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by Alison Aimes
“We need to make that motherfucker suffer.” Damien’s fangs flashed. “No more waiting for the Brotherhood. We take Olan Lundin apart now and make him pay for coming after one of our own. Him and every fucking Lundin tainted by his blood. An eye for an eye.”
Nikolai sat forward in his chair. The leather of his pants rustling ominously. “Be very careful right now, brother.” He didn’t try to hide the threat in his voice. “Not all Lundins are up for grabs.”
Damien snarled.
Nikolai pushed back from his chair and stood.
Maxheim stepped between them. He shoved Damien’s chest, sending the kid stumbling back. “Don’t be an idiot.”
Another snarl from Damien, but he didn’t retaliate.
Instead, he stormed to the other side of the room and slammed his fist into the wall.
A hole emerged. Cracks snaked along the composite ice wall.
Maxheim straightened his sleeve, giving it a good tug. “I’m taking that out of your salary, Damien.” He headed back to his seat and folded into his chair once more. “We knew this could happen. Alexi was under strict orders not to go out. He did so anyway.”
“We already lost two siblings to that bastard.” Damien was still seething. “I’m not losing another because some of us have gone soft.”
The glass in Nikolai’s hand shattered.
“Can we all calm down before we wreck our entire fucking casino without Olan Lundin lifting a finger?” Maxheim scooted back, dusting shards of glass from his suit jacket. “Look, tempers are high, but this is not the time for finger-pointing.”
“You’re right.” Nikolai curled his fist, the sting from cuts in his palm no more than he deserved. “But so is Damien. This is on me.”
“He never said that,” protested Maxheim.
Damien looked mutinous.
“He didn’t have to.” Nikolai plucked a shard of glass from his palm. “This is my plan. My responsibility. I should have been asking different questions when it came to Olan Lundin. I should have known what Alexi would do and been ready. Our brother’s been inching toward self-destruction for a while now, and I kept kicking it down the road as a problem to be dealt with later. I needed to be three steps ahead, and this time I wasn’t.”
Because despite the fact that he’d sensed something was off with this whole Olan Lundin situation, he’d lost focus. Gone soft.
Like he had with the twins the rotation of the fire.
It had cost them all.
Alexi had been gunned down leaving his favorite club, while Nikolai had been soaking up time with his omega, so dazzled by her scent and softness and the goodness that radiated from her like a golden light that he’d stopped thinking exclusively of revenge and business.
Again, like with the twins.
Nikolai’s boots crunched over broken glass as he paced to the window and joined his younger brother. His skin itched, his claws pushed at his fingertips. He said what he needed to say, anyway. “I’m sorry, Damien. I let you down. It won’t happen again.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” A muscle jumped in Damien’s jaw. “This is on all of us, not just you. Maxheim is right, Alexi knew the risk he was taking. That’s probably why he did it. I don’t think he knows how to feel anything unless he’s right on the edge.” He paused. “But the idiot is tough. He’ll recover. I’m more concerned about you.”
“Me?” A low rumble emerged as Nikolai’s Alpha ego bristled. “I’ll be fine, believe me. I can more than handle myself.”
“You didn’t have an obvious weakness before.” His brother blew out a breath. “She’s going to get you killed.”
Nikolai’s comms beeped, cutting off any response he might have given.
Andor Stormhart’s bearded face appeared on the screen. “I heard about Alexi. I’m sorry.”
Nikolai’s nodded. “Thank you. What have you heard?”
“Same as you. Not much.” Stormhart sounded frustrated, an unusual state for the usually unruffled Alpha. “The hit looks like a retaliation. No clear traces back to Lundin, but it’s hard not to connect the dots.”
Nikolai and his men had made the same conclusions and come up against the same roadblocks. “Seems obvious enough, but my men have been watching the bastard around the clock. He’s holed up in his compound, drinking and fucking, and trying to reach his cronies in the Brotherhood so he can complain to anyone who will listen that he’s being railroaded. We’ve been monitoring his communications and not one can be traced to this hit.”
