Chapter 36 – Isabella
“ O h, shit,” I gasped. “They heard us? How did they hear us?!”
Ilya smirked. It would have been handsome, the corner of his mouth quirking up like that, if this was a situation that could be funny. “You could have raised the dead, beautiful.”
I scrambled off the dresser, his hands helping me so I didn’t fall. I ripped open the top drawer, taking out my cozy flannel jammies. I threw them on, mercifully stopping to grab the silky summer set and shoving it back in the drawer.
“Isabella!” my fiancé called, worry sharp in his voice.
Ilya’s gaze thinned as he looked to the door. He wasn’t even nervous! How the hell was that possible? I might have screamed as I came undone, alerting my fiancé to what happened, and heaven knew who else. And there seemed to be a slight annoyance dancing over Ilya’s features at being interrupted.
“Go hide,” I hissed, pushing him toward the bathroom.
The monster crossed his arms and remained stock-still.
Did he even care if we were caught? Well, I sure as hell did!
“Ilya,” I pleaded. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be!”
“What will you give me if I hide?”
Bargaining. He was always bargaining.
Isn’t that what monsters do? The absent thought flashed in my mind. I knew what I’d gotten myself into with this game. Now I just needed to play this next match.
“Whatever you want,” I snapped, giving him another shove just as Alonzo called for me again.
Ilya chuckled. The sound held a dark promise. I would not admit the rough tone seemed to shiver over my skin. He was not going to have the satisfaction of seeing that.
I moved the dresser, hoisting it away from the wall. “Coming, Lonzo!” I shouted.
Muttering a string of Russian under his breath, the monster finally moved. He went into the bathroom, his terrible gaze focused on me.
I hurried to the door and ripped it open. “Spider! It was huge , Lonzo. I need to go get the vacuum—”
I made to rush past him, as if collecting the household cleaning items was the sole important thing in the world.
Alonzo put out his arm and caught me. “Where is it? Where’s the spider?”
I pointed, stammering and making feminine noises of distress. “The damn thing ran under my dresser and the picture fell off its nail, and now there’s no way in hell I’ll sleep since I know it’s there, and— and—”
“Isabella.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, bringing me into his frame for an awkward hug. “I’ll save you from the spider.”
Those thin arms wrapped around me like string beans as guilt surged through me, overwhelming my senses and making me choke for real. There was no warmth in his embrace, just as there was no comfort in the thin arms that could so easily be snapped.
Pulling back, I shifted in my doorway. “I’m sorry to worry you with my silliness. I didn’t think you left the wake yet.”
Alonzo tugged at the back of his neck. “The wake ended an hour ago, and the funeral home took the casket to the church for the morning. The don and his inner circle are holed up in the office. I came up here to, uh….” He sighed. “I can’t stand the drinking and remembering, the vows of vengeance, and the displays of apish bravado. The soldiers are just sitting around down there, waiting for directions, but a few were looking green around the edges. Like they ate bad food or something. Probably just too much alcohol though.”
Huh. They might be too drunk to realize they were suffering from a poison that mimicked food sickness.
“I was reading a book when I heard you scream. I’ve never heard you scream, but it sounded…weird?” he added.
Warmth flooded my cheeks. I needed to make him leave. But the knight in shining armor wouldn’t desert the damsel when distressed.
“Sorry again,” I muttered. “But I’m okay, really. I just need the vacuum.”
“Do you know where it is? The house staff left shortly after the wake. They’ll be here early to clean up after the carousing tonight.” Alonzo swung his arms back and forth as he followed me down the hall.
“It’s in here.” I tugged open a door near the back stairs where there were supplies for the upper level.
“And you know how to use that?” my fiancé pressed.
I gave him a flat look. “We might have grown up with servants, Lonzo, but I know how to use a damn vacuum.”
“That’s really—” He hesitated, seeming to want to reach for me, but thought better of it. His throat bobbed as he cleared it. “That’s really cool, Isabella. Maybe you could teach me?”
But…I don’t have to be with you. Those words hadn’t had a chance to sink in quite yet. Now, as I blinked at my fiancé, I realized there could be an alternate future. One where I wasn’t tethered to this sweet boy. I could choose me .
Realizing I’d been too long quiet, I barked a laugh to cover the pause. “You? Want to learn to clean?”
“Well, yeah.” He tugged at the back of his neck again.
“You know what, that’s a great idea,” I rushed to say.
The grin he gave me was blinding.
“It will be our secret. Don’t let your aunt know!” I hauled the machine out of the closet, shut the door, and hurried back to my room. “Goodnight, Lonzo. I promise, there’ll be no more screaming.”
His hand shot out to keep my door from closing. “Aren’t you going to teach me to use the vacuum?”
He’d meant teach him now. Of course, that was what he meant!
“You know I’m not allowed to have men in my room, Lonzo.” I gave him what I hoped was a stern look.
“Oh, yeah, right.” He backed down.
And that is why you’ll always be the knight. We said goodnight once more, and I finally closed, and locked, my door. I wanted a man who broke the rules to be with me. Who wanted to be with me so badly that a silly notion like propriety wouldn’t keep him away. Hell! My fiancé was leaving me to hunt and kill the spider, just because he wasn’t supposed to come in here.
