Page 2 of Venus

Rage washed over me, through me. He’d beenright here! Piston dropped body of man he’d fought and stalked toward me. I was so angry I wanted to lash out, to kill everyone in my way. It was past time Victor died and I’d been so fucking close!

But thing that overpowered all my anger, was fear. Fear knowing Victor had hit Piston. That Piston could have been seriously hurt or dead. Fucking man had gotten under my skin but good. So much so that thought of him in danger overrode all the instincts I had telling me to hunt and kill Victor. I’d literally spent lifetime hunting this guy down. Since I was barely out of my teens when he’d sold me to FSB in exchange for whatever favors he’d wanted. Even when I’d lived in his house with my mother and sisters, I’d known I’d have to kill him some day. This had been closest I’d been to him in at least decade. Who knew when I’d ever have this chance again? Fear of waiting another ten years for the opportunity to kill Victor fed my anger, but gave the emotion different target.

“Are you hit?” I snapped out the question.

Piston brought his hand to his shoulder and it came back sticky with blood. He shrugged. “Just a scratch. He grazed me but blew the head off the other guy.”

I raised my gun and aimed at Piston’s face, cocking weapon. “You cost me important kill! Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow your fucking head off right now!” Piston merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing. I was vibrating with rage. Never in my life had I been in this kind of situation and knew I wasn’t going to pull the trigger. I never pulled my gun unless I intended to use it, but I knew as sure as I knew my own name I could never kill Piston.

With what I hoped was vicious snarl, I holstered my weapon. Just because I couldn’t kill him didn’t mean I couldn’t kick him in the balls. Piston must have sensed what I was going to do because he took step back, angling his hips away from my dominant leg. Did my heart good.

“Fucking stubborn man!” I was over Piston following me, sticking his nose in my business. “I fucking had him!”

“You were gonna get yourself killed.” Fucking man sounded all reasonable and shit when he was missing entire picture. He’d ripped off strip of cloth from hem of his T-shirt and wrapped it around wound on his shoulder. Wasn’t great, but stemmed flow of blood.

“I wasn’t in danger,ublyudok! Do you not understand killing is what I do?”

“Completely.” Did nothing faze the man? He stood squarely in front of me like fucking oak tree. Completely immovable. “Still don’t mean I’m gonna stand by while someone comes up on your six with a fuckin’ knife in hand ready to stab you in the kidney.” Piston didn’t raise his voice above low rumble. His tone of voice is one of many reasons Piston was so dangerous. One could never tell by sound of his voice or his expression exactly how upset he was.

“I knew he was there,sukin syn!” Sort of. But I wasn’t letting up. “Him and another man in bushes! Same man who helped Victor escape!” I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration. I’d killed men for less, yet I hesitated with Piston? What was wrong with me? “I’ve been hunting Victor Zaitsev for half my life. I finally had him in my sights and you drew his attention. Do you even know how dangerous this man is?Yebat!”

“We can contain any damage he tries to do, Venus. Killing him is not worth you dying with him.” How could man be so relaxed? Was like he could care less of work involved in getting this close to Victor.

“Do you not know who Zaitsev is? He has Salvation’s Bane in his sights. My home! How long before he realizes his men had Lemon, your vice president, when they thought they’d captured me?”

“Not possible.” Piston shrugged and shook his head. “We killed everyone involved in Lemon’s kidnapping.”

“Are you sure they didn’t getanyinformation out? Really fucking sure? Because if there was even picture of her to get through to Zaitsev, he will know about Grim Road and Iron Tzars and significance of both clubs.” It was like man was daft or something.

He gave me an impatient look. “Of course, I know that. I also happen to believe there is safety in numbers. All three clubs are on alert after Lemon got kidnapped. Wylde got close to Zaitsev this time. He can do it again.”

“Ugh!” I picked up brick laying on the porch and threw it atzasranets. “Go away! If I see you again, I kill you.”

The fucking man just smirked at me. “You can try, baby girl.”

I lunged for him. Which must have been exactly what he’d been going for because the second I was within striking distance, Piston grabbed one wrist and spun me around. He embraced me from behind, pinning my arms at my sides while his body surrounded mine. It was easy enough hold for me to get out of, but I couldn’t seem to muster enough strength.

Anytime I’d found myself in this position with Piston, his wild, woodsy scent seemed to mesmerize me. All I wanted to do was to fall into him. Let him hold me in protective cocoon. Because with those big, brawny arms of his around me, I felt safer than I had in my entire life. It was like I’d finally found my true home. Even more so than with my sister, Millie or, more recently, Lemon. This man called to something primitive inside me that wanted his dominance. Just not at expense of my own.

I allowed contact far longer than I should have before stomping on his foot with my heeled boot. He grunted but didn’t let go of me. Was still satisfying. Sort of.

“Not nice, Venus,” Piston growled beside my ear. “I’ll be punishin’ you for that little stunt.”

I gave him snort of derision. “You can try,baby boy.” I made sure to put as much of sneer into my voice as I could. I was highly skilled assassin. Sure, Piston was one hell of warrior, but he was no match for me. In few months he’d been glued to my side, I’d found he had many tells in battle. Killing him would be easy as taking candy from baby. And I would kill him. Soon. Any day now…

Chapter Two

Piston

Venus first turned up on my radar over a decade ago when she was in the FSB in Russia. The agency I worked for was very interested in her for some reason. I was never given the details, but I got the feeling they were interested in luring her away from Russia. Likely because they were afraid of her. I played my cards carefully regarding Venus. I told them the strict truth, but I left out a lot.

Like how I’d never seen her equal in a hunter. Or that that real shade of her hair was a very pale blonde. Or how young she looked when she let her guard down, which wasn’t often. Or how beautiful she was. I kept that to myself because I didn’t trust the CIA any further than I could piss. If they were interested in this woman, she was someone I needed to protect.

For years I kept to the shadows. When she joined Salvation’s Bane MC, I found a home with Grim Road MC. They were completely off the radar and close enough for me to keep an eye on Venus.

I had to smile. If she knew the extent to which I’ve been on her six and for how long, she’d gut me like a fish.

But that’s the thing about being in deep cover. You learn how to keep secrets, even from yourself. And Venus? She was one secret I’d vowed never to spill. Much to the dismay of my handlers. They knew there was more to her than I reported.

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