Chapter 5 Katarina
I fell asleep in the bathtub. There was a waterproof pillow behind my head and the warm water relaxed me so much that I let down my guard and closed my eyes. By the time I woke, the sun was setting, and the oranges of the fading day lit up the sky like a painter had decided to swipe away the blues.
When I finally climbed out of the tub, I peeked into the bedroom to see Grim sound asleep in the same spot. Poor guy. He really needed time to recover. And eat. I would make sure Grim had a plate tonight regardless of what the men of the house decided to say.
I found a nice cocktail dress and it fit me perfectly.
It was strange that the clothes were my size, but I decided that I didn’t have room in my brain tonight to think about why that might be.
The dark green material was a color I wore well with my pale skin and red hair.
I knew it too, and I intended to make the men squirm so I could bide my time and figure out my next moves.
The dress itself had no sleeves, but there was a piece of fabric that snaked up and around one shoulder and cut diagonally across to the opposite side.
The material clung to my body down to my lower thighs, and the slit up the right side didn’t make it feel like I couldn’t move.
I had just finished curling my hair when someone knocked. Grim let out a low growl and a single yip, telling me that whoever was outside didn’t warrant too much of a concern.
Slipping on a pair of black heels, also in my size, my steps clicked on the floor until I reached the door.
But when I tried to open it, the handle didn’t move.
“I’m locked in,” I complained to whoever was outside.
Yanking on the door several times, I acted like a child as I shook the antique wooden monstrosities to make a point.
“Hang on,” Pasha said, metal clinging together from the other side.
He inserted a key and the lock clicked a few moments later.
Pulling both doors open, I stood still in front of him with my hands on my hips and a wicked smile on my face.
I liked Pasha. And so did Grim. And we didn’t have any friends in this place.
So, I felt like it was okay to have some fun.
“What do you think?” I asked, spinning around and giving him a little show of the outfit I’d chosen.
He chuckled and shook his head. He was wearing a navy blue suit and tie.
A nice one that had been tailored to fit his form.
His hair was slicked back, and he still wore those dark-rimmed glasses that I was quickly starting to like on him.
“I think you are going to cause quite the stir tonight, Miss Katarina.”
“Well, if they’re going to keep me here as a prisoner, I might as well get the most out of it.
” I instantly blushed, thinking erotic thoughts about being a prisoner for these men.
Or at least for Dorian and Aiden. I didn’t think I was Pasha’s type, and there was a great relief in knowing that I may be able to have someone on my side who could look at me as a friend only.
Pasha held out his hand and gave me a black jacket. “I’d like to escort you to dinner, but first, I thought you might want to see the grounds before it gets too dark?”
I slid the jacket over my shoulders and smiled. “That sounds like an excellent plan.”
Grim let out a giant breath, his signal that he didn’t want to go anywhere right now. “Meet me downstairs in a little bit, Grim.” He blinked once before shutting his eyes again.
Pasha was studying my dog, eyeing him up like some kind of puzzle he couldn’t quite fit together. “Where did you get him?” he asked as we departed the room and headed toward the grand stairway.
“From the streets. He showed up at my apartment on my eighteenth birthday. Or well, not my apartment, but the place I was living at the time.” Pasha didn’t need to know about the couch surfing I’d endured the last six months I was a ward of the state.
“He just showed up?”
“Yeah, I guess. I mean, he was there in the morning and when I got back from class, he was still there. I felt bad, so I snuck him inside and we’ve been together ever since.”
Pasha rubbed his chin, a move I was quickly realizing meant he was deep in thought. “But you have a psychic connection to him?”
I looked at the man, wondering how much I should really divulge. “Not at first. It was after a few weeks together that I got the first flashes of images from his mind. But once I realized what was happening, I also realized it allowed us to communicate in an unusual way.”
“Kind of like the shifters when they are in animal form,” he stated.
“I guess. I don’t really know any shifters.”
“Really? And you were born and raised in New Orleans?” he asked with a smile.
“I know they’re here, but I kind of stayed in my own lane and out of the supernatural drama.
It’s a safer place for us humans.” When he huffed an agreement, I continued.