“Like with the hit against the witnesses.” Damien projected his voice loud enough to be heard into the comms.
“Plus,” Maxheim’s fingers tapped the armrest of his chair, his computer-like mind trying to find the answer to their puzzle, “my team and I have made sure all his assets are frozen, his accounts close to liquidated.”
“Which means he has neither the funds nor the manpower to pull something like this off right now. So how the fuck did he do it?” Stormhart’s voice crackled across the comms.
“Help. Just like with the hits against the witnesses.” Nikolai voiced what they were all thinking. “It’s no longer a theory, but a fact. Olan is getting assistance from another source.”
That’s what had been bothering Nikolai all along. The growing certainty that there was another enemy plotting against his family.
Nikolai only hoped he hadn’t figured it out too late.
“Are you sure?” Stormhart sounded skeptical.
“I listen to my gut.” Initially, Nikolai had assumed Olan had brought someone in to help him, but now he realized he’d been myopic in his thinking. Now, he was beginning to suspect the other crime boss might be less the puppet master and more the puppet, linked with someone who wanted everyone pointing fingers at Olan while they operated from the wings. After all, Nikolai did have more enemies than just the Lundin family. The Skolov meteoric rise had pissed off more than a few.
“Shit.” Stormhart’s reaction sounded genuine enough, but Nikolai didn’t trust anyone outside of his family circle. “What if it’s someone in the Brotherhood? What then?” For the first time, the big, fierce male sounded nervous.
“We don’t even blink.”
“It will mean war,” warned Stormhart. “The dissolution of the organization that has maintained the status quo and kept things from getting ugly for generations.”
“Then everyone better hurry up and pick sides.”
Stormhart blew out a breath.
Nikolai waited. He could feel his brothers tense behind him.
“We’ll side with you, of course.” Stormhart didn’t sound happy about it, but Nikolai understood. The other male would prefer no feud at all.
“Smart choice,” Nikolai told the other crime boss. “Instability is bad for profits, but being on the losing side would be worse for business.”
The male laughed. “You’re such an arrogant, troublesome bastard. Must be why I like you.” He sobered fast. “But that won’t be enough if your theory is wrong. The Verish and Lunara family heads are already squawking that we should just take both you and Lundin out and save ourselves the headache—and increase our profits. The rest of us know that wouldn’t be as easy to do as it sounds and Prendel is a stickler for precedent. Still, you better be damn sure of who this other enemy is before you go accusing anyone and blowing up the Brotherhood.”
“I will be.” Nikolai stretched his neck left to right, loosening the tense muscles. “Damien tracked down a few of the hired guns involved in the hit against Alexi. They’ll be in our dungeons soon enough.”
“Impressive.” Stormhart’s bushy eyebrows were sky high. “I don’t know how you do it. My men are good, and we couldn’t find anyone who took part in the hit still alive. It looked like they’d all been wiped out by someone tying up loose ends. We assumed that was Lundin.”
“We’ll know the answer soon enough.” Nikolai’s hands fisted at his sides. “Nobody wants the bastards behind the hit against Alexi more t
han we do.”
“Understandable.” Stormhart tried for a smile. “We’ll wait to hear what you learn.”
His face disappeared from Nikolai’s comm and the signal blinked out.
“Can we trust him?” Maxheim didn’t mince words.
“Hells no.” Nikolai didn’t either. “But we can’t afford to isolate ourselves either. If war is coming, we will need allies. Only time will reveal our real friends from the polar rats.”
“A second enemy. It seems so obvious now.” Damien paced. “We should have known from the start Olan didn’t have the smarts or the balls to keep his syndicate afloat this long all by himself. We should have known there was another threat hiding behind Olan.”
“We know now.” He turned to Maxheim. “Expand your search. You know what to look for. Our culprit may be hiding behind others, but we’ll get to them.” Nikolai locked down the rage and fought for control.
