Page 34 of Fergus

Fergus nodded. “It’s a little disconcerting, to say the least,” he admitted. “I thought I had it all figured out, that living alone, with the occasional hookup at a hotel or going back to a woman’s apartment with her, was how my life was and always would be. Then bam, you suddenly appeared, and everything I thought I knew or wanted for my life just fell apart.”

It wasn’t a declaration of love, and it was far too soon for Thea to expect one from him, or for her to make one to him. But it was an admission that Fergus was just as deeply affected by whatever was growing between them as she was.

Thea decided that she would do what he asked and, for the moment, cut him some slack. Initially, by changing the subject. “Are you any further forward in knowing who the shooter was?”

“Not yet.” He shrugged. “I’m still waiting for my friend to get back to me on the distinctive tattoos Declan saw on the man’s neck.”

She raised her brows. “You have afriendwho would know the significance of gang or organized-crime-related tattoos?”

“If they’re Russian ones. And yes,” he sighed, “I believe I do have to class Nikolai Volkov as a friend,” he added dryly.

“You don’t sound very sure…”

“I’m sureheconsiders me as his friend. I’m just not sure how I feel about classing the sovietnik to thepakhanof the London bratva as beingmyfriend.”

“What is a sovietnik?”

“The second to thepakhanin the Russian bratva.”

“Oh.”

He gave a derisive huff. “Nikolai’s surname of Volkov means wolf in Russian, and believe me, he more than lives up to his name,” he stated dryly.

She frowned. “I’m sure you told me you didn’t associate with Russian gangsters.”

He smiled ruefully. “I very much doubt Nikolai would call himself a Russian gangster. We met through a third party, and now none of us can shake him. Nikolai is a powerful and complicated man,” Fergus added when Thea just stared at him. “But once he considers you his friend, it seems you become so for life.”

“How did you even meet a member of the bratva?” Thea hadheardof the Russian bratva, along with the London and Irish mobs and the Italian Mafia. More recently, the Albanian mafia and the Romanian one had come to London too. But she didn’t personally know anyone who belonged to those organizations, nor did she know anyone else who did.

It seemed she did now!

“We met after Nikolai did something amazing for my cousin Rufus,” Fergus explained.

“That sounds interesting,” Thea prompted when he added nothing further.

“It is.” Fergus nodded. “But it’s Rufus’s story to tell, not mine.”

She nodded, totally respecting the other man’s privacy. “But, despite your previous comment on the subject, you’re actually buddies with the second to thepakhanof the London Russian bratva?” she mused.

He winced. “I appear to be.”

“And he’s going to be able to tell you whether the man who was waiting at my apartment building?—”

“Declan said there were two men, but only one shot him.”

She nodded. “But you think Nikolai Volkov can tell you whether those men are associates, or possibly family, to Lev Yegorov, just from the tattoos on their neck?”

“I believe he can.” He nodded. “I very much doubt that Nikolai likes or approves of Yegorov, anyway. He doesn’t have a lot of respect for the oligarchs who stripped the wealth out of his country and then fled Russia to live in luxury in the West.”

“Nikolai didn’t do that himself?”

“Absolutely not.” Fergus chuckled. “I don’t know anything about Nikolai’s background, but he’s too much of a fighter to have grown up in luxury. He’s also been in the Russian bratva all his adult life and is definitely not an oligarch. I’m pretty sure Lev has been on Nikolai’s radar since the other man moved permanently to London, and that he’s just waiting for Yegorov to step out of line so he can do something about it.” He shrugged. “I think he’ll definitely consider Lev’s unwanted and persistent pursuit of you, then trying to have you shot?—”

“If he did,” Thea put in quickly, still having a little trouble accepting that someone had wanted to kill her.

“If he did, Nikolai will definitely consider it stepping out of line. Nikolai is married, with children, and he’s very protective when it comes to all women and children.”

Thea swallowed. “What will he do to Lev if it was him?”

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