Without taking my eyes off him, I signal my boys.
“Pass auf.”
Hermes and Apollo react instantly. Their posture sharpens, weight shifting forward, muscles tight and ready.
“You cross that threshold,” I say, voice like ice, “and they won’t stop unless I tell them to. And wouldn’t you know, I suddenly forgot the command.”
Cole dares a step closer, and both dogs bare their teeth, growling an octave darker, hackles rising in warning.
“They know me.” His voice is shaky, like he’s trying to convince himself. “They know I’d never hurt you.”
Liar.
I lean my hip against the counter, arms crossed.
“Please,” I say with a hard grin. “Test their loyalty to me. I’d love to prove you wrong in the most satisfying way possible.”
“Fuck, Valentina, you’re really willing to just throw three years in the trash?”
The laugh that rips out of me is anything but amused. The fucking audacity.
“You absolute bastard.” I slam my fist down, and the glass shudders under the force. “When you fucked the two women whohateme, that was you showing exactly how little you gave a shit about us, so spare me.”
He opens his mouth to argue but freezes when a shadow moves behind him.
Maksim.
He appears out of nowhere, silent, looking like he’s there to kill someone. Cole doesn’t even have time to turn before Maksim shoves past him. And I barely manage to call off the dogs before he reaches me.
“Stand down,” I order as he crosses the threshold. Maksim’s expression is a mask of controlled fury, like he’s barely holding himself together. He slides one arm under my ass and lifts me. My breath hitches at the sheer possessiveness in his grip.
When we lock eyes, he murmurs a single word, as if branding it into my skin.
“Mine.”
A shiver rolls through me. And God help me, I need to hear it again.
“What the fuck, Val? Who the hell is this?” Cole blurts out, eyes darting from Maksim to my cast. “And when did you break your damn leg?”
I don’t answer. My focus is on Maksim as he heads for the elevator.
“Fuß,” I say, patting my thigh, and both dogs move in sync, falling into step beside us without hesitation.
Cole’s voice echoes after us. “Valen?—”
The elevator doors close before he can finish.
Silence.
“Put me down,” I demand, annoyed that he thinks he’s got any right to be the one angry here.
But he doesn’t respond.
“Where is your office?” he asks when the doors open. His voice is all gravel.
“Let me down and I’ll show you.”
“Where?”
