Chapter 6
Nikolai
H er pulse is erratic as she squirms in my shadows’ hold, her fury fueling a carnal need in me. I’ve never felt so thrilled, so alive. Oh, beautiful, you’re not going anywhere. Especially since I’ve found something to live for.
Now that she is up, I see her much better. Her eyes are deep brown, no flecks. Interesting. She’s human.
That’s a small problem since humans have the life span of a wink but I can handle that, I can turn her. It’s not ideal since turning humans into vampires has been banned for centuries. I’ll have to find a way to extend her life without making her a Ravenger.
But those chocolate eyes of hers burn into me like hot iron on seared skin. Every time she looks at me, it feels like she can see through me. As if she’s searching and peeling back every layer until she finds all the sharp and shattered pieces that are me.
With time, could you mend my brokenness?
Sleeping beauty is about five-nine, with perfectly shaped brows and braids that flow down to the middle of her back. In her skintight pants, her hips are curvy and full, and legs toned and long.
She surprised the hell out of me when she jumped out that window.
I never thought her scanning the room would result in such a move.
If I had hesitated one more second, she probably could have escaped.
Watching her calculate and strategize in real time was intriguing. She is not one I should underestimate.
I have my hands full.
Shadows too.
Rapping my fingers on my father’s office door, I call out, “it’s us.”
“Come in.” My father sits behind his desk with papers spread across it.
I walk both me and my wife-to-be to the edge of his desk. There are photos in the mix of his papers, some are images of empty containers.
“You wanted to see us.”
“And?”
He finally looks up and it’s like I’m looking into my own reflection. Other than his short hair, some fine wrinkles and the three piece deep grey suit he’s wearing this morning, we’re nearly identical.
“What did she decide?”
Leaning forward until I’m slightly in her face, I respond, “she said yes.”
“She can speak for herself,” she says defiantly. “Anything you want to know, ask me directly. I’ve never needed a man to answer for me before, I won’t start needing one to answer for me now.”
My eyes snap between her and my father. No one has dared to talk to me, let alone him, this way before.
I like it.
Defy me more.
“I see,” he leans back in his chair, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “I’m Vladmir Volkov. ”
I begin to circle her, taking stock of her. Her eyes follow my movement as if she understands she is prey.
“That’s Nikolai.” He interlocks his fingers across his center. “What’s your name, little one?” A grin plays on his face.
“Aspen.”
Plausible .
“Last name?”
“Martin,” she grits.
I slant my eyes at her.
“To be clear, you do know I will look into you, and I will find out if you’re lying.”
“You see, I’m not shaking.”
That’s true. I feel no tremors coming from her in my shadows as she continues to hold my gaze as if I’m the only threat in this room.
“Excellent,” he claps before standing. “As Niko has told you, you will marry him, if not, you die. Let’s sign the contract—”
“Contract?” She finally turns her gaze to my father.
“You didn’t think I would just take your word, did you?”
She swallows, the first true sign of fear she’s shown this entire time. A part of me wants to comfort her, let her know our union is nothing to fear. That she’s safe with me. Always.
“You will marry Nikolai.” He waits for her to acknowledge his statement.
She nods reluctantly.
“Stay married for one year.”
One year ?
I raise an eyebrow to my father. He knows damn well that once I speak those vows to her, this will be forever.
He clears his throat and shakes off my stare. “Within that year,” he continues, pointing his finger at her. “You will bear an heir.”
An heir?
My chest tightens. My mind instantly reminds me of what I’ve lost. What I could have had with Helana.
“After a year and a child, you are free to go.”
Free? Releasing a scoff, I shake my head. There will never be a time that I let my child and its mother be anywhere but beside me. Nothing of mine will ever be free.
Her pulse spikes through my shadows. “If we’re only going to be married for a year, why a child?” She asks, thoroughly confused. “Will we have joint custody?”
He chuckles, she flinches and I clench my fist.
What the fuck did she say? How will joint custody work when you’re tied to me for the rest of your life?
“The child stays with us, little one.” My father’s voice is final, leaving no room for bidding or negotiating.
I can tell that her world stopped by the way her pulse flutters erratically against my shadows.
She twists and jerks in my restraints. “No. If you think I will bear and abandoned my child, you are out of your rabid ass mind. I will burn all this shit down before that will ever happen.” Venom and promise lace her voice, her fire igniting mine.
Her eyes dance from him to me and to all of the corners of the room. She’s planning her escape again .
Don’t worry, Aspen, you won’t be leaving me that easily.
“Not so fast,” my father sucks his teeth. “You might be singing a new tune when you see this.”
He pulls up an image on the large screen on the wall beside us. It’s an unconscious man in a hospital bed. He’s not in the family ward at the compound.
“Roman,” she breathes out.
That’s the fucker she’s been looking for. They look about the same age, mid-twenties maybe.
“Let him go!” she screams, becoming irate and belligerent. “You let him go or there will be no marriage contract because you all will be dead.” She bares her teeth at my father, fierce and fucking beautiful.
Aspen slings harsh words at us both. She twists and turns within my shadows, trying to find any way to escape me.
Fortunately, there will be no escaping. The brutal truth is, she’s mine now. Plus, she’s essential to my ascension as Pakhan, a position I’ve been groomed for. A position people have been sacrificed for.
Helana .
Roman must be her lover. Even when she found out she was kidnapped, tried to escape, fight me, she wasn’t this ballistic.
“Who is he to you?” I ask, gently placing a braid behind her ear, trying to rein in this anger mixed with jealousy I feel burning under my skin.
