Page 38 of Of Flames and Crows

“Forget about introducing me to Budimir.”

Vlad’s gut tightened. He didn’t like the sound of where this was going.

“What do you mean?” he asked coldly.

“I want Mae to fix my core,” Cortes said brusquely.

Vlad’s eyes shrank to slits. “Come again?”

“You heard what she said on the plane.” A muscle ticked in Cortes’s jawline. “I have too much to accomplish still. I can’t afford to die yet.”

Anger quickened Vlad’s pulse. He hated that everyone wanted to take advantage of his relationship with Mae to use her.

First the Bratva and now him. I really do want to shoot this asshole now!

Tarang raised his head and looked at them warily.

Cortes noted the familiar’s fresh interest. “I’m not asking for the impossible. If anyone can fix my core, she can.” He shrugged. “If she can’t, then so be it. I’ll resign myself to my fate.” A mocking sneer twisted the Colombian’s mouth as he studied Vlad’s scowl. “Face it, if you were in my shoes, you’d be asking for the exact same thing.”

Vlad’s knuckles whitened on his glass. Cortes was right and they both knew it.

A commotion outside the suite had them both staring at the door.

Tarang jumped down from the couch and growled.

A knife appeared in Cortes’s hand. A crimson aura detonated around Vlad.

The door clattered open. Ilya, Milo, and Cortes’s men spilled into the room backward, their expressions tense and their weapons pointed at the floor.

Budimir Volkov and his bodyguards followed.

Vlad’s heartbeat accelerated as he met the Bratva general’s flinty gaze.

“We need to talk,” Budimir said coldly.

* * *

Mae nearly dislocatedher jaw as she yawned behind her hand.

Nikolai looked over from the driver’s seat. He was taking Mae, Violet, and Miles to their hotel. “You could have stayed with Marlena and Klara.”

“Vlad said he’d already booked us rooms.”

She stroked Brimstone absentmindedly where he slept on her lap. Filomena was snoozing on the fox’s head. The two familiars appeared to have reached some kind of truce.

Nikolai frowned. He hated the fact that Mae and Vlad would be sleeping in proximity to one another.

“Why aren’t you staying with your family?”

He startled at her question and turned his head to meet her inquisitive stare. He was about to give her a pretext when Alastair clicked his beak.

The crow evidently didn’t approve of him lying to the witch.

“I felt more comfortable in the dormitory,” Nikolai finally confessed. “And I…don’t know how to act around them.”

“You don’t trust them,” Mae said shrewdly.

Nikolai blinked. A faint smile curved his lips.

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