Page 51 of The Red Room
Then, he grabs the bottle between his thighs, downs the rest, and settles back into the stool against the front door.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Those scars.Theclaw marks running down Nik’s torso. The same ones I’ve glided my fingers across more times than I can count. They are from his father for saving Dimitri’s sister. He marked him for the rest of his life because he dared to act without permission from the pack. From the alpha. If Nikolai’s dad would do that to him for turning someone … what would he do if his heir left the pack for me?
“I’ve been at Nikolai’s side ever since,” Dimitri says, his softened features returning to a normal, steel-like gaze. “You may see a monster, but I can assure you, he is the only one in his family that isn’t.”
“How can you say that? He abducts people and ships them off to Russia, Dimitri. He is taking people from his club and using them as a fucking food source!” I raise my voice but the man posted at the door doesn’t bother flinching. No, his intense glare hardens.
Dimitri scoffs, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. “None of those taken are innocent, believe me. Nikolai was in charge of who the pack would remove here from the beginning.Drug dealers. Rapists. Repeat offenders. We would find the worst in the city and clean upyourstreets. No one is going to miss a man selling fentanyl to teenagers. No one is going to mourn for a woman getting behind the wheel too drunk to stand and plowing into the car of a mother and her daughter. These people have less humanity than the monsters they are fed to.”
The words I want to say choke out of me in an uncomfortable gasp. Air not only leaves my lungs but huffs out as if Dimitri has punched the rebuke out of me. They weren’t taking innocent people. They were taking the worst Los Angeles has in spades. Every devil hiding in the city of angels. And I assumed. I did what I always do and figured Nik was no different than the masked people I see day in and day out. Just another predator waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
Guilt pangs against my chest. His eyes. They weren’t the same vibrant gold when I pulled away from him, nor was there the darkness I’ve seen when rage consumes him. There was only pain. Like simply looking at me created some bloody wound he’d never recover from. He wanted to explain. He wanted to tell me everything. And I wouldn’t listen.
“Nikolai Vostik would never hurt someone undeserving,” Dimitri says, pulling me out of my own thoughts. “When Viktor came here … things changed. The rest of the staff followed his lead. They began whispering behind Nikolai’s back. And now?” His voice trails off.
No one is off-limits, I finish in my head, regret blooming in my chest.Courtney.Why did I have to bring her there tonight? She didn’t get in that SUV because she wanted to. No. She did it for me, and if something happens to her, I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself.
Dimitri stands from the stool and reaches in the duffel bag on the counter, pulling out a dark, wooden crossbow.“Nikolai will get her back, Ms. Nat. He’s searching the transport houses as we speak.”
Tears sting at my eyes and threaten to roll down my cheeks. Transport houses.Plural.They have multiple houses around LA to prep people for their eventual slaughter. And now, Courtney can be counted among them. “What happens if he’s too late? How long will she be kept alive?”
Dimitri draws a deep breath, and although he stammers a bit when he walks back to his stool, his lingering stare is sober enough.
“I need to know, Dimitri. What is going to happen to her?”
He plops down on the seat, evening his weight and staying upright, surprisingly enough. The floor screams for mercy under his mass, and it makes me wonder if the tenants beneath him might fear their roof will collapse every time he comes home.
“She will be kept alive until the next full moon. Then, they release the captives into the forest on the property.”
Release? They take them all the way to Russia and just release them? Why? Why go through all this trouble just to let them go? “And why in the hell would the pack do that?”
Dimitri fiddles with the drawstring, and after it’s tight enough to his liking, he places an arrow in the housing. “You don’t understand. Wolves are predatory creatures. They crave one thing more than the kill. They crave—”
“The hunt,” we say in unison, my eyes gaping. The hunt. They hunt down those they’ve taken. It’s all some game to them. Some challenge for the wolves to find and dispose of all the people who didn’t think something so horrible could even exist. I curl my arms around my legs, pulling my knees tight to my chest.
“Has anyone ever escaped?” I ask, fear knotting in my chest.
Dimitri glares down the crossbow sights to the floor. “No.”
My heart seizes, maybe even stops. Courtney is being thrown into some fucking werewolfHunger Games, and it’s all my fault. I brought her to Völk. Around Nik. Around his psychotic brother. I unknowingly took her right into their hunting grounds, and because of me, she has been sentenced to death. Each breath I take in strikes pain in my chest. Tears now flow freely down my widened eyes. I did this.It’s my fault.
“Although,” Dimitri says matter-of-factly. “I did hear some at the bar talk about a man who managed to make a hole in the fence before they found him. If Boris still watches over the grounds, it might not be fixed for another two cycles. Not the best property hand.” He chuckles as my face continues to lose slack.
Not helping Dimitri. No, not helping one bit.
There’s no way you can outrun them. You can’t hide, not when they can hear your heartbeat a mile away. I remember how easily Nik knew what was happening in the club despite the overpowering music beneath his soundproofed loft. So what can you do? Curl into a ball and hope that you’re not worthy enough prey? These things aren’t bears. “Whoever is unfortunate enough to get chosen … they better get acquainted with the idea of a very painful death.” Lenny’s words slam back to the forefront. Courtney was chosen by Viktor. Chosen only to get to me, and eventually, Nik. While I want to hate him for putting her at risk, I know without a doubt, I’m just as complicit.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you helping them?” I ask, accenting each syllable with disgust.
His nostrils flare wide and large forearms flex, gripping the crossbow tighter. “I do not helpthem,” he says and spits to the side for emphasis. “I only help Nikolai. The only brother I have ever known.” Dimitri sways his large head, fighting offthe spins if I had to guess. “He has sacrificed everything for my family. For a cook’s son.” More tears fill his eyes. “I will die protecting him.”
We say nothing after that, nor do I think there is really something to be said. We only stare at one another. Me, still processing this entirely fucked-up situation I’ve become a part of, and Dimitri, at war with the sleep in his tired, red-rimmed eyes.
“Rest, Ms. Nat,” he says finally. “No one will get through this door, I promise.” His rough voice soothes over as he tilts his head against the wall. He doesn’t say anything else, just watches until he can’t fight it off any longer. Dimitri closes his eyes.
*