Vadik tried to feel for Andrea behind him, but he kept sneaking a glance through his peripheral vision to make sure she was really there.
He still hadn’t gotten the hang of just trusting she’d be there. He had to see for himself. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that he was fairly certain every guy in the club wanted to get on her. But she had his collar on. That should keep most of the losers at bay.
They wound through the dance floor, into the back of the club. A big, stocky redhead took one look at Natalja and pulled aside the velvet rope. He stood aside and kept his head down as she passed.
With a swipe of one hand, she felt his cheek as she passed and Vadik saw a smile pass over his lips. The bodyguard didn’t make eye contact with either himself or Andrea, and merely closed the rope behind them.
A long, low-lit hallway followed, and Natalja tossed over her shoulder, “We’re almost there.”
Vadik straightened his shoulders and tried to channel his inner sociopath. That was the only way he could imagine treating Andrea the way he’d need to, in order to pass muster with Mistress Natalja.
They’d been doing things wrong all afternoon. He’d look at her—trying to make sure she was safe—and get smacked. She’d make a joke—which he was learning she was quite good at—and she would get smacked.
He’d reach for her hand to help her out of the car. Backhand on the shoulder.
He’d rather buy a condo on the equator of hell.
But he promised Luther he would do everything he could to help. He owed the man, and Vadik Nabatov paid his debts. Even when it involved nonsensical things like werewolves and not looking at Andrea.
When they walked through the double doors, a round room greeted them. The carpet was deep red, and continued up to long, thick benches. Seven black doors were spaced around the circle, each with a gold number in the center.
“We’ll be in four,” Natalja said to one of the black-clad men standing at the other double-doored entrance.
One of the men nodded and walked to the fourth door, opening it for her. She traced her hand along this bodyguard’s cheek, just like the last, and he wore a similar smile.
She ushered them in to the center of the room. The floor was black rubber, like a workout room, almost. The walls were similarly rubberized in places, and mirrored in others.
Natalja pointed to one of the mirrors. “Those are one-way mirrors. There may be a club owner behind them at some point, to check on my training, because I’ve allowed them to observe if they wish. If, at any time, you wish for us to go in to closed session, just say so, and I’ll have the guard lock the observation rooms.”
Vadik nodded. Andrea was silent behind him. He fought the urge to look back at her. Knowing he’d have to talk himself out of another erection helped. He hadn’t gotten rid of the one that’d started up on him in the cab. “Let’s begin, then.” He dropped his shoulders and took a breath. “I want to get this over with. For both of us.”
Natalja smiled and drew off one of her long, black gloves. She held the end for a long moment, gazing at him. “This won’t be over when we’re finished at the club.”
“I’m sorry…what?” Andrea choked out from behind him.
“This is my first assignment for you. We’ll practice what we can here, but the real test will be how you act when I’m not there to instruct you.” She snapped the glove to her side, and Vadik felt Andrea jump behind him.
“Meaning…?” he said.
“Meaning, this won’t be over when we’re finished at the club. You’ll wear these outfits home. You’ll be Ilya and Sasha back to the plane. Back to Choaca.” Her eyes twinkled. “I think it’ll be a good challenge for you to think of yourselves as Ilya and Sasha from now on, until your mission is over.”
He didn’t speak. He didn’t want to be a sociopath for…what…days? Vadik might not be the best man in the world, but he certainly wasn’t as bad as Ilya Petrov. And he didn’t want to be that man for longer than he needed to be.
He struggled enough with the conscience line already. He didn’t need Ilya there to push him over it.
“We can do that,” Andrea piped up.
He turned his head and, for a short moment, he thought he saw Sasha in the straight neck, dark hair, and downturned eyes. But Andrea’s voice came out of that body, and he wouldn’t get those confused.
Not ever.
“Perfect.” Natalja dropped the glove and clapped her hands. “Now. We’re going to do just a little play. Not anything sexy, because that’s not a line you’ll ever cross in the mission you’ve outlined. And every couple has their own rituals, so this is just to give you a taste of what men like Petrov will want from their slaves.” She walked to the wall and pulled down a bench. “Sasha, come over here.”
