Their Vengeance: Siren's Revenge Book Two

3. Pasha

Fyodor”s Rules #30 - Set boundaries in all aspects of your life.

The next few days blurred together. I stared at my screens for so long I was worried my eyes were becoming rectangle shaped. But the memory of Yana in my clothes kept distracting me. I knew most men went feral at the thought of a woman in one of their business shirts. It was a territorial thing, having her draped in your clothing and your scent. But seeing her in my corset vest—tightly pressed against her skin, cupping her breasts—and those leather pants. I would take that over some loose, shapeless shirt any day.

Now really wasn”t the time to hit on her. I was the one who was suave and skilled with words, but even I didn”t know what to say to her. “Sorry, we thought you were dead for a decade. I know you thought we tried to have you killed, but how about we fuck until we feel better?” Yeah, that was an easy way to get stabbed.

None of us knew how to act around her. Alexei paced and muttered to himself. He had been in and out of my room several times. Not talking to me, or doing anything, just pacing while he knitted aggressively. How someone could walk and knit at the same time was beyond my comprehension, but he managed it.

Nikolai spent a lot of time in his office, but I knew he was working—much like me. Where he pulled in favors, made calls, and handled discrete inquiries, I was turning over every rock I could find. I was also running facial recognition against the cameras at every location we owned to make sure we weren”t being spied on. While I kept track of as many of Alexei”s relatives as I could, as well as where they were spending their money. They were a Luddite group, too busy dancing naked under the moon and eating children to spend time surfing the web, it seemed.

Lukas was taking care of Yana, or I hoped he was, anyway. I hadn”t left my room since our meeting finished. Food appeared at random intervals, and I mostly slept in my chair. I had the pictures which started this whole mess displayed on one screen; I still couldn”t tell they were fake, despite how I continued to stare at them. Photo manipulation had never been a skill of mine, but I had been sure of my ability to spot a fake. As far as I, or any of the programs I ran the images through, could tell, the pictures were legitimate.

So why didn’t it make me feel any better?

The door to my room opened and closed, but I didn”t look up from the camera feeds my software was analyzing. I kept detailed notes on the movements of Alexei”s cousin Darya, feeding the information to Nikolai in case there was anything he could do with it, or if it was helpful to Fyodor. She was the only one of the Grandmother’s Children who entered the city, and none of the other members of Alexei”s old family ever appeared on camera. I tried not to think about the fact Fyodor was alive. For some reason, it was easier to accept Yana lived.

But that wasn”t entirely true. It wasn”t only for some reason. And it wasn”t something I didn”t understand. I could empathize with Yana being fooled, as we had been fooled too. But Fyodor was supposed to be better than us. He was our dad. He taught us everything we knew, not only how to survive the darker side of the lives we lived, but how to thrive. If they had fooled him, then what possible hope did we have to solve this, let alone beat them?

Fingers gripped my chin and turned my head away from my screens. It took me a couple of blinks to adjust to the change in both lighting and the distance I needed to focus. My brow furrowed when my eyes found Lukas”s green ones. “What are you doing here? Aren”t you supposed to be helping Yana settle in?”

He gave my head a gentle shake, and it felt like the world spun. That probably wasn”t a good sign.

“Right now, you”re more important. Alexei is showing her the basement—tour only. She insisted she wanted to see it, but I gave her a knife just in case.”

Nikolai would probably have said something about her having a weapon, but really, she was a weapon if you considered it. I had stopped wearing the earbuds so she could have controlled my mind at any point. Lukas wasn”t wearing his either.

If we wanted her to trust us, we needed to show her trust first.

Lukas”s words still confused me. “What do you mean, I’m more important?”

The words came out more accusatory than intended. I could feel a headache coming on, now I no longer focused on the computer screens. His fingers dug into my chin, but my body was having a hard time processing the pain signals it received. All I could do was take a couple of deep breaths and hope the oxygen made things easier to understand. Though of course it didn”t.

“You haven”t eaten the food I set down for you hours ago.” I tried to look at the desk as he spoke, but his grip forced my eyes to remain on him. “You also haven”t slept in at least twenty-four hours, and you desperately need a shower.”

Well, that was just hurtful. But when I tried to set my feet on the floor—rather than tucked underneath me on the chair—I realized my legs had gone completely numb. That wasn”t good. Dammit, maybe he was right.

“I”ll take a shower. And a nap. Though there is still an entire mountain of work for me to get done, so I will eat when I wake up. I’m really not hungry.” I didn”t get to voice any more plans, which if I was being honest with myself, I wouldn’t go through with. Lukas had quite an incredible grip strength, and right now it was clamped onto my jaw. He pulled me upward until I was out of my chair, struggling to stand on my numb feet.

“What is it with you social types not being able to take care of yourselves properly?” His hand slid across my cheek, almost like a caress, before it tangled in my hair and tugged my head back. My breath came out in a hiss as I was forced to lean into him like a swooning woman, pins and needles racing up and down my legs as the blood flowed again.

