Chapter 45

Katya would"ve liked to drink the day away on a soft couch, but the inactivity of the past few days had finally gotten to her. She had spent most of the morning going through all of her contacts that she had had for the Twins over the years, trying to find a number that was still connected. Anya"s fire-starting antics meant she had to come up with a way to find the boys and soon.

She had no luck with the numbers she had and was contemplating trying to mind link with Aleksandra to see if she could reach out to them by magical means. Katya needed to be calm to do that, and she was agitated from sitting still.

She was used to hunting every day, not lounging about in luxury while she had healed, so she hit the treadmill in the gym downstairs.

Katya was hitting her fifth mile when her phone started buzzing with an unknown number.

"Katya, we saw you while we were dream walking. What crazy shit are you up to now? And why are you with a volk krovi?" Chayton said as soon as she answered.

She started laughing, and turned the machine off so she could catch her breath. "Heya! I was just looking for a number for you boys. Have you been spying on me in your crystal ball again?"

"Very funny, smartass, you know looking at balls isn"t my thing," Chayton said while his brother, Honaw, laughed in the background.

"Yeah, Katya, what"s going on with the wolf? I thought I was your only true love and now I"m feeling rejected," Honaw added.

Katya looked up as Izrayl came into the gym in workout clothes. He raised a curious black brow at her. Of course, he could hear every bloody word the Twins said from the stairs. Katya sat on the weights bench next to her, muttering a curse as her bandages pulled.

"How are the wounds?" Chayton asked.

"Great, so you saw that too, huh?" Katya complained, unwrapping the bindings around her ribs.

Honaw said, "Yes, so you better start talking, hunter. Where are you anyway?"

"Paris. I was attacked a few nights ago, just as you saw. The girl with me, Anya, is so full of magic. I need you and Honaw to come to help me with her. And get this, she is Yanka"s line, a gatekeeper, and has no fucking idea what do with it."

"Like none at all? Who is watching her gates?" Chayton demanded.

"No one. That"s why I need you."

There was a rustle, and Honaw"s more resonant voice said, "We aren"t gatekeepers to teach her that magic, Katya."

"No, but you are shamans, and you can dream walk, which she can also do. She"s got no one to help her out," Katya replied.

"Dream walking is boundaries magic. Perhaps she will be able to adapt that to apply the same principles to gates—" Chayton began, and Katya could almost hear the wheels in his head turning.

"Or it won"t work at all," Honaw interrupted.

"There"s something else you need to know. Apparently there"s also a prophecy kicking about that has Anya and the firebird defeating Vasilli," Katya said in a rush. There was a long silence at the end of the line.

"We saw it had been reborn. Is the firebird still with you?" Honaw asked.

Katya bit her lip. "Yes?"

"More fun for us with all the danger and excitement," Chayton said, cutting off whatever Honaw was going to say. "We are in Vancouver, so we"ll get on the next available flight and talk about how we can help once we assess Anya"s abilities. Now, tell me about this wolf? You seemed pretty upset in my vision when he got hurt. You dating him, little one? I never thought I"d see the day you were hanging with a volk krovi. I"m so proud of you getting over your father"s prejudice."

Chayton always called her "little one" every time he was teasing her, and she knew she wouldn"t get out of the conversation without talking about Izrayl. They knew her family"s history with them, so their surprise wasn"t unfounded. She risked a glance over to where the wolf in question was watching her with glowing golden eyes.

"He"s helping out with Anya, and he saved my ass, Chay," she said, hoping he would drop it if she was as vague.

"It"s not your ass I"m worried about. It"s that soft little heart of yours. If he breaks it, it will be his ass in trouble."

"You know I can handle him and his ass. That"s not even a concern. We are…colleagues?" Katya said, struggling to find a way to identify him.

"I"m so not in the colleague zone, hunter," Izrayl called with a laugh.

Katya didn"t want to admit that he was right. They had been circling each other since they met, and after the fight in the park, she had almost kissed him more than once.

You"re getting dangerously close to saying "friend that I kind of flirt with" there. Subject change.

"Chay, let me know when you land, and I will come to get you, okay?" Katya said.

"Last time I saw you, you were riding a motorcycle. Have you got a sidecar for Honaw?"

Katya heard sharp protests in the background, and she laughed hard and loud. God, she had missed them.

"Last time we hung out, I didn"t have friends with fancy, expensive cars. Don"t worry, there won"t be a sidecar. Tell Honaw I"ll let him ride in front with me if he"s nice."

