Alexander’s brows jumped. “You are pleased your brother has fallen into a gambling addiction?”
“If that is something that will separate him from Yosef, I do not mind.”
Zahar cleared his throat, interrupting the conversation. “This is a pleasant gathering, but we do not have all night to waste.”
Alexander stood and circled around the group until he was behind Zahar. He planted his hands on the man’s shoulders, feeling Zahar’s body tensing under his palms.
“Why are you in such a hurry to leave?” Alexander asked.
Beads of sweat budded on the surface of Zahar’s neck. Alexander could hear his pulse climbing. He was about to lean in when Evgeniy grasped Alexander’s wrist and spoke for the first time in a gruff tone.
“My brother never could do anything risky. That is the reason why he was not successful in securing the deal with the Palace in the first place.”
Alexander observed the lean man. Evgeniy’s neatly trimmed dark brown hair curled at the ends and his grey eyes stared back at Alexander in silent battle.
“Is something the matter?” Fedor asked, breaking their stare as both of them looked in the direction of the voice.
“Nothing at all.” Alexander folded his arms behind his back. “I believe it is time for Zahar and Evgeniy to tell us why they are interested in bringing the Sokolov family to their knees.” He returned to his seat, noting that Zahar appeared paler than before.
Evgeniy patted his brother on the knee and sat up straighter in his seat. “We have co-existed with the Sokolov family for over two decades. My brother and Yosef used to be friends. Personally, I never spent much time with the gent. When Yosef had his daughter and Zahar had his, they met aplenty and discussed business, until Yosef stole the Royal contract from under our noses.” His grey eyes darkened with emotion. He shifted in his seat and crossed his legs.
Zahar’s beady eyes darted between Alexander and his brother. He tapped Evgeniy on the shoulder. “There’s no need to continue. If we leave now, we can forget about this by the morning.”
Evgeniy countered, “If it was a fair loss, I would let the matter drop. But on the day of presenting our best work to the Royal family, our diamonds were replaced with glass replicas identical in colour, which was why we did not notice the change until it was displayed before the royal approver. We lost the five-year contract because of the Sokolov’s dirty machinations.”
“And when is the next contest?” Alexander asked.
“It will take place on the first day of next month. Why?” Evgeniy asked.
Two weeks. Alexander’s lips twitched into a lazy smile. “Because, gentlemen, we are going to help you secure that contract and turn Yosef into a gambling addict.”
CHAPTER 12
“You are out of your mind, Alexander!” Jana shouted. “Do you know how much this could cost you? What if you lose the Red Lily? What will I tell Maxim?”
Alexander grasped her shoulders, steadying his blood-sister. “Do you not trust me?”
“You, I trust, but those men? They are human! All of them are blinded by greed and driven by vengeance.” She reached up, stroking his sharp cheekbones. “I worry about you.”
Alexander leant into her gentle touch and permitted his eyes to close. He did not have to fear others seeing anything as they were at home, outside the city that could drive any one man to the brink of insanity. He too felt it—the need to do better and the hunger to destroy men and women who caused his mother to fall into her early grave. How could he not avenge her? His heart ached as he could not visit her grave until these matters were resolved. For better or for worse, he would seek justice. But was it justice in its truest form or was he justifying his needs?
Alexander brushed Jana’s hands aside. “I cannot let her down.”
Her expression softened. “Your mother would be proud to see you now—a successful business owner in Moscow. To go from rags and dirt cloths to Royal gatherings, do you not see that as an achievement?”
“It is not something I had earned for myself. I was granted everything I have by my sire,” he responded and drew back. Taking a seat on her bed, guilt gnawed at his motionless heart. What use does a vampire have for emotions when they do nothing but contradict its nature?
Jana joined him on the bed and kissed his cheek. She waited for his response, yet he did not even feel her soft red lips on his skin. Gently, she turned his face and planted a kiss on his lips.
