Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
NIK
“Alexey Sarkov,” he shouts at the hotel receptionist, wincing in pain against the registration desk. “Ty glupyy?”
I knew asking a wounded Alexey to get us a room was risky, but I never imagined it’d lead to him asking the woman behind the counter if she was stupid.
An unfortunate necessity. By now, my cards will be shut off from the Vostik fortune, and I can’t exactly have Dimitri get the room when the pack would recognize his name as easily as mine.
None of them know about Alexey. No, my father would’ve had him ripped apart the second he found out about the surveillance.
For now, he’s our best option to avoid the pack finding us. From finding her.
Natalia fell asleep long before the sun rose over the city of Samara, my pack’s old hunting grounds.
A Vostik hasn’t hunted here for decades, not since the treaty.
Some people go missing from time to time, but it’s not a wolf behind it, at least, not one of ours.
The Russian government made sure of that.
Whenever a citizen can’t be found, our den is the first place they check, armored vehicles barreling through the front gates with weapons designed to kill our kind readied.
My father isn’t stupid, though. He’d kill any wolf bloodthirsty enough to ignore the truce.
While he appreciates monsters joining his ranks, he wouldn’t tolerate one that puts themselves before the pack.
I continue listening to Alexey from the SUV parked out front, my hands still at the ten and two position.
Maybe I was wrong. I half-expect a doubled-over Alexey to be escorted outside, a room short and us traveling to the next hotel within driving distance.
He’s still losing a lot of blood judging by the stench of nickel bandages clashing with floor cleaner and the potted flowers scattered throughout the entryway.
Not just any flower. The reason this was our first stop.
Wolfsbane. I guess some people don’t forget the old ways of deterring my kind.
I steal a glance at her, taking in the soft lines of her brow growing deeper and more defined.
She’s dreaming again. Fighting might be a better word.
They come in waves, first a subtle groan, followed by her body shifting.
Tense limbs jolting like she’s running from something I can’t stop.
Then, Natalia goes still, and the soft snores return.
I won’t disturb her. I can’t after everything she’s gone through. My little wolf’s earned some sleep.
“Nyet, nyet, nyet. It’s Alexey!” He raises his voice louder and starts tapping his credit card on the counter.
I shake my head and turn back to Natalia.
Her leg has already started healing, the only hint of blood a dried stain on the white bandages covering her ankle.
While I’m relieved her body isn’t rejecting the bite, it doesn’t erase the guilt shredding my stomach to confetti anytime I look her in the eyes.
I’ve seen more humans turn than I’d care to admit.
Every time my father gave someone the curse, whether for financial or political gain, there was always a gamble.
Half survived the transformation, maybe less.
When I chose to bite Ida, Dimitri’s sister, we all knew the risk, but when someone’s already served a death sentence, there’s really nothing else to be afraid of, not even becoming a monster.
She asked me if it’d hurt, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her—someone I considered my own sister—it would.
How she would sleep for days after. The way her body would feel like it was ripping apart from the seams. She was already in pain, but the sickness she battled every day would feel like a flea bite in comparison.
Ida fought the way she always did. Strong, like her brother. Like a real wolf.
She healed. She thrived. And eventually, she could move without our assistance.
Even pushed us away with a strength rivaling Dimitri’s when we’d try to help.
She was whole again. Happy. But you can’t choose your family, and her drastic change from bedridden and absent to following me and Dimitri into the woods again didn’t go unnoticed.
I have my suspicions on what pack member revealed the truth to my father, but he never admitted to it.
Not even when I buried my claws in his thigh.
It didn’t matter, though. My father was disgusted by my decision to save her, and, well, Dimitri had to say goodbye to an empty grave.
Like Ida, my little wolf is turning. It’s impossible not to notice the subtle changes.
Even when backed into the corner near Alexey’s monitors at the factory, her heartbeat wasn’t erratic in the way I committed to memory.
The rhythmic patterns. How one beat might be soft while the other has the same force of a crossbow string slamming forward.