He couldn’t afford any show of weakness. Unlike Damien, he wasn’t worried about his own survival, but he was damn sure not going to do anything to endanger those he’d vowed to protect. “Better yet, we’ll go through Olan to get there. We may have another enemy to contend with, but Olan Lundin is nowhere close to paying his debt to us.”
“Alpha, may I come in?”
The sound of his omega’s voice hardened his cock, sending his thoughts careening from killing to fucking.
He stifled a curse.
She was the last thing he needed right now, and everything he wanted.
He didn’t turn around.
Instead, his fists clenched by his side.
“I wanted to let you know Anya is resting.” Nerves thickened her voice as she hovered at the doorway. She had to sense the darkness seething through the fate-mate bond. Detect the barely leashed violence in the air. “And . . . see if I could be of any other help?”
“Now’s not the time, omega.” Maxheim rose from his seat and blocked her way. He sounded annoyed, but Nikolai knew he was only trying to protect the omega—and Nikolai from something he’d regret.
Good old Maxheim. Always trying to save everyone.
But Nikolai wasn’t in the mood to be saved.
“She stays.” Nikolai growled low. “Everyone else, out.”
“Brother, think this through,” urged Maxheim.
“Contact me when our guests arrive and are settled in. Until then, get the hells out.” The last sentence was delivered with the unmistakable Alpha command, an order that could not be ignored or disputed.
There was a scramble of heavy footsteps, and then his brothers were gone, leaving behind the faint breath of a single brave inhabitant, and the sweet, addictive scent that had his fangs dropping.
Wrestling for control, he remained with his back to her, surveying the scene below in the casino, watching as another foolish high roller lost fifty thousand in one reckless bet.
It was crazy how quickly one’s fortunes could change from one moment to the next.
But he’s already learned that lesson himself.
“So, you want to help?”
“Yes.” She crossed toward him, her footsteps tentative. She wasn’t a fool, but she came, nonetheless. She had courage.
And how did he intend to reward it?
He was as much a bastard as Olan.
“I’m sorry about Alexi.” She hovered at his back. “But Doctor Randalff says your brother is strong and there is every reason to hope—”
Nikolai cut her off. “How exactly do you think you can help me?”
A slight hesitation. “You comforted me when I was sad. I hoped I could do the same for you.”
“Hold me? Pet me? Tell me everything will be all right?” There was no missing the hard edge to his voice.
She swallowed hard. “Yes. If that’s what you’d like.”
“If it’s not?”
She paused. “This was a mistake. I’ll go.” She turned.
He scented her anger, and her hurt.
It frayed his control further.
He whirled around and caught her wrist, yanking her to him. She was wearing the red silk dress that drove him crazy, as if she’d come armed for battle herself. “What if what I want from you is something different?”
She stared up at him, defiant as ever. “I’m not sure you know what you want from me, Alpha. Maybe that’s the problem.”
Her words surprised him. Clawed at him. And then pissed him off.
He spun her around, the weight of his body pinning her to the window. “Wrong. I’m pretty sure what I want right now is to fuck my property up against this glass. To pull up that fuck-me dress, and let everyone watch while I spread those legs and split the tight, little hole of Olan Lundin’s first daughter in two.”
“You’re being cruel.”
“I know.”
“I thought I was a Skolov now.”
“You are, omega. You will always be mine.” His hand wrapped around her throat. “But you’ll always be a Lundin, too. And that’s the rub, isn’t it?”
Silence. She had no fucking answer to that. Neither did he.
Her pulse fluttered beneath his grip. “I’m not your enemy.”
“But you’re not my ally either, are you, omega?”
She answered his question with one of her own, her gaze locked on the guests below. “Can they really see us?”
“Not now.” He let her change the subject. At least, to this, he had an answer to give. “It’s special glass, designed to let the viewer on this side see out while those below can’t see in.” He used his hand to turn her head to the left. “But with a swipe of the panel, that can change. The one-way mirror shifting to two ways.”
She shuddered against his hold. “You wouldn’t do that.”
