Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-Five
SANTIAGO
Sunlight is still an hour or so away, but Aleksei is already pacing outside, his dogs out there with him. Every now and then, I hear him speaking quietly on the phone.
Quinn’s eyes are still closed, her breathing deep.
Of course she’s right; everything is blurring with how fast things are moving, us included. But as long as we’re together, I know we can handle all the phases of how we become a pack. I’ve got no doubt we will clash and argue, but passion is a part of our pack because it’s in each of us.
I roll out of the makeshift bed we set up. It threw me last night when Quinn asked coyly if we could all sleep out here, the dogs included, with the fire keeping us warm and providing the only light.
She was adorably nervous, taking a long time to come out of the bathroom, but when she did, wearing the shirt I’d worn yesterday, matched with a pair of Aleksei’s gym shorts and a pair of Kade’s socks, I saw her fear firsthand—before I got so fucking hard, I had to run into the bathroom and stand under a shower, beating my cock hard, grunting her name barely seconds later.
Quinn might be struggling, but by god, she was made for us. I wish I could give her the ability not to doubt herself or us, but the only thing I can give her is my time and patience while showing her over and over how incredible she is.
Victor is a fucking problem. More concerning is her throwaway line of no one believing her. There’s a story there, one that makes my blood boil already. I’m not the only one compartmentalizing. Kade is, and so is Aleksei.
He had to get up once he was sure she was asleep. His silent communication by way of a finger in my face, and a sign for me to take his place closer to her, confirmed how we all deal differently.
He and Roshka reappeared an hour or so later. He was covered in sweat, despite the fucking cold night, and Roshka was panting heavily. As soon as his head hit the pillow on Kade’s other side, he was out after finally outrunning his demons.
When he woke, he slipped outside. He returns, finding me restacking the fire.
“All okay?” I ask.
“Victor needed an update. It seems we have an issue because he can’t get a hold of Olga. He won’t speak to Catalina.”
And he won’t find or speak to either because Aleksei told me where Olga is and who Catalina works for. The former won’t find Olga, no matter how hard he looks. We have Olga, and she’ll be judged not by the law but by the Trinity Alliance.
“He wasn’t worried about Quinn being attacked?” I hook my fingers at the end of my question. The both of us were aware of what I was alluding to.
Aleksei shakes his head, a burst of rage shadowing his expression. “It will give me great pleasure to kill my father-in-law.”
Last night, in a few words, I think he and I bonded over the big unveiling until our sweet, formidable Omega requested we focus our energy elsewhere.
Now, though, it’s as if I don’t exist. He turns to look at her, undoing the jacket he was wearing and brushing off the dusting of snow on his head. Fucking Russian walking outside without the proper winter gear on.
Aleksei lays his clothes neatly over the chair at the same time my phone lights up. He picks it up and smirks. “Oh look, it’s your BFF. The one that wants to kill me.”
“With good reason, Aleksei,” I hiss quietly. “You slaughtered half the Irish.”
He rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “Or I showed them where they have holes in their security. No one important died.” He takes off his pants next, waiting until I’m looking at him and not my phone ringing in his hand. “Go talk. Knock before you come back in.”
Aleksei throws my phone in the air at the same time as he hits the button on my phone, accepting the call. I stretch upward, in case it hits Quinn, while he dives under the fucking blankets.
“Ronin, give me a second.”
I flip Aleksei the bird and race through the house, looking for somewhere semiprivate, and not fucking freezing, to talk.
ALEKSEI
She moves towards me even in sleep. Her body is warm, her scent leaking.
I pull her to me and her eyes open. “Your hands are freezing.”
“Cold hands, big cock,” I whisper. “Go back to sleep. It’s too early for me to be looking in your pretty eyes.”
Quinn wiggles closer. Only by an inch or two, but it’s in the small things, the unconscious way she moves or the words she says when she’s dropped her guard when the leash she has on me tightens.
“Aleksei,” she whispers.
“Hmm, maya?”
The room is dark still, but I can see her clear as day. It’s how I know she’s mine; she chases all the darkness away no matter the time or place.
Her hair is like a halo around her, and she looks like an angel.
“What?” I ask impatiently.
Another sign I know she belongs to me—I’m always on a fucking knife edge, expectantly waiting for a morsel of her attention.
Quinn blinks a few times, the flame blue of her eyes clearing quickly. She drops her eyes from mine, but I use my finger under her chin so she can’t avoid looking at me.
