CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13
NATALIA MOROZOVA
"I told you, Alexei. I want a normal life. I've never killed a human being and don't condone those who have."

"But she was no shifter."

"No, but she mattered to you, and you matter to me."

I turn to face him. He’s watching me with a complete intensity that should terrify me, given his heritage and my own. After all, we’re natural born enemies. Our ancestors have been fighting and slaughtering each other since the beginning of time. But I’m not afraid of what he could do to me. No, what terrifies me is what could happen to him now that we’re together.

"The Dragunovs will not stop looking for me," I cry out. "And they have agents all over, Alexei. They can kill you."

He shrugs and steps aside to take off his jacket, throwing it over the rear of his couch. "Other shifters have tried to kill me for years. No one has been able to yet." He removes his cufflinks, setting them on the kitchen counter.

"Aleksei, listen. This is serious. If anyone were to see us."" I choke, my voice trapped in my throat by fear and emotion.

He draws nearer and strokes both hands up along my arms. "Bring them on, Natalia. I'll fight to the last breath in my body to hold on to you. I promise."

Alexei lowers himself, his forehead against mine.

"So will I," I struggle out. "No matter what they do to us."

"Whatever comes of it," he echoes. "Now, what is the first thing you have to do?"

"Get my dad, and then figure out how to get this shift block removed."

"Then we'll start on both of them. Tomorrow, early."

"First thing tomorrow," I repeat as I reach up and cup his cheek. Alexei's unimaginably blue eyes close and he burrows into my hand. "I'll never let go, Alexei," I whisper, a smile crawling across my lips as he opens his eyes and smiles down at me.

"Don't think I'm ever living that one down."

"Not a damn chance."

ALEXEI VOLKOV
"NATALIA, GET UP."

I wake to the sound of my own voice as I shake her gently awake.

What is it?" she asks, sitting up. Her eyes take only a moment to get used to the darkness, but in an instant, she can see me in full. The worry etched clearly across my face wipes her fatigue. "What time is it?"

"Almost Midnight Hour."

"We slept all day?

I nod. "Company," I whisper, rising to my feet from the bed, my hand holding a silver short sword as I approach the bedroom door. "They're still out there right now," I explain.

Her blood runs cold as she rises to her feet and shrugs into my t-shirt which still lies across the end of the bed. She takes a deep breath. Shifter.

"From what they've been talking about, they know you're here.".

It's the Dragunovs," she spits back at me. "How did they find you?"

I walk over the room and grasp her arm in my hand. "I won't let them take you, Natalia. I swear it."

She doesn't say anything because she only knows bad words. If the Dragunovs are tracking her, I don't believe there's a damn thing I can do to stop it from occurring, and trying only gets me killed.

Do you know how to use a gun? She nods, and I open the drawer of my nightstand, drawing out a pistol and offering it to her. "It's loaded, and there's a round chambered."

"Got it.".

As soon as the words leave her lips, the door splinters open, and footsteps echo into the small one-bedroom apartment. Her heart thunders—slamming into her ribs with such force I’m sure it’s going to break free.

I brush her shoulder, pushing her further into my bedroom before I move back and run to the far side of the door. I'm topless, so she'll see my chest rising and falling in the dim moonlight coming through the window.

Blade poised, I wait, and then at last the bedroom door smashes.

I attack.

A head is bobbed to one side, and she stifles a scream as someone runs into me, crashing me into the wall. I groan, and she whips around, gun at the ready, expecting the next person who charges in. Her bad luck, it's not human or shifter.

"Natalia." Irina Volkovna clicks her tongue, hand waving.

The pistol in her hand starts shaking, and she attempts to pull the trigger, but her finger is paralyzed in position…as is the rest of her.

A grunt comes from behind her again, and a growl.

Two more shifters dash in and go around her, just before Viktor Dragunov enters.

"This is a pity, Natalia."

"Why can't you leave me alone?" she shouts, sobbing tears running down her face.

"You can't be serious," he says to her. "You are mine. Do I need to remind you of that once again?"

"I don't belong to anyone."

He looks over her shoulder and growls. "That's true now that you've been sullied by a hunter."

"That's cruel." I step up beside her, my hand on her lower back.

"Tell me, how did you escape?" Viktor asks, tilting his head to the side.

"How did you track me down?" she snaps.

"I have my means."

The gun begins to shake. "I can't do anything about it," she threatens me. "She's attempting to make me turn it."

"Release her."

No. Volkovna sweeps her hand, and the gun begins to spin. Natalia fights it, muscles shrieking as she tries to fight against her curse. The witch grunts and stumbles just as the curse breaks and Natalia is able to release her hand.

The witch is kneeling on the floor, a dagger in her eye socket.

Viktor exposes his throat and charges.

I shove Natalia out of the way. She collapses against the wall, her head thudding into sheetrock. A pain wave slams behind her eyes, and she stumbles to her feet just in time to watch Viktor half-change, his fingers extending into long claws.

He slashes at me, and I jump back, but not soon enough. The claws slash into the flesh of my stomach, and Natalia is splashed with scalding blood.

She snarls. Her bones realign and crunch, the beast inside her bulging towards the outside.

I bolt towards her, running my sword and slashing Viktor's arm across its blade. He unleashes an animalistic howl that fills the air with his rage. He bolts towards me, and Natalia sprang forward in her wolf, pinning him to the ground with claws on his shoulders.

"Behold." Viktor smirks up at her. "Still fascinated with her now, Hunter? It's a matter of time before she devours you. And if she doesn't, The Eternal Court will."

"I'm not that worried," I tell her.

Viktor's eyes begin to glow, and soon his voice is echoing in her head. "They will hunt you down until you're both dead.".

"Let them come. I'm tired of being told what I can and cannot do."

He begins to shift under her—the change signaled by the bones of his face exploding out of place and elongating. But before he has a chance to finish shifting, I bring up my blade and chop down.

It slices through Viktor's neck, and his head rolls to the side.

She glares down at him, considering all the threats, the intimidation. The way she had been held captive so long, unable to be herself. "I only wish I'd killed you sooner," she thinks and steps back from him.

I'm staring at her, but when she turns to me, I drop my sword. "I'm not afraid of you, Natalia," I say to her.

She approaches me, and I don't back away. I kneel down slowly and reach out to put my hand on her forehead with the palm. She leans back, and we're both kneeling facing each other, bloodied.

I hold her in my arms, wrapping them around her as I press her against my chest. "I think your shift block has been revoked."

Gazing across at where Irina Volkovna lies in a pool of her own blood, she nods. "It snapped when you killed her."

"Then I'd say that's one thing crossed off our list of stuff to do. Two things, actually, if you include my personal one which was chopping off the head of your former boyfriend. See how on track we are."

She laughs and lies back. "I can't believe they're dead."

"This mean no one will look for you?"

"Not necessarily. They may still appear. Particularly if the word gets out that we're—"

"Involved," I finish, and she nods.

"They won't approve of that."

"No, they won't. Guess it's a good thing I never had much use for rules."

She smiles up at me. "Neither have I. But what are we going to do about this?"

"Home invasion." I pick up my phone. "I have someone I can call. Marcus Reed owes me a favor."