“Then why did you make me bring him?”
“Make?”
“I could have left him guarding my sister.”
“Like our queen, yours can look after herself.” Alexei followed my gaze through the window before he faced me again. “My point is that if you did not come back from this operation, the nomad would seek to find you, and I cannot count the men—thebrothers—who would not let him do that alone.”
My heart iced over, violence flooding my corroded veins. “So... you want him to die with me now so he does not inconvenience you later?”
“You misunderstand me.” Alexei’s tone sharpened. “I would prefer it if Ranger did not die at all.”
“Why?”
He did not answer, for Ranger came back inside, smelling of smoke and impatience, sparing Ivanov a curt nod. “Long time no see. You better have packed the good food.”
“What makes you thinkIbrought food at all?”
Ranger opened the fridge. Scrutinised the contents and turned back to Alexei with an expression I could not read. “You’re having a fucking laugh.”
“Am I?”
“Who did you bring?”
Alexei just stared. And Ranger, tired and hungry from a mammoth journey, lacked the patience to wait. He shut the fridge with a cross sigh and shouldered past me to leave the room again. “I’m going for a kip.”
His neck was so close to my mouth. Desire—love—threatened the iron curtain my heart needed to survive this. “Now you sleep?”
“Fuck off.”
He did not look at me, but his hand brushed mine. Rough fingers caressing my palm, brief sensation rocking my equilibrium.
I faced Alexei again. He had missed nothing, but his vigilance was expected. And I did not care that he saw my fragility for what it was. He had vulnerabilities of his own—vulnerabilities he’d apparently brought with him. “You are not here alone?”
As I spoke, the back door opened and Saint Malone appeared, windswept and wild.
Alexei tilted his head.
Saint returned the gesture with a soft smile, one that made him disarmingly beautiful, before he followed the path Ranger had taken.
He disappeared into the belly of the isolated house. I did not hear his tread on the stairs, but with a man like Malone, that meant nothing.
Ranger, though. I would have heard him. His moods travelled through his feet, and I was fairly certain he had only stomped as far as the sofa in the next room.
I refocussed on Ivanov, noting that he was having the same trouble I was staying in the room.
Metaphorically.
Literally.
“Where is your other lover?”
Alexei’s gaze snapped to me. “Where is your brother? That is a more important question right now.”
Because Cam O’Brian washere. I heard him now, moving around. His growly Irish voice as he descended the stairs and greeted Ranger with the warmth he deserved.
“Just them?”
Alexei’s jaw tightened. “Yes.”
