17. Nikolai
Fyodor’s Rules #4 - Plan for the worst, but strive for the best.
We all stared at Lukas. It was partially because he had just appeared in the middle of the room; he didn’t often teleport directly into places around the hotel. As teenagers, Alexei had thrown enough knives that he had learned the benefit of using a door. Not to mention, it was always best to knock before entering Pasha’s room—or any room Pasha was in—unless you felt like joining him. Pasha kept an open door policy when it came to any of us joining him in bed.
However, the main reason that we were staring at Lukas was due to the words that he had just spoken. None of us had heard them in a while, not since we’d had our own small service for Yana and Fyodor. No bodies meant no funerals, not to mention we had still been in hiding ourselves. If the Bratva hadn’t warned us, shown us the bounties on all our heads, and the successful claims of Yana and Fyodor’s along with video and photos, we would have been dead right alongside them.
Lukas had the words tattooed on his hip in Russian. It was something that Yana had said to him, and he never wanted to forget her. We’d all been jealous of him. Not just because he was the first of us to get a tattoo, but we all wanted Yana to look at us the way she looked at him. While Yana loved all of us, and was with us all, we all knew the bond she had with Lukas was special.
But just because we knew where the words came from, it didn’t mean we weren’t confused. Leaning back in my chair, I poured myself a drink. It was sure not to be the last one of the evening. I could already feel a headache coming on, and this conversation was only going to make it worse.
“Everyone, sit down.”
It was mostly directed at Lukas, who was still pale and breathing hard, like he had seen a ghost. Maybe he had, Yana’s ghost had to be somewhere, perhaps he had found it. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with that information, or what it had to do with him stealing Alexei’s prisoner, but I wasn’t looking forward to finding out.
“I am not sitting down until he brings her back. What the fuck, Lukas! She tried to mind control Pasha!”
Everyone in the room was looking at Alexei now. I glanced at Pasha and could see by his expression that what Alexei had said was true. Running a hand through my hair, I gripped it tightly and resisted the urge to pull. If I jerked at my hair every time one of my brothers did something that caused me stress, I’d be bald.
And I wasn’t sure that was a look I could pull off.
Lukas looked a little admonished at that, but was still breathing hard, his eyes flicking around like he couldn’t settle. I lifted my hands, getting everyone’s attention, and tried to bring some semblance of order to this circus.
“All right. So, let’s try to get everything straight. This is the woman from the Masquerade, yes?” I looked at Pasha, and with his nod, continued.
“Pasha somehow got in touch with her and met up with her today. And you followed him.” I pointed at Alexei, but when he opened his mouth to speak, cut him off as I continued to get the events confirmed before anyone added their two cents. “And while you were following him, you saw her attempt to influence his mind somehow. So you brought her back to the basement, where you were questioning her?” Another look and another nod, so I continued.
“And while Alexei was questioning her, Lukas burst in and took her . . . somewhere?” More nods of agreement. Okay, at least now I had a timeline of events, and could ask questions to fill in the gaps.
And they started with Lukas, “What the fuck, dude?”
Lukas looked like he didn’t want to answer, tensing before his shoulders slumped. “She smells like Yana. I was walking into the hotel to come see you, and then I caught her scent. I’ve not smelled her for a decade, but I would know her scent anywhere.”
Lukas had never been wrong about a scent before. I had seen him track people across continents, and even across realms. I could feel my fangs elongate against my lips. Someone was trying to fuck with us, clearly. More than just fucking with our business, they were fucking with us personally. First Pasha, and now Lukas.
“Where is she, Lukas?” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice. I was ready to rip this woman apart myself. She may have been fascinating to watch at the ball, but that interest had been burned away in the face of my seething rage.
“She’s in the Summerlands. When I saw her in the basement bleeding, I wasn’t thinking. I needed to get her out of there, to talk to her. The hunt was riding me so hard. I just needed to get her someplace . . . else.” Lukas finally sat, his shoulders hunched forward and hands wringing together. No one interrupted him, he clearly wasn’t done speaking.
