The Romanov's Pursuit (12 page)

He tried to maintain eye contact but Nya quickly turned her head away when their gazes locked briefly. He had to remind himself that it would take
his
time
to completely break down her defenses. The fact that she had conceded her body was only the first step. He wanted it all. Heart, body and soul and he wouldn’t rest until he had it. Until then, he would enjoy every second of this experience.

Nya pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him. Her breath fanned his neck sending
a
burst
of pleasure shooting through his body. She ran her tongue along the vein in his neck and before he could react, he felt her sink her lengthened incisors in his neck.

The heady blood rush was more than he could handle, causing him to come hard and fast as she
fed from
him. He continued to pump into her until he had nothing else to give. Blade lay on her to catch his breath.

He leisurely stroked her side as she continued to drink his blood. “That is enough,’ Blade sighed tiredly when he felt she’d taken enough.

With obvious reluctance, she slowly unlatched her teeth from his skin, this time not tearing his skin apart. She licked the two tiny puncture wounds she’d left and released a satisfied sigh.

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both to their sides with Nya facing him. He rested his head against her chest, content to listen to the steady beat of her heart.

“This changes nothing, you know,” she spoke first, breaking the beautiful silence that had engulfed them.

It was on the tip of Blade’s tongue to argue otherwise, but he decided against it. Nya was still in deep denial but some progress had been made and he would build on that and not create more friction. Instead, he decided to change the subject to something more neutral. “Nya is
a
beautiful
name. It suits you.”

“Thank you. When I learned Swahili, one of the very first books I read in that language featured a character with that name. I liked the name and adopted it as my own.”

“So Nya isn’t the name you were born with?”

“No. I hated my name just as I hated the person who gave it to me.”

Blade
was honored that she’d share even this little glimpse of her past and he didn’t want to probe too hard because it might cause her to clam up again, but he was fascinated and wanted to know all that he could about her. “Who named you?”

“Miss Mary. She was the mistress
of
the big house. She named all the children on the plantation because she claimed it was her Christian duty to give them God-fearing names whatever that meant.”

“What was your name?”

“The girl who had that name is dead and gone. There’s no point in mentioning it.”

“I’ll tell you my full name.”

She shrugged. “Your name is Blade Romanov, what more is there to know?”

“That Blade is actually a nickname as is Cutter. You see it’s a family tradition to give your children names that are associated with their most dominant powers.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, the Romanov line is known for being able to manipulate matter to our will, particularly metal objects. When Cutter and I were still children, we were adept at using our powers to tear things apart, much to our mother’s displeasure. We were quite destructive, slicing through anything with metal at will. We were young and mischievous, hence the names Cutter and Blade.”

“So what are you real names?”

“Mine is Aleksandr Charles, and Cutter’s is Valery Sebastian.”

Nya didn’t respond for several seconds and Blade didn’t think she would until she whispered, “Ruth Ann.”

“Excuse me?”

“My name used to be Ruth Ann. Only Adonis knew that and only because he knew of my existence before I knew his. Not even Giovanni knows.”

It touched Blade’s heart that she would share something associated with so painful a memory for her. Unable to hold back he hugged her against him and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Thank you for telling me. That means a lot.”

“Blade…” she sighed. “Look, I don’t think you’re a bad guy and even though Cutter has a temper I don’t think he is either, but whatever this thing is that you think we have, it won’t turn out well. Everything that has ever meant anything to me had turned to dust and I just can’t allow myself to care anymore. You’d be doing yourself a favor if you let me go now.”

Blade pulled away just enough so that he could look her in the eyes. What he saw was fear, and a pain so deep-seeded that it would take a hell of a lot of time to heal. But he and Cutter had nothing but time and they planned to see this through. “Nya, we’re not going anywhere. You might have suffered a lot in your lifetime, but you deserve to be happy. Don’t let your fear rob you of that.”

