Page 3 of Stolen Oath
“I hope you hold that word. As a matter of fact, I’m counting on it, Allie.” He said my nickname with a barely there rasp to his tone, which made me tremble visibly. To add insult to injury, he winked after seeing the effect he had on me.
In answer, my snort had no humor in it, yet he threw his head back and laughed as if I had told him the funniest joke ever.
I did say he was a jerk, didn’t I?
CHAPTER2
“Why are you here again?” Pretending I was busy, and failing miserably, I kept rearranging the crystals over and over so I don’t have to maintain eye contact with Dimitri. Or keep thinking about the woman and her lies.
His wolf unnerved me on the best of days. Why was he in my store? Why?
“I thought friends visit each other?” Reaching over my shoulder and standing too close for comfort, he nudged a crustal to the right unnecessarily. My attempt to get away from him was unsuccessful. He just followed leisurely behind me no matter where I went. “Was I wrong in my assumption? You look upset that I am here. Why?”
That thick accent of his was to blame for my knees being wobbly. He knew exactly what he was doing and stupidly, I did nothing to stop him. I didn’t smack his hand when his fingers grazed my arm as he stepped back either. I simply shivered like a fool. Witch or not, I was a woman, damn it.
I was weak when it came to Dimitri Bell.
“We’re friends now?” My mouth snapped shut as soon as the words were out. It shouldn’t have sounded like a challenge but it did. His low chuckle confirmed my stupidity.
“What would you like us to be if not friends, Miss McCullough?” Dimitri slid close enough that I could feel the heat of his body on my skin. Without a conscious thought, my body leaned back to be closer to him before I became aware of my actions. When I did become aware of what I was doing I jerked away from him as if electricted.
“We should ask your fiancée,” I ground out between my teeth. “I’m sure she would love to tell us the answer.”
A statue rattled on a shelf nearby, snapping me out of the fog my brain dived into around the alpha. The lady who bumped it grimaced while her face reddened, as if she felt bad for getting my attention while eavesdropping on our conversation. One look around and I realized that the store had filled up while I was too busy swooning at Dimitri like a school girl, and everyone was watching us, watching him to be exact, while pretending they were busy perusing the merchandize. It was like a bucket of cold water being dumped over my head. Feeling sick to my stomach from my beheivor I straightened my shoulders, jutting my chin out stubburnly. I was the master of my emotions not the other way around.
Dimitri had the same effect on any breathing creature. Male or female alike.
He was a juicy steak in the center of a group of hungry beasts.
“I’m an idiot.” Angrily smacking his hand away from where he was curling a strand of my hair around his finger, I practically ran for the register. Salvation waited for me as soon as I placed the glass display between us, at least, I hoped that it would. “I don’t want us to be anything, Mr. Bell. I do, however, want you to leave my store, if you don’t mind. I have things to do instead of playing these games with you.”
“I’m not sure how it’s good for business to chase away customers.” Goddess help me, unperturbed, he stalked me inside my own store. The nerve of this guy.
“You’re a customer now?” I tripped while diving behind the register and whacked my elbow on the edge of the counter. My eyes rolled to the back of my head from the stabbing pain that radiated up and down my arm, numbing it all the way to my shoulder. I thought I heard a tooth crack from how hard I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t yelp.
“Of course, I’m a customer,” Dimitri said simply and, without permission, reached over the counter, pulled my arm across it, and leaned over to inspect the red, rapidly swelling spot marking my injury. “Supporting local, small businesses is very important for the economy.”
Lips parted, I gawked at the top of his head while he gently lifted my arm and soothed my pain by blowing air on it. Gripping the counter in a white-knuckled desperation prevented my fingers from sinking into his hair. My chest tightened because the simple act overwhelmed me with an emotion I didn’t dare name. Goose bumps puckered along my skin from the heat that radiated from his pursed lips.
I was in so much trouble.
“How very benevolent of you.” My barely above a whisper comment made him glance up at me and my heart skipped a beat from his penetrating stare. “But honestly, I thought we agreed to meet up only when necessary to avoid complications. We can’t afford to mess up and trigger some of your father’s memories. Not when Char already paid a steep price for it. We’re not ready to face him or anyone else that might be involved until we find out more about this whole thing.”
“You will forgive me, Alaska, but I cannot sit and pretend like everything is normal, or whatever passes for normal these days for any of us. We know there is more to the situation than just my father wanting to remove me from a position of power or to expose you for... well, you know.” Ignoring the hungry looks the women were throwing his way, he rubbed his thumb over the sore spot on my arm, slightly frowning at it, while I frantically searched the store to make sure no one could hear him. The fear for my life made me forget he was touching me like he had every right to do so. I needn’t worry though, because he seemed like he was talking more to himself than me and I just happened to be near enough to hear him. “If that was the endgame, he could’ve gotten me killed or you captured. I need to do something. Anything.”
“He can try to catch me anytime he wants.” My arrogant snort told him exactly what I thought the chances of anyone catching me were. Well, anyone but Dimitri. As far as I knew, there were no other witches in LA. “Let’s hope he holds his breath for it, it might save us all a lot of trouble if he kicks the bucket from oxygen deprivation, but it’s not from lack of trying to kill you on his part that you are still alive, wolf. Did you forget the mages?” A shiver worked its way up my body when the memory of being underwater while the ocean raged around me squeezed me in its grip.
It also brought another thing to the forefront of my mind. The fact that in my panic, while thinking we were about to die, I stole magic from the elementals and rendered them human, petrified me.
“No.” Lifting his gaze to mine, he held me suspended in a space where the oxygen was thinning with each beat of my heart. “How can I forget that you saved my life,lyubimyy milyy.”
“Yeah…” Breathless and bothered like every time he would say something in Russian and I had no doubt it was another endearment as was his style, I shook my head to clear it. “I’m dumb like that.” My mind told me to take a step back and put more distance between us but I couldn’t move to save my life. My feet were glued to the floor.
“And here I thought you cared.” He clicked his tongue in faked disappointment before removing his hand from my injured elbow, taking away with him the tantalizing scent that was clouding my mind, and straightening to his full height. Without the physical connection, I finally felt like I could breathe again, though I hated that I missed his touch almost immediately.
“What does it mean?” I asked, despite the fact I knew it was a bad idea. “What you just called me.”
He simply smiled, not giving me an answer.
