Page 39 of Bound by Blood

Laney didn’t bother dignifying his demand except to roll her eyes when he wasn’t looking. Mostly because she would normally answer that kind of stupidity with something sharp and pointy, but also because she didn’t intend on there being any “from now on.”

Dimitri pushed the door of his hunting lodge open and pulled Laney inside. The lights were already on and it was warm. Someone must have prepared it for them ahead of time. Glancing around Laney saw that even the queen-sized wood frame bed was turned down and ready for use. Totally villain-style. She wrinkled her nose, turned her back on the room and faced the villain. It wouldn’t do to turn her back on that one. He might stab it.

He was in the process of bolting the door before turning back to Laney. He looked her over, taking her in from head to foot, his eyes lingering on her hips where the empty leather sheaths emphasized the slim flare. She clenched her hands and then forced her fingers open. She took a inhaled steadily and then released it.

Easy, Laney, she told herself,this isn’t your first strike. Just treat him like any other mark. Despite his resemblance to Boris, or perhaps because of it, she badly wanted to kill this man. Perhaps that was what was making her so antsy. She needed to cultivate her usual professional calm if she were to do what needed to be done.

Dimitri’s eyes glowed with lust and possession as he approached her. She felt no answering heat as she had done with Boris. Her veins ran with ice for this man. Her heart beat in disgust and trepidation when he reached for her. He wrapped his thick fingers around her leather sheath and abruptly spun her around so her back was to him. She gasped as he brought an arm up to her chest and anchored her to him, while his other hand skittered down her back and worked on the leather. She felt it loosen and drop away from her body.

Laney shivered and almost cried out at the loss. Though she didn’t have the daggers anymore, losing the sheaths made her feel naked. He brought his other arm around her body and wrapped it around her stomach, drawing her tightly against him. She felt his arousal hard against her back as he forced her up on her toes and back hard against him. She stood stiffly in his arms.

He hunched his shoulders over her and spoke Russian in her ear. “I knew from first sight of you that we would be together.”

Laney suppressed a shudder when his beard brushed the tip of her ear. Tilting her head up, she swallowed and whispered back in Japanese, “And you are okay with having a woman whose heart belongs to another? A heart that feels nothing but hatred for you?”

He lifted his arm from her chest to take her jaw in a bruising grip. “From now on, you will speak Russian only. Forget your birth language, little bird. You belong to me now. I will negotiate your surrender with the Master. You will never leave Russia.”

Laney gritted her teeth against the pain in her jaw and stared up at her tormentor. “English was my mother’s tongue and the language of my birth, asshole,” Laney said in flawless English, knowing that he couldn’t understand her. Unlike his brother, he hadn’t learned any language other than Russian.

Dimitri growled and shoved Laney away from him. She stumbled back and, before she could recover, he backhanded her. She twisted sideways and reached out to grip a bedpost so she wouldn’t fall to the floor. The hit wasn’t hard compared to what she’d experienced in the past, but Dimitri was over a foot taller than her and had enough musculature that even a light tap could send her flying.

She pressed her hand against her flaming cheek and dropped blazing eyes to the floor as he approached so he wouldn’t see the hatred glowing in her eyes. He took her chin and lifted her face so he could inspect the damage. He pulled her hand away and made a clucking sound of contrition that made her extra want to fuck him up.

“You must learn your place and quickly,” he said softly, running his thumb over her stinging skin. She knew with a deep-seated revulsion that the evil bastard enjoyed her pain, despite his next words. “I have no wish to hurt you, little one, but I cannot have you running your mouth. In my world, women know their place.”

She forced all traces of derision from her gaze and lifted her eyes to his, pasting the most contrite look she could manage on her face. She lifted her hands and placed them on his chest, touching him voluntarily for the first time.

“I am sorry, Dimitri,” she purred in silky Russian. “I will learn to control my tongue for you as I have done for my Master in the past. You will be my new Master, won’t you? I must have a Master to give me commands or I am lost.”

He dropped his hands to her waist and jerked her roughly against his body so she could feel exactly how much her words affected him.

“Yes. Fuck, yes,” he growled, as he lifted her and dropped his head into the curve of her neck. She flinched when he bit through the material of kimono into the skin of her shoulder. She knew there would be teeth marks in her skin. She moaned in distress, but he took her moans as encouragement and continued to bite her.

“Dimitri!” she cried out and tried to push against his chest as he made his way toward her breasts. He tore open the buttons on the front of her dress, exposing the creamy skin and the silver demi cup bra with the chain halter neck. Buttons scattered over the floor around their feet, next to the bed.

“Call me Boris,” he demanded when she tried to push his hand away from her breast.

She froze and stopped struggling. Vomit rushed up her throat and she had to swallow hard so she wouldn’t throw up on him.Fucking ew! He wanted her to call him by his supposedly dead brother’s name?! She was going to be doing this guy a favour by killing him. No amount of therapy would fix what was wrong with this human.

Rage rushed through her and, unable to help herself, she reached back into her braids and pulled out a straightened hairpin. She jammed it into the softest part of his neck. It barely penetrated the skin, but enough to catch his attention. When he reared back in surprise and reached for his neck she punched him in the throat.

He dropped his arms and she immediately spun away from him.

“What the fuck, women?” he snarled, reaching for his bloodied neck and staring at her angrily.

She shrugged and asked innocently, “I thought you like your foreplay rough. Wasn't that why you were slapping me around?”

Thunder gathered on his face and he gave her a look like the foreplay was about to go nuclear. “You’re going to pay for that, little bitch.”

Oh dear, what happened to ‘little bird’? Laney held up a hand when he started for her and captured his attention by reaching down to tear the slit in her skirt open nearly to her waist. He stopped moving and stared at the swath of skin and flash of silver panty she exposed. Lust replaced anger and his plan to beat obedience into her quickly changed. This man was extremely easy to read. And distract.

“You like my earrings?” Laney purred, tilting one small ear toward him, indicating the teardrop diamond adorning her ear.

“Don’t give a fuck about jewelry,” he grunted. “Strip now, or I’ll do it for you.”

She sighed in regret and slid her hand between her thighs. His eyes followed the erotic move. “That is really too bad, because I negotiated with Boris over these earrings. I don’t usually care for jewelry, but it seemed really important to him that I have them tonight.”

“Don’t fucking care,” Dimitri snapped. “Take your fucking dress off woman.”

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