“It wasn’t until I got linked to the coven that I was really exposed to all of the politics and bullshit that goes on in the city. ”
Pasha held open the front door and I walked through.
The main entrance was grand on the inside and even grander on the outside.
Several oversized stone steps stretched across the front of the porch only interrupted by four giant stone columns.
The masonry work was incredible, and as I walked down the front stairs and turned to look back at the building behind me, my jaw dropped. “Was this a church?”
Pasha smiled in acknowledgment. “An abbey.”
“Wow,” I breathed. The main spire to the left of the doors reached up into the sky like a sentinel being. The gothic structure fit the rest of the stonework and archways decorating the massive building. “Wait,” I said, suddenly having a thought. “Roman Zarka owns an abbey?”
“He sure does,” Pasha said with pride. “Bought it in the early seventies and saved it from being torn down.”
“That’s pretty cool.”
“It is.”
I looked over and studied him the same way he stared at me when trying to figure out Grim. “Are you and Roman…like…a couple?”
Pasha laughed and weaved his arm through my elbow to walk me toward the expansive green space I’d seen from my bedroom windows. “Roman and I are good friends,” he answered a little cryptically. “We have…a bond.”
“The kind of bond that involves sexy time or the kind of bond that involves…” I made fangs with my fingers and mimicked a biting sound.
“A little of both,” he confessed, and I squeezed his arm.
“Good for you, Pasha. I know I barely know you but for some reason that gives me the happy kind of feels.”
He laughed and we continued walking. As we looped around the circular driveway and the sky grew darker, we made our way back to the front doors.
Pasha stopped us before stepping inside.
“For what it’s worth, Katarina, having the House of Shadows men on your side can go a long way to ensuring your safety in this horrible city. ”
I nodded and felt a surge of panic when I saw just how serious his warning was meant to be. “Okay, I hear you.”
He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. There was no reaction like what I saw with Dorian and Aiden when they’d touched me, but I decided to put that thought on hold so I could focus on getting through my first dinner as Roman’s captive.
The moment we walked inside, I could smell the delicious food we were about to eat.
Somewhere behind the stairway there must be a gigantic kitchen, and my suspicions were validated when a whole line of staff appeared from a hidden wooden door and made their way to the dining room.
I raised my brows at Pasha, and he simply shook his head.
Just another night in the old abbey owned by an even older vampire.
As we entered the dining room behind the staff, we were clearly the last ones to arrive.
The men were all standing around the fireplace drinking cocktails while the table was loaded with platters of food.
I would have thought we were serving a whole host of people from the number of dishes, but there were only six place settings plus a spot on the floor next to the last setting that must have been for Grim.
Probably hearing my thoughts, my black dog trotted into the dining room and greeted me with a head butt to the thigh. I rubbed the top of his head and smiled. “Hey, buddy. Have a good nap?”
Pasha excused himself and joined the men.
Roman handed him a glass of wine and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.
None of the men teased them or laughed at them or even gave them a hard time about their relationship.
It warmed my heart to see that and only made me more curious about how this group of men found each other in the first place.
Roman turned to look at Grim and me. His face lit up in a genuine smile as he walked toward us. Picking up another glass off a tray sitting on a very ornate piece of furniture, he handed it to me as he approached. “Katarina. You look beautiful.”
The man looked like a god in his black suit, and I know I blushed when his gaze traveled slowly over my body. His hungry eyes devoured every inch of me, and I wanted to reach up and rub my hands through his dark hair and stubble. But I wasn’t his type, was I?
“Roman,” I said, clearing my throat to push down the intense need I felt. “You clean up nicely.”
A whistle echoed behind him, and I swear I saw the vampire roll his eyes in amusement.
“Look at you Kitty Cat,” Dorian said, swooping me up into a hug and spinning me around two times before setting me back on the ground.
It was a miracle I didn’t spill my wine everywhere.
“Holy shit. I didn’t think you could top that leather outfit, but this… this is excellent.”
“It certainly is,” Aiden agreed, once again grabbing my hand and pressing my wrist to his lips. If there was any type of negative reaction to my touch, he kept it hidden.