“Say whatever.”
A little eye roll, but it disappears quickly. Her scent hits with a touch of nervousness. “You know how you think we’re married.”
I swallow a growl. It is ferocious on the inside; I don’t want to scare her. Flicking my eyebrows up, she goes on.
“I don’t want you tied to something when you’ve been living in a cage, like me, for so long. You should be free, doing whatever you want.”
My control slips, and I show her my teeth. “I am doing what I want.”
“You bit me accidentally, you got forced into consummating your brother's marriage, and now you’ve inherited his bride.”
I slam my eyes shut and start counting backward.
“Vosem,” I grit out, losing the ability to count down more than two. I sit up, throwing the blanket off us and snatch her hand, ignoring her flash of alarm. “You think this is a sign I am sad I have a wife hogging my pillow?”
I push her hands down so she can touch my cock.
“I think of you, I get so hard my cock jumps in my pants. I see you, same. I hear you, same but worse. I smell you, I run away to jerk off somewhere so I can think straight. Yes, I bit you and had no clue, but I am happy. Very happy. Yes, I had to consummate your marriage. Was it a good time? Yes and no. More yes, by the way, but the no comes because of the way I had to do it. And now you saying you want me to go be free? The only way that happens, maya, is when I’m with you.
You want me to feel freedom, then keep squeezing my cock like you are. ”
She smiles. Fucking smiles at me. And I move quickly to bite her happiness. “So, fucking perfect, maya.”
“Show me how perfect, Aleksei.”
“If you say, show me, husband, I will consider it more,” I say, slowly thrusting my hips back and forth.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Please, husband, show me how this fits.”
“I feel, in time, you will be the best wife any Russian Bratva has had.”
She laughs quietly, but her eyes jump to Kade. He’s awake, he has been for a while. As if I would ever drop my guard and not know the risks around us.
I grip her chin, pulling her entire focus back to me, leaning in close and talking slowly.
“He can’t join us, Quinn. He can watch. He can wish he was me, but this bond of ours, this thing you and I share, is just mine and yours for a while.
Maybe in fifty years or so, I will let him join us, but I can’t share you, maya.
If that upsets you, I’m sorry, but I won’t say one thing and mean the other. ”
“And in my heats?”
“You won’t suffer. You have two Alphas and a Beta who will ensure you never go without. I won’t ever leave your side, but if they’re inside your body, I won’t be. If I’m enjoying your body, they won’t be.”
“An ultimatum?”
“A truth. I’m powerless from telling you things that perhaps I shouldn’t, but I know it’s right to be honest with you. Probably only you.”
Her answer comes not with words, but she uses her legs to push up like she’s doing a yoga pose. And the moment her grip starts to lessen, and she goes to pull away, I take over.
“Keep doing what you are doing. Let me have the pleasure of unwrapping you like the fucking gift you are. I swear you are my dar ot boga.”
Perhaps she understands what I am saying; either way, we don’t speak. I use my body to worship and prove to her I am blessed by her, my gift from the Gods.
Santiago’s shirt sits open under her, and as majestic as she is with her breasts bare for my enjoyment, I can’t do that while any reminder of her other Alpha is with us. I have no issue with us packing, and I’d kill for the Alpha, but I can’t have him or her Beta intruding on my time.
I hold her eyes as I pull his shirt away from her, and then I watch her horror as I throw it over my shoulder. It misses the fire. Next time, it won’t.
“Aleksei!”
“Yes, my darling?”
Another small smile, and the light of happiness dances in her eyes and coats her skin. I dip down, keeping my gaze locked on hers while my mouth closes over her nipple. My tongue flicks over the hard peak as she gasps. I do it again, and she makes more noises for me.
My fingers trail up the insides of her thighs, and all her muscles lock up tight. I suck harder on her nipple, dragging my teeth over the bud again, and again, until she’s like putty in my hands and the scent of her slick is more obvious.
“Roshka, Nalla.” I bark off at them in Russian, sending them each to the opposite ends of the house, putting them on active duty. I won’t be distracted from this.
I run my fingers higher, meeting her slick, and I suckle, taking more of her tit into my mouth. Lifting my head, I make sure she’s got beautiful, clear eyes, full of only desire, and it’s what I find.
“Are you going to come on my fingers?”
“Without question. I’m already buzzing.”
“Yes, you are. So responsive. So needy. But you’ll never be left hanging, will she, Santiago?”