“She kept calling me Luka . . . and she smells like her. Not like she’s covered in the scent, but like it’s coming from her. And then she said those words to me—in Russian. How does anyone else know those exact words and what they meant to us?” He was looking at me now. There was a desperation in his eyes, like I somehow held the answer to his questions.
“Someone must have seen them.” Even as I said the words, I knew that was unlikely unless someone had betrayed us. Lukas rarely took his shirt off, he didn’t sleep around, and he rarely undressed completely, even when he was with us. It wasn’t a line we had ever pushed.
“Maybe the tattoo artist told them?” I was clutching at straws, and I knew it.
Alexei scoffed loudly. “You can’t be serious. It’s just a tattoo and her scent is clearly fake. Someone found another Siren and is using her to drive us apart, or send us insane, maybe both. Why are we letting them do it? Just bring the suka back. We will find out who she is working for, kill her, then make sure no one ever thinks about attacking us like this again.”
What Alexei was saying made sense. Usually, Lukas would be the one that suggested this sort of plan. He was the take no prisoners type and believed in sending a stern message every time, and to his credit, it worked. But right now, he appeared shellshocked and wasn’t saying anything. He just stared at his hands, spattered with blood, his pale eyes no longer gold. Lukas appeared to be lost in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time. I didn’t know what to do.
Pasha still leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. I wasn’t sure if he was angry, upset, or something else entirely. “Sitting around here talking about her isn’t getting us any closer to finding out the information we need. You need to bring her back, Lukas. We will talk to her nicely, and then, if we don’t like what she has to say, we will hand her over to Alexei.”
That was not a bad plan at all. Pasha was usually the softest touch of the four of us, but right now, maybe we needed a more gentle approach. Or possibly a firm grip, honestly, I didn’t know what it was going to take to get her to talk, I just knew that I wanted to hear what she had to say. If this was all some trick, I was all for making this imposter pay.
I wasn’t letting myself think about the alternative for now. I would not give myself any sort of hope when it couldn’t be a possibility. That was just asking for heartbreak.
Everyone looked at Lukas, who was staring at his clasped fingers. I gently cleared my throat and moved one of my own hands into his line of sight. He looked up, but it was probably the movement rather than the sound that had gotten his attention. The Hunt was still riding him hard, and all his hunter instincts were still simmering away just below the surface. And while I could empathize, it was something I knew a little about.
“Go. Get her, Lukas. We’ll talk to her together and sort this out. Then you’ll have your answers and can get closure.”
I wasn’t sure whether he would find any closure in killing the girl who had affected him so deeply, or if it would finally send him off the deep end. If it did, I would be there to fish him out, just like last time.
With a nod, his eyes glowed golden again, and he disappeared. I had been a little surprised when he told us he had taken her to the Summerlands, as it was an odd place to take someone you were angry with.
“You’re going to need to watch him when he gets back, Pasha. I need to know if he’s going to snap.”
Our youngest brother nodded. Pasha knew what I needed him to do, and he was the most empathetic of us all. He knew when we were close to our breaking points, and the best way to pull us back from the brink. I knew I could rely on him to monitor Lukas and it had the added benefit of also giving him a task to complete. Something to focus on other than the woman, especially if we had to get physically persuasive.
Alexei had left the room as soon as Lukas had vanished, muttering to himself; I just let him go, there was no telling him what to do when he was in this type of mood. He would fight back harder, just to be contrary. But I knew he’d be back; he wanted to sort this out just as much as we did.
Draining my glass, I then poured myself another drink. It was only about a minute before Alexei was back.
“Put these in. I don’t need her trying to fuck with any of your minds in front of me again.” He handed me a pair of earbuds, and Pasha took out a similar pair from his pocket, putting them in his ears. I didn’t question him. I already had enough uncertainties in my head, and we had argued enough. It was time to get shit done, and Lukas wouldn’t be much longer.