I am. And the food is good. You were right about Gedeon and his ability on the barbecue.
Gorya inclined his head and forked another bite of steak and mushrooms into his mouth. Gedeon was a master on the grill.
She’s pregnant.Maya narrowed her gaze at Gorya.Meiling, she’s pregnant. There’s no way you didn’t know.
Gorya kept his features an expressionless mask but laughed when he spoke intimately to her.Of course I knew. I thought it best to allow you to find out for yourself.
“Gorya,” Rodion announced. “The Amurov helicopter landed a few minutes ago. You’re about to have company.”
Gorya sighed. “I should have known. How many?”
“Timur and Ashe,” Matvei said. “They brought Kiriil Sokolov and Arman Morozov with them.”
I was raised with Timur, and Ashe is his wife. Kiriil and Arman are shifters from the Amurov lair. They left when we did.
Do you trust them?
I trust Timur. The others I trust as much as I trust anyone I’ve known for a long time. They’ve never betrayed us.
That tells me very little.
That tells you, Maya, that I’m very careful.
Gedeon heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Gorya, you did send the text to your family telling them you gave me the order to shoot you. Most likely, Timur is here to murder me.”
Meiling put her feet up. “Sorry, honey, but I’m just too tired to save you tonight. If he comes in guns blazing, you’re on your own.”
Maya brushed the back of her hand across her mouth, but Gorya could see the laughter in her eyes. She liked Meiling despite her intention to stay distant from her.
“Don’t look at us,” Rodion said. “I’d miss the food, but I’m not tangling with Timur when he’s in one of his black moods. Gedeon, if he thinks you’re going to kill his favorite cousin, no doubt he’s got a target painted right in the center of your forehead.”
“Thanks,” Gedeon said. “You’re making me feel better every second.”
Kyanite waved his fork around. “You were the one crazy enough to take the job. The three of us would have said no. Timur, Fyodor, Sevastyan and Mitya? They’re all insanely protective when it comes to family. You should know that, Gedeon. You’ve been around them enough.”
“I did tell him,” Meiling said. “I think he was a little too eager to shoot Gorya and didn’t think it through.”
“In all fairness, Rogue rubbed Slayer the wrong way deliberately,” Gorya said. “We thought that might help Gedeon make up his mind.”
Meiling laughed. “That was just mean, Gorya. You know he likes you.”
“Not anymore,” Gedeon declared solemnly. “I’m back to being a loner.”
“You never stopped,” Matvei pointed out. “You’re antisocial, Gedeon.”
Kiriil Sokolov opened the heavy gate leading to the center courtyard, glanced around and stepped back to allow Timur Amurov to go through. Timur was a big man, with wide shoulders and scars on his face. He perpetually wore an expressionless mask on his stone-cold features and a threat in his dead ice-cold eyes. His trench coat swirled around his boot-covered ankles, the inner lining covered in dozens of loops to hold the weapons he carried with him.
His gaze took in everyone and then settled on his cousin. There was no smile as he strode right up to him. Gorya rose to greet him. “Timur. What a surprise. You didn’t let me know you were coming to visit.”
Timur gripped his shoulders. “Did you think I wasn’t going to come when you sent a text that said Gedeon had orders to shoot you and I wasn’t to retaliate? I’m not losing you, Gorya. If something is wrong, you reach out. We’ll deal together. If you need to come home, then do it. We’ll all pull out of this thing we have with Donovan. We all made that promise to one another.”
They had. When had Gorya forgotten that his cousins had sworn an oath to one another—to him—that they would be family? That their women would be family. Sons and daughters. All would be put first and guarded carefully. Gorya had never believed himself worthy of that oath. He watched over his cousins, guarded them, but didn’t expect that same loyalty in return.
Gorya.Maya filled him with a soft feeling of something that bordered far too close to what might be growing love.You are not less than he is. How could you think such a thing? For me, you will always be so much more.
Whatever emotion it was Maya filled his mind with, he felt far more intensely for her, and it was growing every minute in her company. The sincerity in her quiet statement caught at him. Whether they would have a few days together or a lifetime, Gorya knew they were meant to be together. They had been destined mates. He wanted a lifetime with her.
We were right to do as we did,Rogue interjected with his smug attitude.
