Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

“ Y ou’re speaking of Zara? She was nothing to me.”

“She was your blood.”

“She was nothing.”

Oleg walked to the car, catching Seban’s eye as he approached. “Back to the house.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw Mika, Tatyana, Oksana, and his people following. “The woman with me. The rest of you in the other car.”

Tatyana froze, and Mika nearly ran into her. “What?”

Oleg held out his hand, snapped his fingers, and pointed at the car. “You? In. Mika?—”

“Leaving.” His enforcer walked back to the other car with the rest of his men.

Tatyana carefully approached the black sedan, and Oleg opened the car door for her.

“Did something happen?” she whispered.

Less than I expected and more than I wanted. “Old business.”

She got in the car, and Oleg walked around to the other side. Seban held the door for him and he slid into the back seat.

The old vampire really hadn’t asked for much. In a way, it was business that had already been concluded, or would be when Zara was dead.

The only problem was now that he’d told a bold-faced lie to the oldest vampire in the world, Oleg felt compelled to actually kill his child.

The thought put a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

His fangs ached in his mouth, and the fire that usually warmed him felt like it was biting the inside of his skin.

Your blood comes from the earth. From one of my line. So, Oleg Sokolov, you are mine whether you want to be or not.

His sire was dead. He owed loyalty to no one but himself and the allies he chose. But now the mother of their race thought Oleg had killed his own child, and she approved because Zara had been conspiring with Laskaris, whom Saba hated.

Which meant that Zara had to die. When he finally found her, she would have to die, and the last of Luana’s blood would be gone from the earth.

“Oleg?”

Warm fingers touched the back of his hand, and the biting sensation under his skin eased away.

Tatyana kept her voice low. “What did she say to you?”

She patted my head, called me a good boy, and made me afraid.

“Seban,” he snapped.

“Yes, boss?”

“Call Mika and tell him to fly with the others back to Odesa. Immediately. Tatyana and I will stay at the house tonight and fly back tomorrow.”

“Yes, boss.”

“And raise the screen,” he muttered. “I want to think.”

Tatyana was watching him carefully. “Let me sit in front with Seban. That way you can?—”

“No, you will stay with me.”

Oleg didn’t know why he wanted her except that arguing with the woman made him feel like less of a monster. Which made no sense because he was using her as bait and holding her captive to lure his daughter out of hiding.

She knew nothing about him. Nothing. But he’d made her trust him enough that her heart wasn’t racing in fear as she sat beside him, and Oleg was more than on edge. He felt vulnerable for the first time in a very long time, and feeling vulnerable made him feral.

But as Seban raised the black privacy screen, she reached across the car and took Oleg’s hand in her own.

He looked at her hand holding his. “Why?”

“You seem upset.”

He wanted to strip her naked, fuck her, and sate his hunger with her blood.

And she was being kind.

Oleg looked at her face, her velvet skin and blue eyes gentle with human emotion.

He imagined her throat red with blood, only instead of Oleg’s fangs in her neck, it was Zara’s blade at her throat.

He murmured, “She will never touch you.”

Tatyana’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“Zara should die, little wolf.”

“I don’t want her dead though. She stole money ,” Tatyana said. “You have so much money. You don’t need to do this.”

Didn’t he? He’d spread the rumor that Zara was dead to isolate her, but now he was backed into a corner. His options became more limited after lying to an ancient. “I no longer have a choice.”

“I’ll find your money. I promise I will find your money.”

Why was she so insistent? Why was she protecting Zara of all people? Zara wouldn’t hesitate to cut Tatyana’s throat to keep her quiet.

“This is not something we will debate,” he said. “She stole from me, she’s as insane as my dead mate, and she’s a threat to me.” And to you. He squeezed her hand and released it. “This is not your decision.”

“You could keep Zara locked up. You have a castle, don’t you? Castles have dungeons. You don’t have to kill her.”

