Chapter 22
Ilya
I called Luka when we landed, so he’s waiting for me in the great room when I return. Misha gives a two-finger salute before he heads for his room, ready to sleep off a long two weeks.
I’m not happy about the time I’ve been away. I’d hoped to know more about the little woman I’d taken for my own by this point. I hadn’t necessarily been anticipating a war when I took her.
“How is she?”
“She’s doing well. As you know, at first, she spent her days in her room. Polina is teaching her to bake and cook. I think she likes it.” I don’t like the way he smiles as he talks of her. “She’s taken to conning me and Boris into playing cards with her. She likes a game called war, and no matter how many times she wins, she wants to play more.” His smile fades at the hardness I know he sees in my eyes. “She’s taken to the dogs.”
“What?” My eyes sharpen, my fists curling.
He introduced her to the dogs?They could have ripped her to shreds.
Violence bursts in my chest and Luka takes a quick step back. “She’s taken to talking to them through the cage. She sits on the bench and has not attempted to pet any of them.”
A little of the violence eases. “Go on.”
Luka takes a breath. “Six of the eight have taken to her. When they see her now, they come to the gate and lay at her feet to listen as she talks to them. The other two watch her with caution, but even they are seduced.”
“What does she talk about to them?”
Luka shifts awkwardly. I raise a brow and he blows out a breath. “Uh, she mostly talks about you.”
“Me?” Is that excitement I feel?
“Yes, Pakhan.”
“What does she say?”
He shifts. My eyes narrow, because he looks like he’d rather be anywhere but where he stands. Finally, after too long a silence, he says, “Mostly, she talks about how she wishes to maim you, and the ways she’d do it. She’s quite creative.”
I surprise myself and Luka with the laugh that barrels from my lungs. My Little Blue, so full of delicious surprises.
“A kindred spirit.”
“She has spirit, alright.”
“And what about the ereader I got her? Did she like it?” It had been painful for me to give the gift I’d gotten for her, to Luka to give to her.
He looks hesitant again. “I haven’t seen her use it.”
My brows slam down in a frown. “Why not?”
“She might read when she’s in her room. But the men usually report they see her sitting in her window when she’s in her room. She’s not reading, but instead, she watches the dogs.”
“She can’t see the dogs from my window.”
Luka looks like he’d welcome death right about now. I take a step closer to him and he sighs. “She moved her things to the room your mother uses when she visits.”
I cock my head to the side. “You let her?”
“She’s—determined.”
I inhale a big breath, my chest rising and falling with it. “Is there anything else?”
“Be careful, Pakhan,”
“Careful?”
“She’s angry with you.”
“She’ll get used to the fact I’ve taken her. This is her life now; she has no choice.”
He shakes his head. “I think she’s mostly accepted her life here.”
My brows lift in surprise. “What?”
“She hasn’t attempted to escape once. She’s explored the house, making herself quite at home. I think she’s—settled.”
“But she is angry?” I’m confused.
Luka rocks on his heels. “She’s angry with you, I think, for leaving her for so long.”
I don’t know why, but those words have a grin spreading over my face. Luka just shakes his head on a strained chuckle.
Then he says, “Like I said, careful. And good luck.”
“Thank you, Luka.” With those words, I start for the room my little deviant has made her own.
Opening the door, I see her curled on her side, hugging a pillow to her chest. The cat stands and stretches on the bed before he lets a chirpy sounding meow sound into the quiet. Then he’s trotting across the space to greet me. I bend and stroke him twice before I stand and move to my woman in the bed that isn’t ours.
Pulling the blanket from her body, I watch as she shivers. Inside my chest, a hot pleasure threatens to consume me.
She’s wearing my shirt. Good girl.
Bending, I scoop her into my arms. The burn inside my chest intensifies as she curls in, her hand lifting to curl into my suit jacket. She clings to me like her life depends on it.
With her cat trotting next to me, I carry her into my room and to my bed. The cat curls at the foot, his purr already lulling her back into sleep as I tuck her in and move to the bathroom to ready myself to join her.