Page 16 of Rites of Passage

He masked his irritation behind a neutral expression and headed up the marble steps rising to a pair of wide, bronze front doors. Tarang followed, his tail swishing languidly around Vlad’s legs.

Milo and Ilya stayed with the other guards.

The entrance opened before Vlad reached it. A man in his fifties stood in the doorway, his crisp, white shirt and charcoal suit hiding the gun under his armpit and the knife strapped to his ankle. Gustav Luchok was Yuliy’s secretary and had been Vlad’s tutor and nanny when he was growing up.

The older man bowed respectfully. “Molodoy master.”

Vlad made a face. “I told you to stop that young master crap ages ago. You used to wipe my ass, for Christ’s sake.”

“And what a fine ass it’s turned out to be,” Gustav murmured.

Vlad chuckled and embraced the poker-faced man. He stiffened a moment later. “Are you feeling me up?”

“Just checking to see if you’ve still got the Ka-bar I gave you for Christmas.” Gustav patted the outline of the sheath on Vlad’s lower back before pulling away, his eyes warm with affection. Lines furrowed his brow as he studied Vlad’s figure. “You should come home more often. You look like you’ve lost weight.”

He scratched Tarang’s head absent-mindedly as the tiger rumbled out a greeting.

“The only ones who think I need to put on weight are you and Lena. I’ll grow fat if I visit every week.”

As if summoned by his voice, Lena Dubravac appeared out of nowhere, her gray hair pinned back into an austere bun and her dark dress swishing around her legs. Though well past retirement age, Yuliy’s main housekeeper was still sprightly and ran theBlack Devilsleader’s various properties around the world with an iron fist. She’d also helped bring Vlad up, back when they’d still been living on their isolated estate in Russia.

“I made apple pie,” Lena murmured as Vlad leaned down to kiss her cheeks. Her tone turned sharp. “I would have prepared your favorite lunch if I’d known you were coming.”

Tarang bumped her leg with his head and purred out a hello. Her expression softened. She tickled the tiger under the chin.

Though Gustav and Lena were distantly related to Vlad, they didn’t possess magic in their souls. They’d known Tarang since the familiar was a cub and had always been able to see him.

Vlad arched an eyebrow at Lena. “What happened to the outfits I gave you for your birthday?”

Her mouth curled. “You mean those monstrosities even my whores wouldn’t wear?”

Vlad sighed. He kept forgetting Lena once ran one of the most notorious high-end brothels in Moscow in her heyday. The place hadn’t just provided alluring female and male escorts to the city’s most powerful governments officials, it had also served as an information network for theBratvas. A place where deals were made and bribes passed hands.

“They’re not monstrosities. They’re from Yves St. Laurent. And they’re the current fashion for ladies of a—” he waved a vague hand, “you know, certain age.”

Gustav winced.

A thin smile stretched Lena’s mouth. She patted Vlad’s face gently. “Say that again and I’ll put razor blades in your apple pie,moya lyubov’.”

Vlad grinned. “I love you too,totya.” His smile faded as he looked past the pair to the corridor leading to the east wing. “Is he in his study?”

“Yes.” Lena’s eyes grew flinty. “He’s got company.”

“How long have they been in with him?”

“Two hours.”

Vlad cracked his knuckles and glanced at Tarang. “Let’s go rescuedyadya.”

The tiger growled out an approval.

“I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee,” Gustav murmured diplomatically.

Vlad’s gaze swept the ultra-modern contours of the manor and the minimalistic decor as he and Tarang headed over to Yuliy’s favorite room in the whole place. Having grown up the eldest of five children in a cluttered two-bedroom apartment in St. Petersburg, his uncle loved open spaces and clean lines.

Though Vlad had spent several years at the mansion when they’d first come to New York, he very much preferred his penthouse in Chelsea. Set atop a redbrick industrial warehouse that had been turned into an upscale apartment building, which he’d bought outright, it was bright and airy and more than big enough to accommodate the eclectic collection of antiques he’d amassed from his travels across the world.

A low murmur of voices reached him as he neared the study. Tarang made an irritated sound when he picked up the scents coming from the room.

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