Oleg cocked his head, watching the strange human beside him.

“You think locking Zara up would be more merciful than killing her?” Perhaps his little wolf was more vicious than he’d thought. “That would be even crueler than death for an immortal.”

Her cheeks flushed a little bit. “Wouldn’t that be a better punishment then?”

He grunted. She wasn’t wrong.

“If Zara has to die, make Mika do it.”

Oleg narrowed his eyes. “Why does it matter?”

Tatyana opened her mouth, then closed it.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” He took her hand and gripped it. “Or I will make you.”

“It will hurt you,” she snapped and pulled her hand away. “She’s your child. You might hate her, but Mika told me how it works. She’s literally your own blood. What would it do to you to kill your own blood?”

This strange, strange woman.

“You’re worried about me?” In the space of a heartbeat, Oleg unlatched her safety belt and yanked her across the bench seat. “You’re worried about me ?”

Tatyana fell into his lap. She gasped and braced her arms on Oleg’s chest. Then she looked up at him, and his eyes locked with hers.

“You don’t worry about me,” he murmured. “You don’t take care of me. That’s not how my world works. I take care of you. I take care of all my people.”

And she was his. For now. Maybe forever.

Oleg was going to keep her.

She was staring at his mouth and her heart was racing, but there was no smell of fear or adrenaline. Her body was reacting to his with desire. Her scent bloomed around him, filling the car with her perfume.

Oleg’s body was hard, and he shifted her so she was sitting on his lap, his cock pressed up against her thigh. Her lips parted, and her cheeks flushed with blood.

With her sitting on his lap, her lips were aligned with his, and he moved closer, letting his fangs fall as he delicately bit the edge of her lower lip, bruising the skin without breaking it.

She squirmed in his lap, her body hungry for his. Her thigh brushed against his cock again, and a small, needy sound came from her throat.

“Do you want that, Tatyana?” He pulled her closer. “Very soon you’ll have my cock in your mouth. You’ll be able to taste me with your pretty little tongue. Kiss me with your lips.” He reached up, nudging her mouth open with his thumb. “Until then, taste this.”

She reacted with such beautiful submission he nearly tore off her clothes in the back of his car and gave her everything she wanted.

Instead, he reveled in the feeling of her tongue stroking his thumb, her little teeth hard on his knuckle as he angled her head to the side and licked up her neck, slowly running his fangs over the muscle there.

His right hand moved to her rounded ass, cupping the swell in his palm as he pulled her harder into his groin and rubbed her body against his.

She was wearing a neat little suit, a silk-and-wool blend he had picked from a selection the stylist sent to him. Luckily, that suit had a skirt instead of trousers.

Oleg pulled his thumb from Tatyana’s mouth, and she sucked hard against the loss, her mouth begging to be filled.

She gave a small cry when he took his hand away, so he turned her face and took her mouth in a predatory kiss, stealing her breath and swallowing the moan of pleasure as the hand that had been in her mouth moved to the gentle rise of her pert breast.

It was small and deliciously round. It reminded Oleg of a ripe peach, and he wanted to sink his teeth into it.

Soon .

He wouldn’t feed from her in the back of a car even though they had come to a stop. They were at the house, and he heard Seban quickly exit the vehicle, leaving Oleg and Tatyana alone.

He reached his amnis out but felt no one around, no human and definitely no vampire.

Just Oleg and his little bookkeeper, her proper suit on the verge of falling apart under his greedy hands.

Her kiss was hot and drugging, and Oleg felt his senses swim. Did she have amnis of her own? Impossible.

He was conscious of the fire under his skin, eager to burst out as his senses rose and his elemental power built from the electricity between them. He clamped down on his control, surprised by the surge of chaotic emotions.

He wanted to fuck her. He wanted to feed from her. He also felt intensely possessive in a way that sent up a dozen red flags in his mind.

Sex with Tatyana was going to be a challenge.

