FOURTEEN
We stare at each other, neither yielding. He has a far too pleased with himself expression on his face. His human face. I’ve seen the other one I’m sure very few have seen and are still breathing. Did he follow me here? It’s bad enough he knows where I live, but now it’s like he has some sort of tracker on me. I grind my teeth until they might crack from the pressure. I’m afraid, obviously. I don’t think anyone who has seen Nikolai Vostik during a full moon wouldn’t be. But there’s something else bubbling above the fear keeping my limbs idle. Anger? Lust? I can’t be sure. But all I know is I’m done with this fucking game he’s playing.
The bartender places the martini on a napkin in front of me and fades away to the other end of the bar, apparently avoiding the darts I’m glaring in Nikolai’s direction. Smart.
“Is that your friend?” Landon asks, his voice trailing off.
I grab the martini glass by the slim stem and stand. “No. He’s not.” Without another word, I maneuver around the people crowding the room, careful to keep each drop in the glass I intend to paint his face with. My only hope is that the toothpick holding two olives somehow finds a place in one of those golden eyes. He won’t change into a monster here. At least … I’m willing to bet he won’t.
Courtney says something from behind me but it’s impossible to make out over the ragged heartbeats thumping to the exact tune of Club Volk on its busiest night. He doesn’t shift in his seat, no, Nik simply follows me with those glowing eyes, scanning my face, dress, and legs, and then back to my face. His smile deepens, and there’s not a single doubt in my mind. This ends tonight.
I stand a foot from him, ready to make a breakaway for the door if the slightest hint of fur appears from his exposed neckline. “Nikolai.” I spit his name like it’s the wrong flavor, accenting each syllable for emphasis.
He arches a brow and both sides of his mouth crook upward. “You look delicious as always, Natalia.”
Fuck it. He’s paying for the martini. He might as well get his money’s worth. I pull my arm back, taking aim at his gorgeous and infuriating face. Why shouldn’t he wear it? Sure, he’s not in some thousand-dollar button up, but I’d be willing to bet getting alcohol off a leather jacket would cost an annoying amount at the dry cleaners. He needs to know I’m not going to be his toy to have fun with when he gets bored. The fake rabbit used to lure dogs in circles around a racetrack. Next time, don’t run. Oh, I’m not going to run. I won’t give him the satisfaction of chasing me anymore.
“I wouldn’t do that,” he interrupts, the light in his eyes somehow glowing brighter. “A lot of people in this bar, and if you haven’t noticed—” He pauses and runs his tongue along a perfect row of human teeth. “I’m not great at self-control.”
I lower my arm, forfeiting the attempt. He’s right. The last thing I need is to splash a drink on him and have the monster hiding beneath his human form come out to snack on patrons like bar peanuts. I set the martini on the countertop and eye the beer in front of him. He didn’t just follow me in. No, he has been waiting here for me if the quarter of amber liquid still settling near the bottom means anything. I didn’t see him when I came in, then again, I was more focused on finding Courtney and the guy she assured me was a total catch .
“What are you doing here, Nikolai?” I sit down on the barstool next to him, trying to keep this interaction as calm and casual as possible. I don’t have to turn to know Courtney, Roman, and Landon are watching us right now. I can practically feel Court’s eyes boring holes through the back of my skull. She’s never going to invite me out again after this. Ditch the guy she set me up with only to run back to the asshole that blew me off? Well, turned into something only seen in horror movies and scared me off is more accurate. Then cornered me on the street and … Shit. How am I going to explain this to her? Really, how can I even explain this to myself?
He shifts in the barstool, his long legs resting on each side of mine. A half smile, just enough to tilt his mouth to one side. “Just keeping an eye on what’s mine.”
“Yours?” I yell out and immediately reduce my voice to a whisper. “Don’t let what happened today confuse you. I haven’t forgotten what I saw last night. You are— You are a fucking—”
Nik tilts his head, almost begging me to admit the word out loud. He furrows his brow and listens, though I’m sure he probably knows what I’m thinking. Monster. No one can deny what I saw last night was indeed monstrous. But when I glance at him now, it’s like he’s readying himself for the word the same way someone would stiffen their body for a punch. Part of him looks angry. And the other part? Wounded.
I take a deep breath and continue. “You aren’t human. You changed into something I can’t fucking explain.”