My heart rate picks up as I wait for her response. If she says that’s her boyfriend or whatever the fuck, I might just kill him myself—
No. I can’t scare her away. I need to hear her out before I make drastic decisions.
Like, instead of killing him, I could simply flay him until he’s nothing but flesh and keep in displayed it a glass case to remind her, she’ll never be anyone else’s.
Only mine. Maybe even have her give me all the names of her past lovers and skin them too, to show her that only I will have her past present and future.
Always.
I shake that thought away.
Panting, she says, “my brother.”
A lone tear falls from her cheek, a weakness revealed.
Fuck. I see it and so does my father. He pulls out his gun from the inside of his suit jacket and points it to the center of her forehead.
My shadows shoot forward towards my father, but he must have been anticipating my reaction because his shadows block mine before they could reach him.
“Father.” I warn but he doesn’t heed or yield.
Aspen looks straight into the barrel with no reaction. Not a blink or a small gasp leaving her lips.
Interesting.
“It’s simple. Marry Nikolai, you’ll live.
Most importantly, your brother lives.” When she slightly nods, he gives her a teasing smile and places the gun on his desk.
“Good. I’ll have the doctor come over to check your ovulation schedule.
Once I know what that is, we will schedule the wedding on your first fertility day.
It’s the best way to optimize absolute surety of pregnancy. ”
“What about my brother?” she asks slightly above a whisper.
“Once I have proof of consummation, I will release him after the wedding. Niko, give me her hand,” he commands.
My shadow pushes her right hand towards my father. He pulls out a knife from his desk drawer .
“Repeat after me, Aspen. I swear by breath and by blood that I am bound. If I betray it, let it break me in return.”
Albeit hesitant, Aspen repeats every word before my father cuts across her palm. She winces but quickly schools her face. I let her watch me as I slowly use an elongated nail to slice my palm then place it on hers, completing the seal.
“Welcome home, little one,” my father says with a glimmer of glee.
Taking out his handkerchief, he wipes the blood from Aspen palm that’s already healed from my blood mixing with hers. He goes behind his desk, placing his gun inside a drawer then shuffling through the scattered papers on top. His silent dismissal is loud and clear.
Though something tells me, even if Aspen said no and chose death for both her and her brother, he was never going to pull the trigger. He came off cold and concise, but the nagging feeling in the back of my head says that was only a facade.
He wanted her to choose this, whether it was by force or free will.
Why?
Walking back to her guest room is quiet, she looks completely distraught, defeated. All her earlier fight, gone, and I miss it already.
We step into the room.
“If I remove your restraints, will you behave.”
She remains quiet, her eyes staring out in space.
I unfold my shadows from her wrists, torso and ankles. Every place where my shadows held her is red and the skin is irritated.
Fuck. I held on to her too roughly.
She takes slow steps to the bed. Climbing in, Aspen brings the covers to her chest. She folds her hands on top of the blankets and simply lies there, still, casket-like.
“Speak,” I command.
I know she has a lot to say. Her not throwing curses my way or planning an escape is jarring. There was never a time in this short encounter of our meeting, where she didn’t threaten or scheme.
Her gorgeous eyes slowly turn to me, sizing me up. “I will kill you before you can touch any part of my body. Married or not.”
We will just have to see about that, won’t we.
***
Harsh white pain spreads across my face before it registers that Quinn slapped me.
I step back with my hand out to her, signaling her to stop and not to move any closer to me.
If she hits me again, I’ll have to have a serious conversation with the Bratva’s families on why one of their princesses’ head is off her shoulders.
Quinn arrived at my apartment ten minutes after I walked through the door. I had to come here to give myself some space from the compound.
From her .
My mind is constantly circling back to Aspen. The way she jumped out that window without hesitation. When she threatened me while restrained. The fire in her eyes when she spat venom at my father.
Aspen dangerously intrigues me.
And thank fuck Roman is her brother. Who really knows what would have happened if he wasn’t. He better count himself lucky .
Taking a step back, I see how they could be related. They look similar. Maybe twins. They look very close in age.
“You can’t break up with me,” Quinn bellows, bringing me back to this moment.
I sigh. “We were never together.” I rub the side of my face.
“Yea well we are something. I gave you five years of my life, that means something.” She paces the room.
Another act.
“Why did I have to hear you are getting married from your second in command?!” Her one sided screaming match continues.
Fucking Sergei.
I exhale a long breath. “It’s none of your business what I do. You knew I had to get married and it wasn’t going to be you.”
“You say that like we didn’t fuck last night.”
I give a half lift of my shoulder. “You knew what this was.”
She rushes to my side, desperately rubbing her hands over my arms. “We can still see each other, right? She’ll only be your wife in name only.”
“No. Real or fake, my vows are ironclad.”
Aspen is unaware that once I say I do, it’s forever. She can spend eternity hating me, but she’ll be fine, she’ll learn to live with it.
Quinn’s eyes flutter shut. “You’re firmly committing to someone you met less than twenty-four hours ago. But you couldn’t commit to me who you have known since we were kids?”
I let her question linger in the air unanswered. I betrayed Helana by sleeping with her best friend. Marrying said best friend would be beyond disrespectful. Let the damage end here .
“Can I at least meet her?”
I tilt my head, calculating her motives. No good would come of it and Quinn will only grow resentful if I try to keep Aspen hidden away.
Will Quinn try to intimidate Aspen? Appraise her?
Quinn does have a nasty attitude towards anyone she deems powerless. Quinn will learn quickly, like I did, that Aspen is far from weak. Aspen is exactly the kind of cosmic force I want to collide with.