Chapter 192: Protects her

"I'm not wearing this for you," I tried to step away, to get far away from him in the crowd, but there were too many bodies moving too close together.

"You’re not fooling anyone," he followed me, sneering while lifting up his hand to reach out for me. "Do you even know who I am? You must not. If you knew, you would have been throwing yourself at my feet." His hand snatched my wrist, but I quickly tried to pull myself away from him.

"Not a chance!" I hissed out, but then the tempo of one of Selena Gomez’s songs out of the blue picked up, and the surrounding bodies converged, pushing us closer together. "Get away from me," I said, as I was being squeezed toward him.

It was dark, and the lights were twisting around. I was spiraling and his fingers were digging into my wrist. My heart slowed down, and I felt heavy as claws of dread worked up from my chest and wrapped around my throat.

I wanted to puke everything.

"Come with me, sweetheart, I know you want to," he pulled at my hand, attempting to jerk me closer.

"No." My free hand curled up into a fist, but I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just didn’t want to let him get closer to me.

The air changed. The pulsing rhythm faltered in my head as a sudden pressure washed through the crowd , invisible, yet heavy enough to silence the laughter around us. A shiver ran down my back, one I couldn’t explain.

However, before I could do anything, in the blink of an eye the stranger was lifted up by the throat. His eyes crossed and he gagged before being dumped back onto the floor. The stranger crumpled to his knees, rubbing his neck, but my eyes snapped up.

Andrey Volkov was standing where the stranger had been a second ago. The rage twisting his features was enough to make my insides go cold, and those dark eyes weren’t directed at me.

Something dangerous flickered behind his gaze , not just anger, but something wild. It was in the way his jaw clenched, in the way his chest heaved as though struggling to contain something more powerful than fury. For one terrifying, breathtaking moment, the entire club seemed to hold its breath.

"I believe she told you no," he spat at the man on the ground, then looked up through the crowd. He curled his fingers at someone. I looked up and saw two large bouncers barreling through the crowd in our direction.

"I don’t give a shit who the fuck he is. He’s banned from the club," Andrey’s accent grew thicker as he spoke to the bouncers. One of them scooped up the blonde man by the back of his black shirt while the other nodded at Andrey’s command.

"Get him out of here now, prezhde chem ya um'yu yego, chert voz'mi," the threat was clear even if I couldn’t understand it. It was that cold, dangerous look in his eyes that gave it away. Something about Andrey suddenly made a lot more sense at that moment.

He was dangerous, and I just never noticed it before. I think because all he ever made me feel was safe and comfortable. How could I have known this side of him when I had never seen it before?

Andrey would have hurt this man in any other situation. I could feel it, like an instinct I just knew. It wasn’t logic, it was something older, deeper, written in the marrow of my bones. And when those deep blue eyes turned to me, I felt the warning in my head along with the shiver that raced down my spine.

"Come with me." He didn’t even touch me. Instead, he looked one last time at the bouncers hauling the blonde man, then turned around. Evidently showing that he was angry, he pushed through the crowd as I followed him. Through the club, and then down a hidden back hallway. It worked around to the back of the building, leading to the door to the alley.

The heavy bass of the club faded behind us, replaced by the hum of the city and the echo of my racing heartbeat.

Frigid night air blasted over my skin, and the heavy door slammed shut with a loud bang through the narrow alley. I hugged my arms around myself, bracing against the cold in my thin dress that didn’t cover enough. I stood near the door, watching Andrey pace away from me while running his fingers through his hair with a loud groan.

There was something almost predatory in the way he moved — too fluid, too controlled, like a wild animal pacing a cage. The dim alley lights threw sharp shadows over the sharp planes of his face, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

After a few steps away, he took a deep breath and reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He lit one and took a long drag while staring at the shadows along the end of the alley.

The smoke curled around him, carried by the wind that seemed to bend toward his heat. There was something about him in that moment that didn’t feel human ,not in the sense of monstrousness, but in power. He felt like the night itself bowed to him.

I could hear every beat of my heart as it threw itself against my ribs, trying to break free. Andrey was a dangerous man; I saw that right now.

But was I afraid of him?!

No. Not truly. What scared me more was the way my pulse reacted to his presence , how my body recognized something before my mind could name it.

Slowly he turned to face me, finally looking me in the eye again. He pulled one last drag of his cigarette before flicking it on the damp concrete that reflected the dim streetlight nearby.

There was still irritation in his eyes, but I didn’t feel it pointed in my direction. Even if he was upset with me at the thought of me dancing with another man, I wouldn’t have been afraid of him.

Without a doubt. I knew he would never hurt me.

“Fucking hell, Elena,” he huffed out while dragging his hand through his hair. “What if I hadn’t made it in time and that son of a bitch had hurt you?” He roared, then suddenly threw a fist into the black brick wall. His shoulders rose and fell rapidly as he breathed hard, trying to control himself.

The sound of his knuckles against the wall cracked like thunder in the narrow alley. I swore I saw dust fall from the brick, as though the wall itself trembled from the force. My breath caught , he wasn’t just strong, he was impossibly strong.

“I should have stayed with you. Fuck me, I’m so sorry. That man could have hurt you and yet I’m around in the club. Shit! I’m a fucking idiot.” There was so much agony in his voice, and it made my chest ache for him.

“Andrey,” I whispered his name. My heels clicked onto the concrete as I stepped closer to him. Before I could take another step, he pushed away from the wall and engulfed me with his arms.

The warmth of his body was immediate , radiating through my thin dress, seeping into my bones. There was a low vibration in his chest, like a growl swallowed before it could escape.

“Are you alright? Did he hurt you? I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.” Everything I was holding back hit me when I melted in his warmth. His solid chest and the erratic pounding of his heart swallowed me whole.

“I’m fine, Andrey. Are you okay?” My arms wrapped up around his midsection, and I pulled him as close as I could.

Though still in Andrey’s embrace, there was a part of me that wanted to break down and cry after that stranger accosted me on the dance floor, but I couldn’t. My heart was soaring too high at the revelation that Andrey had been so worried about me.

Because he cared. Not just because I was a possession. He really cared about me.

Even if he didn’t love me, I could live with this. It was enough for now.

“Of course I’m fine. I’m just so pissed off that someone in one of my clubs had the audacity to put hands on you. You, magnificent angel, don’t deserve the scum of the earth laying a finger on you.” Andrey reared back and cupped my cheek. I loved the feeling of his thumb caressing my skin.

There was heat in his touch, more than human warmth, like his body couldn’t contain the intensity running through it. His pulse thrummed beneath his skin, echoing with mine.

I smiled and pressed my face into his hand. Nothing mattered anymore. Not the stranger or what could have happened. All I needed was Andrey with me.

“Let’s go back inside, please.” His eyes widened when I whispered. “I want you to dance with me. And you made a lot of promises about tonight if I’m remembering correctly.”

Andrey’s surprise wiped away, and his deep chuckle filled the silence of the alley. The sound was low and rough, rolling through me like distant thunder. “You’re right, baby. I did. If you’re feeling alright, let’s go back inside the club. I’m not leaving your side anymore.”

He brushed his thumb along my jaw once more before taking my hand. His grip was firm, steady, protective in a way that made me feel safe, even as the night around us seemed to watch from the shadows. And when he led me back toward the glowing doors of the club, I could have sworn I heard something faint and deep, like a growl hidden beneath the rhythm of the music gone before I could question him.