Chapter 36 #2
Sudden laughter pulls me from my very Omega daydreaming. Sergey is back to keeping the table entertained, but then again, Sergey hardly lets anyone else say a word, dominating the stage.
I sit back, watching him, but my gaze invariably moves to his brother.
Aleksei is easily the most enigmatic among them, but the others barely see him.
I mean, they listen when he speaks, but they’re not drawn to him.
It’s likely because he hides his presence.
Now that I’ve seen glimpses of the real him, I can’t unsee it.
Even with the mix of all the other Alpha scents in the room, his is one of the only ones I lock on to.
He lifts his drink and takes a sip, his eyes finding mine, and I swear I hear him in my head promise me to hang on for a little while longer.
As if to prove me right, he checks the time, and when he does, his whole demeanor changes.
Not abruptly, because no one else notices, but I’m so in tune with him, I feel his emotions tangling with mine.
Aleksei swings back on his chair, looking like a smug prick. Hiding in plain sight, really. He waits until the dogs are watching him before he does a small hand movement—again, if you weren’t focusing on Aleksei, you wouldn’t notice.
The dogs split up, moving slowly in opposite directions to do a check of the restaurant.
They’ve done the rounds a few times, even going into the kitchen.
The health inspectors would have issues with any animal where food is being prepared, but I doubt very much any health inspector would even come close to questioning a Petrov.
Given the way the staff interacts with Sergey and his guests, it’s not hard to assume the Petrovs like to eat here.
I vaguely remember the driver who picked me up from the hotel pointing out where Sergey’s favorite restaurants were.
Maybe this was one of those places. I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention.
The dogs return to Aleksei, almost as if they’re reporting back to him. And he says something before waving them away. Roshka returns to my side, but instead of sitting down, he boops my leg until I peer down at him. He nabs my hand, keeping it in his giant jaw, like he wants me to follow.
I check with Aleksei, to make sure I’m reading things right, and though he doesn’t look at me, he flicks his eyes. I follow the general direction of his concealed movement to a sign for the bathroom.
I follow Roshka through the restaurant, and Kade falls into step behind us. He stops at the top of the corridor so he can watch, but also probably so no one misreads us being alone.
The break gives me a chance to do something besides sit in the stuffy restaurant and count down the minutes until we leave. I take my time, splashing water on my face, fixing my hair, looking for spots. I stay for as long as I can.
When I pull the door open, Roshka bars my exit, using his formidable size to block me in.
“Come on, let’s go, and then hopefully it will be time to leave.”
Instead of moving out of the way, he takes a step forward, crowding me.
“Roshka,” I warn, standing my ground.
It’s like we’ve regressed in terms of our time together.
I thought we were doing pretty well, trusting each other, but now it’s almost like I’m facing a different dog.
And this one is a giant-sized, unyielding, stubborn prick.
He charges at me, paws up and extended. They land on my shoulders, pushing me hard up against the furthest wall in the bathroom.
“Roshka!” I shout, trying to fend him off. My protest and fight are lost under the explosive sound of gunfire and people screaming.
“Jesus.” He tries to block my escape, but I shove him out of the way, driven on instinct. I race out, and he chases, quickly catching up to me, and then he keeps trying to stop me until I bury my hand in his fur to practically bark in his face. “Stop!”
He takes a snarling lunge my way, his teeth showing and ready to snap, but we both stop wrestling when more rapid gunfire sounds, followed quickly by the unmistakable sound of people in pain.
Kade appears in the doorway, his body tucked down, his gun in his hand, his eyes searching frantically for me. As soon as he confirms Roshka has me shielded, his demeanor shifts.
“Stay there, Quinn,” he whispers, deathly quietly, his focus moving back down into the restaurant.
My panic brings with it a surge of strength, and I shove Roshka, managing to move him far enough that I can escape and race after Kade.
But Roshka nips my hand, the spark of pain making me swing around and face him head-on.
I squat so we’re eye level, talking a mile a minute because of everything happening.
“I’m not going to be stupid, but there’s no way in hell I’m staying in there. It’s not right, it’s also not safe. You also need to be out there helping. I won’t be stupid. I promise.”