A deep growl from behind her made her jump with fright. Izrayl"s face appeared upside down over her. Katya tried to push him away, but his gold eyes were glowing hot with wolf. Shit. She hadn"t even heard him move.

"Are you okay with us crashing with you and these fancy friends?" Chayton asked.

"Of course you can stay with me. Trajan will want you close. He"s worried about the Darkness and Anya setting herself on fire," she said, her voice breaking as Izrayl moved slowly around her.

Katya desperately tried to concentrate on what Chayton was saying, but she felt like a rabbit about to be pounced on. The thought shouldn"t excite her as much as it did.

"They can be protective, but I want to see Paris. I haven"t been there in years, and I"m not going to take a ten-hour flight and see nothing. We are due at least one drinking night, Katya," Honaw argued.

"The last time you boys and I went drinking, I danced on a table, and we all ended up hungover for a week. I don"t think we are going to have that level of freedom this time," Katya replied, not taking her eyes off Izrayl.

What is his problem now? He crouched down in front of her, placing his warm hands on her elbows where they rested on her knees.

"Um, Chay? I"ve got to go," Katya stammered. "Text me your flight details, and I"ll be there to get you. I promise."

"Are you okay? You"re sounding stressed. What"s happening?"

"Nothing, I"m fine. Bye!" Katya hung up and stared, wide-eyed, at the huge man in front of her. "And what do you think you are doing?"

"Proving I"m never, ever, going to be your colleague," he growled.

Izrayl ran his warm hands up to grip her biceps, pulled her closer and kissed her. Hot desire shot through Katya"s veins, surprising her with the intensity of it. She whimpered as he deepened the embrace, his stubble rough against her skin.

Katya brushed her tongue against his, savoring his taste of maple syrup and male. He growled against her lips, making her whole body vibrate. What. The. Hell.

"See? I told you," Izrayl said, breaking off this kiss. Katya was too stunned to speak, her brain hazed with lust and chanting his name.

Izrayl had been keeping watch over her since the night she had been attacked, making sure she took her antibiotics and painkillers on time and without alcohol. He had acted more like a fussing nurse than Cerise did.

The wolf had a sweet side that Katya hadn"t expected, and it made him harder to ignore. Her lips tingled, and she huffed out a breath. She knew he would be a good kisser but fuck.

You are supposed to kill volk krovi, not kiss them, her father"s voice growled in her head. If he could see her in the afterlife, she was sure he would be clenching his big, violent fists and shaking them at her. He had done everything he could to make her hate volk krovi, and now she had made out with one.

Well, you always did like to provoke the old bastard.

"It"s good you"re almost healed," Izrayl commented when she didn"t say anything. He tilted his head to look at her ribs. "It must be some of the bonuses of being born in Skazki, right?"

"Yes. It also means I have no fear of busting anything when I do this." Katya shoved his chest hard, and Izrayl rocked backward onto the mat.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked.

"Kissing me without permission," Katya snapped. She got off the weight bench, needing to get some space between them before she did something really stupid. Like rip his clothes off.

"You could"ve stopped me with a word, and you didn"t. You act tough, hunter, but you like me, and you hate it," Izrayl said, prowling toward her. "It unnerved you, and that"s why you are fighting me."

Katya snorted. "Don"t flatter yourself, you arrogant bastard."

"Just give it up, Katya. This hostile flirting thing you do only turns me on."

Katya reacted before he could get closer, kicking his legs out from underneath him. He fell onto his back with a curse. She stepped smugly over him and made for the stairs.

Izrayl lunged, tackling her so fast she couldn"t dodge him. They flew through the air and landed in the pool with a splash.

Katya popped up quickly and pushed the hair from her face, Izrayl breaking the surface beside her and laughing loudly.

"You dick!" she shouted and then looked in the water beneath her. "I lost my shoe."

Izrayl dived down and retrieved her soaked sneaker and offered it to her. "Cinderella."

"Thanks," she said and tossed it from the pool. She trod water for a few moments, looking at him thoughtfully.

"Are you thinking about how you could drown me?" Izrayl asked.

"It"s tempting. I"m still angry with you."

His gold eyes sparkled with mischief. "No, you"re not."

"Stop laughing at me. I"m serious."

"You look it," he said before adding, "I"ve never seen a woman with as many scars as you."

"It comes with the job. If you don"t like them, don"t look at them." Katya wished she hadn"t taken her shirt off to run.

"Don"t be so defensive. I was only making an observation. I actually think they suit you. Your tattoos do too. What do they all mean?" he asked.

"They are protection symbols from just about every country and religion."

Izrayl frowned. "Do they help at all?"

