Ileana squirmed again and Yuri’s grip on her wrist slipped. Compensating for the move, he clutched her armbands. Tugging the fabric to her wrists, Yuri thought to use them as an impromptu binding. Thinking he could at least keep her immobile until he could decide what to do with her.
“No,” Ileana shrieked, redoubling her efforts to get free. Yuri pressed more of his body weight atop her, scanning her body, her face for the source of her alarm. Then his gaze settled on the pale flesh of the forearms he’d just uncovered.
His heart stopped, and then withered in his chest. The air sucked out of his deflated lungs. She glanced from him to her upraised arms and quit fighting.
“You’re…”
“A vanator,” she finished for him.
Chapter Four
Yuri paced around the clearing, twirling the short hairs of his goatee in one hand, cupping his elbow with the other. “So, you’re one of the hunters my brother sent to kill me?”
Ileana pinched her lips together and looked away. Even tied to a tree she looked regal and beautiful. Her damned enticing curves that accursed robe hugged were displayed perfectly. Yuri turned from the sight of her, a low growl rumbling in his chest.
“I bet you’re not really a Kalu at all, are you,” he stated more than asked. “You lied so I would trust you, and then what? You were going to take me to him alive, or kill me and throw my head to the dogs?”
Again she offered no answer.
Fatum’s veil! Her calm and stoic defiance infuriated him. He spun back around. “I hope you know the penalty for placing false markings on your body.”
“It’s not like that,” she said between clenched teeth.
“Then what is it like, Ileana.”
She whipped her head to face him. Long wisps of raven hair cascaded over her shoulder and concealed breast, the ends nearly coiled in her lap. “Stop calling me that.”
“Why? Isn’t it your real name?”
“Of course it’s my name,” she bit back. “I never offered that information, you stole it. But no one calls me by my given name. Not anymore.”
Although her words pricked a nerve of intrigue in him, he ignored it. “Well, in case you haven’t noticed, Ileana, you’re the one tied up and captured. Not me. I make the rules,” he said, pointing to his chest.
Goddess, he was acting like some primitive ape, beating on his chest to prove his dominance. Yuri ran a hand through his hair and then over his goatee. This woman infuriated him beyond all reason and measure.
Tracking back to her cloak, he started rummaging through her pockets, looking for something, anything that might prove she wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Prove his instincts hadn’t been so wrong about her. When that yielded nothing, he tossed the cloak down and sat on a nearby tree stump. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved a strand of beef leather he’d put there earlier and snapped off a bite. He wasn’t hungry, but he had to do something. Inaction wasn’t doing his brain any favors.
“Everything I told you before was true.” Her voice cut through the still night, small but strong. “I was a Kalu. But I ran away from the Samostan when I was twenty. I couldn’t abide that place and swore the moment I could, I would leave.”
Yuri flitted his gaze toward her, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. When she spoke again, he softened his chewing so he could hear her better.
“I had nothing. No family, nowhere to go. My hate for the world and the clawing need for revenge were the only things keeping me going,” she said, her focus still, her gaze locked on some distant memory. “Becoming a vanator was the easy part. I already had more ink than most of the veterans. And I had a lifetime of bloodlust waiting to be sated lurking inside me. However, being able to pay back the man who killed my family has proven nearly impossible.”
Yuri swallowed and stared at her. “What does any of that have to do with accepting a contract out on me?”
She looked at him as if he’d just asked her why the sky was blue. “You are a Feodorovna. You’re part of the royal family line.” She paused, her jaw clenching. “You’re his brother.”
Yuri sat up, taking notice at the mention of Nikolai.
“Disdain me all you want,” she continued. “But your family doesn’t do good deeds. They don’t save lives. They destroy them,” she spat. “I discovered that about your bloodline at a very young age.”
Her words struck Yuri like a barbed hook through his lungs, ripping away his breath in one swift pull. “Goddess,” he said. “Nikolai killed your parents.”
“Yes.”