He pushed her away and shot up, creating some distance between them. “Jana, I cannot.”
“You love her to this day…” she whispered with pain seeping into her words. “Am I not good enough for you? Why is she, a woman who ruined your mother’s life, better than I?”
“It is not because of that. I simply feel that I am not the man for you.”
“Let me decide such things. I have lived among men for a long time, and not once I possessed the urge to sire or claim one as my own. But you, my love, I want you…” she admitted and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I want you to hold me.”
Alexander looked away. It was too painful to see her in such a state. She was a friend, a mentor, his new family, but nothing else. She deserved more than his empty, hollow heart that desperately clung to one woman he knew he shouldn’t love.
He steeled himself. “I am leaving here to live in the city with Ewa.”
Jana gripped the bedsheets and lowered her face so that he could not see her expression. “There is no need for you to leave. I shall do so instead. Tonight, I will leave to live with Maxim in St. Petersburg.”
“Jana, I—”
She pointed to the door. “Please leave. I must prepare for my trip.”
Although his heart begged him to voice an apology, he fought that urge and left. That was the only way she would forget about him. Some distance was what they both needed.
Alexander took a carriage to the Sokolov home. He had to see that impudent woman who had his heart tangled in her masterful web.
The night had fallen over the city like a blanket of darkness, permitting predators to leave their hideaways. Windows he used to clean were lit mostly on the ground floor. Alexander strolled around the building into the small garden out back. He saw candlelight flickering in Katharine’s room and her balcony’s door was left ajar.
She must have fallen asleep to one of her novels again. He used the thick vines embedded in the stone wall to climb up. His feet soundlessly came in contact with her balcony, and he crept into her room.
Just as he had expected, she sat in her chair with three candles on the table next to her relaxed form, illuminating her and the leather-bound book her fingers were wrapped around. Her brows drew into a soft frown and her head rolled to one side, exposing her pearlescent neck.
He sucked in a breath and made his way over to her.
Her even breaths lifted her chest in a tantalising manner while her mahogany waves cascaded down her right shoulder like a red river, covering the gold of her thin nightdress.
He paused in front of her innocent, sleeping face and brushed the stray lock of hair away. Katharine was a woman capable of destroying him with a single word and building him up into a man again with a caress.
She stirred in her sleep, her heavy lids slowly lifting. Her mouth formed a silent ‘o’ as realisation dawned on her.
“How did you get in?” she whispered.
“Through the balcony.”
Katharine set her book aside. Rising, she ran her palms up his chest and guided her fingers into his hair. As she toyed with his silky waves, Alexander held back a moan. Her rose scent filled the room, and he grasped her waist before pulling her to him, clashing their bodies like a wave against a cliff, with friction ruffling her gown.
“I thought you would never come…” Katharine kissed his neck. “I thought that you no longer wanted me.” She planted another kiss an inch higher.
Alexander’s hands roamed her body. He brushed the sides of her breasts with his thumbs and
then cupped her face. “No matter what you do, no matter how much I want to hate you, I cannot.”
She licked her lower lip, in turn, tempting him to have a nip of that plump flesh. “You love me still?”
Alexander tried to fight the unnatural hold she had on him and couldn’t. It was as if she was the vampire and he a mere mortal man. He gave in. “Yes.”
A mischievous smile stretched those mesmerising lips, and she pulled him in for a kiss. Their mouths collided, and he wanted more. He picked her up, carrying her to the bed.
On the crisp cotton sheets, Katharine opened her mouth, allowing him further entry, and he caressed her tongue with his. Their breath mingled as his hands found her shapely bust. He trailed tender kisses to those wondrous mounds of flesh that peeked out from beneath the shimmering material she wore.
Katharine’s breath hitched when he ran his tongue over them. The joy that welled in his soul was greater than his need to ruin her. He wished to take her there and then, making her his for an eternity.
