Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
NATALIE
“What was that about?” I ask, as we pass between two hangars. The large doors are closed and appear to be padlocked.
“My father has everyone on alert,” Nik says, veering to the left and parking on the unmarked concrete. “He’s going to give us fifteen minutes until he makes the call.”
“Because he owes you?”
Nik jerks his head to the side, surprise in his eyes. He peers at me curiously, gaze working from my lips to the side of my neck still stinging from his teeth. “Yes. I did him a favor once.”
“He’s being modest,” Dimitri cuts in, shifting in the seat behind me. “Boris was going to lose house few years ago. Nikolai made sure he didn’t.”
A warmth blooms in my chest. Nikolai is good man, Dimitri told me once, and I’m starting to see why he was so quick to come to his defense.
Despite everything he went through growing up, and the way his father pit him and Viktor against each other, there is still something inside him that’s gentle.
Selfless, even to the humans his family considers beneath them.
Not Nik, though. He is everything Dimitri described and more.
I arch a brow and wait for his response.
“What?” he says with a small grin. “You don’t help someone to boast about it. Then the only person you’re helping is yourself.”
“Wise words for an animal,” I say deviously, leaning over the center console. God, I have fallen for this man. This apex fucking predator. Just when I think there’s no possible way something else can make me more attracted to him, the universe proceeds to up the ante.
His grin deepens, and he meets me halfway, mouth on a collision course for mine.
“I’m going to be sick,” Alexey interrupts, throwing his head back to the cushion. “Look, we need to leave, not make wolf babies. Lev said be ready. He doesn’t want to be on these cursed lands long.”
“Are you sure we need him?” I whisper with a smirk, nodding in Alexey’s direction.
“Princess, if Lev come all the way here and doesn’t see my handsome face, you’ll be puppy chow by blood moon.”
“Alexey …” Nik warns, the muscles in his tattooed forearms tightening.
The soldier rolls his eyes and kicks open the door. “One little joke, and now I am bad guy?” He scoffs and uses the seat to help himself out, muttering soft curses in Russian I can’t quite understand.
Dimitri exits the SUV next. Then, there’s silence.
No, I wouldn’t hear anything happening out of the vehicle now, not when Nikolai stares at me with hunger in his eyes.
I saw how he looked at me in the hotel bathroom.
A combination of concern and guilt sharpening his jawline.
It was nothing close to the way he scans every inch of my face now, like he’s searching for the most decadent part he wants to taste first.
“What?” I ask, those gorgeous glowing eyes bringing goose bumps to my arms.
Nik grates his teeth on his lower lip. “Do you notice anything different about these windows?” he asks, pointing to the windshield.
I don’t, of course. They are tinted a shade dark enough to dampen the sun beaming in the cloudless sky, but other than that, no different than an average car window.
“My father has trust issues. Prefers all of his conversations free from prying ears, These cars have glass thick enough to block the humans from gathering intel on our pack. The government loves to eavesdrop on my family.” He brushes the hair from my face and continues.
“So, you shouldn’t have been able to hear my conversation with Boris, unless—”
“My hearing isn’t human …” My mouth hangs open, a wave of shock washing over me.
How is this even possible? I’ve been a werewolf for all of six hours, and I’m already getting abilities?
I’m not sure what I expected, but claws and super hearing wasn’t on my bingo card this early on.
I thought it took time. That these things would be dormant until after I shifted during a full moon.
Nik nods. “And you being able to tap into it this soon, without even knowing you were doing it.” He pauses and his voice lowers.
“Is the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
” There’s that look again. The depraved smirk that has his fangs showing in full effect.
Him, a starving monster ready to sink his teeth in, and me, a willing sacrifice.
“The sooner I teach you how to control these … new additions to the list of things I already find irresistible about you, then—” Nik grabs me by my chin and holds my gaze with his. “Then, I do unspeakable things to you. Things only my little wolf can handle.”
Blush creeps up my cheeks, warming my face and neck.
He kisses me, a hot, ravenous joining of our lips.
God, my entire body convulses. Twists. Writhes, while my mouth remains perfectly clasped to his.
I can’t feel my own heartbeat, and there’s a good chance I’m flatlining in the passenger seat from what this man is doing to me.
How my core throbs for him. Curse be damned.
Every inch, both human and the monster simmering inside of me, wants him.
He pulls away despite my soft whimpers begging him for more and runs his hand down the length of his face.
Nik wants it just as bad as I do, that much is clear.
But only one of us is strong enough to resist these urges.
