Page 29 of The Red Room
There it is. The unimaginable heat traveling up my thighs, setting my chest ablaze, and finally, burning my cheeks. My heart adjusts to the blood pumping double time to satisfy each of my limbs suddenly going numb. Ants colonize my fingers and toes, tickling every part of me left frozen. There’s no voice in my head shouting to the heavens to stop with the comparisons. Maybe it’s because there are none. Nikolai Vostik has once again made me his marionette waiting patiently for him to pull another one of my strings. And to be honest … I can’t do a single goddamn thing but let him.
“I almost forgot,” Nikolai adds, standing upright, a wicked grin tensing each of his prominent features. “IfLandontouches you again—” He pauses this time, letting the silence linger as his tone turns deadly “—I will take his fucking arm and mount it somewhere in my club.”
FIFTEEN
Jesus fucking Christ, this guy really is an animal, but at the same time, why in the hell does his threat make me clench my legs tighter? He can probably hear my heartbeat, and now the pulse is without a doubt throbbing hardest somewhere between my thighs. We stare nowhere else but at each other, both waiting patiently for a slip. A loss of good judgment.A kiss.Werewolf or not, his kiss was far from normal, at least, in no way a normal man has championed my mouth before. He was ravenous and intent on devouring me one slow tongue-swipe at a time. Despite the monster I’ve seen lurking beneath, the thought of our lips clasped together still has me melting where I sit. Another devilish smirk teases his lips. If there is a god, I curse him for bringing Nikolai Vostik in my life.
“Do you understand, Natalia?” he asks but mostly states. It wasn’t a question, after all. It was him making sure I knew if Landon continued getting handsy he’d have no issue removing said limb and using it like a hunter’s trophy. Just for show. Nik, for some reason I can’t explain, has drawn a line in the sand, andthose brave enough to cross it might just have a few less body parts by daybreak.
I nod despite the need to do so. Pressure builds in my clenched thighs, traveling up my stomach and seizing my chest.Why? Why can’t I look away from him?I nod again, losing count of how many times I do.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I understand.”
He nods, his impressive stature towering over me. “Good. And if you ever want to have that talk and let me explain everything,” he says, waiting for me to peer upward. When I do, his rough voice breaks the silence. “You know where to find me.” Nik leaves for the door, saying nothing else and splitting the crowd around him the way a saloon door will bend open and return to its rightful place. I watch him go, my eyes never leaving his large back.
“What in the fuck was that about?” Courtney asks, nearly blocking him from view. I hear her question. Process it. I have an answer but the missing piece to the puzzle is being able to say—no, mutter anything at all. A werewolf just threatened to mutilate my date. Okay, to be honest, I can’t see anything with Landon going beyond friendly, but that’s not the point. He put his hand on me, and it would appear Nik or the thing he has simmering inside of him doesn’t like it. He didn’t threaten me if I exposed his secret. Say they’d toss me in some psyche ward if I did. No, he only mentioned another man touching me. Like my skin was off-limits to anyone but him.
Nik reaches the door and turns.Don’t look back.Don’t you dare fucking turn around and look at me with those beautiful chilling eyes.He does, and as our gazes meet in that moment, I swear he nods outside for me to follow.
“I—I’ve gotta go, Court,” I say, standing and tracing his steps. It’s as if some magnetic force is pulling me from the barstool toward him. Drawing me with a delicious trail of cedar.Driving me closer to him and the answers to questions still gnawing at my insides.
“Nat!” she yells after me, and even reaches for my arm but her fingertips only graze my skin. “What are you doing?”
What am I doing?This man is a killing machine. What scientists might call an apex predator, and I am following this wolf right to his den? Landon lifts his hand to wave but I keep my focus on the door, my feet carrying me faster than my mind can process. Tomorrow will be spent apologizing to Courtney on my hands and knees, if need be. If I even survive the night that is. And yet, somehow the thought doesn’t scare me. The Natalie she knew is long gone, swept away from the face-to-face encounter with things only seen in children’s nightmares. A shell of someone who hadn’t visited death in the loft above his club. And in her place is a different person altogether. A Natalie ready to stop overthinking everything and finally take a dive in the deep end. While tonight may turn out horribly, I’m more than willing to find out.
The cool night air of the city kisses my hot cheeks when I let the bar door swing to a close behind me. What the jukebox inside was happy to pierce my ears with before is now replaced with the music of the streets. Conversations of those maneuvering around me. Honking horns. The hiss of overheating vehicles. A video billboard offering fifteen percent off lip injections. This music of Los Angeles drowns out everything, even my intensifying need to call out his name. I glance down both ends of the crowded sidewalk, hoping to see the familiar black car and Nik, ready to invite me in.
