Page 144 of White Wolf

Nikita ignored him. “Sasha?”

“I…” Sasha started to frown, and then the unhappiness slowly smoothed away. He looked resolute, like he was going into battle. “I’ll stay.”

“You don’t have to,” Katya said.

“No, I want to. You two go. I’ll be fine.”

Nikita didn’t believe him, but there was something firm in his eyes. A determination.

Nikita tipped his head in silent question, and Sasha nodded.I can handle myself, the boy’s expression said.Trust me.

And so Nikita did. He took Katya’s hand.

“Behave yourself, Ivan,” he said on their way out, and his answer was a delighted laugh.

~*~

Sasha’s resolve almost crumbled when Katya and Nikita slipped out the door. Their genuine concern, the way Katya had implored him to come with them with her gaze…it was almost his undoing. But he was sure of this. As much as he loathed the idea of staying, he thought he had to. He was the wolf here. It was his job to serve his master…or, in this case, prevent him from doing anything unspeakable.

As they’d walked from the café, Rasputin’s palpable, buzzing excitement reached a fever pitch. It droned like insects in Sasha’s ears, danced in the nerves in his fingers, and toes, and teeth.

Submit to me.

Revel with me.

And the blood hunger was still there. His lust.

They were going to find a woman for him, Sasha had realized. And Rasputin would feed from her, he was certain.

Well, not if he could help it. He was the reason this creature was awake, and it seemed like he should be the one to stop him from harming anyone.

“Come take your pick, Grigory,” Ivan said with a magnanimity Sasha knew was fake. A convincing sort of fake, though.

The girls looked dismayed – at first. Once Rasputin stepped forward and met each of their gazes with his own, they became not only passive, but enraptured. There were countless tales of women chasing after Rasputin, and Sasha thought almost all of that could be attributed to vampirism.

“Hello,” he greeted.

“Hello,” they chorused back.

The youngest one blushed and looked down at her lap, biting her lip like a smitten schoolgirl.

One of the others, breasts threatening to spill out of her dress, batted her lashes and said, “Don’t you look uncivilized.”

“My dear.” His grin stretched wide. “I’m not civilized at all. Have you ever met a man from Siberia?”

“I think I just have.”

“Yes.”

He pulled her to her feet and towed her toward one of the bedrooms.

Sasha knew a moment’s relief when the door was shut. It wouldn’t last, he knew, but even a door was a welcome barrier between the two of them.

But then, of course, he was uncomfortable for a whole different reason.

Virgin though he was, he understood how this would work, and it unfolded as he expected it would.

Kolya crooked a finger at the wide-hipped prostitute with her hair done in ringlets, and she went with him into the other bedroom.

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