He reaches for the door handle, and I’m half-tempted to stop him, fearing his delicious scent might seep out, never to be smelled again. It doesn’t, thankfully enough.
Nik watches me for a moment, another curious glint in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I say with a nod, my voice as steady as I can manage.
I don’t think I am. Not really. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay sitting this close to him again when he has the power to turn my arms and legs to useless pieces of freaking plywood.
If I get out now, I might just Frankenstein walk my way to the getaway plane Alexey promised. But Nik doesn’t need to know that.
“I’m fine,” I say again, this time dismissively.
Nik gives one last smirk before climbing out, taking the warmth and that ungodly smell with him. Rounding the SUV, he pulls my door open and extends his palm to me. I take it, praying my legs won’t fail me on the two-foot drop to solid ground.
“Anything?” Nik asks, helping me manage the concrete.
“Da, the big man believes I’ll tell him what my tattoo means if he can beat me in arm wrestle,” Alexey says, crossing his arms and relaxing on the SUV bumper.
“Alexey,” Nik growls, his voice both him and something else entirely. It’s low and crescendos with a terrifying snarl. “You said he’d be here. So, where is he? Where is Lev?”
Alexey stands from his slouched position to a soldier ready to address a general. His sly grin loses slack, and in its place, an expressionless demeanor reserved for those higher ranking. Old habits die hard, I guess. And apparently, Alexey has something hardwired in him that’ll never change.
“Nik …” I say and place my hand on his chest, ignoring the immense heat searing each fingertip.
When he looks from Alexey to me, the gold in his eyes falters. Flickers a different color altogether, only to right themselves within seconds. I’m not imagining it. Not seeing things despite my mind screaming otherwise. Nikolai’s eyes weren’t gold. They were—
“What’s the matter, brother?” a familiar voice echoes from behind the hangar. His enormous silhouette comes into view first, shadow taking up half of the tarmac. Then, Viktor emerges and marches into the sunlight. “Your flight delayed?” He smiles at the four of us, a grin nothing short of menacing.
Alexey slips a knife from his waist by the hilt and holds it outright, sharpened blade ready to attack.
He found us. Somehow, Viktor knew we’d come here.
Dimitri reaches for his crossbow, drawing the string into place and aiming a silver arrow at the monster stalking closer.
Nik doesn’t growl. He doesn’t even start to shift. No, he steps in front of me, blocking Viktor from view. “Boris?” he asks his brother with disappointment.
A wicked smirk spreads until Viktor’s fangs rest on his bottom lip. “Boris,” he agrees, and a few more shadows move to stand behind him. Some of these faceless soldiers snarl, but the rest simply train their rifles in our direction. He didn’t come alone. Viktor brought an entire kill squad.
The guard didn’t wait like he promised. He called Viktor the second we went through the gate, and now, here we are cornered and waiting for a plane that might never show up.
He was afraid, not just of Nikolai, but what might happen to his family if he didn’t report him.
The same fear I saw in Sergei’s eyes when I asked him to help me at the compound.
“You have something of mine, Nikolai,” Viktor taunts. “Your pet and I have a date.”
Nik turns to me, rage in his features. “No matter what happens, you run, little wolf. He won’t take you again.”
I nod despite the staggering amount of questions in my head.
Even if he can stop Viktor, what about the rest of them?
How will any of us be able to make it out of here alive?
Alexey is wounded, and all Dimitri has is a crossbow with ten arrows.
Sure, Nik can shift but it won’t do much good. Not against an army.
I swallow hard, forcing down the bile creeping up my esophagus.
There’s a heavy thrumming in my ears as I watch the soldiers move toward us, each step slow and calculated.
My heartbeat quickens. They’re going to box us in.
Leave no choice but to surrender. Then what?
Will they just kill us here or take our little pack to the compound as sport for their blood moon?
We won’t go with them willingly, if that’s what Viktor’s thinking.
I’d rather die than be his rabbit to chase again.
The thrumming gets louder, deafening even.
“Do you hear that, Natalia?” Nik asks, his voice smoothing over. And although I can’t see him, it’s easy to know he’s grinning at the soldiers closing in.
What is he talking about? Of course, I hear it.
But what does the blood rushing to my ears have to do with— My breath hitches.
It isn’t coming from me, and Nik isn’t the only one that senses it, either.
Viktor and his wolves all seem to notice the whirling engine in the distance, some even turning away from us to find the noise.
It grows louder by the second. A small black dot appears, and the sound I was so sure to be my own heartbeat becomes clear. A helicopter.
Alexey scoffs out in laughter. “You didn’t believe in Uncle Alexey. But I never lie!”