Roshka’s eyes are full of rage. He paces forward, slowly, until his crown is pushed against my forehead. He’s snarling, showing me all his teeth, and even his ears are flat. I’m not scared. I mean, I am a little bit, but we’re negotiating, and I can work with that.
“You can lead, you big dick, but we’re going out there.”
He doesn’t make it easy on me. And while it feels like forever, given the circumstances, our face-off takes no time at all.
Eventually he kind of concedes, but I don’t need for him to talk to realize I have only one chance.
If I do anything he thinks is stupid, he will be dragging me back into the bathroom by any means possible.
Roshka stops pressing against me and takes a small step to the side. I roll back up to standing, and together, we start sneaking out of the room. Of course he takes the lead, and he makes me wait with each step he takes.
My heart is hammering, and my senses are heightened by the sheer level of fear and panic. I strain to hear what’s going on in the restaurant, but the gunfire and screaming is still ringing in my ears.
Kade is ahead of us, near the mouth of the corridor, close to being in the restaurant again, his steps slow and measured, his gun aimed straight ahead. He stops, and I freeze instinctively. Three men walk through the restaurant, casually, confidently.
Clearly, they have no idea Kade and I are here, or they’re so cocky they don’t care, but Kade is the opposite.
He is aware. He is laser focused on them.
Seeing him like this is a reminder of how much he has hidden from me, because without question, I am watching a man who is highly trained and very good at what he does.
From back in the restaurant, a scuffle sounds. Kade changes his stance, fires off a shot, and then another before pressing his body back against the wall he’s using as his cover. There’s no returning fire, instead we hear the sound of the attackers dropping to the ground.
Kade triple-checks that I’m okay. He holds three fingers up, dropping two. And then he squats down low to the ground and races across to a new position, giving himself up in a sense because it’s no longer a secret he’s hiding.
He’s drawing the attacker’s attention to him. I want to punch him in the face for doing it, even though I understand his reasoning.
Another gunshot, then another, before there’s a volley of noise. I drop down low next to Roshka. I can’t tell if it came from Kade or not. I can’t even see him anymore. He’s out there, in the thick of it.
Once the sound of gunfire clears and my ears stop ringing, other noises become more obvious, including the sounds of people moving around. Someone shouts in Russian, and they blur past the hall I’m hiding in, running for their life, by the looks of it.
Slower footsteps follow, and Aleksei steps into the small snippet of where I can see.
I watch, and much like with Kade, I observe proof of the life he was born into; it radiates in his stillness and confidence.
He doesn’t waver when he draws his gun straight, and he doesn’t hesitate in pulling the trigger.
One shot, and the man who was running drops to the ground.
No grunts of pain, no pleas for help, just his body thudding as he drops dead on the spot.
Aleksei turns my way, his eyes locking on mine.
My feet fly as I race to him. Safe or not, I’m running to him. He holds a hand out for me, and this time, I see it trembling. “Are you okay?”
I nod and shake my head in answer as shock bubbles in my veins. I slam into him, his scent bursting around me, and I take a breath for the first time in a while.
Aleksei uses one arm to wrap around and hold me up, while Roshka buffers me from the other side. I don’t think I’m going to faint, but my legs are numb. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins; my brain doesn't yet realize we’re kind of okay.
Pressing my face against Aleksei’s chest, I use the steady beat of his heart and force myself to focus on breathing deep instead of asking questions.
I can’t comprehend the gravity of the enormous change he’s bringing.
It’s hard to fight against something I’ve desperately hoped for but never thought possible—but the tether that binds me to him is getting stronger with each moment.
We don’t rest there for long, just long enough. “We need to move fast. Very fast.”
I don’t get to question Aleksei. He tugs me along with him as he walks us to where the bodies are.
He wraps his hands around my face and looks into my eyes before leaning down to kiss my forehead, stepping away right after.
“As soon as I know Sergey is dead, we need to leave. Santiago is helping Kade. He is okay, rodnaya. Same with Nalla.”
As his words sink in, my world starts spinning and my chest squeezes.
He rushes back in, a sly, growing smirk on his face, “Everyone is okay. You know this. I even let Santiago live.”