Things must be bad if I was bringing out this side of Lukas. Much like Nikolai, he liked to take care of us, but he rarely became this intense. And this was the first time he had gripped my hair and marched me into the bathroom, rather than bend me over a bed. Clearly, he knew I wouldn’t listen to anything he had said once he was out of sight.

I could have fought him over it. Could have made him let me go. Lukas always won in a physical altercation between us, but if I told him to stop, I was sure he would. He wasn”t one to force me to do something I absolutely didn”t want to do. I didn”t fight him, though. I let him turn on the shower and tug my shirt over my head. Undoing my trousers on my own, I huffed at him.

He was right. I hadn”t been taking care of myself.

Hissing as the hot water hit my skin, I danced out of the spray, trying not to let it touch me too much.

Who showered in lava? Jesus!

Reaching for the taps, I let out more cold water. I had always loved my large shower, well until it was being used against me. The chuckle from behind snapped me out of checking my chest for third-degree burns. Lukas was in the shower with me.

He didn”t often join us for any kind of intimacy, but was always an enthusiastic participant on those rare occasions. It simply wasn”t something he indulged in. It was rare he joined one of us alone. If he did with the others, they kept tight-lipped about it; probably to avoid hurting my feelings.

His hand reached out and tugged me back under the water, which thankfully was no longer trying to melt my skin off. “It wasn”t even hot, Pash. You”ve just been sitting in your room for too long.”

It was true. I kept my room on the cooler side, as it was better for the electronics. It also encouraged any company I invited over to snuggle against me for warmth.

I wasn”t sure when Lukas had grabbed my shampoo, but he now squeezed some into his hands.

“You know, you didn”t have to come into the shower to make sure I was getting clean.” I sounded sulkier than I truly felt. We all had a habit of getting into moods where we didn”t listen to each other. Even if we were only trying to help. I had been staring at those pictures of Yana and Fyodor lying dead for so long I was sure I would see them in every dream I had until I died. I really was grateful Lukas snapped me out of my negative obsession.

As Lukas”s fingers slid into my hair, my eyes instantly fluttered closed, and my hand shot out to brace myself against the tiled wall. I knew I became touch-starved quicker than the others. Sometimes it felt like it only took a day or two before I craved physical contact. It didn”t need to be sexual contact—despite what my brothers claimed—physical contact soothed my soul and made me feel complete.

Lukas didn”t come across as a people person, mostly because he hated almost everyone. Maybe it was a Wild Hunt thing, or due to the way we were raised, but he rarely socialized outside our little family. He had a good bond with his team, but that was different, it was professional. What I would expect between a squad of soldiers and their commander.

His fingers in my hair were insistent as he turned me and tugged me closer, my forehead pressed to his chest. One of the few reasons I was thankful for being shorter than both Nikolai and Lukas. It meant I could melt under the feeling of his fingers massaging my scalp, helping me relax as the water beat against my back. It was almost as good as a massage.

I really had been sitting in my chair for too long.

I almost protested when he made me lift my head, but the water cascading down my face encouraged me to keep my mouth shut. It was only a brief minute before he pulled me back to him again as his fingers worked conditioner into my hair. For someone who usually kept their hair under a motorcycle helmet or a hat, he was surprisingly good at taking care of mine.

Once the conditioner was worked into every single hair on my head, I tried to reach for the body-wash, but Lukas batted my hands away. “Just relax and let me help you.”

I wasn”t sure what he thought I had been doing so far, but I nodded, closing my eyes. The shower was so relaxing. I was slightly concerned about falling asleep, but undoubtedly that was his goal all along.

I wasn”t ashamed of the moan which spilled out of me as his rough hands spread suds over my skin. Fuck, that felt good. It became harder to stay still, but Lukas”s hands were firm enough they discouraged me from moving. I wasn”t sure where I would go, anyway. I didn”t want this to end. He was thorough, but not as intimate as I would have liked. Clearly, he was only trying to get me clean rather than get both of us dirty. The longer this went on, the more exhaustion sunk into my bones. For once, I found myself without the energy or motivation to steer things toward something more sexual.

I was swaying on my feet when he urged me back under the water.

“We”re almost done Pash.” His voice was softer, not quite a whisper, but not its usual bark, either.

I just nodded, not sure what to say. All too soon, the water was turned off, and a fluffy towel wrapped around me. Opening my eyes, I took the towel from him, and he didn”t protest. I could dry myself off, I wasn”t completely useless.

Lukas had slung a towel around his waist, letting his hair drip water which ran down his neck and chest. Even so, exhaustion kept anything from stirring inside of me. Or outside, for that matter.

“I was going to make you eat, but I think right now you”re so tired, you”d choke on it.” Lukas”s dig was uncalled for, I”d never choked on anything in my life. But he was right. I was too tired to even chew.

Stumbling into the bedroom, I didn”t look at my computer, ignoring the screens for the first time in days. As I usually slept naked, I didn”t bother with clothes, and the silk sheets were cool against my skin as I face-planted onto the bed.

Not done with his whole caring routine, Lukas tucked a blanket around me and turned the computer screens off, casting the room into darkness. I didn”t even hear him close the door. Sleep immediately sunk in its claws and dragged me under.