His face grows serious, jaw line tightening. “I will explain everything to you if you give me a chance.”
“You had hair all over your body.”
He waves it off and says, “That only lasts until daybreak.”
“You tried to fucking eat me,” I whisper-shout, my voice cracking.
Nik peers around for a moment, scanning the bar to be certain no one else is listening. They aren’t, thankfully enough, but if I had to guess, Courtney, Roman, and Landon all wish they had the ability to read lips.
“That … was an accident,” he says in a low voice after assessing the room.
My face contorts into a mixture of confusion and disgust. “Accident? You changed into a werewolf, tried to rip out my throat, and that was an accident?”
He closes his eyes and opens them, the gold dimming enough to notice. “You weren’t supposed to be there, Natalia. I told you not to come back, so why did you?”
I open my mouth and shut it just as quick. Checkmate. He’s right, and as stupid as it sounds, he did warn me. Sure, I second-guessed my decision the fifteen-minutes it took to get to Volk. Then, I hacked my way inside, ignoring common sense the entire way. And now, well, here I am sitting with someone capable of ripping out my clavicle on a whim, doing little else than berating him. Werewolf or not, he’s not winning this argument because he can change into something otherworldly.
“Oh yeah? Why did you give me this then?” I hold the necklace on my thumb, making sure it shines under the lights of the room.
“I sent you this to protect you,” he says and leans forward, grabbing the crescent-moon symbol. The flesh of his fingers burns. Sizzles. A sound reminiscent of a rib eye on a cast iron. Nik doesn’t flinch, but stares at me more intensely. “If you didn’t have this last night …” He trails off and drops the necklace to fall over my chest. “I never would’ve forgiven myself.”
Heat builds up my spine, hitting every nerve along the way. Why do I want to fold into him right now? Bring my lips to his in one fleeting moment? He’s a werewolf. He tried to kill me. Yet, I’d give anything just to taste his mouth one more time. Have him kiss my neck and let his fingers wander the parts of me best hidden. To feel fire throbbing through each of my veins.
“Why are you here, Nik?” I ask, my breath hitching.
He brings his face closer to mine. “Because I had to be sure. I needed to know you wouldn’t run every chance you got. That you aren’t truly afraid of me.”
I stare at him, uncertainty tensing my brows. “What makes you think I’m not?”
Nik chuckles, takes the toothpick from my martini, and pops the two olives in his mouth. “Because you’re still here. And judging by the way your best friend is glaring at me right now, she has no clue what I am or what happened earlier today.” He winks at me and I fucking despise him for it.
“Who says I haven’t told her?” I snap. Is this man, well—thing, serious right now? He’s going to try and out-couch my own therapist? Great, now I’m not only getting life advice from a paid professional, but from the supernatural as well. Only you, Nat. Only fucking you.
Nik polishes off the beer and sets it back on the coaster. “She would’ve ran the instant she saw me. That’s how I know you didn’t. You didn’t tell her for a reason. And this, Natalia , is exactly why I’m here right now.”
I curse under my breath, mostly obscenities I wish to lob in his direction, but I can’t manage to move my legs, let alone my open mouth for Christ’s sake. I grit my teeth and stay silent as he stands. When he does, he leans over and brings his lips to the soft skin of my ear. Goose bumps trickle from my forearms to my shoulders, the small hairs lifting in synchronized waves.
“He got it wrong,” Nikolai says and gestures his hand to the trio with a bird’s-eye view from the opposite end of the bar. “You aren’t pretty. You. Are. Fucking. Irresistible.”
There it is. The unimaginable heat traveling up my thighs, setting my chest ablaze, and finally, burning my cheeks. My heart adjusts to the blood pumping double time to satisfy each of my limbs suddenly going numb. Ants colonize my fingers and toes, tickling every part of me left frozen. There’s no voice in my head shouting to the heavens to stop with the comparisons. Maybe it’s because there are none. Nikolai Vostik has once again made me his marionette waiting patiently for him to pull another one of my strings. And to be honest … I can’t do a single goddamn thing but let him.
“I almost forgot,” Nikolai adds, standing upright, a wicked grin tensing each of his prominent features. “If Landon touches you again—” He pauses this time, letting the silence linger as his tone turns deadly “—I will take his fucking arm and mount it somewhere in my club.”