Nadia hadn’t realized how much she missed her father. She’d spent so many years trying to forget him that she’d forgotten how raw the pain of his absence was. “I didn’t think you were proud of me.”
His thick brows furrowed. “I have always been a proud father. My two beautiful girls—strong and intelligent. I do not love one more than the other.”
“And which am I? The strong one or the intelligent one?”
Her father held up both of his hands. “You are born from the same seed and will always be stronger when you are together,” he said, clasping his fingers together. “You each have strength, but different. Kat has a strong will and body, but you have an iron heart. You are smart with learning all kinds of things from books that I never understood, and Kat is cunning. She could outwit a fox.”
“But all that time you spent with Katarina…”
“Nadia, my children are two halves of my heart, but you were always the one who had control over her emotions. Your mother leaving almost broke Katarina. Even though you were the one closest to your mother, Kat has always had the tender heart. That is her Achilles’ heel. I have made mistakes; I was not a perfect father,” he said, shaking his head. “But now you are grown women, and you must be there for each other. You can’t worry about what this old man thinks.”
“Oh, Papa.” Nadia wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek.
When the door above opened, her father shoved her forcefully to the cement floor.
Footsteps approached. “What a coincidence. Of all people I bring here, it’s your own flesh and blood. Why didn’t you tell me long ago that you had a daughter, Alexei?” The man called Vlad stood behind Nadia, and she stayed absolutely motionless while he continued. “Silent treatment again? I don’t suppose you gave her my ring as a gift, did you? We could have settled this years ago. You could have been free! But once again, I have been deceived.”
Nadia tensed when her father didn’t reply.
“Is that how it’s going to be?” Vlad erupted. “Don’t you dare shut your eyes and ignore me!”
She tried to slow down her racing heart and meanwhile noticed the most trivial things. Like she was barefoot, and her skirt was twisting painfully around her waist.
Vlad leaned forward and grabbed her father by the collar. “You are lucky to be alive. I am the only thing keeping you in this world, so you give me what is mine or else… I just might take something that’s precious toyou.”
Nadia gasped when her father erupted in a violent motion and wrapped the chain around Vlad’s neck.
“Run!”
* * *
Kat rolledover and nestled onto a cool patch of dirt. She glanced at her surroundings and remembered she was in a basement, despite the fact it looked more like a nature preserve at midnight. Small dim lights in the ceiling resembled scattered stars, and the main light shone from behind the man-made waterfall to her right, which was nothing more than water cascading down a rock wall.
“How long was I out?”
Prince was sitting on a flat rock a few feet in front of her. He scratched his bristly jaw, his hair still loose and maddeningly sexy. “Your wolf was out for maybe two hours. She especially enjoyed the rare steak I brought down for her.”
Steak?Kat highly doubted those were leftovers in his fridge—not in a pack full of wolves. Prince had cooked for her wolf and fed her, and didthatever stir a primal feeling of desire in her. That was almost as good as hunting for her animal, although no Shifter had ever done that before.
Prince smiled with his warm, generous eyes. “She’s a beautiful creature.”
“Any news?”
“I haven’t heard from Vlad, but he’s not getting out of this city without my knowing. It won’t take long to track him down; we just need to rest and wait for news.”
She stretched out on her side, loving the feel of her nude body against cool earth. “This is a nice place. I felt safe in here.”
“It comes in handy,” he said, his eyes skating down the length of her body and then flicking away.
Her nudity shouldn’t have fazed him, but he was taking pleasure from small glimpses. Kat’s pulse quickened, especially when he leaned forward, showing off his taut muscles.
She felt a renewed vigor, as if her wolf had erased the anxiety of Nadia’s abduction and helped her to refocus. In the morning, she would make plans and come up with a strategy, but for tonight… Her heart sank when images of Nadia flashed in her mind. Did she have a warm blanket? Was she being brave, confident her sister would find her?
Prince’s voice became tender, as if he could read her mind and wanted to create the distraction she so desperately needed. “What is it you crave and I’ll bring it down?”
All Shifters came out of their shift craving a specific food unique to them. It was the worst kind of desire and hunger pang all at once, but tolerable.
She smiled and stretched again. “Unless you feel like cooking up some french toast with powdered sugar and syrup, I’m fine. I bet you crave something easy like tomato soup.”
