Page 88 of Fractured Ties

All standard things for a tattoo shop.

“Why are we here?” Maya asked.

“Stars.”

She peered over her shoulder at him. The sweetest little knot indented in her brow. “Stars?”

“Mmm, two of them, dushka.” Kolya stepped closer to her and reached up to let his fingers graze the back of her neck. “Just below your neckline here, I think. Where not everyone can see all the time, but they will when it counts.”

He didn’t miss the shiver that raced across her skin at his touch. That knot in her brow hadn’t disappeared either.

“Wait, I’m getting the stars?”

“They’ll match mine,” he murmured, a smile spreading his lips. “And you like mine, don’t you?”

Maya’s gaze drifted down to his chest, and then back up to his face just as quickly. “I like all your tattoos, actually.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

She frowned. “Don’t say that.”

Kolya shrugged. “Enough about me—this is about you.”

“Yes, and putting a permanent mark on my body.”

“You need them,” he admitted. “They’ll protect you more than a man with a gun in some situations, no? They’re important.”

Maya quieted for a long while before she asked, “You think so?”

“Know so, my girl.”

She scrunched her nose up. “Is this like … a property thing? A brand?”

Kolya’s jaw clenched so hard that he heard his teeth crunch from the action. Maya didn’t miss it, if her flinch was any indication. She was quick to spin around, and her hand came up to press soft fingertips into his cheek.

He was here for her.

He was trying to reassure her.

And there she was, turning the tables on him.

Funny how that worked.

“Is that what it is?” she asked. “A brand?”

Kolya had to force his jaw to unlock so he could speak. “Not in this context. It’s more important, and it has more meaning. They’ll match my stars—they’ll be specific to me.”

“So it means—”

“You’re mine.”

And given who he was—a Boykov, and not just any Boykov, the Boykov heir—those stars would make Maya untouchable in most cases. Sure, there were those who wouldn’t respect the mark, but that would likely be out of ignorance. Anyone who knew what would happen to a person who messed with someone who was marked … well, it was far from pleasant.

To say the least.

Maya’s gaze jumped back up to his in an instant. “You don’t seem bothered to say that at all—like it’s second nature to you or something.”

He knew exactly what she meant.