Chapter 26
DIMITRI
CRAWL - STAIND
“You. Out back. Now,” I hiss as I grab Row’s arm and start dragging her down the hall.
“Fuck off!” She yanks free from my grip, spins around, and starts marching in the other direction. “I don’t answer to you, Volkov.”
That grinds my goddamn gears.
Niko calls me Volkov when he's pissed at me, he always has, and apparently he decided to tell our omega so she can do it, too.
Fucker is going to get his ass paddled for that.
I could already tell having two omegas that both happen to be brats was going to be a handful, but I may have sorely underestimated the situation.
Especially since I just want to fucking talk to this one.
“Sparrow.”
In lieu of a response, Row keeps walking and holds up both of her middle fingers, one on each side of her head pointed proudly toward the ceiling.
I might have to paddle her ass, too.
Her ass that looks like a fucking snack in those jean shorts.
Shaking the thought from my head, I jog to catch up with her and make a split second decision that could easily result in a kick to the balls that will no doubt make me throw up.
I weave around a table to get in front of Row then put my head down and charge at her like I’m about to tackle her on the thirty yard line.
She curses a blue streak as I throw her over my shoulder, kicking her legs and smacking me on the back, flailing wildly as I start running toward the exit again.
“You asshole!”
I chuckle as we head down the hall, nodding at Draven as he holds the door open for me. “You have a mouth on you, no?”
“Yes!” she screeches. “Put me down and I’ll show you my teeth, too!”
“Not yet.”
While that definitely has a double meaning, I refuse to entertain any thoughts of biting this woman.
Not yet. Right now it means I’m keeping her airborne until I have her far enough from the club that I won’t draw too much attention, but close enough I can catch her again if Row decides to run.
I’d also like to have this conversation in private.
As private as we can get, anyway.
Our four mates and my dumbass cousin running around makes it hard to have a chat somewhere we won’t get interrupted.
“Are you kidnapping me?” Sparrow grunts as I toss her in the bed of my truck.
“I’m parked between Leon and Rune, do you really think I’m about to kidnap you when it’d be easy as fuck for your scent matches to track you back to me?”
She just glares as I climb in after her.
I can’t get over how gorgeous this woman is.
Row is really fucking pretty. Even with the mask on while she shoots daggers at me with her eyes.
I wish she’d stop hiding their real color.
“What do you want, Volkov?”
I pull out my pack of cigarettes and light one. “I want to talk.”
“About how you’re kidnapping me?” she says as she crosses her arms against her chest and arches a brow.
“I’m not kidnapping you.”
“Right.”
I roll my eyes and hit my smoke. “Why would I do that?”
Row shrugs.
“Exactly. I want to talk to you and this felt like the only way we could do it without an audience.”
“You mean without witnesses.” Row reaches up and undoes her mask, resting it on her knees as she nods to me. “Styx will see on the cameras, though. Then you’ll have the Irish mob on your ass.”
Following suit, since this is going to be a thing now, I take off my eye patch and stuff it in my pocket. “I already do, kotenok.”
Her brow furrows briefly but she shakes her head, ignoring whatever thought just ran through it before she pivots. “Okay, Volkov. You have me alone, what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“Niko.”
“Nope,” Row says as she pops the P. “Next topic.”
“Sparrow,” I say as I pinch the bridge of my nose. “We have to talk about him. We’re a pack, he’s our mate, it has to happen.”
“But not today.”
“Fine.” I suck my cigarette down to the filter then toss it on the pavement. “Tell me your real name.”
Row laughs. “Why would I do that?”
What Leon said the other day flashes through my mind and I smirk, debating on giving her that answer, but ultimately decide against it. I don’t think we’re quite at the stage in our relationship where I can talk about fucking her, even if I want to pretty goddamn bad right now.
It’s like a compulsion.
I don’t just want to fuck her, I need to.
A little odd since we aren’t scent matched, but I’m sure there’s a reason for it.
My eyes go wide then narrow a second later when I answer my own question with what I see. “You let him bite you?”
Row lifts her hand to the mark on her shoulder close to her neck, smiling as she runs her fingers over the same raised pattern I have on my throat. “I told him to.”
I thought Nikolai was the only one who could give me what he called rage boners but I was wrong. Dead fucking wrong because my dick is hard from visualizing my omega sinking his teeth into our omega, and I’m pissed the fuck off about it. I don’t know why I’m pissed, but I am.