Alexander drew away, uncertain as to where his thoughts were headed. He could not turn her. A vampire could only change another once he or she had reached a hundred years of life as an immortal. That was one of the few rules he could not break. What of her mortality? Would I have to watch her perish from the land of the living in forty, fifty years’ time?
A frown formed on her lovely face. “What is it?”
He glided his thumb over her jaw and sensual lips. “I want you, Katharine. I wish to devour you and taste your flesh, your blood, your everything.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “And I would love all of it.”
Again, she held him with her stare. Her emerald eyes reflected the low candlelight in the room. He could take her, and she would let him. He could hear her fluttering heart singing to him and smell her arousal from beneath the thin layer of her gown.
To his surprise, she rose from the bed to stand before him. Katharine grasped the ruffled cap sleeves of her nightdress and tugged the material down until it fell entirely to the ground.
Her body was alabaster itself—a smooth perfection that would be a sin to touch. Sitting up, Alexander swallowed his nerves, permitting himself a study her every curve and valley.
She took his hand and pressed it to her flat, warm stomach. A shiver ran along her skin because of his cool touch, yet she did not push him away.
“You are beautiful,” he admitted.
She smiled and, for the first time in his life, Alexander saw her cheeks reddening at his words. Surely she had received such compliments from her husband.
Alexander’s hands swept over her skin, and he pulled her to stand between his legs. He breathed in her intoxicating scent and left uncertain kisses from her stomach to her exposed breast. His lips found her perky nipple, and he licked it.
Katharine stifled a moan by biting down on her lower lip. Her hands ran over his arms to his shoulders and tangled in his hair.
Drawing more courage from her positive response, he slipped the pointed tip into his mouth and sucked on it.
Her heart jumped to a new level of excitement, and she tugged on his roots. Beneath her skin, he could smell her delicious blood. It called to him like a mother’s lullaby. His canines extended, and her breathing became urgent and uneven as he brushed them against her skin, not biting.
“Alexander…” she whispered his name full of yearning.
He couldn’t stand it any longer. He wanted more of her. His fingers brushed her thighs, separating them a little. Parting her folds, his fingers found her slick centre and her knees gave way.
Alexander caught her and lowered her onto the bed. His index finger circled her sensitive spot, making her face heat up and her chest heave. He lowered his mouth onto hers, capturing her in a hungry kiss. His own arousal strained against his trousers, but he would not relent. Not until he heard her calling out his name once more.
He moved his head to her neck, feeling her vein pulsating under his tongue. He blew a light breath onto her neck, and she shivered.
Her breathing changed. Her hips moved as if trying to match the movement of his fingers. In that moment, she briefly stilled in anticipation when he bit into her neck and brought her over the edge with his relentless circular strokes.
She cried out his name, which he muffled with a crimson kiss, while her body rode wave after wave of her climax. He released her, allowing her pleasure to slowly dissipate and moved his lips back to her punctured neck, sucking in her sweet blood.
His body burned with every drop he swallowed. It was a sensation no mortal blood had given him until this night. He wanted more…
Alexander growled his frustration and moved away from her neck.
Katharine looked at him with wonder in her eyes. She ran her thumb over his lips, smearing her blood across it before sucking on her it.
“Are you not afraid of me?” he asked.
Katharine lifted her head and kissed him. “Human or the Devil, whatever you are, I wanted to have you even if it killed me.”
“Then have me you shall,” he responded against her lips and reached for his trousers. He undid the buttons and tugged them down, allowing his length to finally be free of its confinement.
Katharine helped him out of his coat and shirt, discarding them both on the ground. She lowered herself onto the sheets, waiting like a perfect predator.
And he, like a moth to a flame, would give her what she wanted and take what he needed. He settled between her legs and wet the head of his member with her juices, brushing it against her entrance.
Katharine moaned and ran her hands over his neck, shoulders, and up the broad muscles of his back.
“Make love to me,” she whispered.