Nothing. Just the occasional bump or dirty look from those passing by.Great. Just fucking great.For the third time in a row, I let him leave me outside to be a spectacle.Fourth time? I’ve lost count.Some people stare. Others simply turn up the noses worth more than a car and strut forward.What am Idoing?I’ve never trusted a man before, for good reason. Why in the hell would I think putting my faith in a man who moonlights as a fucking wolf be any better. I chew on my lip and scan again. No glowing eyes. No snide smirk. No Nik.
A motorcycle engine roars to life, the headlight like a single eye peering into the faint glow of the city. Another rev on the gas. Tires screech and thick lines of white smoke clears the people blocking my view of the street. The crowd splits down the center, an ornate row of unrecognizable faces leading to him. He straddles a bike as black as the pavement, a snarky grin stretching each of his chiseled features.
“You coming?” Nik asks and holds a red helmet in my direction.
I cross my arms over my chest. This is a bad idea. No, this is the worst fucking idea I’ve had in a long time, save for breaking into Club Völk on a full moon. But this? I know what Nik is. I’ve seen what he is capable of. Images of the chains bending and giving to his monstrous strength flood back. Had Dimitri not pulled me out and latched the door shut, well, I’m not completely sure I’d even be here right now, ready to make yet another stupid decision to add to the bad Natalie tally.
A single step forward. I shouldn’t go with him, and even worse, I shouldn’t want to go with him. But I do. There’s something about Nik. A strange, cosmic force willing me forward despite the consistent refusal from my limbs to do so. Another step, this time my arms and legs are shaking. His stare is unwavering. Almost as if he knows my choice even before I, or my fucking moving body, has a chance to make it. One more step, and I can practically taste the heavy fumes from his motorcycle’s exhaust.
“Where—where are we going?” I blurt out, grazing my fingers on the helmet.
Nik directs his gaze to the sky for a moment and brings his flittering eyes back to mine. “Moon isn’t full. Not like I’m going to bite you—” He pauses and finishes the taunt with a startling crescendo. “Tonight.”
The strength in my legs wanes. Something rolls in my stomach. It might be fear, but the sensation feels different than anything that’s ever scared me. Is it desire? Lust? The thought of him sinking his teeth at the base of my neck should have enough red flags to be bought in bulk. It doesn’t though. All I can imagine is Nik dragging his teeth on my skin again, except this time, he presses his lips to the places I want them most. My shoulders. Chest. Hips. My thighs.
I grab the helmet reluctantly, bringing it over my head until the soft cushions hug my cheeks. The noise on the block muffles, and while it’s difficult to see, through the visor, I notice Nik grab my hand and pull me toward him. He guides me onto the bike, holding on until my legs straddle each side.
“You ready?” he asks, peering over his shoulder.
The real, more appropriate Natalie answer flashes in my head like the bar’s open sign painting the pavement blue and red.No, I’m not ready.But it isn’t the way he’s looking at me that creates doubt. It’s the softness of his voice. How the gravel in his throat calms the way a tide could smooth over rocks in its path. I wrap my arms around his waist, fingertips interlocking, and set them against his hard stomach.
Nik doesn’t give me the chance to change my mind. Engine reeling, he races down the busy street, veering between the traffic both on the road and the crowded sidewalks. I tighten my grip, hanging on the best I can.
*
We arrive at Völk, the front of the club as vacant as yesterday, except now, there’s a bouncer posted at the entrance.I have a sneaking suspicion Nik’s taken extra precautions since I proved his security system to be flawed. Peeling off the helmet, I fix my hair to its rightful place the best I can, and hand it to him. Nik lets it dangle off the handlebar.
“We stay closed the day after a full moon,” he says, as if reading my thoughts. “Some have trouble with the transition back to … their humanity.” Nik gets off the bike first, then helps me off.
Some have trouble. Not just him or Viktor if I had to guess. What Nik’s saying is there are more. I recall the bartenders and bouncers. There’re dozens of them. How is that possible? How can they keep a club full of werewolves a secret from not only the paparazzi who seem to frequent the sidewalk waiting for another celebrity, but Christ, from the scientific community? Does the government know these things even exist?Things.God, I’m glad I kept that one to myself. Something tells me Nik wouldn’t enjoy being called a “thing.” Not that anyone would.