Anatoli
Zakh steeples his fingers on his desk and I sit in the leather chair in front of him, relieved that we're finally meeting.
Today is another crazy busy day. I also fly out to L. A. tonight with Leif for what should hopefully be a ten-day business trip, but seeing Zakh couldn't wait any longer.
He got back from Russia last night, and by the time I get back from L. A. we'll be days away from the inauguration.
I can't remember the last time I was this keen to see anybody and I never thought I would feel this way about one of my brothers.
Zakh's office isn't that different from mine but his has less décor. There is only one painting on the wall behind him, depicting the battle of Heaven and Hell.
When he smiles and sits back, I imagine him right at home in the infernal underworld. Probably sitting next to me.
"I assume you found the information okay?" A mischievous grin lights up his face, making him appear more lighthearted than when I last saw him.
"I did. My assistant says she had to jump through hoops though."
"Assistant? Gytha doesn't look at you the way an assistant would." He makes a point of using her first name, as if he's looked into her. I'm sure he has and tried to do his research on me too. It's no more than I did on him and the others. "Or is that perhaps your version of an assistant?"
I chuckle. "We're not like that anymore."
He quirks a brow. "Because you're getting married to Avrora Galitze?"
Just hearing her name stirs my cock.
Yesterday's wild encounter was definitely my personal favorite to date. I can just imagine my dear Mikhail's face after he heard his beloved coming for me. Teaching his pompous ass a lesson was satisfying. At the same time, I lost myself in her pleasure. And that kiss.
Fuck. The thrill was like sailing into the eye of a storm.
She felt it too. Even though I devastated her with my jab about not loving Mikhail.
Do I believe that? No. But I said it to be a vindictive, cold-hearted bastard.
Since she's supposed to be nothing more than a ploy, the best way to answer Zakh is with something as vague as I feel because the woman makes me crazy.
"Gytha and I are just business partners."
"Okay. Brother." He nods, but it's clear from the mischievous smirk on his face that he doesn't believe me. "I was just curious. We have years to catch up on, you and I."
"It would appear so."
"Speaking of which." He glances at the tattoo on my wrist of Odin's rune and smiles wider. "If I had that, I'd at the very least challenge the Pakhan for the Bratva."
I chuckle and sigh. Zakh seems like the kind of man who would start a war to conquer countries. I'm not that guy because I don't choose to be. I just want one thing.
"I'm getting what I want. And it's enough, so the Pakhan can relax. I won't be challenging him for anything."
A spark of reverence invades his dark eyes. "That deserves respect."
"I appreciate that."
"Where did you train?" He's asking about my Reaping and initiation into the Knights.
"Across the old Viking lands." That's Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, but the people who trained me still refer to them by their old names and still consider themselves Danes.
"All of them?"
"Yes, all."
His brows disappear into his hairline. "You're kidding me."
"The Reaping was the hardest, obviously. A hundred days of survival tasks and challenges with the clan's berserkers that could have killed me on any given day." For a sixteen-year-old boy any of those were horrific and barbaric, but that's why it's done-to assess the survival of the fittest. "My journey ended at the old temple in Uppsala." In the eleventh century, the temple was dedicated to the Norse gods: Thor, Freyr, and Odin. In the Knights' training the final task shows you your destiny. Mine led me straight to the temple door. That's where I got the rune, but I had to earn it first. With blood.
You have to kill one of the men who held the rune before you. It's kill or be killed. He was my first kill. To this day I still wonder how I did it. We both fell over the side of the mountain. I grabbed on to the edge but he fell to his death with my knife stuck in his neck.
Zakh looks more than impressed. "We should talk more about that someday."
"We should."
"Indeed, and with that said, I'm sure you're eager to talk about the vineyard."
"I am. Thank you for the heads up." I give him a curt nod.
"I felt it was something you should know. Have you told Avrora about it?"
"Not yet."
He levels me a curious stare as if he can see through to the parts of me that are so taken with her. "Be careful with that one, brother. She's a real beauty but she thought the sun shone from Mikhail's ass even before she understood what marriage was."
"I believe you." I've seen the evidence for myself. She might easily change her mind if she knew about Mikhail's involvement with the vineyard. But part of me fears she might not. "In any case, I don't want anyone becoming aware that I know about this yet. I'm sure you can understand why."
"Oh yes. That's very wise given that it means death under the Knights' law if anyone were plotting things they shouldn't against their brother."
The way he speaks makes me think he wants to get rid of Mikhail. I've already assumed he doesn't trust him, or he wouldn't have ratted Mikhail out about the vineyard. I want to be clear on why, among other things, I sense there's more than meets the eye with Zakh.