by Kimber White
“I’d rather starve,” I snapped.
“Not today,” he said. “I told you before, I don’t have to hurt you. It’s not my goal.”
He came closer. I felt exposed. Splayed open. Heat flared in my chest, unbidden. Unwanted. My God. I ached for his hands on me.
He reached for the shackle around my left wrist. I went rigid. I knew he couldn’t sense the inner turmoil burning through me. Fear, wrapped with desire, nearly forced the air from my lungs.
“Let’s try this the easy way,” he said. He unlocked my wrist and moved the tray of food where I could reach it.
So close. I felt his hot breath against my neck. Oh. His wolf. He’d be big. Golden-eyed. Sleek black fur that would disappear under a moonless sky. A hunter. Ruthless. Relentless. I could almost taste his hunger. For once, I wished Dragonsteel had the power to quiet my own wolf. It was getting damn hard to do it on my own.
The chain hung slack at my side. I could do it. Right here. Right now. He’d be faster than me. Dangerous. But I had the element of surprise. All it would take was one loop of that chain around his neck and I’d have him under my control. He wouldn’t be able to call to his wolf.
Then what?
Then he’d know what I was. A girl who could wield Dragonsteel. Would I even be able to hold my own wolf back? God. He’d know that then, too.
No. Better to wait. Bide my time. Find a better opportunity. Learn.
I grabbed one of the bagels and tore a bite out of it, feeling savage. Probably looking like it as well.
He smiled. “Well done.”
As soon as the food hit my belly, I realized how ravenous I really was. In spite of myself, I ripped through some of the food. He opened the orange juice bottle and handed it to me.
I thought about throwing it back in his face. A low growl emanated from him. A warning. Better to let him think he had all the power.
I guzzled down the juice, then tossed the empty bottle away.
“Happy?” I said.
“Delighted,” he said. “Though your table manners leave a little to be desired, Amelia. Or...is it Mia? Which do you prefer?”
How much did he know? Was I just some random prey? He’d seen me with the betas. So he knew I was comfortable around shifters. That might have been enough for him to think I was a shifter’s mate. A prize. I wondered what the going rate was these days for human women. Best case scenario, that’s all I was to him.
“Fair’s fair,” I said. “Tell me your name.”
He sat on the edge of the bed. So close. But he kept himself just out of reach of the chain had I chosen to wield it. It was as if he acted on an instinct he wasn’t even aware of. Lord, I hoped he wasn’t aware of it.
“Viktor,” he said.
“Viktor,” I repeated. “So what’s the plan? When do you turn me over to the Ring? What’s your cut?”
Something went through him. His eyes flashed with anger. As if his own mask had slipped. At that moment, I had no doubt this Viktor was hiding a secret of his own. I pressed him.
“A thousand?” I said. “Two thousand? Or are you angling for something bigger? Safe passage through the Neutral Zone? Where’s your pack, Viktor? You don’t really look local. I mean the accent, yes. Maybe Midwest. Not Michigan, though. Further east?”
“Don’t hurt yourself,” he smiled.
“Daddy cast you out when the shit hit the fan?” I asked. “You were young when the attacks happened. Strong, no doubt. But not quite ready to lead a pack of your own or challenge Daddy for his. So there was only room for one of you. Drove you off, did he? Made you learn the hard way what’s really important.”
Viktor stayed still and quiet.
I straightened my back, straining against the chain still binding my right wrist. “All alone,” I said. “Out in the cruel, cold world. No pack. No family. Just you.”
Not a word. It was as if he’d turned to glass.
“You’re strong,” I said. “Smart., probably. Enough so the Ring didn’t have a bigger Alpha subjugate you right away. Or at all. Hmmm. Interesting. So you’re useful to them. A good soldier. Pity. It probably got easy not having to think for yourself. Comforting. How many other women have there been like me? Do you know what happens to us? Because I do. Forced mating to an Alpha with no soul. All in the hopes that maybe she’s the one who can give him a shifter son.”