She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something but then thought better of it. Nya turned around within the circle of his arms and presented her back to him. “Blade, I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”

Part of him wanted to keep the conversation going and convince her of the special bond they shared, but Blade understood that if he pushed her too far he could undo some of the progress he’d made. He pressed a kiss at the nape of her neck before reluctantly rolling off the bed. Stealing one last glance at her before exiting the room, his heart actually hurt. In a short
time
,
Nya had come to mean more to him than he thought was imaginable, and he wouldn’t rest until she finally admitted that she had feelings for him and Cutter too.

Chapter Eleven

Cutter wanted to kick himself for what he’d done. The last thing he wanted was to make the rift already bigger than it already was between him and Nya, but something inside of him had snapped when she’d compared him to Adonis. The man had caused their family a great deal of pain. Losing Catherine had been hard enough but the loss of Petra had been a huge blow to them all.

His sister had taken on some of his parents’ worst personality traits right down to the narcissism, but there had been something within her that was worth redeeming. Petra’s death had even devastated his usually self-absorbed mother as she had been the favorite. Elizabeth had become even more selfish and
withdrawn
as if she didn’t have four other offspring. With Petra gone it was like she had given up the will to think about anyone but herself. Their father had become more power-hungry and callous of everything and everyone he didn’t deem important to his grand schemes. Adonis had kidnapped his nephew. The man had been pure evil, so when the Grimaldis had asked for Cutter, Blade and Steel’s assistance in taking down the vampire rogue, he’d been more than ready.

But despite all the devastation Adonis had wrecked, what Cutter hated him for the most was what he’d done to Nya. He’d turned that beautiful woman who’d already suffered so much in her young life into someone afraid to love and care about anyone else. If that fucker was still alive, he’d gladly kill him again.

Cutter felt his twin’s presence before he heard the click of the door to his private study opening, and then closing. “I suppose you’re here to tell me I fucked up.”

“There’s no point in telling you something you already know.”

Cutter sighed. “I suppose you smoothed things over with Nya?
I
, of course,
couldn’t help hearing how well you worked things out over her screams of pleasure.”

Blade took a seat across him Cutter’s desk. “You know how addictive Nya’s pussy is. You’ve been inside of it yourself. But there was more to it than that. We talked and made a connection.”

Even though Nya was his mate as well, Cutter couldn’t help being jealous. It seemed like since they’d found Nya hiding away in that squalid cabin,
they
only seemed to bump heads but with Blade she seemed to be a bit more open. “How nice for you.”

“Don’t be like that. She would have talked to you as well if you hadn’t started acting like a crazed beast. You should have heeded my warning.”

Cutter raised a brow. “Didn’t you just tell me you didn’t come in here to say I told you so?”

Blade grinned sheepishly. “Okay, so I lied. Anyway, I get why you were upset over what she said to you but you have to realize that she’s been through a lot, and we have to handle her with kid gloves. She’s had a rough history.”

“Don’t you think I know that? It’s just….I feel like we’ve been waiting for her all our lives. Even with Catherine, I don’t remember the mate bond being as strong as the one we feel with Nya. It’s almost like she was the one we were meant to be with all along.”

“Maybe. But it doesn’t negate the fact that we did care for Catherine despite the destructive things she did to cause her own demise. We were both devastated when she died.”

“I’m not denying that we didn’t care, I’m just saying that it’s different this time with Nya.”

“Maybe it feels different because we don’t have to justify the love we feel for her like we did with Catherine,” Blade speculated.

His brother had a point. When one found their soulmate, it was an unexplainable force that attracted you to that person and thoughts of that person consumed them. It was an unexplainable force of nature. Catherine Pavlova had been a member of the Pavlov Family, ancient warlocks and witches even more powerful than the Romanovs; however, her family had vanished without a trace. No one knew what had happened to them, and it was said that they were killed by Hunters who practiced black magic in order to take down immortals. But Catherine had been left. Perhaps it was because she’d lost everyone
she
once cared about that had made her seem so empty at times, but he and Blade had tried to reach her. Sometimes it seemed the only time they could make a connection was in the bedroom. She seemed to return their feelings, but there were times when things just felt off. But with Nya, nothing had felt more right than when she was in his arms, and he’d be damned if he lost Nya because she was too scared to return their feelings, all because her last mate was a maniac.

