AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” Anna agreed. “Let’s do that.”
Nikolai hummed, close to waking now.
“Will he remember what happened?” Zeke asked.
“No,” she assured, changing the topic up as Nikolai’s eyes began to open again, carrying on the conversation as though it had never taken a detour, saying, “As far as I know, Vasili expects a call from you within the hour.”
“Fine,” Pietr said, picking up his cell phone. “But I’m not happy about this.”
Nikolai cleared his throat, a momentary confusion on his face as he registered the chair he was in, but not wanting to look weak he quickly put on his normal resting-smug face. Clearly, Pietr placing the call meant victory. The lapse in memory no more than a blur. Nikolai had no real reason to question what had happened, or he’d risk appearing a complete fool in front of people whose respect mattered more to him than his own life. And so, he sat back in the chair, lacing his fingers together in a perfect mirror of his boss, and continued to listen to the conversation.
Chapter 16 - Anna
She’d told her father that she loved him.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had done that, and a part of her knew it was all to do with Zeke. Not only with what had happened between them less than an hour ago, but also him. His whole person. How he carried himself, how he never faltered or shied away from his convictions. She had lent from his strength since the bonding ceremony and was beginning to feel a bit like a vampire. He didn’t seem to mind, though. In fact, he seemed to offer himself, and all that he was, freely and without pause as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
As though she belonged; they belonged.
It made her feel impossibly herself. Like she could walk through cement walls and break through any barrier. It made her feel certain that she could face the obstacle before them and succeed in scaling it. She wouldn’t give them away, she wouldn’t waver. She’d save herself, save them all from the threat of a catalyst for whatever plan Vasili had hatched in that rotten mind of his.
What he’d told her about her father kept returning, but she would have to digest it later. Would have to find a way to change the business side of things from the inside out in her own time. Right now, her concentration was entirely given to not dying.
She was walking across the gravel yard of the Kuznetsovs mansion, toward the still propped open front doors, though the party had died down by now. There were no revelers left. They knew the decorum of not overstaying their welcome and would all have filtered out around eleven-thirty. That was how these things were done.
Nikolai was walking a few steps behind her, a lingering threat in every crunch of gravel underfoot.
If she made one wrong move, she was toast.
Zeke was on her right, his hand not in hers, her fingers itching to reach out. Part of her understood why he was keeping a slight distance between them. He wanted Nikolai on his best behavior, not watching them too closely, no narcissistic possessiveness fueled. Showing a separation between them would most likely stroke his ego enough that he would even begin to relax around them. That was the aim, anyway. Anna knew he was always relaxed around her, but Zeke was a different matter entirely. There was a rivalry there that was as old as the three families’ blood feud. One that really had nothing to do with her.
It dawned on her then that Nikolai pursuing her might have had very little to do with her as well, it might have had everything to do with Zeke. Trying to one up him. She didn’t know what their friendship had been like, but if Nikolai’s description of it was anything to go by, it told her enough of what type of value Nikolai had put on Zeke. She felt dirty suddenly. That she’d fallen for it. Hook, line, and sinker.
She kept herself from glaring at Nikolai over her shoulder, entering the grand house, knowing the way to Vasili’s office this time around.
Vasili and Pietr had spoken for nearly ten minutes. She’d heard all of it, of course. As had Nikolai. Now, all she needed to make sure was that he wanted to keep her close without paying much attention to her, as was his way.
She was grateful Zeke was there with her. Going alone would have been agonizing. She had to keep her hand from drifting to the back of her head every few seconds. She’d pressed on the spot once and there was nothing to be felt. She wondered how the mechanism worked. Would whatever it was that made up the receptor simply vanish when the deed was done? Was it that untraceable, or was that pure science fiction? Perhaps Zeke was right, and there wasn’t even anything planted in her head at all because the technology didn’t exist.
She didn’t dare hope.
And the look in Vasili’s eyes had told her he wasn’t playing around.
“Well done, Nikki,” Vasili commended. “Did they give you a location?”
“Yes. They’ll meet us there tomorrow morning.”
“So soon?”
“Apparently.”
Vasili turned his eyes to Anna’s.
“So that’s why they wanted you bonded immediately?”
Anna smiled in agreement. He was too clever for them. He was figuring everything out, following the blueprint he wasn’t meant to know. As long as he believed that she knew she’d be safe. She wished she could shift into her dragon form, wished she could burn his phone to a cinder where it lay on his desk. But she’d be too slow. She’d be dead before she could so much as draw breath.
“The location isn’t the actual point of delivery,” Anna told him.