He had no choice but to comply. Alexander pushed himself inside of her and watched as she bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. He grasped her thighs and forced her legs further apart, allowing him to go in deeper. Her nails dug into his back. He did not mind. He was where he wanted to be—inside a woman whose core felt like the second circle of Hell.
He started to move, carefully at first. Then, he picked up his speed to match the eager movements of her hips.
Katharine cupped his face and lowered it to her neck. “Please, bite me again.”
Alexander smiled and his canines brushed her flesh. He bit down, and she clutched him closer to her, trapping him in her embrace. The closer she waded to her edge, the sweeter her blood became.
Beneath him, she let out almost-silent moans of pleasure, urging him to suck her honey-like lifeblood away. He balled his hands and tore his mouth from her neck. A trickle of blood cascaded down his chin and dripped onto her chest which glistened with light perspiration in the candlelight. He would not lose control with her. He could not.
Alexander caught her in a fierce kiss and rained his frustration on her tongue. He was reaching his limit as his own pleasure built along with hers.
Katharine broke the kiss, her nails sank into his muscular back, drawing blood as she convulsed around him, and she screamed out his name. When her walls tightened around him, massaging his length in desperate waves, he could not hold much longer. His muscles tensed and he released his seed inside of her.
She smiled at him, and he at her. They were like two children, going against their parents’ will. He bit his thumb and smeared his blood on her wounded neck.
“To help you heal,” he responded to the silent question in her hooded eyes. Before he could gather his bearings, someone banged on the door.
“Katharine, did something happen?” Andrey shouted from the hallway. A jingle of keys followed and fear fleeted across Katharine’s face.
“You must leave before he finds you!” she whispered.
Alexander withdrew from her. He sped around the room, using his vampire speed to gather his clothes.
Andrey inserted the key into the keyhole. “Katharine, can you hear me?”
Alexander looked at the dishevelled woman in bed to whom he
had just made love to. She grinned at him and waved goodbye before Andrey pushed the door open, and Alexander jumped down from the balcony into the garden, naked and content.
CHAPTER 13
The next day, Alexander woke up at Ewa’s apartment in Moscow. He ran his hands over his face, recalling the events of the previous evening. Tonight, he felt lighter than ever. He climbed off the bed, tugged on a pair of black trousers, and buttoned up his white cotton shirt.
A knock on the door was not what alerted him to Ewa’s presence. It was the strong stench of cognac she had been drinking when he first showed up.
She did not wait for his response and entered the room. Her playful sapphire eyes roamed his body. “You look good enough to eat, brother.”
“Do you say that to every man who spends a night here?”
Ewa giggled and came over. Her blonde curls danced on her shoulders, brushing the black corset of her frilly, sleeveless dress. She sniffed the air, and her lips morphed into a knowing smirk. “You were a very naughty boy last night. I can smell a woman on you. Who is the lucky lady?”
Alexander reached for his jacket on the coat hanger when she grasped his wrist.
“Alexander, I do hope you did not reveal yourself to anyone without wiping their memory of the encounter.”
His jaw clenched. “Katharine wouldn’t—”
Ewa’s slapped him across the face. Stinging pain spread along his skin and blood trickled onto his tongue from the laceration in his mouth.
“Have you abandoned all common sense?” she shouted. “Katharine Barova is the one you spent the night with and not Jana or someone more suitable?”
“Ewa, please…” he begged, feeling the cut beginning to stitch itself back together.
She stomped her dainty foot on the parquet and wagged her gloved finger at him. “You are intolerable. I thought I would congratulate you on your successful endeavour but never in this millennia shall I waste my breath on your night with that…that cortigiana.”
“She is not as bad as you may think.”
Ewa flung her arms up in the air and mumbled things in Italian that he could not comprehend. She closed her eyes, sucking in a deep breath. Her stern expression was something Alexander was not used to seeing on the joy-loving, free-spirited sister he had come to love.
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