Page 17 of Reign

I’m conflicted.

More morally torn now than I was when I made the decision to murder my own family. Nikita was watching. He protected my Isabel and he’s asking nothing in return. What’s more, I watched his eyes as he processed the scene in the bathroom and oddly, I trust that even if I hadn’t been here, he would have protected her without requesting some form of sexual payment. He seems more interested in punishing Max than anything.

Isabel’s in my arms instantly, inhaling me like I’m oxygen to her lungs.

“Cas,” she whispers urgently. I hear her message.It’s him.

I kiss her head and wrap her in my arms in response.I know.

I glance back up at Nikita who’s watching us. I need to talk to him but grabbing a beer isn’t how communication works with guys like us. I draw up to my full height with an arm around Isabel and give him a hard glare and a nod of thanks.

We’ll find each other again, I’m sure of it.

Nine

Libby/Daniella/Isabel

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK was that?

My head is reeling with so many thoughts all at once. Did Max just try torapeme in the bathroom? DidNikita Orlovjust come to my rescue? And then of course there’s the relief I felt at seeing Cas and being in his arms. My anger toward him is abating as life continues to throw more shit at us. I also am not ready to admit it out loud, but whatever is going on with Camila and I makes me hate her a little less as well, which seems to be spilling over and allowing me to forgive Cas. It’s the second time she’s come to my aid when Max tried to move in and even though she hates me, perhaps she cares about Cas enough to protect me on his behalf. That stirs a whole new set of emotions in me.

When we exit the hallway, Joelle is waiting for us. “Isabel! Are you okay?” she asks, clearly alarmed.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How’d you know something was up?”

When Max followed me into the bathroom, he told me he slipped into the hall from the other side and that no one was coming to rescue me because no one saw him. Guess he was wrong about that.

“I saw Niki head that way. Usually, when he’s here, he doesn’t show his face so when he went storming across the floor, I knew something was going down.”

“Niki?” I say out loud, wondering why she has a nickname for a member of the Russian mafia.

“Um, yeah, Nikita. My brother.”

Oh, shit.

I try to recover my surprise. This mission either just got a lot more complicated or much easier and we aren’t lucky enough for it to be easier.

I feel Cas tug my hand gently. “Joelle, I think Isabel and I are going to head out.” When I whip my head around to look at him, I see him scanning the dance floor for Camila.

“What? Cas, no. Can’t we stay? Niki has it under control,” I tell him, pleading with my eyes all the things I can’t say with my mouth in front of Joelle. We’ve finally found him and based on what happened to me tonight, these bitches owe me some answers and I intend to collect. Seeing Cas still deliberating, I deliver a low blow. “Plus, Ilovethis song!” I wink at him as I say it, knowing he remembers the first time we danced to this song at the club in Aruba…also with my friend named Jo.

Finally, he pulls me flush against him. Grabbing my thigh right where it meets my ass, melting me on the spot, he whispers in my ear, “Tell me you’re okay, and I’ll do whatever the fuck you want.”

“I’m okay. Even if you guys hadn’t come in when you did, I had it under control. I’m not that scared, helpless girl anymore, Cas.” I’m mildly annoyed that I have to keep reminding him, but at his look of pure anguish, I give him an apologetic smile for being so harsh.

“I know, Princess.”

I start pulling him with me to the dance floor where the rest of the girls are when I hear Joelle giggle in my ear, “Don’t tell me he dances too.”

“He does it all,” I reassure her while wagging my eyebrows to make my meaning clear.

Oddly, the events of tonight have helped me refocus on the mission. Finally, having made some progress has eased my tension and quite honestly, I’m feeling myself. Because whether or not those men had busted through the door, Iwashandling it. I didn’t pass out. I didn’t choke. I was fully ready to pull that trigger if Max had been stupid enough to try me.

And there’s something that feels really damn good about that.

I know Cas wants to get the hell out of here, but I can’t leave now.Wecan’t leave now. Nikita is here.And he’s Joelle’s brother. We’ve learned a lot over the last fifteen minutes. I need to talk to Joelle and this is our best shot at gaining the information we need.

Oddly enough, I didn’t get the sense that I was in any danger from Nikita which means someone isn’t telling us the whole story. Not that he wasn’t giving off badass villain vibes of his own. I never really thought blond guys could be scary until all that shit happened with Willem, but even still, Will’s vibe was more crazy than dangerous. Nikita on the other hand, in a tailored suit with the jacket open, black button-down underneath, and tortured eyes, leads me to believe he’s the kind of man who would pull the fingernails from your body one at a time and let you bleed out while he sang some haunted Russian lullaby. But hedoesn’tstrike me as someone who preys on women.

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