“Let’s get you a new wardrobe.”
****
Half an hour later, I was a whole new me as I walked back down the stairs. Braun whistled light-heartedly, but when Vlad turned and bared his teeth at him, he chuckled and threw his hands up.
“Hey, Comrade, I’m just messing around.”
“Mess around with your own woman,” Vlad growled, his muscles tensing before he turned and leveled his fierce gaze at me, making me shiver with heat.
“Well, yeah, gladly,” Braun chuckled, pushing past Vlad to scoop Katrina into his arms.
“You look beautiful, angel,” Vlad said quietly, moving towards me and sliding his hands around my waist.
“Better than naked all the time like some sort of feral forest girl, huh?” I whispered.
“Trust me that I far prefer you naked, princess,” he growled quietly, his eyes burning into mine. “But you look fucking gorgeous right now.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly, biting my lip.
“Hey, Comrade.”
Vlad sighed, arching a brow before he turned back to Braun.
“I can think of a better nickname, if you insist on using one.”
“Better than Comrade?” Braun grinned. “I doubt it. But, hey, c’mere, I actually need your opinion on something.” He nodded towards the back of the house, to the makeshift door out to where the new addition was being built.
“Those big, wide-swing doors you’ve got off your living room?”
Vlad nodded as he followed Braun towards the new addition.
“I’m thinking about stealing the idea for the deck I’m going to put up after this wing goes up.”
Katrina rolled her eyes at me. “My house, the endless DIY project. You want a glass of wine or something?”
“That sounds—”
The explosion took the breath from my lungs.
I screamed — or at least, I think I screamed — as I whirled to see the smoking, flaming hole in the wall where the door to the new addition had once stood.
…Where Braun and Vlad had just been standing.
Then I know I screamed, my very soul screaming as I ran towards the ruined, blasted wall.
“Chloe!”
Katrina tackled me from behind, bringing me to the ground behind a sofa as something — many somethings — went whizzing over our heads. It was all a blur, and all I could think was running towards the smoke and the fire to see if Vlad was still alive. And none of what was happening really clicked — not Katrina tackling me, not the whizzing sounds, not the glass in their windows shattering, and not the holes peppering the walls behind us — until I saw the men with guns running towards the cabin.
Oh God.
13
It felt like I was back in the forest fire.
Everything burned.
The blast had sent me hurling to the side, crashing through some of Braun’s framework. I winced, the ringing in my ears the only thing I could hear and the burning pain in my side the only thing I could feel. I was face down and covered with half-burning wood and debris, and I roared as I tried to heave it off of me.
My blood roared like liquid fire through my veins as I bellowed. I grit my teeth, digging my heels into the dirt and shoved up, roaring as I knocked the boards and debris off. I staggered to my feet, my ears still ringing and my head still swimming from the blast as I swept my eyes over the carnage.
Where the fuck was she?
I could see through the smoking hole in the wall where the door to the addition had been, but from what I could see, the whole house was empty. No sign of Chloe, or Katrina. I grimaced, my hand going to my side and feeling the hot wetness staining my shirt — blood. But I pushed that away. That could wait.
…I knew a grenade blast when I saw one. Or felt one. And I knew it only meant one thing.
They’d found me. I didn’t know how, but I knew it was the bratva. I shoved aside a piece of burning wreckage, staggering towards the house, when there was movement near me. I whirled, just in time to see another piece of wreckage get shoved aside as Braun lurched to his feet. Blood trickled from his forehead, and his shoulder looked like it was probably out of it’s socket, but he was alive.
“We have to move,” I growled, whirling and moving towards the house.
“What the fuck was—”
“Very bad people,” I hissed. I grabbed a piece of broken wood with a nail jutting out the end of it and brandished it in my hand. It was a crude weapon compared to what I was sure was waiting for me, but it was better than nothing.
“The fuck do you mean, very bad people?” Braun snarled, grabbing my arm and yanking me around. His eyes blazed with the same fury and fear that I knew was in mine.
“What the hell did you bring down on my—”
“Da! There he is!”
We both whirled at the voice straight from my homeland, and when I saw who it was, my blood turned to ice.
Boris, standing in the blown out hole into Braun’s house, grinning and shaking his head. His gold rings glittered on his fingers, as did the chains around his neck resting on his fat gut.
“You break my heart, Vlad,” he said, in thickly accented English. English, not Russian, which meant he was putting on a show.
Something tightened inside of me.
This wasn’t just for me, this was for—
“Vlad!”
The sound of Chloe’s voice pierced my heart and sent me roaring into action. I bellowed, storming towards Boris and towards her voice coming from inside the house. But suddenly, his gun came up, and I skidded to a stop with the barrel leveled at my fucking forehead. I dropped the weapon in my hand, letting it drop back outside the house.
“I see you meet nice American girl, yes?”
Boris grinned wickedly, and when I looked past him into the house, my heart sank.
Chloe and Katrina were on their knees in front of the fireplace, facing me. And behind them stood two of Boris’s goons, with guns trained on the back of both of their heads.
I saw pure. Fucking. Blinding. Rage.
