When I flatten my lips together to keep from smiling, he shakes his head in disgust.
“I’ll be in touch again in a few days. In the meantime, talk to Pakhan.”
“Great to meet you, Number One. Have fun back at the asylum.”
Muttering in Gaelic, he walks toward the exit.
I call after him, “Say hi to Number Two for me!”
The door slams behind him, and he’s gone.
I load the groceries into the truck then start the drive back to the cabin. On the way, I call Pakhan. We talk for the entire hour it takes me to get home.
By the time I arrive, Pakhan has confirmed everything Killian told me.
He’s dying of cancer.
He wants me to be his successor.
He and the cocky Irishman with the Jesus complex have been working undercover together for years to infiltrate and eliminate the biggest rats in the nest as it were, along with the other members of the Thirteen, who are definitely not a boy band.
Last but not least, my options are limited: accept the role I’m being offered, or spend the rest of my life dodging bullets from this irritating fucking Killian person and his crew of twelve murderous, highly-trained and well-funded do-gooding disciples.
The bottom line being that no matter what happens next, I can’t keep my little bird caged any longer.
I’ll either be a dead man or the king of the Bratva with a thousand new targets on his back and more secrets than any man should have.
There’s only one way I can protect her now.
Open her cage door, and let her fly away.
A mile from the cabin, I pull off the side of the road and hop out of the truck. Cursing furiously, I unload the magazine of my gun into the nearest tree. I reload and empty another one. Then I get the axe I keep in the toolbox in the bed of the truck and hack up several other trees, until I’m sweating and panting, and my hands are raw.
None of it helps. There’s nothing that will ever help me get this pain out of my system.
I knew this day would come, one way or the other. I’m still not prepared for it. But the fact remains, a girl like Riley doesn’t belong with a man like me. A man with my life and all the horror that comes with it.
Everyone knows the dragon doesn’t get the princess in the end.
The dragon doesn’t save the day.
That’s what white knights are for.
I throw the axe to the ground and blow out a hard breath. I tilt my head back, close my eyes, and stand motionless, just breathing, until I know my voice will sound steady.
Then I fish my cell from my pocket and dial the Lenin Hotel in Moscow. When a woman at the front desk picks up, I tell her to connect me to room number 427.
Then I wait, heartbroken and sick to my stomach, for Spider to answer the phone.
42
Riley
I can tell something’s amiss the moment Mal walks through the door.
Carrying brown paper bags of groceries, he’s tense. His energy is weird. He won’t look at me.
Sitting at the kitchen table with my yellow legal pad, I watch him drop the bags onto the counter and turn back to go out again.
“Mal?”
He stops midstride. He doesn’t turn around.
“I’m going to ask you what’s wrong, and you’re going to tell me the truth. Are you ready?”
He doesn’t respond.
“What’s wrong?”
I watch his shoulders rise as he inhales. When he speaks, his voice is low and gruff.
“I talked to Pakhan.”
My stomach drops. If he’s talking to Pakhan, that must mean it’s time for him to go back to work. His vacation is over.
Our perfect little bubble has popped.
I stand, cross to him, and curl my hands into the front of his shirt. Looking up into his face, I say, “Are you okay?”
He closes his eyes and exhales in a gust. Sounding miserable, he says, “You worrying about me above everything else makes it all so much worse.”
“I can’t help it. I like you.”
He opens his eyes and stares down at me with a tortured look.
“Okay, wow. That face is scaring me.”
He frames my face in his hands and kisses me. The kiss is achingly tender and freaks me the fuck out.
My heart starting to pound, I say, “Is this about you having to go back to the city?”
When he nods, I’m weak with relief. The way he was acting, I thought it was something unexpected. “Well, if it will put your mind at ease, I can stay here while you have to go to work if you want.”
He just stares at me silently. It seems like he’s waiting for more of an explanation.
“I mean, I’m all healed now. I know how to shoot every type of gun in case another bear decides to visit. And to be completely honest, the thought of staying in that crypt of an apartment of yours while you’re out working doesn’t exactly light me on fire. I don’t want to be away from you, but I’m also hoping never to see Masha the Golden Goddess ever again or live on frozen dinners.”