“You’re probably right. So how did your talk go?”

“She revealed a few tidbits about her life before Adonis made her immortal.”

Cutter raised a brow in surprise. “Oh? Like what?”

Blade ran his fingers through his long hair and sighed. “Just as we speculated before, she lived her early years as a slave. Her life had to be pretty tough based on that alone. I get the impression that her owners were very cruel.”

“Is that what she told you?”

“It wasn’t exactly what she said, but what she didn’t I was able to read between the lines. She gave me a few glimpses of her life but it barely scratches the surface. While I think Adonis is only part of the reason she closes herself off, there’s more to it.”

“I hope she will eventually grow comfortable enough to open up to me as well.”

“She will, you just have to give it some more time. It’s only been a few days. You have to be patient with her. In the meantime, have you heard from Steel yet? I thought he was on his way. He should have been here by now.”

“He contacted me while you were with Nya. He’ll be here shortly. He’s been delayed. He said it was something about Mother.”

Blade frowned. “Has there been another body found?”

“Steel didn’t say. But he said he had an urgent matter to take care of.” As if on
cue
,
the doorbell chimed. “Perfect timing.”

Cutter teleported to the front door. The wards around their villa prevented anyone with ill intent from getting past the iron gate that kept intruders out, and no one could enter their home without their permission. Steel stood on the other side of the door with their visibly shaken mother.

Cutter opened the door wide enough to grant his two visitors entrance. “I’m surprised to see you here, Mother. I thought you were comfortable ensconced in your fortress with servants to answer your every beck and call.”

Elizabeth narrowed her gaze. “I could do without your sarcasm right now, Valery.” His mother only called them by their proper names when she was annoyed with them. “Speaking of servants, why aren’t there any around?” She frowned as she took in her surroundings.

Blade spoke for them. “We don’t have any, Mother. We’re rarely home and when we are we’re quite capable of taking care of ourselves. With magic tidying up is simple enough.”

She sneered. “Those kinds of tasks are beneath us.” She turned to Steel. “Surely we could have gone to the house in Moscow. There are plenty of servants there to my recollection.”

“We released them from their debts when our father died. Don’t you remember?” Steel patiently explained.

Elizabeth pursed her lips in obvious displeasure. “That was rather foolish of you. Some of those people owed our family several more years of servitude according to the terms of their conquering.”

“Nonetheless, Mother, you’ll have to make due while you’re here. I assume you’ll be staying with us for a while?” Cutter asked. This definitely threw a wrench in their plans. One of the reasons they’d chosen this villa to bring Nya to was its seclusion. He and Blade had wanted to use this time here bonding with her. With their mother in the
mix
,
that would be a difficult endeavor.

“I suppose I must.” She walked around the room, examining all the decorations, occasionally frowning her disapproval. “I hope you at least have some comfortable rooms for me to settle in. I wasn’t able to gather my things because your brother insisted I leave my home immediately.”

“And why is that, Steel?” Blade asked the question that Cutter would have asked earlier but didn’t get a chance to because their mother seemed more interested in her comfort than whatever danger had driven her here in the first place.

Steel turned to their mother. “There were more bodies. I stopped by the London residence at Mother’s request and to find all the servants that were still in residence were dead. Their bodies were just like the other two we found. I was in the middle of investigating what happened to them when Mother mind-linked with me. She was in distress. Someone had gotten into her country house but she managed to fight them off. I must have just missed them because the house was in disarray from the struggle and our mother had passed out. I thought she’d fallen victim to whoever attacked the others.”

