equal.
If someone puts a hand on her, I won’t negotiate.
I won’t warn them.
I’ll remove them.
And she’ll watch.
Not because I force her to.
Because she wants to.

This is the second book in The Dark Virtue series. Reading order:
Savage.
Toxic.
Sinful.

308 pages. Kindle edition.