Andrea obeyed, keeping her eyes down, and stopping in front of Natalja. The shorter woman helped her up on to the bench.
“There, now. Stand very straight.” She crooked her finger at Vadik. “You, here.” She pointed to a spot just behind Andrea.
He took his place with a wide stance. Andrea’s polka-dotted ass was just in front of his face and he could see the light between her thighs. This was already far more sexual than it should’ve been. But the appetite comes during the eating, as Babushka would say.
“Now, Sasha, you’re going to cross your arms over your chest, and you’re going to stay straight as a board, and fall backwards.” Natalja touched Andrea’s hip and she startled.
“Fall backwards?”
“Yes. Vadik is going to catch you.” The shorter woman grinned and crossed one foot over the other, shifting all her weight to the other foot. “Your center of gravity will actually pass the horizontal stage before he catches you, so this is the ultimate test of trust. You not only pass the point where you can stop yourself from falling, but you pass the point where your body expects to land.”
“I will catch you, though. Don’t worry,” he hurried to say. Dammit, settle down, boy.
Andrea shifted her weight from foot to foot and took in a deep breath, in a very un-Sasha-like way. “Okay, I guess I can do this, then.” She looked straight at the wall and shook her head. “You’d better catch me.”
With a completely straight body, she began to fall. Vadik sucked air between his teeth. So fast. He’d never expected her to fall so quickly.
He scrambled to get into a good position, and put his hands up to stop her momentum. Her hand went around his neck and he found himself with Andrea in his arms, more like a bride over the threshold than a Master-slave.
She gazed into his eyes and whispered, “I knew you’d catch me.”
“Don’t look at the teeth of a horse you’ve been given, as Babushka would say.” He gave her a tight, half-smile.
“Meaning?” Andrea asked, one brow raised.
“Meaning, I almost didn’t catch you, but you’re not dead, so let’s not break it down for the audience.” He glanced over at Natalja, whose lips were tight and drawn, and he allowed himself a small laugh.
“Right.” She pulled her hands to her side and Vadik set her on the ground.
“I know, I know,” he said, “Bad form.”
Natalja shrugged one shoulder. “It was your first trust fall. You’ll get the hang of it.” She pulled off her glove and whipped him on the thigh. “Now. Again.”
The pain grounded him for a moment and he nodded. “Again.” He walked back to his spot, looked Andrea straight in the ass, and said to her, “Fall.”
She fell with the same straight-backed grace, and this time, he was ready for the weight of her body to crash against him, and he didn’t catch her quite so high. But Andrea didn’t crumble. She didn’t break posture. She was perfect.
“Almost.” Natalja smacked Vadik with her glove again. This time, on the ass.
Andrea climbed back up on the bench and stood completely still, her hands crossed over her chest. She didn’t lean back in anticipation. She didn’t begin, until he ordered her.
“Fall
,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. Her body immediately began to move toward him and he waited until she had truly passed the horizontal posture until he bent his knees and caught her in his arms.
But there was not a trace of fear on her face. How could she possibly be so calm? She opened her eyes and peeped up at him, her head almost in his lap. Her eyelids flared over her eyes and her gaze lowered to his mouth.
For a short moment, he wondered if she’d wanted to kiss him. Was that what he saw on her face?
He righted her and she climbed back up on the bench, but Natalja touched her hip again and Andrea turned.
When she was facing him, Vadik could see her diamond nipples pushing at the little half-moon cut-outs that surrounded them. The fabric strained around her arousal, but the holes were too small for one nipple to pop out all together.
Vadik’s tongue slid between his lips as he looked harder for a way to free one of those beautiful pink nipples. And her areolas. He could see the patch of skin where her areolas ended and the creamy white of her breast began. It would be about three fingers from white skin to white skin. Three of his fingers would cover her nipple from side to side.