That’s not true.
I’m pissed because I wasn’t there when it happened.
I didn’t get to see him lay claim to our omega, didn’t get to knot either of them while it happened. I didn’t get to watch the pleasure and ecstasy on either of their faces while that bond was set in stone, and goddamnit that is not what I need to be thinking about at all.
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and try to calm down, but it makes things worse. Way worse because I just inhaled so much of Sparrow into my lungs I can barely catch my breath.
Huge mistake.
Eucalyptus, lavender, and orchid.
She smells like sex and an early morning in springtime.
This is going to be impossible. Talking to her after she obviously bonded with Niko and Rune, right after she was bitten, it’s driving my instincts into a territory I’m not familiar with.
I want to bite her.
I want to bury myself knot deep in her pussy and bite the fuck out of her in the same spot Niko did. Not to cover it up, not to replace it, but to join it, to join us.
Fuck, I want that right fucking now and—
“If you tell me what happened between you and Niko, I’ll tell you my real name.”
I blink several times, trying in vain to erase the naked, sweaty, writhing images from my mind. “What?”
She nods. “Explain what happened almost two years ago, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about me.”
“Bullshit.”
“Cross my heart.” Row makes an X over her chest.
I look at her skeptically, trying to find any tell that she’s lying, but she’s not.
Surprisingly, she means that, and as much as I don’t want to talk about this, especially without Niko present, I need to get this out there.
As it stands, Sparrow and Rune are the only two who know any details about that day, but it won’t stay that way.
Leon is already asking questions, and eventually he and Styx are going to find out, purely because we are a pack.
If everyone bonds, exchanges bites and all that shit, they’ll know what I did, and it’s probably best if I start practicing that conversation now with the one mate who might listen.
She seems to want to, anyway.
“I went first last time,” I say as I spread my thighs and lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I light another cigarette and give her what I hope is only a slightly cocky, mostly charming smile. “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
With a huff and a grin, she nods and says, “Liv. My name is Olive but Rune is the only one who calls me that. Niko calls me Liv.” She looks at me curiously. “What does… kotenok mean?”
“Well, Liv, it’s Russian for kitten. Why?”
“I should have known.” She laughs a little as she pushes her hair behind her ears. “Niko calls me that, too.”
“Kitten?”
Liv nods.
“Russian or English?”
“Both.”
I scrub a hand over my face as I chuckle. “Fucking figures, doesn’t it?”
“I like it.” Liv gives me a fucking beautiful smile, one I can’t help but return. “You’re not so bad, Volkov.” She tilts her head and looks me up and down, her smile turning almost devious. “Then again, you haven’t tried to shoot me yet.”
As if her words manifested a bullet into existence, one grazes my shoulder at that exact moment, ripping through the leather of my jacket as it flies past me and lands in the metal wheel well directly next to Liv.
The tire pops and hisses as I lunge toward her, several more bullets pelting the side of my truck, following our movements as I tuck her into my body and roll us toward the cab.
“What did you do?” Liv hisses as I flatten myself on top of her and pop open my toolbox.
“What did I do?” I hiss back, digging for my berettas as the gunfire briefly stops. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Bullshit,” she whispers as she wiggles around, arching her back a little before producing her glock. “Things were quiet until I started talking to you. This has to be your fault.”
While this place is a hotbed of criminal organizations and illegal activity, I don’t think she’s wrong.
Knotted Obsessions was pretty dormant, docile and uneventful almost. They still ran their drugs and guns, held the auctions and god knows what else; it was all routine. Normal. Business as usual.
This? Getting shot at in the back lot of the club? Somehow I don’t think it’s just another day at the office for anyone.
I hear boots crunching over gravel, heading in our direction. Probably three males, maybe four. I give Liv one of my guns as I pull two more out of the toolbox then stick another clip in her pocket to make sure we have as much cover as we can get with just the two of us.
“Do you know how to use that?” I mouth.
To which Liv responds by rolling her eyes, sticking the glock under my chin and mouthing back, “Want me to show you?”
This woman.
I swear to god she’s going to drive me insane.
Lucky for her, I like it.
“On my count.”
Liv nods as she moves the muzzle and takes the safety off of both guns.
The boots get closer as I give her one and two, but I search her eyes and see the second it clicks that I wasn’t actually going to get to three before acting.