Still no movement. Not even so much as a blink. But he kept his cold blue stare straight at me. He was both hot and cold at once.
He had scars, like all shifters do now. Battles for territory that amounted to no more than a scrap of land. If they were lucky, they’d exist on rabbits or smaller game. Until a bigger Alpha came along or the Ring decided they needed that land too.
I could feel sorry for him. The war had brought us all to the end of ourselves. Mating sickness took out so many strong men. A fate far worse than a quick death. They would do anything, sell every part of their soul for a chance at life with a mate. The Ring had taken good men and turned them into monsters.
“They don’t even care if the women they choose weren’t born to be shifters’ mates,” I said. “Did you know that? Did they tell you that little tidbit? Do you know what happens to the mistakes? Death is the best part of it, Viktor.”
He bared his teeth then, letting out that low growl that sent a shiver of pleasure through me. God. Maybe he’d drugged the food. How in the hell could I feel anything but contempt for this guy? Why couldn’t I stop imagining what his teeth would feel like grazing my skin?
“Be careful,” he said. “Wouldn’t want you to say anything that would hurt my feelings.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. A smirk, really. The bastard was toying with me.
He rose and took the tray away from me. “I could bite you,” he said. “Right here. Right now. I could mark you. For someone who talks a good game about how the world works, do you know how that works? Really know?”
He was on me in a flash, leaning over me with his hands on either side of my head, gripping the headboard.
“Do you know what an Alpha’s mark really is?” he asked.
For the first time since Viktor grabbed me, real fear shot through me. Had I overplayed my hand? If he did it. If I let him. He could mark me. One bite at the base of my neck and Viktor would know where to find me. Maybe forever.
“But then you’ll spoil the merchandise,” I said, jutting my chin in defiance. “I’ve heard the bounty for unmarked women is three times higher. Besides, what are you afraid of?”
I rattled the chains around my right wrist. Again, I envisioned wrapping the rest of it around his neck and sinking my teeth into his flesh. God, it would be so satisfying seeing the look of shock on his face.
For a moment.
Then there’d be no going back. I had to find out who he really was first. A rogue bounty hunter, or did he have a benefactor with dangerous connections? Was someone expecting him to deliver me, or had he just gotten lucky? The answer to those questions could save more than just me. I had to protect my family. I had to see if there were other women in jeopardy. I would have just one chance.
Viktor relaxed. He crossed his arms in front and looked me up and down. It felt like he could see what I looked like through my clothes. He might. They were stuck to me with sweat by now.
“Are you done?” he asked. “With your little speech? Because if you are and you can behave yourself, you can earn a reward.”
I couldn’t answer. I was having enough trouble containing the flare of heat coursing through me as he got closer.
He jerked his chin toward the adjoining bathroom door. “You’ll find a shower. A change of clothes. A toothbrush.”
“Every girl’s dream,” I said. Though in point of fact, it sounded like heaven just then. If I went much longer without a shower, even my magic might not be strong enough to cloak my wolf.
“Let’s call it a test,” he said. “If you can be a good girl, I’ll unchain you and leave you to it. But
I’ll be right outside that door. And I’ve got very good ears.”
He tapped one of them. Smiling, he let his wolf out just enough that it raised to a point.
I wanted to see the rest of him. Badly. My own wolf howled inside of me. For a split second, Viktor’s gaze dropped. Shit. He sensed something. I had to be so much more careful.
He came around to the other side of the bed. His movements were so sure and strong, I half expected him to rip my clothes off for me. God help me in that same split second, I didn’t think I’d mind.
He unlocked the other chain. I brought my hands together and rubbed my wrists. If he made so much as a move, I’d have him on his ass.
“Don’t take too long,” he said, gesturing with his chin toward the bathroom door. “We have a few more things to talk about and some ground rules to set. You’ll find I’m a reasonable man, Mia. But I’m not a fool.”
He locked eyes with me when he said the last bit. I believed him. And I wondered if I’d just overplayed my hand. Whoever this Viktor was, he might just be a more formidable adversary than I thought.
