The Lazarov Bratva: The Complete Mafia Romance Collection

7. Alena

“Where are we going?”

For the one who’s the next heir to all that weapon business, Mikhail doesn’t strike me as all that bright. Just my luck.

“Somewhere away from the crowds.”

Keeping ahold of his hand, I lead Mikhail past the gazebo and out toward the rock garden. With stone imported from all over the world, the garden is a place of beauty. Small lights litter the path on either side, providing a safe path past rocks and bushes toward a rock pool with stone imported all the way from Asia. The outside world doesn’t breach the high shrubs around the pool, and the jasmine pergola frames a cushioned loveseat where I spent many days wishing for a better life. With the seclusion of the leaves and the bubbling of the water, many fantasies were created here.

Anything with more freedom.

“You just want to get me alone, huh?” Mikhail smirks, and his grip tightens on my hand as we walk up the path.

“Something like that.” My mind lingers on Kristof. Was he jealous? Did he even notice? Or did he watch with the careful eye of a guardian and nothing more?

“Something like what, exactly?”

I glance up at him, and Mikhail leans in suddenly, his lips making a beeline for mine. I jerk back and pull my hand from his.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing? Why else would you bring me out here?” Mikhail casts an arm around the garden and scoffs. “It’s pretty private.”

“To talk?” I pause near the edge of the rock pool. “I thought we could get to know each other better.” A half-truth.

“Did your mother put you up to this?”

“My mother—what? No, of course not.” Why would he think such a thing? Then again, as much as it is my duty to be married off to someone, it is also their duty to accept me. I wouldn’t put it past her to have given some sort of speech to everyone who crossed the threshold tonight.

Alena is up for auction!

“Then why are you playing so coy?” Mikhail approaches, and I step back until my back hits the lattice trellis. He stops an inch away and once again leans in for a kiss until I shove at him. My heart begins to pound, and the thorns of the bougainvillea prickle against my bare back.

“I’m not playing coy. I don’t want to kiss you—ahh!”

My wrist is enveloped by his hand, and he shoves it above my head, pinning me to the wood with more force than I expect from such a lithe form. My gut twists, and I shift my weight from one foot to the other, testing the grip, but Mikhail is taller than me. He leans in, his alcohol-tinged breath tickling my nose, so I use my free hand to push him away harder.

He barely shifts and a cold smirk stretches across his lips.

“Stop being such a tease.” His voice is low and his eyes narrow. “I want an early taste.”

“No, wait!”

“For fuck’s sake, Alena, I wasn’t asking your permiss?—”

Suddenly, Mikhail is gone. A rush of cold air passes over where he once stood. He crashes back down onto the paving stones with a loud grunt, and a large shadow melts from my left, stepping in between us.

No, not a shadow.

Kristof.

“The fuck?” Mikhail squeaks from where he landed.

Kristof’s shoulders heave with each breath, and what I can see of his handsome face is twisted into anger. He surges forward and grabs Mikhail by his collar, hauling him up from the ground. Being six foot five, he has no issues with holding Mikhail an inch or two off the ground and shaking him as if he were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

“If I see you within ten feet of Alena ever again, I’ll skin you alive and feed you to the city’s pigeons. Piece by piece. Is that clear?” Kristof’s voice, deep and accented with Russian, is cold and quiet. There’s something terrifying about the slow, calculated way he talks. Mikhail’s eyes are so wide I can see white around his pupils.

He stammers out a noise as he struggles, and Kristof leans closer. Mikhail’s struggles stop immediately.

“That means I will kill you.”

Mikhail’s face turns ashen, and he nods frantically. Kristof releases him the moment he does. I watch as Mikhail hits the ground like a rock, then he scrambles up onto his feet and sprints away as if the devil himself were on his heels.

Through it all, my heart trembles in sheer awe before I remind myself that Kristof and his actions are why I’m out here in the first place. It’s even more humiliating that he has to come and save me.

My cheeks burn as Kristof slowly turns to face me. His silver eyes sparkle like the stars above, and his gaze drags slowly down my body.

Stubbornness rises, and I toss my head slightly, stepping away from the trellis.

“Thanks, but I didn’t need any help.”

I make it a few steps before Kristof’s rough hand catches my upper arm. With a firm grip, he lightly pulls me back and tosses me back up against the trellis, knocking all the air from my lungs. He leans forward, one hand above me, gripping the wooden slats while the other thumbs over his lower lip.

Every breath I drag in is flooded with his scent of sweat and a spicy cologne that makes the back of my nose tingle. I can’t move, pinned in place by his mere presence despite the dying thought to storm away.

He doesn’t deserve my attention or my time, yet my heart thunders, and the air around us feels charged, like the first few seconds before a storm.

This has to be some kind of dream. There’s no way Kristof is really here, this close to me.

“It’s not wise to go around kissing boys in your back garden,” Kristof says, talking softly. He shakes his head lazily.

“I don’t—I wasn’t!” My words tumble over themselves, then I jut my chin out slightly and look him right in the eye. “In fact, I’ve never kissed anyone.”

Kristof’s brow raises ever so slightly.

Then, suddenly, he kisses me and my mind explodes into light.

His lips are softer than I expected, and the scar on his lower lip drags slightly against my mouth. One large hand, his palm rough, cups the side of my neck, and he holds me in place with a light pressure that makes my head swim. The slight stubble around his jaw grazes against my chin as he kisses me deeper, switching his angle without even breaking apart for air. I am utterly and completely in awe.

This is happening!

I can’t think.

I can barely breathe, and when his firm tongue presses against the seam of my lips, I follow my instincts and part them. Kristof’s tongue snakes into my mouth, stroking my own, and I stand there, utterly at his mercy. He tastes like alcohol and something sharp that I can’t put my finger on. Whatever it is, it’s addicting. He kisses me deeper, pressing his mouth firmer against mine. Finally, something in my mind kicks into gear and I grab handfuls of his leather jacket.

My senses are fogged, my mind swims, and nothing else in the world exists except Kristof and this kiss until my lungs start to burn slightly from a lack of air. I try to pull back. He doesn’t let me, instead pushing firmer against me as if trying to press us so firmly together that we become one.

I don’t mind that at all.

I don’t need air. I don’t need anything. I just need him and this sweet attention.

He’s overpowering and all-consuming, and I want it all.

My eyes close, and a soft moan bubbles up in the back of my throat. Only then does Kristof break the kiss. He leans back slightly as I drag in a desperate gasp of air. Dizziness sweeps through my mind, and I stand on unsteady legs, still clinging to his jacket, until I open my eyes.

He has a hand out between us, and on his palm sits something silver. I can still feel him against my lips, the ghost of pressure, and even when I swallow, it’s like his tongue is still inside my mouth. Blinking slowly, I study the item as it slowly comes into focus.

“Your other present,” Kristof says, his voice gruff.

In the center of his palm sits a platinum pendant with a Russian inscription etched onto the surface.

The wolf and the lamb.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmur, taking it from him with trembling fingers. Kicked back into gear, my mind races as fast as my heart pounds as I unravel the chain and slide it around my neck.

I have so much to say and ask, but before the clasp even closes, the click-clack of high heels on stone cuts through the night air. Kristof pulls away from me immediately as the shrill voice of his date slices through the air.

“Kristof! There you are. I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

Just like that, the most precious moment of my life is over.