The Romanov's Pursuit (9 page)

Chapter Eight

Finally
,
Nya had some peace, but she realized it wouldn’t last. The enormity of the situation had hit Nya as soon as she opened her eyes from a sleep fraught with nightmares. Cutter and Blade were asleep on either side of her, with Cutter facing her and Blade curved against her back. Her body had instantly reacted to their nearness and as if they sensed her waking up, she felt twin cocks pressing against the entrances of her ass and pussy. It had taken a lot of maneuvering and cajoling to get away from two horny warlocks who wanted to use her as their own personal fuck toy. She finally convinced them to let her go outside to shower with the promise that she wouldn’t try to run away. For insurance, they kept her clothing with them. If she really had the strength to run, being naked wouldn’t have stopped her. Nya simply realized the futility of attempting an escape. They’d find her no matter where she went.

The spray of the lukewarm shower bag that she’d jerry-rigged outside of the cabin couldn’t compare to a proper wash in a bathroom with decent water pressure and actual hot water. She only had a few minutes to bathe herself before the liquid ran out. As she let the water trickle over her head, she contemplated the previous evening.

Nya hated that she’d given into the twins so easily. It was one of the main reasons she’d spent so much time avoiding them. She didn’t want to care about them or even think about them, but they had touched her in ways that made her body tingle from head to toe. They made her feel things she didn’t think she was capable of. Even now part of her wanted to go back inside the cabin and allow them to do all the wicked things to her body their hearts desired. But that was crazy. It was just sex, nothing more. Vampires were very sensual creatures and she’d gone a while without a lover.

Perhaps it was because there were two of them and she’d never been involved with more than one lover at once, but one thing was certain, she didn’t like the way they casually labeled her their mate just because fate said it was so. Fuck fate. The only thing fate had ever given her was a hard time.

Whenever she thought something was going to finally go right in her life, she was hit with another whammy.

Nya felt cheated. Death would have been a welcome friend but instead she’d been turned into a monster that would forever roam the Earth with a madman by her side. That night when she’d been beaten to within an inch of her life, she was certain she would die and she’d been resigned to that. Little did she know, her so-called rescuer had turned out to be someone else who kept her enslaved. Whips and chains hadn’t been necessary for him to keep her by his side.
Instead
,
there was an invisible connection that she had to him that made it nearly impossible for her to stay away from him.

He called it fate, and would often refer to her as his bloodmate. Nya didn’t understand what that meant at first but over time, the man who’d been responsible for ending her human life and cursing her with immortality would soon come to mean many things to her.

His name was Adonis.

Little did she know he was aware of her long before she knew of his existence. He’d watched her from afar, had even ingratiated himself with the family in the big house in order to track her movements. And when he saw his opportunity, he took her. Nya was sure most people would be grateful to have such a power bestowed upon them, but she didn’t see it that way. Her life had been hard from the time she was born and the loss she’d suffered was more than any one person should have endured, but somehow she’d found a way to survive. She had no choice really.

She barely knew Adonis before he performed the blood exchange to turn her into a vampire. But he told her that they were destined to be together.
In the beginning
,
she had no other choice but to accept that. After all, where would she go? She could hardly go back to the plantation and she had no idea how to make it up North on her own without help and then there was the inconvenience of being a new vampire with an insatiable need to constantly feed. Adonis had made sure she’d be dependent on him.

At first, being with him wasn’t completely terrible. In fact, most women would have envied her. She’d gone from a life of servitude to living in the lap of luxury. Adonis lived a lavish lifestyle and everything that she could possibly want was at her disposal, from gowns made of the finest French silks, gourmet foods she’d never known existed, and houses so magnificent it made the big house her former owners had lived in look like the shacks that belonged to dirt farmers. There were even servants to wait on her and to answer to her every whim, even though that made her very uncomfortable.

And then there were the nights when he’d come to her bed, and fuck her until she was breathless. Adonis was the first man to who had touched her in a sexual way that didn’t fill her with disgust. In fact, she found herself enjoying his nightly visits. There was a point where she believed that she could possibly get used to that life, but like most everything that had happened to her, it had gone to shit.

She and Adonis weren’t together long before she saw the cracks in the ‘perfect’ life he built around her. Adonis was by no means a saint,
in fact
,
he was possessive, obsessive, jealous and paranoid. She wasn’t allowed to make eye contact with any other males, even though Adonis often entertained other immortals in his household. And if she broke one of his rules, he’d rage, yell and turn into a red-eyed demon. He’d be extremely rough with her, slamming her against the walls, or using her roughly. And even throughout the abuse, there was this magnetic pull that kept her by his side.

But worst of all was his mother Beatrice. The odd thing was, Beatrice wasn’t a vampire, but she had somehow maintained her youthful appearance. Though Adonis kept the two women separated when he was around, it didn’t stop Beatrice from constantly threatening Nya’s life. She’d hated Nya on sight and the feeling was mutual. The more Nya learned about immortals, she realized something wasn’t right about Beatrice and Adonis. She’d later learn that they both dabbled in black magic which Beatrice seemed to handle well, while it was slowly driving Adonis insane.

It was why she needed moments like these to get away from him. She didn’t stay away for long, most times, she just went out for long walks or if he had to handle business, and he left her with guards, Nya found ways to get out and pretend she was actually free to roam wherever she pleased.

