His to Protect (The Chained Hearts Duology #1)

Prologue

Six weeks. Six long, grueling weeks Jeremy sat, racking his brain for a way out. That was until the opportunity presented itself in the form of a six foot two Russian man with a score to settle. It only took one bad day for Jeremy to warm up to Ivan, quickly considering him a brother.

He tried to ignore him at first. Tried to keep to himself and wait for his parents to bail him out.

They always did. The day they came to visit him was the day everything changed.

He sat waiting, quietly watching through the bulletproof glass window as his mother picked up the phone and told him with tears in her eyes that they couldn't get him out this time.

He had never been so angry. The glass shook as he slammed the phone down, screaming at her for ruining his life.

His mother flinched away, tears welling up in her eyes as he was ushered back to his cell.

Jeremy returned screaming until his face turned red.

His knuckles bloodied, spattering across the wall of their shared cell.

Ivan took him under his wing that day. The anger simmering in Jeremy's eyes reminding him of himself when he was young.

The two became close, and soon enough Ivan introduced him to a handful of other inmates.

All with the same thick Russian accent and matching tattoos, most on their chests while Ivans was plastered onto his neck.

A large, hairy beast with fangs. Horns like the devil stretching out of the top of its head with a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, bared in an almost grin.

Jeremy tried his best to ignore the fact that the men were clearly in some sort of gang, but he had no idea just how deep that gang really went.

He spent weeks with them, slowly learning Russian, opening up to them about how he was framed and thrown in jail.

He confided in them. He just needed to get out and he was going to hunt down the one who got him tossed in jail and take their life before fleeing the country to start over.

That single statement, the trust behind those words told Ivan everything he needed to know.

Days later, Jeremy awoke to a fist slamming into his nose, instantly breaking it.

The sound of bone crunching threatened to send the contents of his stomach back out.

A flurry of punches and kicks followed. His ears ring as a thick metallic liquid fills his mouth.

Whilst being ripped from his bed Jeremy tried to fight back.

His fists swing at anything he can see before his eyes swelled shut.

The pain shooting through his body was almost unbearable as another foot connected with his ribs.

A raspy scream escaped his lips. Just when he thought this would be what killed him, the punches stopped.

Jeremy laid there, not daring to move as he listened to the footsteps shuffle down the corridor, the soft whispers in Russian going with them.

That fateful night was almost three weeks ago.

An initiation of sorts, that's what Ivan told him when he returned from the infirmary.

He had refused to turn them in, in turn, he sealed his fate as one of them.

The last thing he needed to do was meet the head of their organization.

The two of them sat in a secluded room that a pair of scraggly guards took them to.

He explained that they are not quite a gang, more like a large group of people fighting for the greater good.

They follow a man named Dmitri, who has been paying off the guards to keep them comfortable until he can get them out, and if Jeremy wanted to leave with them, he would need to win their leader over.

Nervous jitters flood him. The sharp bite mixed with the dull hum of the tattoo machine Ivan is using to tattoo his chest helping to calm his nerves.

In a matter of minutes Dmitri would arrive and decide if he was good enough to join him, or if his life would end that day.

He sent a prayer up to a god he doesn't believe in and hopes the tattoo is enough to prove his commitment to his new found family.

“So, you’re the outsider my men have grown so fond of?

” A scratchy voice with a thick accent bellows.

Footsteps echo in the silence, growing louder until a short, stocky man steps into the room.

A pair of piercing blue eyes, one a lighter shade from the scar running through it, scan over him, curiosity peaking when they settle on the half done tattoo.

“I would get up and shake your hand if Ivan wouldn't kill me for delaying his work, he made it very clear this is very important to you.” He says with a smooth smile. A small chuckle escapes Dmitri's lips, seeing why everyone took a liking to him so quickly.

“What else did Ivan tell you?” He asks, carefully watching Jeremy for his reaction. To his surprise Jeremy stays calm, shrugging his shoulders just enough to not mess up his work in progress.

“Only what I’m allowed to know. I know you are very important to a lot of people, even if you have to make hard choices for the greater good.

I also know that like me, you’re hunting for someone who fucked your plans up too, and I think I have a plan that can be help both of us get what we want, but I need to get out of here first.” The silence that follows was enough to make him worry that he has overstepped.

A loud, rumbling laugh burst from the man standing in front of him.

“Tell me this plan, then I will decide if you are worth the trouble.”

“I was framed. A woman I have known my entire life, someone I thought was family, turned me in, blaming me for a crime I didn't commit. I thought she cared for me, but instead I was thrown in jail and left to rot. I need to hunt her down and you have the resources to do that.” Jeremy stops, eying the short man picking fuzz of his tailored suit, looking for any reaction, good or bad.

“And just how would that help me?” He sneers, his patience growing thin.

“You’re looking for someone too right? And he's looking for you by finding people you associate with?

Well, you find her for me, have some of your guys spread the word that she's going to be meeting you, tell everyone what she looks like. It seems to me that is the kind of information that would get back to your man and he would go looking for her, when he does you can grab him.”

Dmitri's eyes narrow, taking in his words and giving each one careful thought. He begins a slow lap around the room, Jeremy's eyes never leaving him as he does. He knows it will work, he just needs Dmitri to know it too.

“And how do you know this little plan of yours will work?” The pacing stops. He watches as Ivan finishes the beastly tattoo now adorning his chest.

“To be honest, I don’t. I have never been involved in anything like this. It’s one of those things that's just stupid enough to work.” The wobbly metal chair scrapes across the floor as he stands, pulling his bright orange shirt over his head.

“What will you have me do with this woman when I finally get what I'm after?”

“I don’t want anything to do with her. Kill her, keep her, give her to your guys. I don’t care, consider her a gift. She was family to me once, but it's too late now. I have no family.”

“You do now boy.” Dmitri says. A cruel smile spreads across his wide mouth. “Well then, it’s about time we go hunting”