Every single muscle in my body tensed — coiling as if to spring. Like I wanted to go literally through Boris — tearing him in fucking two to get to the woman I loved and the other innocent with a gun to her head.
“Kat!”
Braun knocked me aside, charging right for his woman.
Boris’s gun butt made short work of that. Braun groaned, and Katrina screamed as the big man went slumping to the ground, blood streaming down his head from a fresh wound. I hissed, snarling as I balled my fists and leveled my rage at Boris.
“Let them go,” I hissed in Russian.
“Nyet.” Boris chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “No, my friend,” he spat, switching back to English. “No I think I will not be letting them go.” He shook his head. “You hurt me, Vlad. I give you a good job, I take care of you. I give you opportunity. And what do you do? You spit in my face.”
“I was done with your dirty work, you piece of shit,” I hissed, baring my teeth at him.
“No, you thought you were done.” He smiled. “And today, you will be, I promise. But first, I’m going to make you watch.”
Something broke inside of my chest. My heart. A horrible, aching chill ran down my back as I realized what was happening.
“No, you son of a bitch,” I snarled, taking a step towards him. Boris brought the gun up, but I didn’t fucking care anymore. I walked right to him, roaring down at him as he pressed the barrel into my forehead.
“Me!” I screamed. “You want me? You get me! But not them! Not her!”
I looked past him, locking eyes with the one thing in this world I’d found that made me feel like a human. I locked eyes with Chloe — the woman I loved, and I shook my head.
“She goes free. You get me.”
“No!” Chloe screamed and went to stand, but the piece of shit behind her shoved her back to her knees. I snarled, pressing harder into Boris’s gun as I turned my eyes back to him.
/> “You wanna kill me, you fat fuck?” I growled. “Then do it. But she—”
“Oh, Vlad,” Boris chuckled this wheezing, sneering laugh. “My boy, I am going to kill you. But first…”
His lips curled into a wicked smile as he turned to Chloe and Katrina behind him.
“But first, I make you watch as I take something from you, yes?”
The man in me with the woman he loved in danger wanted to roar, and smash, and destroy, and probably get himself killed trying to save her. But then, there was the other part of me — the trained, honed, practiced killer who’d spent most of his life perfecting this skill. Inside, yeah, I was screaming and losing my fucking mind. But the trained part of my mind took over — scanning, calculating, looking at trajectories and vectors.
I looked right at her, my eyes locking on her tear-stained ones.
No fucking way was I going to lose the love of my life when I’d just found her.
And then suddenly, I saw a bigger picture. Time seemed to freeze, and I looked past her. And slowly, my jaw tightened.
Slowly, I knew what was about to happen.
“How’s that right knee of yours feeling?” I growled down at Braun.
He scowled, looking up at me. “Fuck you. If they hurt Kat I swear to fucking God, I’ll kill you with my bare hands before they—”
“How’s your knee?” I hissed.
His eyes narrowed at me, and then suddenly, the understanding I’d hoped for sparked in his eye.
I turned towards Chloe.
“Angel.”
“Vlad—” her voice choked. “It’s okay. This isn’t on you.”
Yes it is.
“I just want you to know—”
“I love you too,” I said quietly, before she could even say it. Tears streamed down her face, and my heart was fucking breaking, but I knew what to do.
“The first time we met, face to face in my house, what did you do?”
She stared at me.
“Vlad—”
“Whatever you have to say, make it fast,” Boris spat in Russian, making his two goons chuckle as they drew back the hammers of their guns.
“You woke up in my house, you followed me into the living room, and you…”
She frowned, and then suddenly, I saw it. I saw the understanding in her eyes. Her gaze pulled from mine, and I watched her eyes dart to the side, and then I could see that she saw what I did.
Good girl.
“Angel,” I said quietly, my muscles coiling and readying to spring.
“Do it now.”
The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye. Chloe spun, snatching the fire poker from the side of Braun’s fireplace and swinging it up hard. The man behind her roared as the iron hook caught him in the cheek, sending him sprawling back.
I lunged, and Braun had understood what I was trying to tell him. His leg shot out, catching Boris behind the knee as I crashed into him, sending him toppling over. I moved like I’d done this a million times.
I lunged over him, snatching the gun up as he dropped it, rolling across the floor and coming up to level it at the bewildered man behind Katrina.
“Don’t you dare fucking miss—”
Braun’s words cut off as I squeezed the trigger, sending the piece of shit behind his woman staggering backwards with a hole in his chest. I fired again, putting one between his eyes and dropping him like a bag of bricks.
“Motherfucker!”
I whirled at the sound of Boris screaming at me in Russian. He charged towards me, pulling a second gun from his jacket, pulling the hammer back, and leveling it at me before I cold even turn to bring mine to bear.
Oh fuck.
To this day, even with my trained perception and reflexes, I have to admit — Braun came out of fucking nowhere. The big man roared as he slammed into Boris from the side, hauling him up in his arms and throwing him through the wrecked hole in the wall. He roared again, charging after the big mobster, when suddenly, he froze, poised at the edge of the gaping hole.
“Oh, shit.”
I jumped to my feet, taking the distance in two strides as I brought my gun up. But there was no need.
