Daniil’s curled me, lifting me further, placing our noses an inch apart. “Don’t get hurt.”
I patted his cheek. “I won’t. Now let me down.”
His nose crinkled, and he stalled, but eventually, put me on my feet...and I instantly dumped my bag, grabbing a ball and raced around him, dribbling between Zane and Mary, who were laughing about something, twirling and barely missing Cole who was taking a shot, and jumped, shooting. Swoosh! Bea-u-tiful.
To say the game was physical and brutal would be something of an understatement. Brent and Cole weren’t exactly nonchalant in their dirty playing against Grigori—who, oddly, seemed to relish in it. And Chloe and Eva were damn violent too on the court on offense or defense. Luckily, Katie and I—who were always playing against them—knew a few tricks of our own. I was just blatant in my brutal plays while Katie was graceful like the dancer she used to be when she went on offense, hiding it better. Now, poor Mary got paired against Roman. I wasn’t sure how that happened, but she was getting pissed being thrown around like she was. She played just as often as we did, but Roman was just as big as his dad and his other brothers, so she was getting the shit kicked out of her on the court. Daniil was paired against Zane, and Artur was paired against Stash while Bas and Kirill and Peter subbed in, each one of them fine players, going for this game as if the victory was a gold medal in the Olympics instead of just dinner.
My parents were sitting with Ember—who looked pained next to them—while they spoke to her between cheering us all on, seeming thrilled to be here. Daniil and everyone had greeted them warmly when they came in. Even though I knew my parents were still on the hunt to figure out who I had slept with from this group, they were relaxing back as they tormented Ember. I knew there would be revenge involved, and that thought stalled me, wondering if my bag was still where I had dropped it. My hair products were in there.
And I should never have gotten sidetracked. I was only slightly winded, and hardly even sweating even though the play was brutal when I was slammed into from behind. I grunted, seeing the ground coming fast, and threw my arms out…and felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, whoever had rammed into me, going along for the ride. But, before we hit the ground, the guy—had to be a guy by the solid body—twisted in mid-air, taking the ground on his back with me on top of him.
The impact still jarred me, and I lay there for a second, staring at the ceiling as the play came to a halt, tennis shoes squeaking on the floor as everyone came to a sudden stop. I had enough sense to roll after that pause though and get off whoever had taken that cruel landing. I stared down at Roman, his eyes shut, and his body limp.
Oh…shit… I started shaking his shoulders as everyone came running over, their initial shock wearing off, making Daniil’s rush to us look normal. “Roman! Roman! Shit!” I shook him harder, but I was pulled back—gently—by Artur, who took my place, both he and Daniil kneeling next to Roman and trying to wake him. I stared down at Daniil’s unconscious son…and started bawling.
God. Damn. Fucking. Hormones!
Eva sighed, putting her arm around me and hugging me tight. “I hate pregnant women.” She sighed but kept soothing me.
My mom’s quiet, oh so quiet voice said from right next to us, “Why did you just say that to my daughter?”
I heard Roman groan from the floor, waking, even as Eva stilled with me in her arms. Apparently, Mom had rushed over, too, which meant…Dad asked, “Elizabeth, what did she mean?”
I froze, and it felt like my tears froze, too, in sudden fear.Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
And then… it was like I was the ping-pong ball during a vicious volley. Suddenly, I was ripped from Eva’s embrace by my dad, and my mom—who hadn’t done this in years—grabbed me by the ear, ignoring my shrieks as they both started hauling me away. One holding my arm, the other pinching my ear. And it hurt like hell.
I was the ping-pong ball again when, in mid-holler, I was torn from their hold and lifted into the air, and pressed back against Daniil’s chest.
He yelled at my parents in Russian and held me around the ribs, but his other hand was feeling my arm where my dad had gripped me, bringing my arm up, and inspecting it. I could even see the bruise starting to form there, and Daniil growled, dropping my arm, pointing at them and slashing his hand through the air, still shouting at them in a language that neither they or I could understand.
I had seen the shock on their faces for only a brief second before a wall of Daniil’s kids slammed in front of us, their backs to us, staring at my parents. Or glaring from what I could see from Eva’s face at the end of the line. Hell, Roman was even there, apparently fine from our fall. Daniil brushed my hair back and started inspecting my ear, rubbing it and continuing to blast my parents with his language.
I dangled there with drying tears on a rollercoaster of emotions. I was scared my parents obviously knew I was pregnant, and if they hadn’t gotten the hint that Daniil was papa…no point in even hoping for that with the way he kept carrying on. And hurt that they would treat me like a child, and actually hurt me in front of everyone…and stunned to go along with the nauseous from being jerked around like I had been.
Ember handed off Nikki and Beth to Cole and Brent, rushing over, holding her hands up when Daniil growled at her, backing up a few more steps with me in his hold. She stumbled to a stop a few feet away from us, her hands out to her sides, saying quickly, “Daniil, they can’t understand you.”
Her expression showed that she couldn’t either as Daniil barked something at her in Russian, his grip tightening on me, and I started to feel real sick to my stomach being held like this. I tapped Daniil’s arm, which he didn’t seem to notice.
My lunch began to rise.
I swallowed hard, trying to keep it down.
Stash raced over, standing next to Ember, and spoke in a calm, monotone low voice…but it was also in Russian. I had no clue what he was saying, but Daniil stopped making the soft growl that was coming from deep within his chest and listened. He made an odd grunting sound then, shaking his head and I burped, groaning.
Daniil stilled, and then glanced down at me. Stash kept speaking, and slowly, Daniil lowered me. I barely kept from puking, but I did manage somehow to keep some of my dignity intact. And even though Daniil lowered me to my feet, he kept not just the one arm around me but added his other, keeping me flush against him.
I felt his chest rise, and he nodded at Stash, before slowly speaking past his children, in an extremely accented voice, but thank God in English, “No one harms her.”
The place was silent, and I felt Daniil all tight behind me, practically vibrating. I sighed, staying where I was—half because I wanted to and half because I really didn’t think Daniil was going to let me go anytime soon. “Mom. Dad. Yes, I’m pregnant. And Daniil’s the father if you hadn’t already figured that out.”
There was a pregnant pause, and then my dad shouted my mom’s name, and Ember and Stash lunged toward them. I couldn’t see what happened, but I guessed Mom fainted. I hadn’t heard her hit the floor, so one of them must have caught her. And I was sure it was only going to get worse.
Daniil, Dad, Mom, and I were in a study that Daniil had led us to after Mom woke from her fainting spell. Daniil still had his arms around me—he hadn’t let go yet—and he still wasn’t speaking very well in English, his accent very heavy. But, I got the gist that if I tried to move away from him it would probably end with me chained…inside a dungeon.
Hell, I wouldn’t put it past him to have one here.
Stiffly, Daniil steered me toward a large black marble desk. He lifted me, sitting me on top of the desk and started examining my arm and ear again, his movements jerky and clearly agitated. Glancing at me, he asked, “Does it hurt?”