"Sometimes. It depends on what I"m up against. I figure they can"t hurt. Besides, you can"t give me a hard time about my scars. You have more than me."

"And I had some weird creature"s fingers stuck in my back."

"Pretty gross," Katya agreed with a grin. Her legs were getting tired from running and now treading water. Izrayl could touch the bottom of the pool, and as if reading her mind, he stretched out a hand towards her.

"Give your legs a rest. I"m not going to bite unless you ask me nicely, Katya."

She boldly took his hand so he couldn"t call her bluff. The pain in her legs eased as he held her steady. She knew she should climb out of the pool, but for some reason, she didn"t.

"You see? Volk krovi aren"t so bad after all," Izrayl said and then frowned. "Is it true what you said about them killing your mother?"

Katya went still in shock. "I told you…"

"You may have mentioned it when you were drunk," he replied.

"And you only bother to bring it up now?" Oh god, she couldn"t believe it. I hate you, Drunk Katya, she cursed herself.

Izrayl"s thumb stroked over her arm where he was holding her above the water. "I didn"t want to upset you. I can"t imagine that it"s a subject anyone would enjoy talking about."

Katya rubbed at the scar over her eye and finally asked, "You really want to know?"

"Of course I do. Give me the short version if it makes you uncomfortable."

Katya was caught by the sincerity in his eyes and was talking before she realized it.

"I was eleven at the time. I barely remember my mother, only that she looked a lot like Aleki and was a healer," she began. "One night, she was sought out by the alpha of a volk krovi pack because his wife had a difficult birth and wouldn"t stop bleeding. My mother did everything she could with her herbs and her magic, but she couldn"t save her. About a week later, my mother went to glean in the forest and never came home. Her body washed up a day later with deep claw marks scored all over her body. I"ve never heard a sound so full of despair and rage than my father"s cries that day."

Izrayl didn"t interrupt her, just held her steady and let her talk it out.

"After that, he changed. He blamed the volk krovi, but the pack had moved on, so he couldn"t confront them about it. He killed any he could after that, blind with rage that never went away. Most of the time, he took that rage out on Aleki and me. She looked so much like my mother that he couldn"t stand the sight of her."

Katya touched the scar on her brow that still throbbed whenever she talked about him. "This happened about four weeks after my mother"s death. He was drunk and went after Aleki. I stepped in the way to protect her, and he hit me with a bottle. I would"ve lost this eye and probably my life if Baba Zosia hadn"t turned up with some of the other men and pulled him off me. After that, Aleki and I lived with her. When I was healed, I went back to training with him. He never apologized, and I never forgave him. He trained me to hate your kind, to kill and ask questions afterward. If he was still alive, he would be so horrified that I kissed you back today that he"d try and put a bullet in me too."

Izrayl"s eyes glowed with anger, but he didn"t push her away, even knowing that she had killed other wolves like him.

"You said that he"s dead?" he growled softly, and Katya nodded. He tugged her closer and kissed her scar. "Lucky for him."

Katya tried to shrug off the emotion that clogged up her throat. "He taught me what I needed to know. My family has always been the protectors and the seers of the tribe. I became the hunter because Aleki was a seer from the moment she opened her three eyes. She"s so much more powerful than she shows. If you want to see the true talent in the family, look to her."

"I don"t need to. I"m looking at some pretty great talent right now," Izrayl said.

Katya laughed. "You really are an incorrigible flirt, aren"t you?"

"Guilty as charged. It made you smile again, and that"s what counts," he replied. "Warming up to me yet?"

"You are going to have to wait to find out," Katya siad, letting him go. "As for me, I"m going to have a shower."

"Can I come?"

Katya pulled herself out of the pool. "You wish."

"Let me know when you change your mind. I"m an excellent back washer," Izrayl called out to her.

Katya was shivering by the time she got into her bathroom. After peeling off her wet clothes, she stepped in and let the boiling water cascade over her, stretching out her muscles out so they wouldn"t cramp. A part of her regretted running away from Izrayl, but she knew if she stayed, she would end up kissing him again. What ever was building between them was never going to be casual, and she needed space. She felt too raw and vulnerable after talking about her parents and she didn"t want to use Izryal just to make herself feel better.

Katya"s phone vibrated on the basin, and she stepped out of the shower and dried herself with one of the thick, luscious towels. Slipping on a bathrobe, she picked up her phone.

ON A HUNT IN PARIS TONIGHT. CALL ME IF INTERESTED.BEL.

"Shit," Katya breathed. It was about to be a long fucking night.