At her answer, Yuri dropped his head in his hands. He didn’t need psychic powers to tell him his brother had been responsible for her pain. He read it pouring off her clearly enough.
More blood. More blood on his family’s already stained hands. His trembled with rage. If his twin hadn’t been blocking their psychic link, Yuri knew for a fact he could have sent his brother into a coma with the pure force of hatred and anger he felt for him now.
However, hatred and anger never helped anyone. Yuri ran his fingers through his hair and glanced back at the lovely, strong and passionate young woman across from him. She proved as much. Look what hate and revenge did to her life. The seed his brother had planted inside her grew into evil, twisting vines, coiling around her spirit and threatening her very soul. The realization saddened him. To think of what this beautiful creature could have been if someone had shown her love, kindness, forgiveness.
Yuri sucked in a breath and knew in that moment what he had to do. Undoing the past was impossible. But perhaps her future was not lost.
“Ileana, I am so sorry for your pain, your suffering. If I could but undo it, I would.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand. He is your family, your brother.”
Yuri nodded. “My twin to be exact. Yet we could not be more different. As youths, he would kill a bird and I would try and bring it back to life. He would set a trap and I would make sure I was the first to walk through it so his machinations would not harm anyone else. I came to the Mysts to try and foil his latest plot. But this time he was one step ahead of me. I not only failed in my task,” he said, his voice cracking. “He sent the vanators after me. They nearly succeeded in wiping me out. Would have, had it not been for you healing me.”
She blinked up at him, her big eyes so wary and unsure. Yuri could almost hear the surprise in them. And why wouldn’t she be shocked by his admission? Here she had thought killing him would hurt Nikolai. When, in fact, his brother was the one who hired her in the first place.
“I don’t know about you, but I used to believe the Goddess had forsaken me. Taken everything from me she could and turned her back on me.” He paused, weighing his words in his mind carefully before speaking. “I would be dead if not for you, Ileana. And Nikolai, his evil, would have won yet again. Perhaps she hasn’t given up on either of us just yet.”
Ileana’s brow tightened. So many questions filled her mind. In his one admission, countless beliefs that comprised the web of her life’s ideology and values unraveled. She couldn’t think, couldn’t grasp it all and connect the dots.
“When word traveled about a contract out on a Feodorovna, I thought my long wait was over. Thought I finally had a chance to avenge my family. I knew nothing about you except for your name. Had no idea Nikolai wanted to see you in your grave, as much as I want to put him in his.”
How could she have been so wrong? How could Yuri not be like his brother? How could a Feodorovna be good? How could she be good for that matter?
Yuri glanced down at her, something warm and almost tender in his dark gaze.
Before she could open her mouth to try and explain herself further, a familiar flood of warmth rushed through her veins. It filled her head, sending a wave of sleepiness rippling through her. Ileana tried to blink, tried to hold it back. But the current overtook her. Yuri entered her mind with his ability, and held her captive. Without lifting a finger, he untied her bonds and laid her
in the grass.
The strong hold he had on her mind kept her utterly immobile. Yet, unlike last time, she felt no fear, no worry for her own safety. No, this time she could only fixate on the sorrow in his eyes. She felt powerless to do anything to soothe it.
Yuri leaned over her, a slight smile on his lips. Gently, he placed her heavy cloak atop her prone body like a blanket.
“It seems we both have the same goal, my little nun. You wish to kill my brother and so do I. However I cannot endanger your life any further. As a vanator, even being seen with me is compromising to you. My family has brought your heart enough pain. I cannot bear to bring you any more. Please go in peace. May the Goddess keep you safe.”
Ileana gasped and jolted upright.
Yuri’s words rang crisp and clear in her head. His last sentence replayed over and over in her mind. However, the rest of her memories seemed foggy, as if their entire meeting had been a dream. She touched her neck, the bite mark, flinching at the twinge of pain.
No, not a dream.