Her hand came to the back of his neck, but he didn’t move it. She stroked the curls where they fell over his collar and pulled him even closer as his tongue invaded her mouth.

She was riding the line of his cock, her body surging against his as she tried to reach for release. With her mouth firmly on his and one of his hands gripping the outside of her thigh, he took his left hand where it caressed her breast and reached down, shoving her knees apart as she gasped and arched toward him.

“Do you like that, volchitsa?” he murmured against her lips.

All she could do was nod. Her breath was coming in hard pants. “Please. Please.”

“Do you want my bite?”

Her blue eyes went wide as his hand slid between her thighs. “There?”

“Not tonight.” He teased the soft fabric covering her pussy, then pinched the inside of her thigh, smelling a hint of blood as a bruise rose on her delicate skin. “Soon I’ll bite you there. Drink from you and eat your pussy with your blood in my mouth. Would you like that?”

Ever the honest human, she blinked and said, “I don’t know.”

Oleg’s lips curved into a smile as his fingers moved back to her sex. “You will like it very much.”

He took her mouth again, sucking on her full lower lip as his fingers moved her panties from the hot, wet flesh at the juncture of her thighs.

Oleg’s mouth watered, but this was not the place to feed from her. Her body was inches away from climax, primed by his kisses and the low vibration of energy he sent over her skin. Not to influence her mind but to heighten her arousal.

As he slid two fingers inside her, he realized he wasn’t ready to make her come yet. She was deliciously open to him even though her body was fully clothed. He wanted to tease her a little bit.

He broke off their kiss. “Do you like a lover to lick your breasts, little wolf? Shall I use my tongue next time?”

Her hand reached out, searching for something to grab, but there was nothing.

“Touch yourself,” he told her. “Touch your breast the way you want me to touch it next time.”

“Oleg—”

“Do it.” He watched her grab the pert little breast and squeeze hard, desperate for release. “Mmm. You don’t need soft touches, do you?”

Good. Oleg could be gentle if he needed to be, but he preferred a shout over a whisper.

Her pussy was swollen and weeping around his fingers. He removed his hand, and she bit her lip in frustration.

“Bastard,” she panted.

Oleg smiled and followed her eyes as they watched the journey from her pussy to his tongue. Her lips were cherry red and swollen from his bruising kisses.

He laved her honey from his fingers. “Delicious.” Oleg licked his lips before he slid his hard fingers back inside her pussy.

Her body gripped his hand. She was desperate and nearly weeping from desire.

“Do you want to come now?”

She nodded helplessly.

“Good.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “Now bite my lip like you promised me, volchitsa. I want to feel your teeth.”

Frustration and desire flared in her eyes, and Tatyana sank her blunt little teeth into Oleg’s lower lip as he stroked her harder and faster, flicking her clitoris with the flat of his thumb.

He hummed in pleasure as her teeth broke his skin. He curved his fingers up and pressed harder.

Tatyana released his lip, nearly choking as her climax came in crashing waves. He felt her muscles release and contract against his hand, her thighs pressing together as her body shuddered and a hoarse cry erupted from her throat.

“Too much!” She panted and gripped his wrist. “Too much, too much.”

Oleg smiled in satisfaction and eased back his strokes even as his cock raged with unsated desire.

There was nothing like watching a woman come. The only thing that could improve the experience was taking her blood at the same time. Tatyana didn’t know it yet, but when she gave him her blood, the pleasure would be even more intense.

She clung to him, pressing her face to his neck and murmuring silent words against his skin.

After a few lingering aftershocks, Oleg took his fingers from between Tatyana’s thighs and licked them clean. Then he pulled her skirt down and straightened her suit before he pushed the car door open and lifted her in his arms.

Tatyana tensed as soon as the cold night air hit her skin. “You didn’t?—”

“Not tonight, volchitsa.” He kicked the door closed and strode toward the dark and empty house. “You need to rest, and I need to make some calls.”