God of Fury (Legacy of Gods #5) by Rina Kent

“Bloody fucking hell!” He throws the door open and then shouts, “Nikolai, you fucking wank, come here.”

There’s a bit of a commotion and I’m scared they’re fighting. I stand up from the bed and grab the IV drip, but before I can move, a presence that’s larger than life is shoved into my room.

Lan winks at me before he closes the door, trapping me with Nikolai.

My hand slowly falls to my side as I study him. He’s in different jeans and T-shirt from the ones he wore last night, his hair is tied into a ponytail, and his face is…fuck.

Anguish and displeasure war into a tight knot. His lips are pursed, and his eyes are dark and enraged.

But at least they’re not empty. I can deal with rage.

One problem.

He’s not looking at me.

Not once has he looked at me since he walked in. His gaze is fixed on the floor and both hands are shoved in his pockets.

“Nikolai…?”

A harsh breath rolls out of his expanded chest, his jaw clenching and his biceps tightening, causing the tattoos to ripple.

“Are you going to look at me anytime soon or do you prefer to stay outside—”

He lifts his head and the words are cut off in my throat. The fear and rage that lingers in his eyes leave me speechless, completely taken in by him.

“How could you?” He strides toward me, his voice vibrating with fear instead of anger. “How could you try to leave me? Don’t you know I can’t live without you anymore?”

The moment he’s within reach, I take his hand in mine. The feel of his skin is like a shot of dopamine right through my veins.

“I’m sorry. I thought… I thought you’d find me weak and revolting. The idea of you seeing me differently haunts me, Nikolai. I don’t want to lose you.”

“But you’re okay with me losing you? I’m a shell without you, Bran.” He drags my hand to him and slams it against his chest. “This thing only beats for you and because of you. I used to live an aimless life where adrenaline was my god, but you came along and tamed my demons. You balance me. You complete me. You’re fucking in me. So seeing you bleeding out on the floor was no different than watching myself die. No, it was worse. I’ve never felt so scared for my life, but you…you’re my everything. How could you do that to me? To us?”

“I’m so sorry. The last thing I want is to hurt you.”

“Don’t apologize. Tell me you won’t do it again. Promise me.”

“I promise, Niko. Never again. I’ll do everything in my capacity to get better. I’ll go to therapy and pick myself apart to be strong enough to deserve you. Just don’t leave me, please.”

“Not even if you beg for it. I love you, lotus flower, and that means I’ll be by your side during all of your battles with your demons. I’ll kill them for you if you let me. I’ll listen to them if you want me to. But I’ll never leave you, so you’re stuck with me.”

I stroke his cheek over the stubble and try to stop my heart from bursting into flames. “You’re the one who’s stuck with me. There’s no one on this earth who’s able to understand and love me like you do. It’s why I gravitated toward you without even noticing. Falling for you was effortless and final. I thought I was unworthy of you, I fought myself to be with you, but it was pointless. I never loved myself the way I love you, baby.”

That beautiful grin breaks through the pain and I can feel my heart soaring. “Does that mean you’re mine now?”

“I think I always have been.”

“Thank you for coming back to me, baby.”

“Thank you for never giving up on me, Niko.”

And then I let him feel how grateful I am by pressing my lips to his.

The first kiss of our new life together.





EPILOGUE 1—BRANDON





SIX MONTHS LATER





“Stay still,” I chastise, pushing Nikolai’s hand off my waist.

He groans and his palm lands back on my hip like a rubber band. “This is fucking torture.”

I flick my brush over the ridge of his pectoral muscle, careful not to get red paint on the lotus flower.

My thin strokes slowly transform into the image of his necklace, painting the bullet on his skin, then drawing the chain so it’s wrapped around it in the shape of a lotus flower.

And just to mess with him, I make shallow strokes over his nipple. The sexy rumble beneath my fingers has me biting my lower lip to suppress my own noises of pleasure.

He’s effortlessly the most attractive specimen to ever walk the earth, beautiful in his confidence, loud in his assertiveness, and absolutely hotheaded in his loyalty.

Every day, I wake up to his stunning face and thank all gods and religions for putting him in my path. I never believed in fate until this mountain of a man flipped my world upside down and made me love every second of it.

Our journey hasn’t been easy. Far from it. But he’s stood with me every step of the way.

He was there when Dad broke the news that Grace committed suicide in her bath and left a note in which she confessed what she did and asked Mum and me for forgiveness.

My mother replied to that by having her disgraced in the art circuit and permanently removed from the art council’s Hall of Fame. She was also stripped of her peer title.