Natalja cleared her throat. “Okay, honey. Let me just stop you right there.”
His gaze shot over to the short woman’s narrowed eyes. He pulled his lips to one side and tried to control his breathing.
Too turned on to think straight.
“Look, I’ve taught a lot of submissives and slaves in my day, and I’ve got a shorthand down, now, for recognizing lust.” She shifted her weight to one side and put a hand on her hip. “And you, puppies, have got lust bunnies coming out of your proverbial asses.”
Vadik’s mouth went dry. Don’t say it. Just don’t say it.
“You’ve been staring at her boobs since the moment I met you, and you,” she turned on Andrea, “can’t pant at him and have moon eyes and pretend that there’s nothing going on here. If you want to have a non-sexual Master-slave…even a pretend one…it has to genuinely be non-sexual, or you’re going to lose the rhythm. The kind of play we do in here, the kind of work…if there’s desire under your skin, it’s going to come out in full force in this room. Trust me.”
Silence, while Natalja tapped her fingers on the leather corset.
“Okay, fine. I’ll tell you what. I’m going to leave the room. You two have this out.” She put her hands over her head and began walking. “I mean it. I come back in here, and I expect to see some proverbial shit on the table. You ignore something that runs this deep, and we’re all going to have our heads spinning.”
Lust bunnies? Andrea smirked as she watched the little Polish wolf strut out of the room and close the door solidly, leaving her alone with Vadik.
Vadik. Handsome. Broody. Dark hair, dark eyes, and almost black stubble on that beautiful angular jaw of his. What’d started off as distrust of a stranger had somehow blossomed into full-fledged arousal and attraction.
When he’d ordered her to fall that last time and caught her, even after it’d felt like she wouldn’t stop falling. She hadn’t been able to deny the pull or the spark between them any longer.
That embrace had solidified the attraction in her mind and heart. Her magick was reaching out for him right in front of her eyes. Shimmering iridescent waves embraced and flowed around his entire body. He couldn’t see it, but she could.
It hadn’t been there until just now. Just before Natalja stopped the scene.
“Missions that go wrong are the ones where there’s more at stake than there should be.”
Andrea cocked her head up and glanced at him from beneath an unfamiliar bank of black side-swept bangs. He sounded like Rain. Gods, that makes me Nora. In the end, Rain and Nora had been stronger together than when they tried to fight and stay apart.
Did she want that with Vadik? He was human. A stranger, and a mercenary from what Luther had shared. He was a hard man with a broken past who killed for money.
Just because Fate thought they might be a good match, didn’t mean she had to go for it… She shook her head. The only problem was that she did want it.
Badly.
“A mistake when Adrian first meets us will cost us more.”
Vadik’s brown eyes narrowed and he ground his teeth. Even his pulse sped just slightly.
He was fighting this with everything he had.
“When we go to this island, we are partners, soldiers in a war. Not fuck buddies.”
Andrea internally winced. She opened her mouth to respond, but he kept on going.
“If I’m constantly thinking about tasting your nipples or fucking you, I won’t be as effective as I will be if we keep this thing non-sexual.”
She straightened her shoulders and squared her body to meet his. A huff of air escaped through her mouth and she drew her lips into a tight line. He’d meant to come off sounding like an asshole. And he’d accomplished just that. Fine. She didn’t usually, but she could give it as good as he could.
Andrea reached for the zipper beneath her neck and yanked it all the way down to her waist. “You know what? I’m not an idiot. You might think because I’m blonde, and I get cold in this freakish weather, and because I have a southern drawl I’m incompetent and stupid.”
His eyes followed her hands like she’d magnetized them. He licked his lips before shaking his head and meeting her gaze again. “I don’t think you’re stupid,” he whispered.