“It was awful! This horrible creature somehow got into my home. They shouldn’t have been able to get past the wards you erected.” She wrapped her arms around her body and began to tremble.

“When you say creature, what do you mean?” Cutter wanted to know.

She shook her head. “I’ve seen many things in my lifetime but never anything quite like this. It was some type of being made of shadows. It hovered over me and I felt like it was trying to suck the life out of me. I managed to contain it temporarily but by the time Steel was able to get to me, it had vanished. Wh-what was that and why has it come after me? What have I done to deserve this?”

Cutter could name quite a few things his mother had done or condoned, especially while his father was alive. It wasn’t surprising that his family would have made enemies along the way but they had always managed to take care of them. This time, he wasn’t so sure what they were dealing with.

Steel stroked his chin as he paced the room. “I’ve been doing some research on the soul-suck spell and very little is known about it. I’ve contacted Sasha and she’s also loo
king into it. The mark she bears
enables her to contact the keepers of spells. They must know something. The only problem is, sometimes it takes a while for them to answer.”

“
Well
,
I hope we hear from them soon because if they can get into our homes, none of us are safe.”

Just then, they heard a blood-curdling scream coming from upstairs.

Cutter’s gaze connected with his twins and they said simultaneously, “Nya!”

<><><><>
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Ruth Ann couldn’t understand why Miss Mary was being so nice to her today.
Usually
,
whenever their paths crossed the Mistress of the plantation would either scowl at her or make a degrading comment about her appearance, and Miss Mary never set foot in the tobacco field unless she was astride her horse, looking down at her subjects like a grand queen. So when she’d appeared that morning to summon her to the house, Ruth Ann didn’t think she would be in trouble. For the life of her she couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong but she was certain Miss Mary would find some transgression.

Her
three
-year-
old
son Nathan, who usually clung to her side while she worked, was left with Old Hattie, who took charge of the children too young to perform any useful task. Ruth Ann polished the silver, making sure she didn’t miss a single spot per her Mistress’s instruction. She didn’t know why but something wasn’t right. Why was she working in the house today when there seemed to be plenty of workers doing the tasks the people who actually lived in the house were too lazy to perform?

“Now Ruth Ann, you’re being careless with silverware. Pay attention to your task, girl. I swear I have to tell you how to do everything around here, don’t I? You’re all just a bunch of stupid children. You’re lucky I’m such a kind-hearted God-fearing woman, or else you’d be outside on the whipping post right now. I think I’m too good to y’all sometimes.” She took a seat at the dining room table where Ruth Ann carried out her task.

Ruth Ann bit the inside of her lip. She hated this woman with a passion but there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. This woman who claimed to have God in her heart was pure evil. She’d killed little Belle and probably didn’t feel the least bit guilty. No matter how broken up Miss Mary had pretended to be when Ruth Ann’s daughter had died, Ruth Ann knew in her heart that this evil old cow had been responsible.

A servant walked into the room with a plate of cookies and what looked like a glass of lemonade and set it in front of their mistress. Without a thank you, she waved her hand dismissively to
shoo
the serving girl away.

Miss Mary took a long drink from her glass while staring over the rim at Ruth Ann. Suddenly she smiled, bearing teeth too big for her mouth. “You think you’re so special, don’t you?”

Ruth Ann stiffened. She didn’t know how to answer that question because she believed no matter what she said, it wouldn’t be satisfactory to the woman who had made it a point to antagonize her. She thought it was safer to remain silent and focus on polishing the silverware.

“I asked you a question, girl. Do you think you’re special?”

Ruth Ann shook her head vehemently. “No ma’am.”

The older woman smirked. “
Of course
,
you aren’t but I bet you think you do despite what you’re saying. I bet you think because my husband visits you at night that you’re better than everyone else around here. You
probably think you’re better than
me because I haven’t been able to give my husband children and you somehow managed to produce two high yellow bastards who look suspiciously like my husband.”