entering the front door move in clear view of the windows. This female’s grip was iron tight on the photo, and I could see her holding her breath.
She was waiting to see the dark male.
A sudden tightness gripped around my neck, my body jerking in shock. My jaw tensed and I shut my eyes as my collar tightened, the functions inside the metal brace moving to inject into my neck. My teeth slammed together as needles slowly pushed into my skin. And then it came. The burning of the serum flooding into my veins.
While I still had time before my triggered rage took hold, I pulled out my notebook and memorized the name of the chamber. Then I looked to the female in black and I knew what I was about to do.
The needles pulled out of my skin, and then it came. A red mist curtained over my eyes. My muscles strained as the venom filled my every vein. Rage. Uncontrollable rage took its hold, bringing with it the need to deliver pain. To hear screams. To draw blood.
To obey Mistress and all that she’d commanded.
Just before I became lost to the darkness, the bringer of death role I knew I would embrace, my gaze darted to the female dressed in black once more. I crouched, bracing to strike.
Just as the female took a deep breath and stepped out onto the road to cross the street, the venom finally peaked. My eyes widened as I felt my free will fade to nothing—my body was reacting worse than normal, submitting to the drug like Mistress had intended.
The beast inside was freed.
And I attacked.
I attacked the female before me.
Hooking my arm around her neck, I slammed my hand over her mouth. She fought to get free, her voice trying to break from my hand and scream. Dragging her back into the shadows, I tightened my arm around her neck. She fought me all the way, her legs kicking and her fingernails scratching at my hand over her mouth.
My muscles burned at the fear taking hold of her body, my heart beating fast, enjoying the life leaving her body. When the female’s body began to lose fight, I slackened my arm. She flopped in my arms, unconscious. The picture fell from her hand onto the fground. I looked at the picture, my hit’s face staring up at me.
And I smiled.
I smiled, holding this female in my arms.
Because she would pay.
She would pay in pain and blood … then I’d be coming straight for him.
3
LUKA
“Any thoughts to where you’ll marry, Tal?” Kisa asked my sister as we all sat in my parents’ house.
Talia moved closer into Zaal’s side and laid her head on his huge bicep. “Maybe just here at the house. Something small.” Talia’s face fell and she shrugged. “I only have you guys and”—she cleared her throat when Zaal got tense, his face sharp and unmoving—“and, you know, Zaal is on his own.”
Zaal’s posture was rigid, his long dark hair falling over his face. Talia pushed back his hair and put her palm on his face. Zaal turned into her hand and she kissed him. All the tension immediately left his body.
He was struggling. Struggling as I had.
My stomach tightened, because at least I’d had my family. He had no one outside of us. We weren’t his blood. It wasn’t the same.
A hand ran across my chest, and when I glanced down Kisa was smiling up at me. Leaning forward, I kissed my wife on her head and moved my hand down to her stomach, which now held our baby. Kisa laid her head against my shoulder. I’d never felt so content in all my life.
“Still not finding out if I’m having a niece or nephew?” I looked up to Talia, who was smiling at me.
“No, we want it to be a surprise,” Kisa answered, just as my father and Kirill entered the room. Kirill was dressed in a three-piece black designer suit as always. His sharp eyes met mine, and he flicked his head in the direction of my father’s office.
Kirill next turned to face Zaal. “Study.”
Dropping one more kiss on Kisa’s head, I stood and followed my father and the Pakhan into the office with Zaal, my, the knyaz’s, number two, on my heels. As we entered the room, the Pakhan dropped behind the desk and we sat on the chairs opposite.
Zaal sat to my right, my father to my left. Over the last few months Zaal had slowly