Page 16 of Oakheart

That was when a flashlight flipped on near the end of the hallway. “What’s going on down here?”

I took a deep breath and prepared to sell my soul. Leo met my eye, pain in his own, but he knew that only I could do this, and even more, that we didn’t have a choice. We had to do whatever it took.

“Leo and I have to go to Vladivostok to retrieve our brother. We... we need money for tickets.” I drew myself up to my full height and met Grant’s eye, even though him shining a flashlight on us and staying in the dark made that difficult. I would not flinch away, though.

Whatever this cost me, my brother was worth it.

The look on Grant’s face was sour, like I’d asked if I could piss on him for fun, which was rude. I didn’t even want to piss on him. I’d prefer to never see his face again.

He didn’t drink as much as my father had. He was almost obsessive about his diet and workout regimen, in fact—an oddity for a werewolf, but he was entirely invested. I understood it a little. When he’d found us in Russia, he’d been carrying a little more weight on his frame, and it had settled around his cheeks, making him look soft and almost feminine.

While I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, Grant did. Femininity was a terrible thing, to be avoided at all costs.

Which was one of the reasons he’d come for me, and Leo was an acceptable addition to the pack, but he would only take my mother as a favor to me, because I agreed to come back and be his heir. Even at age fourteen, asking her to come and bring me, he’d spoken more to me than her. But that experience meant that he knew how much I loved Mama, and that served us here. He would never believe I would leave her behind, because I would not.

His lips pursed and he affected his very most put-upon expression, but I knew this game. It was a negotiation. I would get what I needed. The only question was what I would have to give up to get it.

“He’ll be a good addition to the pack,” Leo broke in. “He’s my twin. And he was always stronger than me. He’ll be useful.”

“If those government types haven’t broken him,” Grant hedged, and his thinking was cold-blooded, but it was the very thing I’d been worried about. Just, I’d been worried for Viktor, and Grant was worried he might not get the very best deal.

“He’ll do his part,” I said, my voice firm. “And if he cannot, then Leo and I will do it for him.”

Grant’s eyes lit up at that, and in the dark hallway with no light but that one flashlight, he looked nearly demonic. I wondered, for a wild moment, if he would demand possession of my very soul.

I wondered if I believed in souls.

I would agree, regardless. I would give anything my brother needed.

“If you’re sure,” he hedged, drawing the word out in a way that set my teeth on edge. “Miss Ermengarde has someone she’d like you to meet. I suppose I could wait until you get back.”

And there was the price.

This again.

The thought of the demand made nausea bubble up in my belly, but it didn’t matter. He’d have asked it anyway. He had asked it before, starting when I was sixteen. It was just that now, he wouldn’t have to ask. I was agreeing ahead of time.

And for Viktor?

Dirtying myself was nothing.

I would let him solicit me to every witch ever born if it helped my brother.

CHAPTER 9

Cash

One day,Aleks and Leo were there helping me work on their mother’s house. The next, they were gone.

Katya had brought me a letter from Aleks. It was short and promised that they’d be back soon.

It was Katya’s wide blue eyes, swimming with tears even as she smiled and assured me that everything was fine, that proved they really were coming home. This wasn’t like Jax. It wasn’t a break.

Aleks and Leo would never leave her behind.

Katya said they’d gone to retrieve their brother, and I didn’t know why that made her delicate fingers flutter nervously to her lips. There was something about this that scared her. Maybe it was just that her sons were going back to Russia, a country they’d fled from while I’d been away, but it felt like something more than that.

I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to pry.