Chapter 5
Mia
I expected him to be waiting in the doorway when I came out of the bathroom. He wasn’t. He’d left the door wide open to the hallway.
I finished scrubbing my hair with the plush, blue towel he’d left for me. I hated to admit it, but the shower had felt heavenly. Beside it, the bathroom had a deep, claw-footed tub that I wanted to immerse myself in and disappear.
Disappear. I could. I’d done it once before when I was sixteen years old. My dragon uncles had been working with my cousins and me on self-defense. My Uncle Kian came up behind me, catching me totally off guard as I had my eye on my Uncle Finn when his dragon rose above me.
He was so big; he took up the sky with his wings outstretched. Uncle Finn’s scales contained every color of the rainbow. He had me awestruck as he breathed a massive column of fire into the clouds.
Then, my Uncle Kian seemed to come out of nowhere. An instant before, he’d been down on the other side of the hill. He swooped in, dragging me backward, knocking the wind right out of me.
Then it happened.
It wasn’t something I pre-planned. Wasn’t something I even knew I could do. But, as the wind shifted hard from my Uncle Kian’s wings, I felt new magic swirl around me. For a second, I blacked out.
When I came to, my father and uncles surrounded me, incredulous.
“You were invisible, Mia,” my father said, beaming with pride. “Do it again.”
I tried that day, but couldn’t. I haven’t been able to do it since. It was dragon magic, for sure. My father and uncles could soar over the most populated cities on earth and never be seen. I had such a similar, lesser power. I could hide my wolf.
Could I do it now? Could I tap into whatever that was inside of me and simply walk out of here under Viktor’s nose?
I took a hesitant step into the hallway. There were three rooms on either side of it, all with their doors closed. They were empty, though. I couldn’t sense Viktor or anyone else. Humans had been through here recently. Their scent lingered along with the pungent smell of cleaning products.
I took a breath. Then another. I tried to remember what I’d done that day with my Uncle Kian. There had been a rush of adrenaline. Pure terror. Then...a tingling that started deep inside of me. I’d latched on to it somehow. Nurtured it like a flame. It had all happened so fast.
Now. There was nothing. Whatever that spark had been, I couldn’t seem to call it at will.
I heard movement downstairs. My skin pricked as I went to the top of the stairs. I ran my fingers along the ornate wooden banister. Viktor had touched it. My skin warmed as I sensed him.
Then, my heart stopped as I heard the rise of a chorus of howls from somewhere outside. I flew back up the stairs. I didn’t know the layout of the mansion, but didn’t need to. I could sense a pack of wolves anywhere.
I tried the knob of a room on the south side of the house. It opened to the master bedroom with a large floor to ceiling window and balcony outside. I headed straight for it.
Dawn.
Bright bands of orange blazed across the sky. Pairs of golden eyes sparkled amidst the tree line framing the grounds. The hair rose on the back of my neck. My fangs dropped.
Then there was Viktor. My whole body quaked as his wolf stepped into the center of the clearing. He was just as I imagined. Huge. Black. He walked with a powerful, regal gait in the way only a true Alpha could. Then, he lifted his head and let out a howl that sent shockwaves to my core.
I doubled over, straining against the urge to answer with a howl of my own. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t know. I kept my cloaking magic in place. Even in his wolf, if Viktor looked this way, he’d only see me, human Mia, standing where she wasn’t supposed to be.
But he stayed singularly focused on the wolves coming through the woods. Eight. Nine. A dozen. Grays mostly, save for one black one with white marking along his left flank.
So familiar. So fearsome. I knew in my soul what they were, and it sent a wave of homesickness through me for a place I’d never actually been.
Russia.
My God. These were Siberian wolves. Every one of them.
Viktor was the first to shift back. I’d seen my mother’s brothers do it a thousand times. A million. Viktor was like them. Seamless. Like breathing. There was no mistaking the difference between an Alpha and a beta. The rest of the wolves' shifts were more jerky. Pain still lit their eyes for a moment as they got their human legs under them and stepped forward.