Boris lay motionless, his eyes open, blood pooling around him, and his head lying right on….
The stick. The one with the nail through the end I’d dropped when I’d realized they had Chloe. Boris had landed right on it when Braun tossed him through the hole in the wall.
And now it was over.
I was across the room and sweeping Chloe into my arms in an instant. She sobbed, throwing her arms and legs around me as I pulled her tight and seared my lips to hers.
“It’s over,” I said quietly.
And it was, even if I could barely believe it.
“You mean, you having to run?”
I looked down into her eyes and nodded. I tossed the gun away, knowing that day was the last time I’d ever need to use one. Ever.
“It’s over, angel. That was Boris, the head of the family. There’ll be another boss to take his place back in Russia, but with him dead, the feud dies too. I’m done, and anyone who takes his place will know that too.”
I turned as Braun came over to wrap his arms around Katrina, holding her tight to his chest as he buried his face in her long blonde hair. He glanced up, and our eyes met.
“I’m sorry,” I growled. “For all of this.”
He glared at me, his lips curling into a snarl. But Katrina’s hand on his chest calmed him, and slowly, he took a breath.
“Are there more Russian fucking mobsters coming?”
“No. And there won’t ever be.”
He nodded, mulling that over for a second. He glanced at his fiancée, taking another deep breath. “Then we’re okay. You owe me a fucking wall though.”
“I owe you my life, actually,” I said quietly.
“What do you know about framing a house?”
Slowly, I grinned, and he did the same.
“More than you’d imagine.”
“Good, you’re hired. Oh, you’re working for free by the way.”
I chuckled, squeezing Chloe to me.
“It’s a deal.”
14
Vlad
Hours later, we both sighed as we settled into the deep tub in the master bathroom. We’d stayed to help Braun and Katrina put up a temporary wall where the hole was. I’d taken the fuckers who’d attacked us deep in the woods and buried them, which was more than they deserved. Within the week, a few of the men who’d helped build my lodge would be coming up to help patch up Braun’s place. I knew he was proud to do all the work himself, but I knew he’d see the logic in a little help.
The lights were low, and we both sipped the vodka over ice in our glasses, letting the chaos of the day seep out of us.
“So, it’s really over.”
She looked up at me, biting her lip.
“Right?”
“It is,” I said quietly, kissing her softly. “With Boris gone, the threat is gone. They won’t be coming for me, or for you.”
She nodded.
“So I guess this means I’m free to go, huh?”
I knew she was kidding, especially with that impish grin on her face. But still, it struck something in me.
“The danger is gone, but,” I shook my head. “But I plan on staying here, up on Blackthorn. The rest of the world is an ugly place, or maybe it’s just that I’ve seen too much ugliness in it. Maybe I’ve caused too much ugliness. Either way, I’ve made this place my home, and…” I sighed. “I can’t leave it.”
“I know,” Chloe said quietly, lacing her fingers into mine.
“I can’t ask you to just stay up on this mountain, angel,” I growled. “You have a whole life out there—”
“No I don’t,” she said quietly
“Angel—”
“I have one here,” she whispered, turning in my arms and placing her hands on my chest. “My life is here, with you, and with all the beauty of this place.?
??
She whimpered as I pulled her into my lap, kissing her hungrily as her legs spread around my hips.
“Stay with me,” I growled. “Stay with me forever, and be mine. Be my wife, be my queen, and we’ll make this place our kingdom away from it all.”
“I love you,” she whispered, gasping as she felt my throbbing cock head ease against her entrance under the water.
“I love you too, angel,” I purred, stroking my cock against her slick opening and letting the swollen head push inside. I growled, feeling her velvety smooth pussy open for me — stretching around my girth as she slowly sank back onto me. Chloe moaned deeply, throwing her arms around my neck as she took every inch of me inside, until my heavy balls were resting on her ass.
I kissed her slowly, flexing my cock and letting her feel me throb deep inside of her, where I belonged, always.
“When I say forever, angel,” I growled into her lips. “I mean it.”
“So do I,” she gasped, rising up slowly, her slick, tight cunt gripping me like a velvet vice before she took me back inside.
I groaned, grabbing her ass and grinding deep into her before I slid her up, only to thrust back inside. She cried out, throwing her head back and raking her nails down my back as I started to bounce her up and down every inch of me, making her tight little body shiver with pleasure.
“Stay here, and be mine,” I purred. “Make this house a home with me, and we’ll fill it with our children.”
She moaned, clenching tight around me as she started to ride me faster and faster. I dipped my head down, wrapping my lips around one of her soft pink nipples and teasing it with my tongue as she rode my cock like a good girl.
“Yes!” she cried out, riding me faster, and harder, taking me so deep on every thrust until I knew both of us were going to explode soon. I could feel the cum boiling in my balls, ready to fill her womb with my seed, and I knew I’d feel that tight little pussy come all over my cock any second.
“Marry me, Chloe,” I growled into her lips, pulling back to level my eyes at her. My hands gripped her ass, pulling her up and down my cock, watching her face slowly crumble as the climax threatened to explode through her.