“I’m a ruthless monster, omega. Thanks to the fated-mate bond, you know exactly what I’m capable of. I may smile and sled and say nice things, but we both recognize the ruthless bastard that lives beneath. One that does whatever it takes to stay on top, knowingly binding an unwilling omega to him forever. One that dragged something good and sweet into the darkness with him—and put her right in the crosshairs of a coming brutal war.”
She stilled as if realizing something. “You feel guilty.”
“I don’t know what I feel. Before you, truth is, I didn’t feel much at all.”
She persisted. “You don’t like how I make you feel.”
“I can’t afford to be weak. Not now. Not with so many counting on me, including you.”
She shuddered against him and then melted into his hold. “I was always in those crosshairs, even before you took me. You said so yourself, our destinies were set the rotation we met.” She spun around, her finger clutching his shirt. “I’m not sorry I’m here. I’m not scared of the coming war. I like who I am when I’m with you. I know it didn’t start out this way, but I want to stand by your side. Guard you as you do me. You can trust me. I am your ally.”
Hells. Every kindness she gave him only cut a little deeper. He didn’t deserve it, especially when he wasn’t so sure he could make the same pledge to keep her out of harm’s way. Not if what he was coming to suspect was true.
With a curse, he stepped back. “You should go.”
He was too volatile. Maxheim had been right.
“No.” She followed, pressing against him. “I should stay. You say I know better than anyone who you are, and you’re right. But I don’t see you as a monster anymore. Far from it. I see a male who tempers his strength for me. I see an Alpha who is brave and selfless and fierce. A fated mate who has brought me joy and laughter, and shown me a power within myself I had no idea existed. Our younger selves knew years ago that what was between us was rare. It’s only grown more intense over time. Despite the ugliness around us, it isn’t hate or biology that binds us together. It’s something deeper. I can’t believe it’s a bad thing. I can’t believe it’s something I’ll regret when every fiber of my soul tells me being in your arms is right.”
With a growl, he t
angled his fingers in her hair. “How the fuck can you be the best and the worst thing that ever happened to me?”
He crushed his mouth to hers.
She fisted his hair and kissed him back.
He could not lose her.
He had to be smarter than this new enemy. He had to find a way.
His tongue claimed hers. She answered as fiercely with her own.
Together, mouths still clinging, they shoved at his pants’ opening. Pushed his fur off so he was bare-chested. Untied the strips of fabric at her neck so he could palm her gorgeous tits. Fumbled with the silk at her hips.
“You promised not to push me away.” She pressed kisses to his collarbone. “Let me make you feel good. Like you do me.”
“My omega. For always.” He jerked her dress to the side. Lifted her back to the glass, and slid home.
“Yes. Yours.”
The bond between them flared brightly.
Ass flexing, he thrust into her tight cunt, claiming his omega all over again.
Pleasuring his fated mate.
Reveling in his weakness, and his greatest strength.
Everything else faded away. Along with the rage and the anger.
He knew it couldn’t last. He knew all too soon he’d have to leave her, but, for the moment, buried deep inside her, her silky thighs wrapped around his hips, her nails at his back, he was cleansed, free of the ash that had clogged his lungs and sunk beneath his skin the rotation his sister and brother burned to death in that fire.
With Dahlia, he was reborn. Freed. Unburdened.
He was content.
That had to be enough.
It was more, in fact, than anyone had ever given him before.
31
“This really is an amazing view.” It was an hour later. Dahlia was curled in Nikolai’s lap, her cunt sore, her body happy, her dress mostly on.
“Mmmm.” He nuzzled her neck. “I’m glad you like it. I like mine too.”
He was staring down at her, while her legs were draped over the arm of his massive desk chair and her head rested on his shoulder, her fingers playing in his hair. The silkiness beneath her fingertips felt like a privilege, the same as if a sleek polar beast sidled up next to her and let her stroke it without biting her hand off. The sensation was dangerous but wonderful. As if she was special. As if she could do what others could not. What others would never be allowed.