“Sergey?”
He stays like that long enough to have me pulling my phone out to call the doctor, but when he opens his eyes and his pupils are blown, he confirms what I had figured out. “Take one with me. Celebrate my wedding.”
In his palm sits a handful of pills.
“Tonight is about you, Sergey. I will celebrate with you, but not tonight. Someone, and that will be me, will watch over you so you can relax.”
All lies. There's no way I would be in the same room as him with my inhibitions lowered by chemicals or anything else. It would be dangerous. For the both of us.
My promise seems to come at the right time, and as his features relax and the high he’s riding ebbs, he accepts what I said about looking after him.
“I knew you would say that.” He slaps my shoulder hard enough to nearly make me stumble, but I’m used to my brother's scheming.
“Wife.” He flips to English and turns to Quinn. “Come. Wedding is one thing, but now we will make you a part of the family.”
A few of his friends chuckle, and the feeling we’re getting set up intensifies.
“Of course,” Quinns says. Her words are as bland as her smile. And the way she’s not her real self with him makes me think she will do okay in our world, if she can maintain the indifference.
She walks with an elegance to her step, but it’s not cocky or arrogant. He draws the two of us closer until I can see all the freckles dusting her nose, and the air I breathe is full of her scent.
“Let me properly introduce you to Aleksei. He is my second-in-command, as we say in Russian,Avtoritet. In his position, he is the only one who can speak or act for me when I am unavailable. People in our world have no choice but to listen and do as he says, because he is me. Do you understand what I say?”
Her expression is pleasantly bland, despite the way Sergey speaks down to her. And she hides how offended she is in her voice when she saysyes, but I see it in her eyes plain as day.
“Good.” Sergey’s energy is as smug as his smile. He is leading us on and enjoying every second of it.
Until I know more, I can’t exactly do anything. Like everyone else here, I’m waiting for the punchline. Sergey looks at me, then back at Quinn, and I ready myself because he obviously has the both of us where he wants.
“You must know he is also my brother. And now I’m going to watch with my friends while my Avtoritet, my brother, consummates my marriage to you.”
“Sergey!”
“It was not a request, Aleksei,” he says, slapping his gun on the table in front of Quinn.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
QUINN
His fucking brother.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as a deep weight of realization settles on my chest. Aleksei’s bite tingles in confirmation, both comforting and terrifying.
I risk a glance at them both, searching for anything that could tie them together. I just don’t see the connection; it’s not there in looks nor temperament. Perhaps I’m blind to what’s in front of me because Aleksei is my scent-matched Alpha, but I trust my judgment too. It’s so shocking that they’re related, when they’re so diametrically opposed in presence, scent, and heart.
Where I see Sergey as an Alpha full of malicious bravado and ego, Aleksei is very different in temperament. Being born of the same parents, they’d have to share something, wouldn’t they?
As undeniable as I know Aleksei is mine, I know Sergey is scheming and spiteful. All this pomp and ceremony is proof of that. Sergey could have easily done this privately, but he wanted everyone in this room involved.
“Jesus, Sergey.” Aleksei’s voice cuts through my racing thoughts.
“Is there an issue?” Sergey asks plainly, like he’s asking about the weather. The sardonic smirk on his face is at odds with how he speaks, and it has me dropping my eyes to the floor.
“I don’t think that is something I should be doing,” Aleksei says softly.
Sergey takes a moment, acting like he is thinking, when all he is doing is drawing out the tension. As he speaks, he keeps emotions in check, which frightens me more. “I told you, Aleksei. I warned you time and time again. You returned from America different, and that makes me wonder if I can even trust you anymore. Perhaps if you had fucked theshlyukhaI sent to your room…” Sergey’s voice echoes and bounces around me, ringing in my ears while his suspicion adds a tartness to his scent. “Your option was to take theshlyukhain the privacy of your own room or in front of my council. You do remember that chat we had in my office before thisblyadarrived in my home, don’t you?”
Sergey looks at me whenever he says something offensive. I won’t rise to the bait. I’ve been called worse than ablyador whore. Name-calling isn’t a concern; what he is suggesting is.