Adonis wasn’t expected back until the following day, but something told Nya to go home. When she managed to sneak back into the mansion through a secret passageway she’d found, she was shocked to see Adonis waiting for her at the entrance. His eyes glowed bright red and his face was distorted into a mask of rage.

Nya froze, not sure what to say or do so she decided in that moment to brazen it out. “Good evening, Adonis.” She raised her chin in defiance and would have walked by him but he roughly grabbed her arm and dug his fingers into her skin that she gasped.

“Where the fuck were you?”

“I went out for a walk.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Spittle hit her face as he screamed at her so loud her ears hurt.

She’d seen him angry before this was different. He looked as if he was ready to tear her limb from limb. The truth was, she’d found an abandoned cabin not too far from the mansion that she’d set up comfortably as a place of
refuge
if for nothing else to get away from the watchful eye of Adonis’s men.

“I just went out. I don’t understand why I can’t come and go as I please. I always come back, don’t I?” she challenged, still holding on to her bravado even though it was quickly fading.

Without warning, Adonis gripped her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. “Do not think you can ever leave me because I will find you wherever you go. You are mine and always will be, no matter how hard you fight this, you are my bloodmate and we are
bo
u
nd
for eternity.

Throughout his speech Nya clawed at his hand, trying to break free as she gasped for breath. She couldn’t die from strangulation like a human could but without
oxygen
,
her lungs were on fire and her head began to ache like crazy.

And just as quickly as he’d grabbed her, Adonis tossed her on the ground like a ragdoll. “And you can forget about returning to that little hovel you escape to.”

Her throat still ached and she couldn’t speak in that moment even if she wanted to, but she managed to shoot him a look that conveyed every bit of disdain she felt for him.

“Oh, you didn’t think I wouldn’t find out about your little hideout? And do you know what I did?”

She didn’t give him the satisfaction of asking because she knew he’d enjoy telling her either way.

“I had it burned to the ground. The only refuge you’ll ever find is in my bed. You should always know that wherever you go, I will find you. You can’t run from me. Ever. You are mine and will always be.”

Nya was so caught up in her memories that she didn’t realize the bag had run out of
water
. The twins had echoed some of the very things Adonis used to say to her and yet they expected for her to fall in line just like he had expected her to. There had to be some way to change this. If there truly was a mate bond why couldn’t there be a way to break it? There was a spell for everything, why not that?
For now
,
she would have to go along with whatever they wanted until she could formulate a proper escape. She’d lull them into a false sense of security and as soon as she found a way out, Nya fully intended to take it. She couldn’t allow herself to be tied down again because this time around, she feared she’d never recover.

By the time she went back inside the twins were huddled together in the corner having what seemed to be a serious discussion. Her superhuman hearing only managed to pick up a few words because she hadn’t fully focused on the conversation, but they distinctly mentioned the
names
,
Edmund and Magda.

Taking advantage of their distracted state, she gathered her clothing that still lay in a pile on the floor and quickly dressed.

Cutter was the first to look into her direction. “I trust you had a nice shower?”

Nya shrugged. “Out here you take what you can get. I don’t have much in the way of food around here, but I can whip you up some eggs if you’d like.”

Both warlocks looked upon her with apparent surprise. They were probably surprised by her 180 but she had to play this right so that they would let their guards down.

“Um, no thank you,
solnyska
. But thank you for offering,” Blade answered with a smile. “
Actually
,
we were just discussing you.”

She raised a brow wondering what they were keeping from her. “That’s not what it sounded like when I walked in. Sounded like you were discussing someone else.”

Cutter nodded. “Our brother Steel contacted us through telepathic connection and apparently there seems to be some kind of crisis that we might have to deal with that involves our mother and could quite possibly affect our entire family. It could be nothing but it’s something we’ll have to look into.”

Did this mean they were leaving her and she wouldn’t have to set her plan in motion after all? That news should have elated her but something inside of her wouldn’t allow Nya to be happy about it.

“So does this mean you two are leaving?”

The twins looked at each other before returning their attention to her. “Actually,” Cutter began, “We have to return home to look into a few things but we’d like to take you back with us, after all, this cabin while I’m sure has its uses, just won’t do for the three of us. It’s too small for the three of us and we prefer a location with updated amenities.”

Nya snorted. “You two came uninvited. Besides, who said I was going anywhere with you?”

Blade stood and stalked over to her. He
g
r
asped
her chin and dropped a light kiss on her lips. “This is not something up for discussion. You’re coming with us. Besides, if this problem is as big as we think it is, it’s quite possible you might be in danger as well. We want you safe.”

“I was safe before you and Cutter intruded into my life. I was perfectly fine on my own.”

Cutter laughed without humor. “And you were doing a fine job of it too.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. You hadn’t fed properly in months and because you’re too busy trying to prove something to yourself, as of what we don’t know yet, but we can’t leave you alone.”

She narrowed her gaze. “So what you’re saying is that I have no choice?”

“For now, no.” They spoke in unison which seemed ominous in itself.

In another
location
,
she would probably have a better chance of getting in touch with one of her contacts. This settled it. Nya would put her plan
in
to
action. “Okay, boys. I’ll go with you.”