Viktor was beautiful. There was no denying it. Broad, sculpted shoulders, marred by the scratches and bite marks of the battles he’d fought. He stood with his back to me and I marveled at his solid, rippled calves and the perfect cut of his ass.
I shook my head and stepped away from the railing. The other men spoke to him softly in Russian. There were smiles. Back slaps. Whatever their relationship, I sensed these men hadn’t been in one place together for some time.
Then they all started up the lawn. Mouths agape, they took in the grounds and the enormity of the house itself. That’s when I guessed. I really was standing in Viktor’s payment for grabbing me.
It was beautiful. The woods stretched for miles in every direction. Plenty of space for a pack that size to hunt freely. Untamed. Unwatched. Untethered. They were fools. All of them.
Even now, I could sense the itch those men all felt to hunt in the way they were born to. It throbbed through me too. Viktor gave a nod to a smaller group of three of the men who hung back together. In an instant, they shifted in unison and charged back into the woods.
There were deer out there. Big bucks. I could feel their beating hearts. Oh, God. To be with them. To let my wolf tear out of me and hunt the way I was meant to. No more hiding. Cloaking. Pretending. I could feel the ground turning into a blur beneath my feet. It was my way to fly. How long had it been since I’d shifted? Over two years?
Tears sprang to my eyes as I staggered backward. I couldn't watch. I couldn’t be near it another second. Longing ripped through me, forcing the air from my lungs.
That was it. It had to be. I could almost understand if I weren’t the prize. How far would I go to steal the freedom Viktor’s men now hoped to enjoy? Who would I be willing to betray? Some stranger? Easily. In an instant, maybe. I hated that I could still feel empathy for them. This is what the Ring had done to us all.
Sweat poured down my back. It was all just too much. Once again, I found myself wishing Dragonsteel would work on me. It would be so much easier to let go.
I stumbled through the master bedroom and back out into the hallway. Covering my mouth to keep from retching, I tried to find my way back to my room before Viktor realized I was gone.
I made it to the room. I would have turned to close the door, but I felt his presence charging back down the hall.
“I see you’re making yourself at home,” he said, startling me. So fast
. So stealthy. He’d pulled on a pair of drawstring pants, but was still naked from the waist up.
“I see you’ve got company,” I said. There was no point in lying, at least about that part.
Viktor smiled. “Just some friends.”
“Your pack?” I asked. “That’s a dangerous game you’re playing. If the Ring finds out, they’ll rip your heart out and make them all eat it.”
“Friends,” he said. “They’re not my pack.”
A shiver went through me as I smelled blood in the distance. One of the wolves had felled his quarry. I kept my lips pressed tightly together just in case my fangs tried to drop. Viktor scented the blood too, and it made his eyes glisten. I wanted to call him on it but couldn’t risk revealing even that much of myself.
“But you want them to be,” I said. “And they want you to be their Alpha. I’ve been around enough of your kind to know it when I see it.”
He closed the distance between us, towering over me. “I’ll bet you have,” he said.
I backed up to the wall. Viktor advanced. He was testing me. Some preternatural part of his core might know what I was. I had to be so careful. The urge to reveal myself burned strong. Perhaps this Alpha had a special magic of his own.
“Tell me about the wolves you’ve been around,” he said. “Tell me the things you think you know.”
“I know you’re desperate,” I said. “I know you’ve probably come to the point where you’ll believe any lie the Ring tells you if you think it’ll get you closer to what you want. What you need.”
“What I need?” he said, raising a brow, challenging me.
“This land. This house. I’m right. I know it. That’s your payment for turning me over to them?”
He went stone silent. But I knew I was right. I smirked.
“You’re a fool,” I said. “They know what this is. What is it, five hundred acres? So close to Shawnee you can taste it. Think of how it would feel to run without borders. Did they tell you you could hunt it freely? That they’d leave you alone? How many other Alpha chumps like you do you think they’ve sold that deal to?”