Sure, the scent helps a wolf track, but if you can hear the differences in these palpitations, you can pinpoint your prey on a crowded city block.
I’ve listened to Natalia’s heart when she is terrified.
Excited.
Nervous.
Aroused …
There are no secrets between me the organ pumping life through her. I know every bit of her intimately. Until now.
When I told her what she’d become, there was nothing.
Fear, and maybe confusion twisted her features, but her heart rate didn’t change a single beat.
It was calm. No more disturbed than it is now sleeping off the curse filtering through each vein.
That’s when I knew. How I know now she’ll never see a full moon through her own eyes again.
She’s going to survive the curse my brother forced on her, but at a cost. The lunar cycle will be something she tracks regularly.
Chains will become her new friend, keeping her from doing something she’ll regret.
Natalia’s going to turn, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she’s ready for it.
Stumbling out of the lobby entrance, Alexey waves us in, his face a mixture of pain and triumph.
Dimitri is the first to get out, leaving the SUV to teeter to one side until it settles on all fours.
I don’t move. No, I sit there and watch her, studying every mouth-watering line of her face like it’s the first time.
I could carry her to our room, but I’m also willing to bet a man carrying an unconscious woman past the lobby staff in nothing more than a fuzzy green blanket would draw suspicion.
More attention than we need right now. There’s no telling how far my father’s influence reaches, especially in a city this close to his den.
“Natalia,” I whisper, shaking her shoulder first, then, a soft caress on her cheek.
Gods, this woman is going to be my undoing.
She tempts the most primal parts of me even in her sleep.
I’ve fought for years to gain control over my body, but my training could never prepare me to be this close to something so fucking irresistible.
I fight the urge to trace my finger over her partially open mouth, round lips full and begging to be touched.
Kissed. It takes everything in me to suppress these cravings. “We’re here.”
She winces, arms and legs stretching uncomfortably.
When her eyes flutter open, there’s a flash in each iris.
It’s bright. Beautiful, even. Then, the faint glow is gone within seconds.
I stare at her intently, taking in how she lifts herself from a slouched to a seated position.
She doesn’t strain. Doesn’t bark in pain or exhaustion.
No, she simply sits up and adjusts her brown eyes to the SUV interior.
“Where are we?” she asks through a yawn.
I glide my thumb down her lower lip out of impulse and tilt her chin until our eyes meet. The subtle glow is gone, and in its place are the deep browns I recognize. “We’re safe. For now,” I say and open the driver door.
She doesn’t say much as we walk together to the third floor, passing what seems like every hotel guest in the building on our way to the room Alexey reserved.
They all do the same thing as the couple ahead of us does now.
They glance at Natalia first, because how could they not, and then, a gaping stare at the man walking alongside her.
Me.
Shoeless and in nothing more than a faded-green wool blanket.
I earn more than my fair share of raised eyebrows from the lobby to this part of the building, silently cursing Alexey and his lack of awareness the entire way.
Did he even ask if a first-floor room was available?
I can’t remember, but all I know now is I’ve never experienced this level of embarrassment.
Embarrassment is a human emotion, the wolf starts, but I put up my mental shields and cut him off. Not now. I’m too drained for another lecture from the wolf taking residency in my head.
“They probably think you’re a stray,” Natalia whispers with a smirk and nods to the couple. Only after returning the gesture does the couple’s stride increase from a casual walk to a dash for the elevators.
I force a laugh. “They might be right.” Because what else am I at this point? My family tried to kill me. My best friend. Worst of all, they came for her. I’m not a part of their pack anymore. No, I’d rather die than live the rest of my life as a Vostik.
I have no den.
No wolves watching my flanks.
I am, for the first time in my life, alone.
Seeming to sense my unease, Natalia closes the small gap between us and interlocks her scalding hand with mine.
Is this the same warmth she feels whenever I touch her?
An inferno throughout her entire body? Gods, it’s almost unbearable and tempting at the same time.
If she lets go now, I’d only be left wondering why ice had suddenly taken over my skin.
“You’re cold,” she says, a curious glint in her eyes, probably thinking the same thing I am.
How?