“I’ll kill you, Vlad!” she screamed into the void. “Do you hear me? You’re dead!”
* * *
Prince wouldn’t allowKat to drive in her emotional state. She was livid and liable to wreck the car. They arrived at Nadia’s apartment at lightning speed, staying long enough to grab the flash drive and some other items Kat wanted.
It wasn’t safe to remain there, so Prince left the city and drove them to his mansion. Despite the late hour, neither of them was tired. Kat was despondent, so he didn’t pressure her to talk. The guard opened the main gate, which stood almost twenty feet high. Prince parked on the right side, and they entered the house through the breezeway. Once inside, Kat stalked through the rotunda toward the back of the house without saying a word, oblivious to her lavish surroundings, her stride angry as she disappeared around the corner.
“Sire,” Russell said, bowing respectfully. He had on a tight-fitted white shirt with dark suspenders. It was a look that had always amused Prince, but the situation was far too grim for such humorous distractions.
“What happened?” Prince demanded.
His Scottish packmate was still sporting fresh injuries to his face and lip. “A Mage slammed into my motor when we crossed an intersection. I thought he was hammered, but then he pulled the woman out. I had to crawl through an open window to go after him. The shitebag knocked me unconscious with a blast of energy, and when I woke up, he was gone.”
“And Nadia? Was she injured?” Anger ripped through Prince like a streak of lightning, and it took everything in his power not to shift. Nadia didn’t deserve this.
“Probably took a hit to her noggin, but she’s not dead.”
Prince traced his finger across his eyebrow, trying to dissect what Vlad was up to by kidnapping Nadia. He couldn’t have known she was Kat’s twin since he had only seen her from behind on the rooftop.
“Why didn’t you shift and heal?” Prince asked, looking at the cut on Russell’s hand.
His beta pulled a few pieces of glass from his unruly hair. “I deserve what I got, and I’ll keep the scars as a reminder.”
Prince respected him for taking accountability. “Did you see what the car looked like?”
“The license plate is burned into my brain,” he gritted out.
“Good. I want you to pay a visit to the man I think was behind this. Tell me if the car on the property matches the plates. I need to know if he was foolish enough to return home or if he’s gone into hiding.”
Russell clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. “What’s the bastard’s name?”
“Vladimir Romanov. I’ve looked through his file, but I want you to speak to your contacts and see what else you can find out.”
Prince looked past Russell at Kat strutting into the room, tearing off a strip of meat from a barbecue rib with her teeth.
“I couldn’t find a microwave,” she said unapologetically.
Russell turned around and said, “We don’t have one.”
Kat waved the bone at Prince, and he sensed the fire in her had returned. “Christmas wish list. So what’s the plan? I need a plan, Charming. I can’t just sit here waiting for him to call—ifhe calls. He’s got my sister.”
“Your sister?” Russell asked, stepping forward. “Aye, I can see the resemblance. She’s a bonnie lass, but you don’t have her flaxen hair and comely smile.”
Kat narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”
Prince moved between them. “Russell, this is Katarina Kozlov, my close companion.”
They both turned their eyes to Prince, but he didn’t retract the declaration.
“And how close is aclose companion?” Russell asked, his green eyes glittering with interest.
“Kat, this is Russell Stover, one of my most loyal packmates and second-in-command.”
Kat snorted and licked a dab of sauce from her hand. The sight of her wet tongue made Prince shift his stance.
“Your name is Russell Stover?”
“My father was half-German,” he said matter-of-factly.
