Page 40 of Hateful Vows
“I know of his brother. And it’s nothing good.”
“He came to warn us that Misha’s not ready to let go of our territory,” I answer but anger brews inside me again at the ease with which I told him the truth. Not fighting with Aleksei throws me off centre and I desperately cling to any shred of familiarity. “You can leave now,Lyosha. Dante’s safe here and I’m sure there’s a blonde air-head for you somewhere.”
He gives me his full attention, and I suffocate from the force of it. “If Dante dies, you lose the protection I worked so hard to get you. I’m staying. Besides, I’d rather Perceval piss on your husband’s shoes than in my apartment.”
I pinch my lips to avoid the smile that wants to take over my face. Aleksei doesn’t make jokes, yet this is almost one for him. And it makes me giddy. I hate it.
A whisp of dark hair in a high ponytail catches my attention. The lithe woman in a gorgeous ruffling red dress approaches Dante and the surrounding men. But I know the gait of a hunter. After all, I used to be one.
I swallow my drink and it tastes like ash on my tongue. Blood sings in my veins. I wait patiently for her to make her move. Like the viper Dante calls me, I coil, ready to strike.
Her hand lands on his arm. Andgrips.
Dante’s eyes dip to where she touches him.
“Irina,” Aleksei warns, but I don’t hear him.
My martini glass clatters to the floor. I march to the woman. The knife at my thigh burns my flesh with the need to use it. I take hold of the handle through the slit in my dress.
In a few steps, I’m at her back. I clutch her hair in a fist, pulling her head back, and slash.
Wips of hair end up in my clenched hand. Free from my hold, she turns to me, wide eyed and ready to scream.
“Next time you touch my husband, you’ll lose more than your hair,” I seethe to the crying woman.
The men who were talking to Dante scamper away. And my husband grins down at me like I just gave him the most precious gift. “So vicious,sposa mia.”
“Let another woman touch you again and see how much more vicious I could be.”
“Is that a threat?”
He takes a step forward and snakes his arm around my waist, pulling me into him until there’s no mistaking what my violence does to him. I point my blade to his chin. “It’s a vow.”
His lips crash on mine with the force of a hurricane. I’m a puppet in his arms. I let go of the silky hair. Dante gets the knife out of my hand and back into its holster without removing his lips from mine. He devours me completely and I let him.
I part my lips for him, tangling my tongue with his, tasting the peated whiskey he just had and getting drunk on the feeling of him.
I’ve only ever been jealous of women who touched my step-brother. But seeing another approachmyhusband, the man who should be devoted tome,sends a boiling rage through my system. He’smine. If not by heart, then by law and by honour.
I make him pay for the offence. I grasp the roots of his hair and pull, making him grunt. I swallow the sound greedily.
“If I had known you were the jealous kind, I would have let other women touch me weeks ago,vipera,” he chuckles and the sound grates on my nerves. It also makes me fucking wet, damn him.
“You two are making a scene,” a voice dark as sin mutters behind us.
When I open my eyes, Aleksei is so close I can see the tick of muscles in his jaw and the unmistakable lust swirling in his eyes. Alcohol must make me dream things because it’s impossible. Unless he’s attracted to Dante, because me? It could never be me.
Something hot simmers low in my belly at the thought. It doesn’t bother me at all to think about my husband with Aleksei. On the contrary. They fit. Both dedicated to their empire, unshakable in the face of challenges and loyal to a fault. I would have laughed a few months ago but now? They have so much in common. Two sides of the same coin. One looking at life too seriously, where everything is a threat, the other laughing at it like nothing matters.
I take a step back from my husband but he keeps his hand on my waist, possessive and heavy.
Now that our heated kiss has passed, party-goers have lost interest and no one pays us any mind. If anyone looks our way, they might think we’re deep in conversation. The words exchanged are far from innocent.
“Is your pussy dripping for me,vipera?” Dante murmurs in my ears, loud enough for Aleksei to hear and tense. I nod and he notches his chin to a corner of the rooftop. We move until we’re hidden from the crowd. Aleksei ends up positioning his body in front of both of us, as if sheltering us from view.
My back hits a wall. Then, my husband is on me once more, ravenous in his kiss.
He doesn’t waste time with pleasantries, his hand going under the fabric of my dress and gliding against my lace underwear. He chuckles low and rough.