Where was he? Blinking, she whirled her head from right to left, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. A faint part of her heart hoped she would see him beside the fire. Nothing, only the smoldering remains of burnt-out ash and wood. Like the faint wisps of smoke curling into the sky, he too had vanished.
“Well, what do we have here?”
Ileana spun. Her blood ran cold at the sight of the vanator behind her. Even in the darkness, she recognized him. Seven feet of towering hard muscle, and a face so scarred only one eye opened.
“Misha,” she breathed. Her hand instantly gravitated to her thigh, where she normally stowed her weapon. A low curse passed her lips when she only met bare flesh. Damn Kalu robes. They hid nothing and she’d had to go weaponless in order to trick Yuri. Her heart seized at the thought of him. If Misha had found her, then it stood to reason he would find Yuri too….
“Looks like someone decided to go rogue.”
Rogue? Ileana licked her lips, scanning the ground by her feet and then his for an escape route. “What makes you think I would go…?”
“Don’t be coy with us, Ana,” he bit out, stalking closer, almost clumsy in his confidence.
“I’m not—” She paused. “Us?”
A moment later, two more vanators emerged from the darkness. Ileana recognized them at once, Misha’s little cronies. Goddess, she mentally chided herself. She had not even sensed them. Ileana rose to her feet, backing in the opposite direction. Her feet slipped on the wet mud beneath her bare feet.
“We saw you let him go. Saw him tuck you in for your little siesta and walk away.”
They had been watching? Ileana took a deep breath. She had to play this cool. “If you saw the target leave, then why aren’t you following him?”
Misha offered her a lopsided smile, his eyes undressing her in such a way it made her stomach turn. “Oh, don’t worry. Sergei is tailing the mark. The one you let walk away without so much as a fight.”
He made no mention of Yuri’s medji powers being the reason she hadn’t fought back. That meant they didn’t know about his powers, and perhaps Yuri would get away after all. Ileana only briefly pondered the fact she cared more about his safety than her own before Misha lunged at her.
Hard and firm, his arms snatched her around the waist. He hauled her back against his front. “You know what letting the target go means to the brethren, don’tcha, Ana?” He snatched one of her armbands, ripping away the fabric, revealing the tattoos hidden beneath. His fingers bit into her flesh as he forced her arm up for inspection.
“These are going to have to get changed.” Rough and clumsy, his hands slid down her arms, before veering toward her breasts and around her waist. “Mmm, but first I think this is going to have to come off,” he said, pulling at the ties at her hip. “This is all going to have to come off.”
Rage exploded inside her at the threat. Ileana kicked back her head, smiling when her skull crunched against his nose. He screamed and loosened his grip. The moment the arms around her fell away, Ileana ran forward. The defensive move gave her only seconds. She’d trained with Misha at the academy and knew he possessed an unnatural tolerance to pain. The blow bruised his pride more than his nose and he would no doubt relish the opportunity to make her pay for it.
Ileana made it three strides when a second vanator leapt in front of her, blocking her escape route. He swung his arm in a wide hook jab. Ileana bobbed and weaved, coming up with a hard uppercut to his jaw. Bone hit bone, her knuckles cracking against his skull. Gasping, Ileana again made for the tree line. If she could make it into the brush, she might have a chance to…
Something struck her hard between the shoulder blades. The blow forced the wind from her lungs and knocked her to the ground.
Dazed, Ileana tried to catch her breath. Behind her, the vanators whooped and hollered, as if they’d just taken down a trophy animal in a hunt. Propping her hands under her shoulders, she pressed them into the earth and tried to move, to get away.
Rough hands clawed her shoulders, dragging her upright and launching her forward at the same time. Her torso slammed against an unforgiving boulder. Her palms curved around the cold stone before fingers clutched each wrist, pinning them down. Misha’s fingers dug into her scalp and tugged back hard. Ileana tried to scream, but he wrenched her neck back at such a harsh angle, it immediately stole her breath.
“Come on, Ana,” he drawled, his free hand palming her naked thigh and squeezing her ass. “If you quit fighting now, I’ll make sure you enjoy it at least a little.”
