“Maybe.” I take a step away from both Aleksei and Santiago. It’s weird how quickly I’ve become attuned to them, and I feel the loss of their presence like you would losing a blanket in winter.
I give them a final once-over, driven by some crazy voice in my head that’s suggesting two grown-ass Alphas can’t look after themselves for a few hours. If this is what being a part of a packinvolves, there better be some serious benefits. I shut my eyes, a little fed up with my seesawing mood swings, but it helps. It makes me remember exactly how much crazy BS I’ve endured in the past few days.
I open my eyes, coming face-to-face with three ‘looks’ of concern. “I’m good, I promise. I just want us to get to the place where we can all sit and talk. We’ve got a fair bit to discuss.”
“And we will. Come on, Quinny. I want as much time with you to myself as possible.” Kade pats the driver's seat. He looks okayish. Similarly, Nalla looks fine from her spot in the back of the wagon. She nearly takes up the whole space.
I sit down, and before I can even reach the door to pull it closed, Aleksei is squatting in the space, his hands pulling the seat belt over my lap.
“Kade assures me he can fire a weapon. If he can’t, and you’re injured, I won’t be asking for an explanation. I’ll be shooting him between the eyes. It’s a mate thing, so don’t be upset with me. Now, the address where you need to go is already in the sat-nav, and the code for the keypad is there.” He points to a sticky note on the dash. He doesn’t move away, though, and reaches into the crevice between the seat and the center dash, pulling out a black woolly hat.
With a tenderness I’m fast associating with him, he lets my hair down, brushes it all back, then tugs the beanie on my head. But then he pulls it down further, and I realize it’s actually a balaclava. Kade rolls his down too.
We look hilarious, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Aren’t we going to get stopped for wearing balaclavas?”
Aleksei pulls a lopsided grin. “We’re in Russia,maya. Balaclavas are basically uniform because everyone is fucking crazy here.”
He has a valid point.
“Drive fast, like someone is chasing you. It’s how we drive, but it also will help with our story. You two are the decoy, which is why you have this car. She goes fast, so be careful,maya. Now, don’t worry about us, or maybe you should worry a little about Santiago. If he is slow, he will go up in flames with the restaurant.”
“You’re going to burn down the restaurant?” I ask, my voice muffled until I wiggle my mouth free.
Which Aleksei promptly takes advantage of. He leans in and kisses me hard, making my toes curl up in delight. He pulls away, going straight back into answering my earlier question. “It’s cheaper than paying someone to dispose of the bodies. Plus, Sergey owns the building. He’s been warned countless times about the gas pipes leaking.”
Aleksei shuts the door and walks back towards the restaurant. Santiago waits until I’m looking at him, giving me a measured, heated look.
“Is it just me imagining things, or are we actually doing this?” I ask, genuinely interested to hear Kade’s explanation. Them, the events happening around us, seem so illogical, and crazy, I’m still trying to figure out what’s real.
He chuckles, dropping his hand on my lap and squeezing my leg reassuringly. I press the Audi’s ignition, and the car roars to life. The V8 engine vibrates through the low-slung leather seats, up into the steering wheel. I can literally feel how much power the small car holds. The neon lights flash on the dash, and when I gently press down on the clutch, the engine purrs like it’s begging to be let free. It’s a souped-up street racing car; pretty on the outside, lethal power hiding within.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
ALEKSEI
Ishould not be standing there staring after her, with blood on my hands and a swollen knot. I am, though. Even with her beauty obscured by the balaclava, she scrambles my brains. I have no issue with that. In fact, I’m leaning into every notion to do with her. I need the shake-up to strip away who I was and rebuild myself into who I’ve always wanted to be.
Of course, I had a reason for living the way I have been—keeping life at an arm’s length. I didn’t miss out on anything, but that’s like saying the night sky is black. She brings vastness to a freedom I wasn’t sure I would ever get.
Some days, I questioned everything. My goals felt so lofty.
And then there was her.
I feel deep regret and guilt for biting her. I feel even more of an asshole by the way I claimed her, yet both are also my guilty pleasure. With each passing second, I know how right us being together is.
Sergey pushed for details as to what happened in America, constantly saying I wasn’t the same person. How could I defend what I didn’t understand?
She was responsible. She was the explanation I’d been searching for. It does strange things to a man, once he realizes he has met his match. It makes him question everything. My morals were already skewed. I did things for Sergey willingly, and that will be my burden. Now, though, I see how far I’m willing to go, how dark and twisted I’ll become if her happiness is threatened.
Inside our bond, and in her eyes, I see the rippling effect of everything that’s happened and is still going on. Honestly, if Sergey’s death wasn’t staining my hands, and Dmitri’s whereabouts weren’t a mystery, there'd be no way in hell I’d be standing here with a hard cock and a smile on my face. I’d be putting my hard cock to good use, listening to her beg for more.
I walk past Santiago, who is watching her speed away, probably unpacking the same long list of revelations I’ve been working through. Although, I’m good if he doesn’t find any peace.
She might be everything to me, but the idea of Santiago being a part of the future I have planned is more of a pill to swallow than the fallout coming our way after Sergey’s death.
“We need rope and a mask. Don’t forget.”
