I stay as slight as possible, hoping not to incite any more of Sergey’s cold volatility. It crackles the air like static, and it’s clear by the way he keeps moving ever so slightly that he’s looking for a target. None of the other people in the room speak or move a muscle, which makes me think this behavior isn’t anything new.
Aleksei buries his hands in his suit pants and stands at full height, but his presence isn’t slamming out of him like Sergey’s is. The one saving grace is, by simply being next to me, Aleksei is keeping me calmer than I probably should be, given the conversation.
“Brother, now is not the time.” Aleksei has this way of speaking; his voice is ooey-gooey comfort food. Seriously, he should be an actor or singer.
A shotgun-like noise shatters my focus on Aleksei, my husband the cause as he slams his hand down on the table. I stumble, shaken by the blast of his anger. Sergey grabs my arm and shakes me like a rag doll, snarling furiously. “I am in charge. Me. Sergey Petrov, and I say now is very much the time for you to fuck my wife.”
I shrink in on myself. Now is not the time to fight, and I hope Kade and Santiago can see I’m okay, or everything is about to go from bad to worse.
Aleksei’s mood alters, not enough for the room to notice or to incite Sergey even more. I feel his emotion spilling through his bite. His scent changes and becomes more pronounced, and it mixes with the rush of emotion and scent coming from Kade and Santiago too. The three of them need to contain their reactions; all it will do is feed Sergey’s obvious dark pleasure in whatever games he’s dragging us all into.
As much as it pains me, I stay submissive and try to give Sergey something else to focus on, as well as trying to defuse Kade, Santiago, and Aleksei. “Please, let me serve refreshments to your guests.”
He answers with a shove hard enough to land me on my ass. From the shadows, Roshka suddenly appears. He stands at full height in front of me while Nalla goes behind me.
Sergey grabs a hold of Aleksei’s shoulder, digging his thumb into the top of it so hard, his hand turns white, threatening him in Russian. Aleksei stands like a statue, taking the spray. Not because he's weak; it’s because he’s got endless more experience in dealing with Sergey and knows what works best.
It takes a few tense moments as Sergey goes on and on in emotion and Russian, but eventually, Aleksei says something, and it seems to appease Sergey.
My husband looks at me, excitement in his eyes. His smirk grows when he starts to speak to me in that slow, condescending tone of his, like I am stupid. “I told him, he either fucks you, or he fucks Bambi. If he fucks Bambi, I’ll kill his fucking dogs, then your guards, then you, but not my brother. He’d live to see the consequence of his decision.” He barely takes a breath. “Take your panties off and give them to your guard. I will serve drinks to my friends.”
He walks over to his friends, talking in Russian again. Once he’s far enough away, I climb to my feet.
Kade rushes over and ignores the low growl of warning from Roshka. “What sort of fucking man is he?”
I grab his hand, unconcerned if Sergey sees because the reality is, he’s about to see a whole lot more.
“Kade, I need you to calm down. It won’t help if he sees how wound up you are.” With our hands linked, I lean against him like I’m recovering from the fall. I don’t need the time, I’m fine, I just want to feel the effect of Kade’s calmness and to breathe in his scent. “Look at me.”
There’s so much turmoil in his beautiful eyes, it hurts more than Sergey’s crushing hold on my wrist before or his disgraceful plans. Kade turns my hand, and his mood drops dangerously low when he spies the ring of vibrant red bruises where Sergey grabbed me.
I pinch his hand, snapping him out of wherever his anger took him. “Stay with me. I can do this. I might not want to, but I can. Can you?”
He nods his head, his voice so low, only I can hear it. “Of course, Quinny. I just don’t want this for you, it kills me.”
I squeeze his hand once in warning of what I’m about to do. Behind me, Aleksei whispers something, and the dogs shuffle together, giving me a better sense of privacy.
Santiago moves to stand in front of me, his fortitude and presence impossible to ignore. He doesn’t move a muscle to help me take off my panties; instead, he talks slowly and intimately. “No wasted moments on things that don’t matter, bebe.”
In a handful of words, I’m back in that hotel room with him. And because Kade’s close by, I give in a little bit and let their scents swirl together, blitzing my senses and acting like a lover's embrace, protecting me even now.
Santiago, I think, knows what I’m doing, and he intentionally keeps me in a place far away from here. “You might have gotten on that plane, but you left behind so many reminders. Each touch lingers even after all this time. Every exhale I heard when you rode my knot is the sound I fall asleep to at night. I breathe, and your vanilla scent sweetens my lips. I want you to remember that, bebe, and not get lost.”
I wonder if I have any time to explain that is the least of my worries, but before I can reply, the doors behind us crash open.
Kade, Santiago, and Aleksei each react in a split second, their weapons drawn and aimed at the distraction.
Bambi races inside, and in her haste, completely misses how close she came to being shot dead. She’s changed out of the dress she wore to my wedding into a red wool bodycon dress that hugs her body like a second skin.
It’s weird, or maybe not, but it’s her appearance that snaps my control. There’s no fucking way I am letting her watch.
Sergey, of course, is on board with the drama, and his attention keeps shifting between her and me. His shit-eating grin grows when she reaches where he’s standing. The malicious gleam in his eye is pure challenge as he lifts his arm and invites her to snuggle.
I paste on the fakest smile I can and adopt his quiet, patronizing way of speaking. “No.”
“You don’t get to speak to me like that,” he snarls back with an angry hiss, hidden behind a smile with lots of teeth.
I let my eyes fall to the floor in fake submission, giving him the space to pull his act together before I look at him again, still talking calmly. “Oh… husband, I would never speak to you like that. I was talking to her. But now I will address this to you, since you are the Alpha. I will not allow my wedding day to be marred by any disrespect toward your mistress. I have no issues with you two being together, but her being here is where I draw the line.”