Whereas the monster hiding in the dark—
I cut a look to the bathroom, and there was no Ilya.
“Where in the hell?” I peered deeper into the shadows. My chest clenched tight. Did he leave? I turned on the vacuum, letting the noise give credit to the story that I was hunting an eight-legged fiend.
Strong hands grasped me from behind and tugged me backward. My pulse jumped as my wrists were caught in an unforgiving grasp. Something rough wrapped around them.
The protest on my lips was cut off when a soft cloth was shoved into my mouth. I moved to spit it out, but another length of cord was secured around my mouth, tied at the back of my head, which only served to pull baby strands of hair.
I struggled, trying to round on whoever was behind me, although my sixth sense knew exactly who was responsible.
The noise of the vacuum cut off as it was viciously unplugged from the wall.
I spluttered in protest around the gag, but then a cold, whispering touch made me freeze. That was a blade. If I’d been asked if I was into knife play, I would have said it was a hard no. Knowing that Ilya would never hurt me didn’t help. I began to pant, unable to drag a proper breath as my saliva soaked the cloth in my mouth.
The warm air of the room brushed against my bare skin.
“I’m going to burn these,” the monster growled as he tugged the shredded jammies off my body. “And then I’m going to erase his touch from you. You let him put his arms around you, rusalka. For that, you’ll be punished.”
“It was a fucking hug, phantom!” I gurgled. “A filial hug!”
There was no convincing this jealous man differently.
Jealous…Ilya was jealous over me.
He shoved me on the bed, and as I fell, my knee bumped into the sideboard. I cried out, tucking the injury into myself as I curled into as much of a fetal position as the restraints allowed.
Ilya cursed violently in Russian. He tugged on my wrists, unbinding then rebinding them in front of me. In one smooth move, he hauled me to the top of the bed and secured my hands to the headboard.
With a hard grasp, he captured my jaw. “Your knee hurts?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“And you were going to take care of it when I interrupted you?” he surmised. Blowing out a violent breath that was part frustration and perhaps a little self-deprecation, he stalked away from the bed.
I tugged on the bindings. If I wasn’t fuming mad, this would be kind of fun.
I wonder if he’ll let me tie him up sometime.
The rope would have to be very strong, and the knot impossibly tight. Even then, I didn’t know if there was a force on earth that could hold this monster down if he didn’t want to be.
Collecting the medical kit and making a quick stop for the towel, the spectre returned moments later. He opened my nightstand drawer and pulled out a sleeping mask.
Raged-filled sounds escaped my chest.
The last thing I saw before blackness consumed me was his grinning face. There was nothing but pure dominance etched into his features.
Something splashed over my knee.
Soft touches prodded the skin, and another curse in Russian left his lips. “There’s glass in here.”
No shit, genius!
But I didn’t cry out, not from the implement digging into the wound.
“Be still,” Ilya growled. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
The pain in my knee was nothing. My mind focused solely on the gentle touch.
His fingers brushed up and down my thigh, making me want to wrap them around him. He stopped twice to kiss my leg, once my toes. But his touch didn’t move higher until he was finished. The tearing of the bandage told me he was wrapping the wound.
This was a man who relentlessly pursued me, who made an effort to spoil me, discovering what I loved, and this was a man who cared for me.
Why am I telling him no? Hell, if he killed the don, the underboss, the capos…I could be free.
Ilya was freeing me.
I can choose. And I knew exactly where that choice would fall.
A buzzing made me still, tabling the thought of how I should tell him his lunatic plan was something I was on board with. What was that noise? What could he possibly be—
I jackknifed as far as the restraints would allow.
The blast of pleasure was so intense that it was painful. I groaned and tried to twist away. The damn silicone egg was on the highest setting! Ilya was relentless. His hard grip pinned both thighs open as he continued to brush the toy against my clit.
I squirmed under the delicious torment. When I took care of myself, I kept it on the low setting, kept my touch featherlight, and barely flicked my clit for more than a second.
Ilya pressed the toy into my slit, rubbing it up and down without mercy. Every muscle in my frame tightened under the onslaught.
And then he reached up to tweak my nipple. I whimpered. It was too much, his attention on me was too much. I was so close to exploding. Fuck— it wouldn’t take much. Panting hard, I rolled my hips slightly, unsure if it was to escape or embrace the torment.
Embrace—definitely embrace.
It was a lot, but now that the initial shock was gone, my body managed to take everything offered. I bit down on the edges of the cloth in my mouth, not even caring what he’d shoved in there, as I began to move in a rhythm to the pressure. I expected Ilya to see me surrendering, to understand that I was accepting his game, and that he would loosen his hold enough for me to rock in a more natural motion.
Without warning, the toy was gone.
Ilya broke the cord holding me to the bed. His hot breath fanned against my ear. “Next time, siren, push the hugger away.”
The bed shifted, the spectre moving again.
I lay still for a minute, desperate to know what he would do next. I strained my ears. Was that the whisper of clothing falling to the ground? He would no sooner slide inside me than I would explode.
The sound of the windowpane made me bolt upright. By the time I untangled my hands and pushed up the eye mask, the rotten ghost was gone!
He left me thoroughly turned on, with only myself to relieve the tension. Incensed, I chucked the vibrator across the room.