“Well good, because I’m not. I didn’t trust you when we first met, but I do now. I have to, I know that now. Without you, we don’t have a shot in hell of saving anyone on that island, and I mean to save them all.” She grabbed the edges of unzipped suit and pulled them apart, freeing her breasts from their tight confines. “So I’m willing to do it whichever way you want. You can touch and feel and taste my breasts and the rest of me like I know you want to. I sure as hell would like you to choose that option. But, if you want to keep the Master-slave thing emotionless, then I’ll do that too. But Natalja’s right. You have to decide.”
Come over here and touch me. Please. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. Her entire body hummed, desperate for him to touch her again.
Anything. A simple caress. A graze of his hand on the small of her back. She’d only ever felt this way over one man before in her life, and she’d resigned herself that she’d never let her feel this way again.
But according to Maggie, Fate had other plans for everyone on this mission. So far, Maggie and Fate had been spot on.
“You can have me,” she breathed. “Just say yes.”
“No.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. No?
No. Well…that just wasn’t going to work for her anymore. Not after that fucking trust fall shit. She was the queen of making sure everyone around her was comfortable and happy.
Daddy used to call her a peacemaker, but peace wasn’t what burned in her veins and deep in her belly right now. Andrea had lost a chance at love once before because she’d been afraid to fight for what she wanted. Because she’d waited too long.
Making the same mistake twice was unacceptable.
The door burst open and Natalja walked inside. She glanced at Andrea’s bare breasts and smirked. “Progress, people, yes. But I’m afraid we’ll have to pick this up tomorrow. Niko’s here to pick you up. Team meeting ASAP, he says.”
Vadik crossed the room, leaving her to follow him.
Fine, be that way. She tucked her boobs back into the tight plastic body suit and zipped up, before hurrying after them both.
He wrapped her in a heavy coat before they exited the building. Magick surged through at his touch, sending licks of desire coursing through her veins. Andrea shuddered, trying to shake it off. Now wasn’t the time.
“Thanks, sis. I’ll bring them back tomorrow,” Niko said, giving his sister a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“It’s Sunday, Niko, so I’ll see you at Babcia’s.”
“Come on, guys.”
Niko pointed toward the SUV and hurried around to get into the driver’s seat.
Andrea slid into the passenger seat, ignoring Vadik’s grunts as he threw the bags from their shopping into the back. “We’re doing more with Natalja tomorrow?”
Niko put the vehicle into gear and nodded. “Maggie wants everyone to meet at the hotel, tonight.”
“What happened with Dr. Lee?”
His brows drew together as he glanced back at Vadik. “He said the same device that killed Faye, killed Sasha.”
“So she was from the island?” Andrea asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
Vadik’s door closed and Niko pulled away from the curb. Tension lit the air like a Christmas tree.
Andrea crossed her arms and settled into her seat and tried to ignore the ice waves coming off him.
He wanted her, and she knew it. He would learn not to fight it. He had to.
Chapter Six
Vadik set the shopping bags on the bed in the hotel room Niko had given him the key card for. His duffel from the plane waited there, as well. Somehow, the morning he’d left Russia felt like another life.
He’d boarded the plane in Irkutsk days ago, slept as much as he could, wandered around the Frankfurt airport, and tried to beat the jet lag by sleeping on the last leg to Canada, but he was feeling it.
Between Andrea’s boob stunt and the jet lag, he felt like he was buzzing on some weird drug. It was barely supper time in Chicago, but he could have passed out and slept for days.
At least they’d gotten him his own room.
A knock on the door, and Vadik opened it, steeling himself to see Andrea again. Instead, Niko’s smiling face greeted him.
“We’ve got pizza in Maggie and Luther’s room. She wants to discuss the island, if you’re up for it.” He passed him a bottle of water. “And stay hydrated. People think because it’s winter, they don’t have to—”
“I’ve lived the last ten years in Siberia,” Vadik said. “I get it. Thanks.”
He followed the mobster to the end of the hallway, drinking from the bottle and relishing the cold. What he really needed was a snowbank to jump in. Freeze everything. Stop his brain and his blood from trying to push him toward Andrea.
Broken Wolf: Moonbound Series, Book Seven Page 5