Frantic, Ileana darted her gaze left and right. Her mind raced, searching for a weapon, a way to escape. Her thoughts were so focused on survival, she didn’t register the men flying off her until she toppled to the earth.
The hysterical shouts and cries of the men filled her ears. Trembling, Ileana wondered what new devilry the Mysts might have conjured for her to face. She pivoted on her hip to look toward the clearing.
“Yuri?”
His back was to her. Fists clenched tight at his sides. His broad shoulders shielded her from the sight of Misha, who lay on the ground, rubbing his obviously sore jaw.
Scooting up to sit, Ileana glanced around for the others. Their broken bodies lay sprawled on the grass, limbs cocked in unnatural angles.
“Calm down, brother,” Misha said, nodding toward Yuri’s forearms. “There’s enough of her to go around.”
Yuri took two steps closer and threw up his arms, showing off the ink branding him a traitor. “I’m not your brother,” he bit out. “And she is not interested.”
“I beg to differ.” Misha’s gaze slid to her. His hand reached down to cup his privates. Fingers curling over the still-hard rod, he rotated his hips, his eyes shuttered as he stared at her. “In a few minutes, she would have been begging for more.”
“Bastard,” Ileana breathed.
Yuri’s muscles were jumping behind his shirt.
Before Ileana could get to her feet, Misha began screaming, a high-pitched, earsplitting wail. Frenzied, his fingers clawed at his head with such force his fingernails ripped strips of flesh from his face. Heart racing, Ileana glanced from him to Yuri, unsure what was going on.
Yuri remained unmoving, his back straight, his muscles tensed. Focused. Ileana swallowed, her gaze traveling back to Misha writhing in pain on the grass. Realization dawned.
Medji powers.
Yuri had used his psychic abilities to attack Misha. Or rather, have Misha attack himself. A shudder passed over her skin at the sheer power Yuri possessed. The assault continued for only a few moments before Misha’s body began seizing in convulsions and then quit moving altogether.
Yuri’s shoulders dropped, his muscles relaxed. He stared at Misha for a few seconds, his fingers flexing and closing before he spun around. The sight of him stole her breath. Unruly strands of dark hair whipped across his handsome face. His fangs hung down in lethal points, and a fierce bloodlust filled his eyes.
“Are you all right?”
Momentarily breathless, she nodded. “You came back,” she finally said, her voice still laced with a low-grade panic she did not even try to mask.
He stepped toward her, his hands gently wrapping around her biceps. “Of course I came back.”
Goddess, help her, but her heart fluttered at his words. His hands gripped her tighter, almost desperately. Then, unexplainably, the energy between them shifted. A change passed over Yuri’s handsome face. The worried façade dissipated, leaving the mask of indifference he’d worn most of the evening. The one she had a feeling he always stoically wore even though the burden of it nearly killed him.
How she wanted to rip it off, beat and pound on it until it cracked. Until he cracked and leveled those fierce and passionate eyes on her again.
Ileana reached toward him, her hand cupping the side of his face. A low groan ached from him and he leaned into her palm. The façade splintered ever so slightly at just her touch. What would happen if she kissed him? If she peeled the robes off her body and stood bare before him? Thought after thought and countless what-if’s crossed her mind.
Instead, she stepped into his arms. Tilting her head to the side, she tucked hers under his. He inhaled sharply, releasing the air in a shuddered breath. Ileana held hers as she rested her cheek against his chest. When his arms finally closed around her, his chin dropping on the top of her head, she smiled and closed her eyes.
Warmth, safety enveloped her such as she never felt. So much so, she wondered if he’d entered her mind again. She felt…
Home.
Something roared in the distance, a shrieking bellow that rent the sky and made the earth rumble. Yuri clutched her tightly as the sharp wailing continued. The sound cut through her, low and visceral. Ileana’s bones quivered and the flesh covering them shrank in fear.
Vampire in Her Mysts Page 3
