Page 32 of The Red Moon

He shakes his head, small whisps of gray hair dancing in the wind. “Your father put out orders, Nikolai. I can’t let you go in.”

My grin deepens. “I’m not asking, Boris.”

“They’ll kill me if I don’t report you. And then they’ll come after my family next.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and his entire body trembles. “Me and my friends are leaving, and all I’m asking for is a head start. Give me fifteen minutes, then call the den.”

Boris lowers his head and stares at his feet. “Da, Nikolai. I owe you that much.”

“Take care of the little ones, yeah?”

He acknowledges me with a flick of his wrist and hits a button on his console, lifting the gate. I get in the SUV and drive past him, giving one last wave before he closes the gate behind us.

TWENTY-ONE

NATALIE

“What was that about?” I ask, as we pass between two hangars. The large doors are closed and appear to be padlocked.

“My father has everyone on alert,” Nik says, veering to the left and parking on the unmarked concrete. “He’s going to give us fifteen minutes until he makes the call.”

“Because he owes you?”

Nik jerks his head to the side, surprise in his eyes. He peers at me curiously, gaze working from my lips to the side of my neck still stinging from his teeth. “Yes. I did him a favor once.”

“He’s being modest,” Dimitri cuts in, shifting in the seat behind me. “Boris was going to lose house few years ago. Nikolai made sure he didn’t.”

A warmth blooms in my chest. Nikolai is good man, Dimitri told me once, and I’m starting to see why he was so quick to come to his defense. Despite everything he went through growing up, and the way his father pit him and Viktor against each other, there is still something inside him that’s gentle. Selfless, even to the humans his family considers beneath them. Not Nik, though. He is everything Dimitri described and more.

I arch a brow and wait for his response.

“What?” he says with a small grin. “You don’t help someone to boast about it. Then the only person you’re helping is yourself.”

“Wise words for an animal,” I say deviously, leaning over the center console. God, I have fallen for this man. This apex fucking predator. Just when I think there’s no possible way something else can make me more attracted to him, the universe proceeds to up the ante.

His grin deepens, and he meets me halfway, mouth on a collision course for mine.

“I’m going to be sick,” Alexey interrupts, throwing his head back to the cushion. “Look, we need to leave, not make wolf babies. Lev said be ready. He doesn’t want to be on these cursed lands long.”

“Are you sure we need him?” I whisper with a smirk, nodding in Alexey’s direction.

“Princess, if Lev come all the way here and doesn’t see my handsome face, you’ll be puppy chow by blood moon.”

“Alexey …” Nik warns, the muscles in his tattooed forearms tightening.

The soldier rolls his eyes and kicks open the door. “One little joke, and now I am bad guy?” He scoffs and uses the seat to help himself out, muttering soft curses in Russian I can’t quite understand.

Dimitri exits the SUV next. Then, there’s silence. No, I wouldn’t hear anything happening out of the vehicle now, not when Nikolai stares at me with hunger in his eyes. I saw how he looked at me in the hotel bathroom. A combination of concern and guilt sharpening his jawline. It was nothing close to the way he scans every inch of my face now, like he’s searching for the most decadent part he wants to taste first.

“What?” I ask, those gorgeous glowing eyes bringing goose bumps to my arms.

Nik grates his teeth on his lower lip. “Do you notice anything different about these windows?” he asks, pointing to the windshield.

I don’t, of course. They are tinted a shade dark enough to dampen the sun beaming in the cloudless sky, but other than that, no different than an average car window.

“My father has trust issues. Prefers all of his conversations free from prying ears, These cars have glass thick enough to block the humans from gathering intel on our pack. The government loves to eavesdrop on my family.” He brushes the hair from my face and continues. “So, you shouldn’t have been able to hear my conversation with Boris, unless⁠—”

“My hearing isn’t human …” My mouth hangs open, a wave of shock washing over me. How is this even possible? I’ve been a werewolf for all of six hours, and I’m already getting abilities? I’m not sure what I expected, but claws and super hearing wasn’t on my bingo card this early on. I thought it took time. That these things would be dormant until after I shifted during a full moon.